Pink!

It's been Pink Month around here. Well, actually just Pink-the-last-few-Days. It took me a long time to get around to the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) color this month. But I finally did it. And it only took a couple afternoons to get my string blocks done. So I'm still on track. Looking ahead to the rest of the colors? It's going to take some discipline to keep making these. Summer is heating up in a lot of ways, but I'm determined to keep up.

At first I thought I might not have enough pink to sew these. Well, not enough pink that I liked. If you look at my drawer, there are a lot--I mean a LOT--of 80's pinks. You know. It seems like every color of the rainbow had gray tones during those years. 

I did a lot of dithering. How far to go in each direction of the color--how corally is a pink before it tips into orange? Or how mauve before purple? Or how dark before maroon? I think this was the first block I made, and I HATED it. 

But then I made more and started feeling better about the whole scrap thing.

I put the little extra color strips in in the order of the RSC colors for the year (so far anyway).

My favorite pinks were the bright clear ones. I resisted the urge to use them all in one block.

But in the end, I had to include some of my favorites in the middle and in the triangles.

And by then, I was perfectly comfortable with even the grayed pinks. I guess that's what scrap piecing is all about. 

Here are the newest blocks with their friends from other months.

I almost forgot to take pictures, but the light yesterday evening was just right on the deck. I didn't think to stage them with my plants, so I went out and took some separate photos because, you know, PINK!

We planted our flowers a whole week earlier than planned because the weather was perfect for it--cloudy and cool. (I am not a hot weather person.) We went and bought the plants and then couldn't resist getting them in the ground and the pots. With our gardening finished for the moment, we took a ride on Wednesday out to the west side of the state with my dad, brother and sister-in-law. We visited three lakes, including Lake Michigan. Because we went from winter to summer in a week's time this year, Lake Michigan water temperature was still in the 40's, but the day was heating up to nearly 80 inland. When the warm air hit the lake, the air temperature dropped to the low 50's and we had a lovely day of sun and fog. Because of the fog, we never really saw Lake Michigan even though we were right by it, and when we went to the smaller lakes nearby, the fog moved around like smoke. Truly beautiful. And in the sun, the temperature was perfect.

It's hard to capture the beauty of fog, but I tried.

Now we are up to the holiday weekend here in the states (Memorial Day), and summer has definitely arrived. Temperatures will get to the 90's. We plan to do some early morning bike riding and then hunker down in the air conditioning. I'm glad we got those flowers planted early. I think I'll enjoy the indoor weather and start my next project. Here are the snippets I cut from the corners of my fabrics before throwing them in the washer and dryer to prep. I have some big deal quilts to make!!

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! on Sunday.

Enjoy your weekend, whether you have a holiday or not!