Flaming June, Tidy Up, Quilt Backing

 Something in the news made me think of this painting below. 

This is Leighton's Flaming June. I used to have a magazine picture of this in an old journal back in my early days. Do you like the colour of the dress, the way the folds are painted, the shiny sun/sea (?) behind her head? I know artists would practice a lot to paint fabric folds correctly. I used to think her knee and upturned arm were not quite right length wise. Now with Wikipedia I can read that the artist struggled to get the positioning correct. I love the fabrics and how they are rendered here. Do you think the three colours...coffee/amber brown, dusky burgundy and that flaming orange (just what would you call that colour?) of the dress would be a good choice for a quilt?

From the sublime to the ridiculous... :)

And folding fabric was what I was doing a lot on the weekend. Truthfully the sewing room had been turned into a real mess with fabrics all over the place. I had pulled out a lot to find backing material for the Rainbow Houses, blues for the Courthouse Steps and brights for the butterflies. But before cutting and stitching anything, I made myself clean up, which as you well know, feels great when done. I listened to this documentary on secrets of bumblebees.

And I subscribe to 60 Minutes Australia which features a wide range of topics so endless amusement.

Anyway, for the Rainbow Houses backing, I've sewn together long strips of the colours shown here. The colours are orange, yellow, light blue, red and that daisy printed blue that I've had on hand for ages. Feels good to find a use for it and getting started on the quilting itself is a goal for this week.

I also wanted to gather darker blues for the Courthouse Steps and organize them a little better than the far flung method I had been using. I don't have that many choices in my stash.

But the beauty of Courthouse Steps is I can go through my scraps and use up any of the blues there that would suit size wise.

Upshot of that organizing bit is- instead of little piles spilling over all around, I need to check out storage containers and get one for each project on hand. 

Missed chance to capture the white tailed deer down by the pond. I thought I was being very quiet but they alert so easily.

I had hoped to be stitching on the veranda today after a week of uncomfortable heat and humidity stopped me. But today we have the smokey air back again. Very unpleasant and so worrisome for the devastation these uncontrolled fires are causing. On the news I saw a firefighter from France who is in Quebec to help out say he had never witnessed such forest fires in his life.  Flaming June indeed!  

Linking up with Quilt Schmilt, Wendy's Quilts and More, Quilting Patchwork Art and Alycia Quilts.