Fresh Venture for Summer

I started a new quilt last week, celebrating the end of the school year with a fresh idea to keep my creativity at high gear.  Yes, I know I have twenty other projects on the go.  But every year I find the transition from the end of the school year to the beginning of the summer difficult.  In the absence of  trip somewhere, starting a big new exciting project is the best way I know to get my mind away from school.

It all started with a couple of hundred 2" by 4" rectangles that the library quilting crew bequeathed to me after we finished our 2014 raffle quilt.  This was a favourite quilt of mine, called Everyday Best and from the book Quilts with a Spin by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.  Here's what the rectangles were used for originally.  Sorry about the photo quality:  the light wasn't great in the exhibition hall at the Rock Creek Fair where I took this shot at our ticket booth last fall.

Each one of the rectangles became one of the "spokes" in the three-tiered wheels in each block.  Was it a lot of work?  You bet.  But I thought the result was spectacular.

On the last weekend before my school job ended for the year, I found the rectangles in a plastic bag in a bin in one of my newly-reorganized scrap bins, sitting in turn in one of my newly-refurbished wardrobes that has become fabric storage.  And they were so appealing, those scraps of colour, that I just had to get started doing something with them.

I'd been leafing through a book called Quilt Improv by Lucie Summers, and she described a method of making columns of chevrons with scraps.  The idea is to sew the rectangles together along the long sides, offsetting the short edges by half an inch or so.  After a day, I had this.

After a week, I had this.

And last weekend I had this.

And I'm not going to say another word about it, because I still don't know whether what I have in mind will actually transpire, and if it DOES, I want the finished product to be a surprise.

As you can imagine, I used up the original rectangles from the library quilt pretty quickly, and had to dive into my own scrap bins to generate more.  And I did.  A lot more.  Hundreds more.  It's actually now possible to close the lids of the scrap bins without first having to compress the contents with great effort before quickly snapping the lids into place.  

I'm into a well-established and enjoyable rhythm with cutting rectangles, sewing them together, and then sewing columns into pairs.  Plus the other part of this construction, which I'm not going to tell you about yet.  Though it has involved pattern drafting.  With curves.  And hexagons.  Will it work?  Your guess is as good as mine.

The heat has been such that I'm having to make an early start in the studio in the mornings in order to get much work done before I'm driven out in the early afternoon.  The dogs and I walk right after breakfast to catch the cool of the morning.

And over the past week or two my dear husband and I have occasionally made the trek up the mountain behind our property to the provincial park at Jewel Lake.  Dh is still practising with his new spey-casting outfit, while I sit in comfort on the beach:  knitting, reading, talking to the locals, and snapping the occasional photo.

I'm researching knotholes, because I have a pictorial quilt in progress that has been stalled for two years because the log in the foreground doesn't look like a log.  I'm hoping a knothole or two will help.

The fisherman is focussed on his craft.

It's rather like a dance, mesmerizing to watch.  Not so much fun for the fish.  This was just practise, however:  no hook on the end of the line.

This weekend, we went one step further.  In his increasing absorption with steelhead fishing, dh has bought a couple of pontoon boats, and one very hot day he suggested that we load up the boats into his truck and go up to the lake for a row.

Now, you should know that for much of my life, rowing has been one of my all-time favourite things to do.  Thanks, Dad, for the rowboat and for the rowing lessons when we were kids.  These toon boats (as they are known in the vernacular) are very, very distant cousins to rowboats or dories.  They have no keel, they are practically all freeboard because they're so buoyant, and the oars are short and, in the case of the boat I was in, without fixed oarlocks.  So they're nearly impossible to steer.  

But it's still rowing, still being out on the water in a boat, and it's not possible to get any closer to the water without actually being in it.  The draft is about nil.

Once I stopped spinning in circles and catching crabs, I began to get the hang of it.  Can you see the somewhat blissed-out expression on my face?  And that backrest?  Fabulous.  You won't find that in a dinghy.

As we rowed down the lake, we were accompanied by loons, which on this lake are pretty tame.  Dh proved himself something of a loon-whisperer, calling to them realistically enough that the pair closest to us came over to visit.  The picture quality isn't the best, but dh was scrambling to manipulate the camera while the birds were still close enough to be photographed.

The animals at home have been having a tough time with the heat, though for the horses it's the flies rather than the heat that are the annoyance.  We spray them with bug spray and get the roll-on version around their eyes and ears, but the flies are merciless and all three of the ones at home are scabby and itchy, poor things.  The dogs have the pond and the creek to cool them off and also like to sprawl on the plywood studio floor to stay cool.  So does Soop.

Winston is beating the heat by making this old apple crate on the porch his afternoon perch.  He's smart enough to have worked out that any breeze going will waft through the porch, and being raised up on a hollow, slatted box makes for the coolest conditions in which to enjoy the breeze.

And I thought you might enjoy this tender moment.  Another kind of a dance, what with that graceful tail pressed up against Django's side.

And finally, to cool you off, here's the view from the beach at the provincial park at Jewel Lake.  By the time we get there in the evening, the sun has dipped below the mountain and the lake is in shadow.  The heat has vanished and the stillness and refreshing air are a balm.

I wish you cool breezes.

Related articles

Diving into Summer

Another Finished Quilt Top, and What I Made at School

Comments

[steph]

you aren't kidding that's one spectacular quilt!!!!! I'm sure yours will be equally wonderful!
Fun ride...you really do look rather blissful!!! Enjoy!

[Anne at Shintangle Studio]

Thanks, Steph! Thanks for the vote of confidence about my quilt under construction. We'll see what happens.

[Wendy]

I love your blog, Sis. The photos of your ranch, the critters, and your quilts make me feel like I'm right there with you. It's almost as good as a visit! I always make sure I read your latest instalment with a mug of tea in my hand.

[Hildred Finch]

So enjoyed your post. As always. I hope you are enjoying the cooler weather and it means more time in the studio doing that fascinating thing you do with bits and pieces of colourful fabric! I have just finished a linen warp and am hemming hand towels before I put on another cotton warp to use up all my stash of cotton threads. Enjoying the coolness....

[Anne at Shintangle Studio]

Thanks, Hildred! Yes, the cooler weather means more studio time for me. Weaving with linen, how lovely. Linen is my favourite fibre. And I love the idea of using up your stash of cotton threads. I hope you post pictures of the finished projects.