Forward Progress

Sometimes forward progress seems maddeningly slow, other times there is a great big fat creative burst of energy. Today was somewhere in the middle of those two. I had a morning sewing session that produced 10 new units of Cheddar Bow Tie blocks, that were all cut from scratch. What made it extra fun is that I had started cutting up some already-prewashed fat quarters into 2 1/2" strips for the qvwashedswappers bonus strip swap that is due October 15th. After cutting the strips for the swap, I found that I had plenty enough left over to make some 2 1/2" and 1 1/2" strips to make the squares for my bow ties. One task just flowed seamlessly (? hmmmm) into the next. Now my basket of bow ties is 250 strong, and that is even not counting the 20 that I sent off to Connecticut on a swap!
I confess that I am still kinda dragging my feet to finish up all those 448 Half Square Triangles for my Blue Ridge Beauty. So today I pulled down my shoebox and did an updated inventory of how many I DO have made. I figure that concentrating on the posititive is always a motivation-builder!

I made about 20 more of them and then was very pleased that my final tally for the day was 365! That's only about 80 more to do! I'm winning!

And once again, my clothesline is all aflutter with dreamy florals in beigey tawny pinks and sagey greens. I will definitely need to shop my stash for some darker notes to give better contrast. I'm thinking of using these winnings from my guild's Penny Sale in another Chain of Faith quilt by Jo Kramer as featured on Moda Bakeshop (http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/03/chain-of-faith.html).
I still very much dislike the turquoise with orangey reds and a lot of white that seems to be all the rage right now, so I'm bucking the trend and going my own way.

As I work along, I am using 2 1/2" lights and darks sewn into four-patches as my leader/enders. I have already amassed over 60 of them! I love the way they worked on my Pawprints quilt:

But I recently came across the Double Four Patch at Maryquilts.com (http://www.maryquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Double-4-patch.pdf) and I want to try that pattern, too. I'm still playing around with whether or not to use greens as the anchor color.

My guild has a lovely tradition of buying a couple of dozen very large potted crysanthymums wholesale to use to decorate our show. They look and smell delightful. At the end of the show, those people who were work committee chairs and co-chairs each take a mum home as their "thank-you" present from the guild. I was co-chair of hanging and was delighted to claim this silvery pinky-red mum.

With today's near-record temps of 79 degrees, I needed to water it and I did. I hope to enlist Matthew's help to plant it at the far right-hand end of the new hydrangea bed that he put in earlier this summer. It would go right about where Raven is standing here:

It's hard to see her black outline as she proudly holds a windfall peach in her mouth. Yes, my crazy dogs love peaches! LOL!