Bits and Pieces, August 9, 2024

Tropical storm Debby is swirling to the north of us. Or what is left of her is doing…something. She seems to have broken apart more or less.

I woke to 77 degrees this morning. In August. In Charleston, SC. Wow!

I have not walked for 5 days, except for the tour around our neighborhood to see how our drainage was holding up. I was thinking to walk yesterday afternoon as the sun came out, but, this:

And when this cloud dumped its rain and moved north, the sun came out. But it was going to be followed shortly by another band of clouds like this one. So I just kept sewing as I was not going to risk walking a half-mile or more away from the house, only to get suddenly drenched.

It rained in the night too–and there was fierce lightening–so there is another 3 inches in the gauge out front this morning. Right now, the gauge has collected 23.25 inches of rain since Monday, but we got a bit more rain than that as the gauge overflowed in the night one night. And today we will have some thunder storms.

EVERYTHING is wet! I won’t even think about putting the back porch back together until all is dried out. And I miss my time out there during my noon dinner.

BUT, I’ve had some really fun sewing these past few days. Two new rulers came in the mail: Deb Heatherly’s Cat’s Claw ruler (thanks the demo shared by Rick Sanchez, local longarm quilter Stitch with Rick, at our last Sit and Sew) and Latifah Safari’s Hurty Ruler for half-square triangles. Both are so much fun.

I could EASILY go down a rabbit hole with the Hurty ruler. (This picture had to be taken on a slant due to where the blocks are on the very full design wall.) I pulled some fabrics at random and just played with no intention for anything. Just play. The “A” side of the ruler makes a LEFT side straight edge (these are 4 by 8 blocks). The B side makes a right side straight edge. I started with the A side, but realized I really like the look of the straight edge on the right AND that putting the two choices together makes a big triangle and a bigger diamond AND that putting blocks on their side is kind of fun–either in a quilt of half-square triangles or on a border.

I’m also obsessed with making blocks that are riffs on the Churn Dash block–so here are more half-square triangles–4 inches finished–that surround the center square.

You can see the Cat’s Claw blocks in the red Churn Dash on the bottom of the design wall below–at the corners. Making these Cat’s Claw blocks is so much fun as each effort makes TWO of them.

I made myself STOP playing with the Hurty ruler’s bigger blocks–that’s for another day. But I have 8 orange smaller blocks cut out for the next Churn Dash “riff.” That will happen today. (I have no idea how these blocks will work out–they are for a challenge in the modern group that is due at our November meeting.)

Prickly Pear only needs one more row–and I’m working on the triangle rings for that final row now. I have the backing and binding made and know what pantograph I’ll use to quilt this handsome and very modern quilt, thanks to a consult with master longarm quilter Wendie Currie, who lives in Thunder Bay, Canada. I also have enough fabric left (as I had to order more for the field fabric and for the triangles) to play with the alternative arrangement, which is also fun.

The scrappy leader/ender on the left is growing–it will be 7 blocks wide and 8 long, so will finish around 63 by 72–a good lap size. This kind of quilt is meant to be USED and to be cuddly. The two bins of 3.5 inch Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society squares ARE going down–but there are a lot left. Next I’ll try something like all one-color darks in a specific color (9-patch again) alternated with blocks of the light colors.

And today I have to…cook. Hamburger is defrosting–for air fryer patties likely. An easy meal that will product leftovers.