Knocking Them Out

The picnic quilt top is done except for a border:

I’ll look for some border fabric this week when Robin and I go to Missoula.

I don’t like the Kona Navy that most of the stores carry. It has a greenish tint to it. This color is called Midnight and it’s a much truer blue. (I cannot get a good photo because of the light in the cutting, room, though.) Unfortunately, this length of fabric met with a mishap in the washing machine:

This happened to a couple of pieces of fabric before I finally figured out what was going on. The washer is a Speed Queen Heavy Duty and I love it. This is our third washing machine in 30 years. Washing the husband’s clothes shortens the lifespan of most machines significantly. I asked him if perhaps oil was leaking from the washer into the drum, but he said he didn’t think that was possible. The only other explanation is that the diesel oil that he sprays onto the forms so they will release from the concrete after the pour—and which he gets on his clothes—was sticking around and re-circulating through the wash. I now wash his clothes on heavy duty with the extra rinse cycle, then wash them a second time, then run a cycle with no clothes, then wash a load of something like towels before I will wash anything else. Yes, it’s wasteful, but so is throwing out oil-stained fabric that I can’t use.

[We really need a commercial washing machine just for his clothes but we don’t have the space for it.]

The husband and I went on date night last night to Blaine Creek Grill. On the way there, I was lamenting the fact that I don’t have staff, LOL. I watch a lot of Fat Quarter Shop and Missouri Star Quilt Company videos while I am sewing and marvel at how much they get done. Jenny often comments that each quilt is made three times (!)—once as a prototype, once to check the pattern, and finally in a fabric line that is current when the pattern is released.

The funny thing is that it has been so long since I worked on this quilt that I forgot that I had also made a version in red and green, for Christmas:

You get a photo on the floor, because the husband is still sleeping and I can’t put this up on the design wall.

This one is 3 blocks by 3 blocks. FWIW, I like the darker color on the outside of the stars, as in this version. This one is not scrappy. Each of the blocks has the same fabric.

I think I have scratched the itch with this block. I don’t want to make any more of them. It is one of those blocks, though, that lends itself well to experimenting with color placement.

I’ve got five tops and a few smaller items in the queue to be quilted, so I am going to need to oil the Q20 and get to work. Ruler Club also starts up again this week, on Tuesday. We’re doing the Amanda Murphy Lollipop rulers. This club comes with a practice panel, and I need to baste that together with batting and a backing soon.

Someone should also start working on patterns again. See comment about needing staff.

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The husband blew out the water line to the greenhouse yesterday and shut it off. The indoor lettuce-growing operation is all set up in the basement. It is time to plant seedlings and get that system up and running so we have fresh greens this winter.