Blue on Blue

Yesterday morning we went to the Beaverton farmer's market. The market is getting more and more colorful as the summer vegetables and fruits come into view. We were in and out pretty quickly since we got a front-row seat in the parking lot. It was just a few quick steps into the market where we had breakfast and then made a mad dash through the throngs to find the veggies we wanted. I'll tell you more about that in just a bit.

Right now, I'm more excited to tell you that the quilting gods were smiling on me yesterday. As I said in an earlier post, I was a little worried about quilting with blue thread on top and white thread in my bobbin. Before starting on the quilt, I stitched a test patch, and the tension was perfect! Well...I could scarcely believe my eyes, and so I ran it around through its paces several times and on a couple of different test strips just to be sure. 

Still not really believing it was going to work, I started quilting the blue border of the To the Rescue quilt, and holy fat quarters! Success! (Polishes fingernails on shirt.)

From there, I switched to a red variegated thread, and that's where I'll stick for the remainder of the quilt. My next job is to quilt a diagonal grid into the parts of the main design that haven't already been quilted. When I first considered how to do this, I was going to stipple in the larger patches and save the grid for the smaller checkerboard areas. After spending some time looking at a picture of the whole quilt top, 

I decided to extend the grid into all the unquilted areas. The quilt will be more flexible for it, and the design continuity appealed to me. The bottom third of the quilt is finished now, and I'll probably get the rest finished today.

That's not all I did yesterday, however. My planned project for the "Let's Book It" challenge has been on my mind. This "Blushing Aspen" table runner from Frieda Anderson had me running for the hills a few months back when I realized those leaves were inset rather than applique. I could have done them with applique, but instead, I settled on a different project.

Now that I've learned a nifty technique for insetting almost any shape you want, I'm ready to give it another try. This project is from this book:

The book provides a pattern for one leaf in one size. If you look at the table runner in the picture, you can see that the leaves are many different sizes and shapes. To do that design, you need to first create a template from the tiny one in the book by enlarging it 500%. The right side of the image below shows the template as it appeared in the book.

The FedEx (formerly Kinko's) employee was kind enough to help me enlarge it. It was rolled up in a tube, and so I have it weighted down in my sewing room to relax it flat again.

By doing this, I have templates for all the different leaf shapes and sizes.

It seemed like a good time to audition some fabrics. The orange and aquamarine are "for sures". The background was a little harder. I spent some time on the internet looking at gradients and ombres, but couldn't really find anything I liked any better than the fabrics currently in my stash. First I tried this one:

And then realized I didn't have enough. So then I tried this one:

I actually kind of like that one better. I can use the first one on the quilt back.

These fabrics were companions in another quilt...the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines. This quilt was a BOM kit that included fabrics. I didn't like the fabrics she chose and ended up using only the fabric for the background of the stitcheries. Even at that, I used the wrong side of the fabric. For the rest, I selected my own.

In the image below, you can see the block borders where I used the two in question. The pinkish silk came with the kit.

So, there's lots on the sewing agenda right now. But first...salsa! I have five pounds of tomatillos for making salsa verde (a new recipe this time around), and five pounds of romas for making tomato chutney. I made that for the first time last summer, and we've eaten every last bit of it. Time to make some more.

I hadn't planned on getting tomatoes at the farmer's market, but the romas were so pretty, I couldn't resist. Five pounds of tomatoes will take you to paradise. The three tomatoes in the lower right are from our own plants, but they're not quite ready to use. Nevertheless, our own tomatoes are starting to turn red with gusto now, and it won't be long before I'll be putting them into some canning delight.