Little Lala ~ Sew & Tell - 8/31/26

We stand at the cusp on the end of another month!  The "ber" months are around the corner, and it seems that many in the northern hemisphere are ready for the change in the calendar and the change of the seasons... a new chapter of sorts.

Which brings to my mind my Bookish Journal Quilt.  While I've continued enjoying the audio books, the disruption in life had prevented me from spending much time in the studio... and the precious time spent there was focused on finishing my Little Lala Irish Chain Quilt.  But I'll hold those thoughts until after this week's randomly Sew & Tell feature...

Vicki at Vicki's Crafts and Quilting shared two scrappy finishes but this one in particular captured my attention.

The scrappy plaids in a non-traditionally sized block offset with the ivory background is very appealing to me.  

I get a masculine vibe as I look at it, and I imagine that it will have a very soft feel to it.

Some quilters may get hung up on the challenge of having the plaids appear perfectly straight and square... I, however, am not intimidated. ;)  It adds to the charm.  I have added this quilt design to my file of "to be made" quilts and already think that a flannel backing would be ideal!

It would be a good pattern for another jelly roll project. ;)  Be sure to stop over to see the other finish that Vicki shared. 

Life in the house with a basement in chaos... continued.  We had two guys show up on Tuesday and Wednesday for a few hours each day.  They were here "in between" jobs as they waited for parts to arrive for the other jobs.  

We have the condenser unit in place outside and the wiring ready to hook up.  The furnace is in place with the cold air return attached and one major trunk of the duct work in place.  We anticipate their return next week... though we have no idea when. :(  But when they do return it shouldn't take much longer to have the job completed.  Woohoo!

As I stated earlier, I finished my Little Lala Irish Chain Quilt and am so happy with it.  I am glad that I made it so that I could practice the quilting design on it.  The outlining of the patchwork was straight-line quilting, but without the walking foot.  I treated it as ruler work... without the ruler.  FMQ the short distances from corner to corner was easy.  Follow the link above to see the video that shows how I did it.

I did figure out that I should have quilted the outline of the setting squares first.  Not a major problem, but after examining Lala's original quilt, I saw that quilting of the patchwork blocks never touched the stitches of the setting squares.  I needed to do a little bit of removing stitches to achieve the same look as the original.  The latest post of the sew along can be found here... this week we are sewing the blocks together to assemble the top, ready for borders.

I am now ready to begin quilting my larger quilt when I get some Aurifil thread... I tried some others, but it just was not working out to.my satisfaction. :)  So, before starting that I thought I would catch up on the 9-patch blocks for the Booking Journal Quilt.

I listened to seven books throughout the month:

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

The Unselected Journals of Emm M. Lion by Beth Brower

The Star Garden by Nancy E. Turner

Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly

Between Your Heart and Mine by Buck Turner

The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus

Finding Our Forever by Brenda Novak

I didn't offer a summary on all of them yet... Link provided for those I did summarize.

The Star Garden was the third of a series.  I've not read or listened to the previous two and don't feel as though I missed anything important to this book.  The diary entries of a pioneer woman tell of Sarah's story as she struggles to make a home in the Arizona Territory during the early 1900s.  I particularly enjoyed it because I am familiar with the location and the college campus in Tucson where Sarah was able to pursue a higher education.

Between Your Heart and Mine was a short romance of two people that loved, lost and then found love again.  I enjoyed the evidence of healing that occurred in the story.  I'm a hopeless romantic, what can I say? ;)  I would consider borrowing more books by Buck Turner.

The Vengeance of Mothers was the sequel to One Thousand White Women.  The story continued with a new group of women that arrived to be married to the Indians.  In all honesty, I didn't find it drawing my attention and I didn't make it all the way to the end of the story before my loan period was up... I had less than 90 minutes left.  I'll call it done anyway.

Finding Our Forever by Brenda Novak is a harlequin romance.  I've read two other books by her and enjoy her storylines that include adoptions in some manner or another.  I skip the Rated R sections... they really don't offer anything to the story.

Now that I'm "caught up" I can offer more attention to Lala's Irish Chain and the final stories to be included with the sew along.  I so deeply appreciate each one of you as you embrace the stories I share.  I feel like each of you could be an honorary member of the Teegarden family!  I've loved the questions and the interest in both the sew along AND the stories.  Thanks for the encouragement and support!

Encouragement is so easy to offer and give... It can be a simple smile, a quick phone call or text message or email to someone that has been on your mind or a hand-written note.  Snail mail is one of my favorite ways to receive encouragement.

When was the last time you received a meaningful piece of mail?

Have you mailed anything lately?

Goodness, the cost of postage is crazy, but I still like sending postcards and notes in the mail.

The most recent item I've had in the mail was a Roxanne thimble that was sent by a fellow quilter in a fb group.  She had been given a collection of fabric and notions that included the thimble.  It didn't fit her and she gave it away.  After a few questions, I thought it might fit me... turns out it did not.  However!!!! I discovered that Colonial Needle Company now manages the sales of these thimbles and offered free exchange for the proper fitting thimble. I received the new thimble and am just waiting to find the perfect project to hand-quilt and try it out!

That's all for now...

Keep Piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather at Shabby Art Boutique

Home Matters at Modern on Monticello

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