Quilting through the heat

This is the season for inside work.  I told Rob the other day that before I met him, this is the time of year I would have been painting and doing small repairs inside, in the air conditioning.  But, who wants to be locked up in the house with paint fumes???  I'm older now, and I can wait until autumn. 

So, I do other things inside now. 

I finished the melons.  There were 103 total. 

When those were done, I moved out into the border. 

The line furthest to the right is the line I hope to attach the binding at.  So, there will be a line a quarter inch in from that edge and another a quarter inch in from the left.  The line down the center is the spine for a feather, and I've decided to draw all my feathers instead of free hand them.  I'm going to be drawing for a while.  But, it's worth it. 

Speaking of drawing, I thought I'd show how I drew those feathers in the melons. 

First, I divided them in quarters. 

I base my feathers on four "tear drops".  The first two are the largest and they are in the center.  The two smaller tear drops are at the points.  I wanted a uniform size to the larger ones so I drew borders to fit them inside. 

And then, I started to draw.  Here are the four drops. 

And, then I drew the feathers to fill the space. 

Voila!

And, because I can't sit still, I've also started a Linus quilt.  Just a little something to play with that Kenmore sewing machine I pulled out last week.  It's loud and I'm hoping to work on that. 

This is that Barbed Wire pattern I enjoy so much.  But, in blues and yellow, I'm feeling like starry night.  I took this pic just to make sure that I could see the stars...it's a color test.  That light blue is the lightest blue I can use and make this work...or I could pull some of the darker yellows, but I have more blue scraps than yellow. 

As I sorted scraps for this one, I was paying attention to what is left in the scrap bins.  There are a lot of bright, mixed color fabrics.  Things that have so many colors in the print that they don't read as any one color.  Those are the fabrics I'm going to start cutting into squares.  I also have a lot of light blue left.  I'm thinking a light blue one in this pattern with red and white stars would work nicely, too. 

Everybody have a great Monday.  Tons of stuff going on at work.  And, I didn't sleep well last night, so it's a good thing there's excitement at the office, or I might spend the day catching my head before it can hit the desk.

Sydney worked all weekend.  We didn't see her from Tuesday evening until Saturday morning.  It was weird.  Rob and I both felt a little loneliness.  Then, we saw her for a few minutes Saturday morning and a few more minutes Sunday morning and she worked the rest of the weekend.  The girl is growing up.  And, she is getting a good lesson in what it's like to have to go to work 5 days in a row. 

Poor thing.

See ya'!  Lane