Summer Art Quilt (and Journaling)

I'm almost ready to start work on designing my summer art quilt for 2025, which will be the pink-only Art quilter's bingo challenge quilt (say that ten times really fast, ha.) I usually make what I like during summer, as it's my favorite season and I tend to indulge myself, even with new projects. Projects I make from challenges or patterns, however, put me a bit more on edge. This t-shirt quilt turned out to be a bear to piece and quilt, but it's also become my favorite quilt to snuggle up with.

I also really like how challenges inspire me. Making this quilt out of a one pound bundle of vintage fabrics chosen by someone else pushed me to consider how to use lace as fabric, with lovely results.

My last one-color art quilt challenge helped me get over my hatred of yellow, so it's good for me (I still dislike it, but I'll use it now, versus completely avoiding it altogether.) I've had a long and unhappy history with the color pink, which I associate with dolls I didn't want that were gifted to me as a child, and several other awful experiences. Working with pink even as I gather materials for this project makes me think of Pepto-Bismol. It's time I faced my dislike and reclaimed this color for myself. So I am looking forward to it.

Finally, as I write this post it's May 26th, and it won't publish on the blog until July 24th. I'm way ahead of myself, and since I want my online presence to reflect my present, not my past or future, I'm going to start doubling up on posts if I have something I want to add to my journal. It will be tough -- I like having that eight-week bumper if I run out of things to talk about -- but I always have things to journal, so that's silly. It might help me to be a bit more spontaneous, too.

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Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Make It Yourself

As we head into December, here are ten ideas for easy handmade gifts: Cookie Exchange: If you live close to your friends invite them over for a cookie exchange. Basically everyone bakes a set amount of their favorite cookies, and these are exchanged at the gathering by lottery, sharing a little from each batch with everyone, or however you want to do it. You can also exchange recipes, too. My neighbor did this once and it was wonderful. Favorite Recipe Cookbook : For my favorite person I found a copy of my favorite cookbook from a vintage bookseller (yes, I am that old) and went through it making notes on all the recipes I used, how I tweaked them, etc. Ornament: There are probably a million free tutorials on how to make your own holiday ornaments, so do some research online. I like to make hanging pomanders , which smell heavenly and are biodegradable after the holidays. Mug Rugs: If you sew, making up a set of mug rugs is simple and easy; I add these every year to my ...

Rayen

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