Hand Quilting, Free Patterns, Fair and Bird Sounds

 I step out on the veranda quite often during the day. Sometimes to smell the air with the hope that it is clear enough (free of smoke) to take a walk. But I always stop awhile and listen. Summer's song is still strong...birds tweeting and singing. Occasional squirrel chitter or blue jay squawk. I tell myself to remember this in winter. My Dad became a little hard of hearing in older age and Mom always said how sorry she felt for him because he could no longer hear the songbirds singing. 

Speaking of which, the Song Sparrows are home building. This one had taken a bath in the bird bath then very industriously went about collecting dried grass bits. I watched it make many trips doing the same thing over and over; it must have liked the particular grass it was finding there between the stones. A heartening fact is that these tiny birds can live over ten years in the wild.

In the sewing room I am pleased with how I've used my time. I've been able to move a few projects forward and as we all agree, every stitch counts. The Rainbow Neighbourhood has been layered up and basted, ready for the quilting lines. I used the thinnest batting I had. Surprising though you can see through the layers in the light.

I really don't understand why the sashing fabric is just showing as white only. Here are the first hand quilting lines where you can see it clearly has enough black flecks to be noticeable.

I'm going to set getting the hand quilting on this done as my July OMG at Elm Street Quilts.

Here again is a photo of the three hand sewn blocks that didn't make it into the quilt. I'm wondering what to do with them.  I spied those leaves on the ground yesterday and they looked so much like the colour of the beautiful girl's dress in the Leighton painting seen here. They were wet at the time and just shone against the greens of the forest floor. I wonder did he take his inspiration from nature.

Commenter AnnetteJ told me this colour is called Saffron. Thanks Annette!

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week is about county/state fairs. Fall fairs are very common in this area of Ontario. In addition to the special rides and food venues, they include farming attractions such as tractor hauls, horse and wagon rides, and various farm animal shows. 

The longest running fall fair in Ontario (with Covid interruptions) is in the little town of Richmond not far from here. I attended it for awhile and older grandson went every year with his dad while growing up. One time when the fair had just started, I was driving him-5or 6 years old at the time, and he asked me to pull over, stop and lower the windows. He said he just wanted to hear the fair. So we sat there while he took in the sounds of the rides, music, folks talking and laughing, animals neighing, etc. Fair sounds are happy sounds that's for sure.

Any special memories about fairs you would like to share?  How about the food? You know I love reading about food. :D

My scraps are mounting and I'm looking about for scrappy projects and that in turn leads me to patterns to share with you.

At Prairie Moon Quilts you will find a bank of  great free patterns. I've marked the Happy Tree block. Shelley is also the writer behind The Life of Hazel Ilene blog that I read and loved. At that post you can find the link to her free download of another vintage style Apple Tree quilt block. Another that uses small scraps and I love it too.

And an aside to this is I embroidered the blocks for Hazel's Summer Wildflowers, a free stitchalong quite a while back; mine eventually made it to a quilt flimsy stage.

 Here is one of the blocks...I loved stitching this- the fancy version as Shelley called it. Here is the link to Block 1. The free downloads are still available!

Hope your week has been a good one and your weekend will be even better!!

Happy to link up with The Inquiring Quilter, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Alycia Quilts, The Quiltery and So Scrappy.