Nearly No Quilting

Dear readers, thank you for your comments on my last post.  My daughters, grandchildren, and daughter's kittens have been visiting for the past week so my attention has been focused on them instead of creative activities.  I will respond to your comments tonight or tomorrow.

The little quilting I accomplished was stitching around 32 circles.  I was certain I wanted the circles "outlined" but now I'm not sure how to quilt the rest of the blocks. 

Concentric circles in the squares with circles?  But what about the plain blocks?  Or diagonal quilting through all the blocks?  Quilting along either side of and lengthwise through the sashing?  Through the center of each piece of fabric?  Or....?  I love Baptist Fans but there are just so many seams.  I used to think the quilting just held the layers together but now I realize how much it can change the character of a quit.  I want to choose a quilting pattern (or non-pattern) that will enhance this quilt.  I just don't know what it is.

I'm quilting with Americana thread, making larger than usual stitches (those seams!) but not "big stitch" stitches.  The thread was on sale at JoAnn for either $1.00 per spool or two spools for $1.00.  I can't remember which.

I like it a lot, especially compared to quilting with three strands of embroidery floss.  It pulls through so easily and doesn't knot.  Perhaps it's not the best quality thread but it was available.

These are the kittens we've been tending: Lady Jane Grey and Jack Black.  Our daughter brought them for a visit early in the month and, because she had to go home to work seven 12-hour days in a row, asked if they could stay so they'd have company and human interaction.  I like cats but don't love cats the way some people do but I couldn't say no.  They are cute.

They weren't much trouble because they spent their nights and some of each day in our breezeway, though it was a surprise to go out one morning to greet them and find one on top of our 36" grapevine wreath and one nestled into its lower curve.  And I believe they may have tested the patience of our Airedale, Hannah.  They went home with our daughter yesterday.

The ages of our grands are 5, 3½, and 1½.  How fun to see their shoes all lined up after a bath.

All seven of us went to our state fair on Wednesday.  The weather was great -- no rain, low humidity, and not too hot.  I had forgotten how different and fun it is to go to a fair with children.  They're interested in almost everything and want to ask questions, see what's going on, and participate if there's an opportunity.

This is our little 3½-year-old granddaughter.  Before the fair I found a little pioneer-style bonnet at the thrift store.  To that she added the free sunglasses and a cooling cloth draped around her shoulders.  She reminded me of a little grandmother.  And I was thrilled to see that vanity has not yet taken hold.  No worries about appearance for her!

We've had days of rain -- leaden skies, drenched-to-the-bone, need-a-light-on-at-mid-morning rain.  It's beautiful -- I love rainy days -- but they make it hard to choose colors and fabrics for quilts and blocks.

Of course the rain helps the flowers and other plants.  We saw this beautiful garden of zinnias in bloom in front of a home near the farmer's market.  I'm not a gardener but if I were I'd plant zinnias.














Now that our daughters and grands are gone and I have time to quilt, I hope I can quickly decide how to quilt the empty space around the circles in the quilt at the top of this post!

I'm linking this post to Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Myra.

--Nancy.