Simply Squares Series

In January I decided to try to make 40 donation quilts this year. I began making some Simply Square Quilts - a checkerboard of 8" squares. (Pieces were cut at  8.5" by 8.5".) I was trying to use up lots of leftover fabric. This turned out to be a quick and easy way to use larger fabric scraps. These are the 17 quilts from the series.

Blue with Paint

Turquoise with Yellow 

Bright Yellow with Colored Circles 

Blue with Colored Circles on White

Pink with Many Colors 

Teal Squares with Big Dots on White

Black with Colored Dots and Orange

Red and Blue with White Dots

Black with colored Rings and Yellow 

Orange with Black Print 

Bugs 

Stars and Pink 

Red and Blue with Colored Squares

Red with Paw Prints 

Stars and Blue

Black with Colors and Teal 

Black Crayon Print and Red 

Update and Finishes

Ray is doing well. He still has almost 3 weeks of restrictions, so the time does seem to drag for him. We do have another interesting development here. While we were in Shawnee National Forest in May, I had a tick attach itself to my leg. At least my doctors think it was a tick. It was encased in a blood-like sac when I found and removed it - I never actually saw a tick. A week later I had a full body rash but not the typical bull's-eye rash. I was given meds for 5 days and the rash cleared. Thirty-five days after the bite, I had a blood test, the Western Blot Lyme's Disease test. All was negative. On August 20, I saw my dermatologist for my yearly body scan. He asked about the tiny spot on my leg, so I told him my tale. He found it interesting and after asking more questions, he ordered another Western Blot. And this time it was positive! More of the same meds but this time for 21 days. I didn't notice any symptoms but since starting the medicine, my neck isn't stiff in the morning, my back doesn't hurt as much and I'm not crazy tired so maybe I did have symptoms. Who knows?! Life is never dull around here! 

 

I've been putting up produce - zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and potatoes - but I have found time for finishing some quilts.

 

Take Five with Crazy Fabric uses the 'crazy' fabric that I once used for a quilt backing, along with 'plain' fabrics that coordinate.

I quilted this with a large interlocking figure eight.

The backing is a multicolor with all the right colors.

This is another donation quilt.

Size:             48" by 60"
Thread:         Glide 50-wt, Lemon Ice #80607
Batting:         Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:        Interlocking Figure Eight

Simply Squares - Stars and Blue uses the same star fabric that was used for Simply Squares - Stars and Pink. It is also a donation quilt.

The back is soft muted colors.

I think you can see the quilting in this photo.

Size:             56" by 56"
Thread:         Glide 50-wt, Baby Blue #30290
Batting:         Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:        Large String of Loops

Green and Orange Squares is a donation quilt that uses a green print from my late friend Colleen, and orange from my stash. This is not part of the Simply Squares Series - these are 5-inch squares rather than 8-inch.

I bought the green backing in July at Inspired to Sew when we were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, visiting family.

Here's a closer view:

Size:             41" by 46"
Thread:         Glide 50-wt, Lemon Ice #80607
Batting:         Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:        Interlocking Figure Eights

Simply Squares - Black with Colors and Teal is another donation quilt. 

The backing, a black multi-color print, has been in my stash for a long time. I decided it was time to use it.

Size:             56" by 56"
Thread:        Glide 50-wt, top - Lt. Turquoise #32975 

                     back - Shadow #1BLK3
Batting:         Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:        Large String of Loops

Simply Squares - Black Crayon Print and Red is the last Simply Squares Quilt! I must figure how many I made this year. 

This donation quilt has a black and white backing that I recently purchased.

Size:             56" by 56"
Thread:        Glide 50-wt, top - Ruby #70187

                     back - Bone #17443
Batting:         Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:        Large String of Loops

I have less than 10 quilts in the need-to-be-quilted pile! I know at least 2 are not donation quilts. Lately, my quilting is either machine quilting or binding. One of these days, when the piles are at manageable sizes, I'll start piecing again. There are a few older projects that I'll enjoy working on, and, of course, I have more ideas for new quilts.

A different kind of week and a finish

The last few days have been interesting?. Ray had back surgery on Friday, August 7. The surgery was scheduled much sooner than expected so he had a flurry of doctor appointments. When we thought he was finally ready, we found out he needed one more test. The hospital scheduled it late on Wednesday, August 5 and all went well. Earlier, we decided it made sense to just stay in Madison from Wednesday until after the surgery. That meant Thursday was a free day.

Our first stop was Olbrich Botanical Gardens. The Blooming Butterflies event was going on so we enjoyed lots of butterflies.

The flowers inside were gorgeous and I loved the colors of this one.

I think I enjoyed our time outside in the gardens even more than seeing the butterflies. I absolutely loved the water lilies. I don't remember seeing so many colors/types of lilies - I only took pictures of a few.

We enjoyed lunch at the Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton, WI. We always enjoy meals there. They are known for their pie (we passed this time) and the staff all wear shirts about pie. One I've seen often is I 8 𝝿 (I ate pie). Our waitress was wearing a shirt with 10-🚦𝝿 (the stoplight only had the green light colored), Any ideas? When I asked and she said it was Spanish, I knew there was a reason I'm learning Spanish! Tengo 𝝿 or I have pie.

Last stop of the day was Blue Bar Quilts in Middleton, WI. I left a travel machine to be repaired and found backing for four quilts. The first backing, a black and white print will be used for the quilt tops on either side of it. 

The second backing will also be used for two quilt tops.

It was nice to find backing fabric that I could use for more than one quilt.

I finished the binding on this quilt Thursday night, so I have another finish - another Simple Squares donation quilt. Simply Squares Red with Paw Prints is made with some colorful paw print fabric left after I used it to back a quilt.

The backing is a turquoise fabric that matches the turquoise paws.

I used a larger double loop motif to quilt this.

Size:        56" by 56"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Linen # 10WG1

                back -Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Double Loops

Ray had to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM Friday. He was the first surgery for his doctor that day. All went well and we were on our way home about 2:30 PM. Now he has a lot of restrictions for a few weeks - no bending, no lifting, no twisting, no exercise except walking.... I'm jealous of his ice machine - I never had that for my back surgeries. It is so nice! He has some pain but he also has pain relief for the nerves that were pinched. He's doing well but will be taking it easy for a while. 

It's been quite a week and I am glad this one is behind us. Maybe I'll be in the sewing room a little more this next week.