Summer - At Least in My Studio

Charleston is once again thawing out of an ice storm - twice in two weeks is just too weird.  Although I grew up in Colorado, I have lived in the South for nearly 30 years so I think my blood has thinned.  I don't really like cold weather anymore!

For two days I sweated as the lights flickered (I have way too much sewing machine work to do to be without power) but we were lucky and had light and heat the entire time.  Friends nearby weren't as fortunate.

I worked on Bloom as the icy rain fell.  In my last post I estimated about 2 hours to finish the flower - was I way off.  It took nearly 2 hours just to pull the threads from all the stops and starts!  I probably have closer to 3 days of stitching.

Once again I struggled with the marking of the background of the quilt.  Finding a marking pen that I can see and that will come out easily is becoming like a Holy Grail search.  Any ideas?

I still need to put on the facing, sleeve and label and need to decide if any of the centers need beading but I am pretty satisfied.


Once again I am linking to Nina~Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday to show my progress.

Progress

Slowly the Quilt in a Box is getting finished.  I have almost all the blocks sewn together - only a little bit of hand work on the back.  I have also quilted some of the sashing.

I got a little tired of black and white and gold - so the back is something - shall we say - completely different.

Each fabric is part of Mark Lipinksi's Home Elements line - one of my favorite tone on tone fabrics.  They no longer produce it and I had a devil of a time finding enough different colors to make a very vibrant back.  I think I succeeded.  I need to finish sewing the forth row from the top together - a good Downton Abbey project.

Now for the borders.

I have also been able to make some progress on Bloom - another 2 hours or so to finish the flower and then the background.  

Two weeks and  12 hours until the quilt show turn in - not that I am counting.

Again I am linking to Nina~Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday.