Friday, June 14, 2013

Hot, hot, oh, so hot!

Temperatures are reaching the high 90's and the heat index reaches 110 degrees almost daily.  It's simply miserable out-of-doors, so I've been trying to avoid it.  Of course, sometimes it's impossible. 

Yesterday I decided to help Richard with his gardening: I made him a couple of canvas sacks to use while picking vegetables.  They both have shoulder straps to  free up his hands while picking cucumbers, okra, peas, squash--just about anything except tomatoes. 

Everyone asks if I help him OUTSIDE....well, not much.  I go but this heat triggers my migraines.   Besides, he's a fast picker and doesn't really want my whining assistance.  I mostly stay indoors.

Today I not only stayed indoors, I did a little quilting.  I've managed to finish quilting Angie's string quilt.  That means just binding left.


 I dragged it outside to snap a couple of pictures after the sun had dropped below the trees. I waited for the outdoors to cool off a bit, so it was almost too dark!  The mosquitoes were out, so I had to hurry anyway.  There's really no winning at this time of year.

I decided that since this quilt has so many straight lines, I'd have to do something with curves.  Using a khaki colored thread, I started with the green lines and quilted in long free-form wavy lines from one side to the other, crisscrossing them so that the seams locked together because the spaces are too far otherwise.  I also didn't want to have to work at keeping them even or exact.  Instead I wanted an organic feel to the quilting.


After I completed a section, I looked under the quilt to see if whether I needed additional lines to fill in areas that were lacking. 


Over the blue lines, I practiced a simple diamond grid but forgot to get a photo.   The squiggles are easy and fast, and the quilt is soft and squishy.  

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