Give piecing a boost

     Using Leader/Enders and scraps- win-win! I love scraps. I love when they are precut up into useable shapes and sizes. Such a wonderful palette.
     If you plan it out and make all decisions ahead of time, it is not confusing and makes piecing easier. I am not a Bonnie Hunter groupie, but I love some of her quilts and especially the Leader Ender ones which are usually free.
     I plan out and precut all the pieces and put them next to my right hand, so I can grab them easily between piecing. I keep a little box to throw the completed pieces in. When I iron the blocks from the main quilt, I press the little ones also. Eventually, I build up an amount to put the bigger blocks together. Since I sew on more than one machine, I have more than one leader/ender going.
     Here is some progress on Sugar Grove:

Completed blocks, webbed block with mistake, block laid out and ironed to freezer paper (I do a bunch of these
and stack them to sew later)

Paired triangles cut with the Easy Angle ruler
next to my right hand to pick from

 

     Another one, a freebie, Triple Treat, uses teeny 4 patches and cut up strips- a 7" one cut at 4 1/2 and 2 1/2". I make the 4 patches as Leader/Enders, press and then make the blocks. 12 blocks done.

Squares, singles and pairs ready to pick and sew

     Or, at the least, if you don't have a quilt in mind, just a box of 4 patch parts next to your machine will sew up quick. I use those 4 patches for pocket quilts.

It is coming! Fall that is.

      I love Fall even though it brings winter. I love the colors and scenery. I love Fall leaves. As I was going through UFO projects, I found the pieces of Applachian Autumn (Bonnie Hunter pattern) that I started last year. I took the bag apart and tried to remember what in the world I was doing. I definitely needed to cut more HSTs, much more.

     As I dragged out more fabric scraps to get ready for die cutting, I found a freebie  maple leaf pattern. It took 5" Squares, and I have lots of 5" squares cut and sorted by colors. Squirrel!

    Ok, but I needed more and I hate square quilts.

     Ok, more please with the colors.

     Yes, that is it! All from stash. And the backing was a wide piece from Gwen with a strip added on.

Tops sewn, borders on- bring on the backings!

      Two more tops were finished. I shopped at Joann's for the border fabric for the flannel batik squares quilt. I could not find batik flannel anywhere, so I bought a mottled lighter blue and a dark blue solid for the borders. After washing it, I cut and sewed the borders on and it is a big size about 70 x 76 now. I have to just accept it as it is instead of what it could be with the right fabric. It is soft and cuddly. When I was at Joann's, I was able to buy 5 yards of regular light blue mottled fabric that I seamed the long way for the backing (washed first) so the whole quilt is now in the line for the longarm.

    The Orange HSTs quilt with the gray slashes from Quiltdiva Julie was also sewn together, web style, and as I looked it on the wall, I thought it needed a thin border to hold the edges together when the binding was sewn on. I also thought a border would help to visually end the diagonal lines before exiting the quilt. I did not have enough of the gray used for the diagonal slashes, so a different gray was added which I think works. It is 71 x 84 so it needs a big backing. I dug out a dark blue 6 yard piece I bought at Zinck's in Berlin last May for it, but need to seam it yet. Wish I had bought more backing fabric there then.

Inspiration from the ADK

    Every August for the past 28 years, we have visited the Adirondacks for a week. Sometimes, it was abbreviated or crazy with family situations, but we manage to pull it off. This year, my daughter and her family, my son and some of his family and my husband's sister spent a wonderful week there. It did rain for 3 days and there things we did not get to do, but it was beautiful and inspirational none the less. The water lilies (my personal favorite) were buried under too much water runoff when we were there. I find the scenery and the air invigorating and it feeds my inner self to be in it.

Granddaughter and husband in the chair atop McCauley Mt courtesy of the chairlift access

View from the chair at the top

The dam this year was overflowing, no drop off after dam. I have never seen this in all the years we have hiked this trail.

You can see how the water lily leaves were all below the water, so no flowers

Submerged water lilies

Usually the channel meanders, but is all flooded wide at the Green Bridge I am standing on to take these photos