What I Found in the Leftover Bin

'America was built on inefficiency.' ...The price for efficiency was paid by the bookstore, the hardware store, the sporting goods store that closed on... main streets all over America. These stores had helped to build their towns. But, compared to Amazon, they were all inefficient.

~Brian Alexander, The Hospital

Quilting

Do you recognize these blocks? There are leftovers from three different quilts. The center, of course, are the absolute last of The Square Deal blocks. Intellectually I wanted to do something else with these blocks. They were going to be a border until I pulled the second set of blocks. Those were the row from the first attempt of Optical Illusion. Now the first set must be the center {again} and I couldn't find an arrangement I liked better. 

The four photos below highlight some of the ways I laid them out. While there's a little wonkiness because they aren't sewed together, most of the serration comes from the four different lengths of the Illusion {border} blocks. 

Four possible border layouts

In the end this was my favorite choice. Opposite sides have the same block lengths - long on top and bottom and short on the sides. Two medium-length blocks turn each corner. And the square blocks in the corner? Those are the last four blocks from our #AHIQStringTulipQAL. How's that for using it all up?

You can also see in the first photo some of the fabrics I considered to make the center cross but in the end chose a blue and white stripe. It's a whole yard so it was difficult to cut into it and use less than half. 

Square Deal 3 with final border arrangement

Quilters build supplies over time. Whether stash or scraps, we are always attracted to beautiful fabrics and simply must keep them around. Additionally, many of us keep sample and extra blocks from previous projects. {Sometimes I think the smart quilters donate all this stuff.} I save/collect all three of these categories but I have less patience with the crowding they create in my sewing areas. Hence, my constant efforts to sew them up and move them out. What do you save and how do you use it? Or do you? Do your savings inspire you or weigh on you?

FUR (Fabric Use Rate)

No finished quilts this month so it's still 59 yards this year.

Reading

This pair of books is an interesting commentary on current medical care in the US. The Emergency written by Thomas Fisher, MD, recounts the difficulties of care and paucity of resources in poor sections of Chicago while The Hospital by Brian Alexander reprises similar problems is a rural Ohio town.  Personally, I think undermining the Affordable Care Act shows tremendous lack of concern for all Americans. We are not living in the 18th century and every person deserves some level of health care. If we don't provide it collectively, we will never be able to afford it individually. Both books could start conversations about our future as human beings. 

Enjoy the day, Ann