The Red Menace

I almost named this post "to dye for."  Tell you why in a bit.

I wanted to get the borders on the feathered stat quilt, but I had this in the way.  I can't remember when I started this, but it was at least 8 years ago.  It's all from those stacks of 5" squares, I can't remember what they're called, but something cake-y.  I must have had two or three stacks.  That sounds like a Christmas present from Rob, maybe.  So far, it's all hand pieced and the plan is to finish it that way and hand quilt it...just because I can, I guess...there's no other reason needed.  And, I've added fabrics out of stash to be able to finish it, but I did a pretty good job because it's hard to pick out the newer additions.

There were some blue squares and when I laid it out the first time, I found out that every square was numbered in the direction it should go.  I've pulled as much of the beige from the blues as I could and plan to use those to make a blue/white quilt.  I toyed with trying to match them back to back and quilt them together, but am not quite sure I'm up for that.

I had to decide whether to fix that or start over, so I started over.  And, I like the final better.  Unfortunately, that's in my studio floor, taking up all the space I'd normally set the iron up in to proceed with the borders.  Because it's a pandemic, y'all and I get to have three projects laid out in the floor at one time if it makes me feel peaceful and distracts me even the least little bit.  Anyway, over half the squares have been sewn into blocks and it won't be a day or two before I can stack them up with relative confidence that I can lay it out again later to finish.  

I was picking up and straightening this weekend and realized I'd never posted a picture of the finished  black granny square afghan.  It needs blocking and somehow, I thought I'd get to that before I posted a pic.  But, it's too hot for that here now, so it got folded up and put away with all the other afghans.  Just looking at it makes me sweat.  

It took all week, but we found a border fabric for the feathered star quilt.  It plays well with the burgundy and it has some movement and it works with the multitude of background fabrics.  It was perfect and it took me 30 minutes to put away all the fabrics I'd pulled as possibilities.  The burgundy is a dyed fabric, not a print.  And, that's where the blog title comes from.

I put it in a sink of hot water and let it soak and when I pulled it out, the water was red.  So, I did it again and again and again and the water never seemed to get lighter.  I went to the internet and asked and people suggested soaking it in water that had 1/4C salt and 1C vinegar.  So, I did.  And, no more color ran out of that piece of fabric.  Of course, then I got greedy and ran and grabbed three more dyed red fabrics and dropped them in.  In the two rinses that followed, the burgundy didn't bleed, but the reds did.  I was discouraged, but noticed that each rinse of the reds got lighter and lighter.  I suspect that it was because I hadn't been rinsing them all day like I had the burgundy, and they still had dye to rinse out.

Flower pictures...yay!  This time of year, all I can do is keep everything watered.  I shocked my dwarf potted fig and it dropped most of its leaves...dangit!  Because I couldn't keep it watered.  Hopefully, I fixed that yesterday.

This is a balloon flower.  I wanted to take pics of the bloom as it formed.  You can see where it got its name.  This is from 2 days pre-bloom, one day, 10 minutes and then the bloom popped.  I just happened to be there to see it.

This is what it looks like fully open.

Sydney's hibiscus are still blooming.  Peach,

red,

and Amazing!!!  This one is as big around as a bread plate and I just stare at it in awe.  Her next place will likely be an apartment, so not much chance she'll be taking these large pots there.  Doesn't bother me.  Now that they're starting to put on a bit of a show, I'm glad to have them around.

We went to JoAnn's for the border fabric on Saturday.  Rob wore his matching shirt and mask and of course, in a fabric store, everyone noticed.  He got a lot of attention that he passed on to me.  He also picked out fabric for another shirt.  I swear, I can't take the man in that store without me needing buttons.

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100, 93, 86, 79, 72, 65, 58, 51...it's not that hard.  It's certainly not the test they give to prove whether you're a genius or not.  And, it certainly doesn't prove anyone is stable.

Most worrisome thing of the week is what I think is about to happen to the economy, and the orange nazi sending federal troops into an American city.  That's some messed up stuff there.  If he can send in troops to quell what he calls violence in one city, he will think he can do it in every city.  That is one step closer to dictatorship.  If the orange menace can, he will.

Everybody have a great week!  I'll be here sewing and knitting and watching hummingbirds.

Lane