Watermelon Quilt - Taste the Summer

 

Lovely Summer Colors for The Watermelon Quilt

Too many irons in the fire ...  In addition to planning for multiple simultaneous weaving projects, I am also continuing to plan quilting projects, too.  I just got these watermelon jelly rolls and have been contemplating how to put them together so that the watermelon idea remains intact.

I want to stick with my standard Fuzzy Logic Strip Therapy quilt pattern. It makes me happy, and it's fun to do.  And always a satisfying finish!  ;-)

The 2 jelly rolls include a nice balance of greens and watermelon reds, along with 4 strips of black for the seeds. I thought about using black for the sashing between the blocks, but have since decided that would require too much black and throw off the color balance ... 
 

I have since decided that it would be better to integrate the black seeds along with a watermelon red square -- making them both half the original size.  This would better simulate the size and quantity of the seeds with the overall watermelon.   

The accent sashing should be something lighter -- like the white part of the melon rind.   This is what I finally chose as the accent fabric.  It's a little grungy -- has a touch of green, like a watermelon rind, and a touch of blue like the sky on a perfect day for a picnic.

I took a few watermelon blocks up to my favorite Quilt Shop in Appleton last month and auditioned fabrics for the rind.  This was the clear winner!

The thin inner border can be black, with something that ties it all together for the border --That pink watermelon check in the top picture will be the perfect compliment!

The rectangle with the bit of black for the watermelon seeds didn't quite come out as planned, but I'm going to run with it.  They are a little long to mimic seeds.  I should have worked it so they were squatter and fatter, not running the long part of the rectangle.  But in the overall quilt, this will be perfectly fine.

Even though it's red and green, this is distinctly NOT a Christmas Quilt.  Far from it!  Taste the summer!

Now I need to finish pressing all the blocks, and then trim them up before I can lay them out on the design wall for final assembly. Who-hooh!

Now to prove that we did go out-and-do this holiday weekend ...

 

Sophie at the Water's Edge

Transformations: Quilt Storage Makeover from a Free FB MarketPlace Hutch

 

I've been looking for a hutch or cupboard that I could turn into additional quilt storage. Yes-- I've been making so many quilts, we are running out of storage!   Finally finished it last week, moved it upstairs (That was a feat in itself, but we managed it!), reattached the doors and Voi la!

This is what I started with.  I found this hutch here in town on FaceBook Markletplace a few months ago.  Someone was giving it away for FREE. Yeah!  I'm all for re-using and re-puropsing things to keep them out of landfills.

It's heavy. It has some real wood, along with particle board. It needs a little repair work along the bottom to fill in with repair putty.  And some kids wrote on it with a sharpie at some point--but I can paint over that.   She said it was 40-some years old-- so 1980s era -- vintage now.  Younger than me! And in good shape overall.

What to do with it?  There are so many possibilities -- a blank canvas for surface design!

• Paint it an antique creamy white with some shabby chic/farmhouse scuffed highlights? 

• Wallpaper the back of the inside
• Or maybe those fake pressed tin tiles in copper or silver
• and maybe the inside painted verdigris green?
  

• Green Patina?

• Stencils and gilding paste textures on the sides -- Oh My!
• Swap out the hardware?

That was the brainstorming portion of this post.   I had more pictures from Pinterest and the web, but by the time I went to publish, most of the pictures had disappeared, which  makes it hard to show what I was looking at and thinking about ...

 

Here is the hutch with doors and some shelves removed for the re-habbing work.

 

 Here is is with the undercoat of primer paint.  Not pretty -- but this is just the beginning. And the "real" paint will stick to the primer layer.

 

I painted the inside this "Outrageous" green (not my name for it).  It's a satin finish more durable interior latex house paint from the local hardware store.

 

The white is an Old Linen chalk paint.

 

The next weekend that is suitably warm enough--and hopefully BEFORE lakefly season), I will add the clear top coat over the chalk paint -- after I scuff it up a little bit.  The green will be durable enough to NOT need a top coat.

 

 

 

Here it is in it's rightful place on the landing by the upstairs. 

I am very happy with the way it turned out!  

Complete makeover! 

I thought it might not work here in this place because it's so tall. I was afraid it would block the ceiling light.  It's also hard to get far enough away to get a good photo.

Because it's white, it reflects a good amount of light, so at least during the day, it brings more light into this space.  We are planning to add some year-round Christmas lights for the hallway leading to the bedrooms (off to the right in the photo).

 

And here it is with a few quilts in it -- Just as it's getting hot enough for quilts to come off the bed for warmer weather.

The quilts on the top and middle shelves are sandwiched and waiting to be quilted.  That's also why you see a few books there -- free-motion quilting patterns to go along with them.

 

The quilts on the lower shelf are my disappearing 9-patch (green, black, cream) and the Wandering Geese Quilt my mom made for us years ago.  Both quilts served us well over the winter.

The lower shelves have hand-dyed yarns and bins of scrap fabric left over from other projects.

In other words, things better left unseen.