July, Here We Come!

I’m working on the 4th set of blocks for the Modern Quilt Studio “Summer Camp” mystery quilt. Per the weekly video suggestion, I pulled a random sample of some of my blocks and put them on my “field” (background) fabric to see if my color palette is working to my satisfaction. I was worried about the dark magenta, but it’s fine. Whew!

I have found the videos really helpful, though I am good with color and have been quilting steadily almost 25 years now. And, sewing, in general, long before what I think of as my “serious” date where my serious quilting started. The video on selecting one’s palette stressed NOT to go darker in the palette than the field background fabric and to include some fabrics in each color family that are lighter than the medium fabrics chosen. I’m glad I included those lighter fabrics.

To remind, here’s my palette for this quilt:

Here’s something different than Maine that I have encountered here. Bins of fresh, local corn (and no, sadly it is NOT organic) have a table and trash can where one can strip off the husks before leaving the store. We all know how very messy this job is at home…

My Wyoming niece sent me this picture of her daughter’s quilt from me–which was held and gifted to her on her birthday a few weeks ago. Word is that she loves it. I named it “Wyoming Mountain Crossings,” and there is a blog entry on it.

My younger son’s family has now returned from an exploratory hiking trip to Tennessee–as I am no longer in Maine. They had a terrific time and will go back next summer most likely. There were lots of waterfalls on creeks that had deep pools that encouraged swimming–and crawdads to capture and inspect. There were also lots of caves and caverns that intrigued them. One day’s hike was 11 miles to and from a summit with an awesome view. Even the 8-year old did not get too tired. They are so active, this family.

My older son’s family is gathering for “Sunday Night Dinner” tonight, so I will go over late afternoon. Hopefully the traffic out to the island will be less intense by about 5 pm. It was last Sunday. Grandson Kelly made it home from Old Miss after getting stranded in Memphis overnight Friday.

Granddaughter Mina (16 this fall) spent most of Friday and the night with me. I taught her to make homemade mayo (with fresh herbs from the garden) and how to use it on a chicken salad, which we ate on the back porch, per her suggestion. It’s too hot most days to eat lunch out there.

We need rain!