Of Books and Blocks

First, I need to thank Vanesa of NewNestDesigns for Modern Minimal by Alissa Haight Carlton.  I was a lucky winner from her blog in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day.  Vanesa even held off mailing the book so she could get me an autographed copy!  Thank you, Vanesa!

I love the bold simplicity of these quilts. Like this:

And I love the rich colors in this one big wonky block.  (Actually it kind of reminds me of the “special effects” from an old 60’s TV show, “Time Machine.”  Or something like that name.  Anybody else out there remember that one?)

(The Kindle Sleeve in my Giveaway is happily at home now with Louisa.)

I mentioned quite a long time ago that one of my quilt groups was doing a block a month sampler.  Each month one of us brings a block for the group to do.  This was the first one:

I decided to do up my blocks in French General because 1) I love the fabrics and 2) I had a bunch already lying around.  So, here are more of our blocks coming up:

The bear paw is one of my all time favorite block designs.  Isn’t it gorgeous in those fabrics?  Love, love, love.

Meanwhile, June is my month.  My first idea was to do up a T-Block.  Like this one. 

I looked at it and said to myself, “Self, you could make up those flying geese units using your GO! dies.  How clever is that?”

Apparently not clever enough.  I was having a moment (just a moment now and then, that’s what I tell myself) of mental incompetence – because our blocks are supposed to finish at twelve inches.  And the flying geese units I cut with the GO! were designed to make up 3" by 6" finished geese.  Yes . . . .

Using that math, my block would finish up to be 18" square, not 12.  Ooops.  And I was so impressed with myself for cutting the patches so that the script fabric would all run in the same direction!

Bloody but unbowed, I regrouped.  Took the fabric I had and played around with it so I’d have a block that used the patches I had cut out and kept the writing all going in the same direction. 

Voila!

Not what I had in mind but still a very cool block.

Meanwhile, a lot of our attention in town these days, of course, is still focused on the High Park Fire.  It is now over 43,000 acres at 5% containment. It’s been confirmed, sadly, that one woman died in her cabin.  In one area alone there have been over 100 structures either damaged or destroyed.  Our friends have their house up in that part of the canyon.  It’s still impossible to say whether their house survived or not since not all homes within the fire’s perimeter have been destroyed, but their house is up Rist Canyon where there has been heavy damage.  It’s still too early for people to get in to check things out.  Meanwhile, there are a  lot of homes still threatened.  This is one ugly beast of a fire.

My husband, who works 55 miles south of here, says that Denver is sitting in the middle of a huge cloud of smoke.  He can smell it in the building where he works.