Month: June 2013

Julie has the Best Batiks

I got two Recchiuti boxes of windmill pieces last week from Friend Julie. I think I have mentioned that we are cutting for each other and doing the same shape this time.

Windmill patches from Julie
Windmill patches from Julie

She really has the best batiks. Almost all the pieces she sent to me were batiks and I really like them. I didn’t photograph all of them; just a sample of what she sent.

In the course of putting them away, I realized that I have to find another storage container. I crammed these into the current containers, but no more will fit.

I use plastic scone containers that I get from Whole Foods. I am out of those storage  containers. I’ll have to stop at Whole Foods and get some more scones. 😉 It is a requirement since I can reuse the containers to hold my quilt patches.

Sketching #194

Creative prompt response #194: Grow
Creative prompt response #194: Grow

I am still behind, but not as behind as this photo appears to indicate. I have a backlog of CPP responses to post, though I have been slowly responding. My problem is that I would rather respond and post them in order, but I get stuck on one and then don’t want to move on to the next until I have finished the problem prompt. I really need to try and get over that.

Did you see the original prompt? Take a look and create your own response.

We are talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Sketching #193

Creative Prompt Response #193: Fresco
Creative Prompt Response #193: Fresco

We are talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP.

Take a look at the original prompt and then create your own response.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Creative Prompt #214: Dance

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Disco dance

dance of life

tango

dance card

rhumba

waltz

Ballroom dance

So You Think You Can Dance?

Dance Magazine

Ballet

dance attack

dancewear

Dancing with the Stars

National Dance Association

Definition: “Dance is a type of art that generally involves movement of the body, often rhythmic and to music. It is performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression, social interaction, or exercise, in a spiritual or performance setting, and is sometimes used to express ideas or tell a story. Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between humans or other animals, as in bee dances and behaviour patterns such as a mating dances.”

dance hall

Dance Moms

hip hop

dance-a-thon

dance moves

Dancer (reindeer)

Irish dancing

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.” ? William W. Purkey

Ring Around the Rosey

Wives are people who feel they don’t dance enough. –Groucho Marx

Thoughts on Color & Composition

I got sucked into Anna Maria Horner’s blog the other day as I do when the VIMH#1 wants to come out to play. I was reading about the death of her mother, then her latest pregnancy and found a post about composing a quilt for one of her daughters. She writes

“That particular Kokka piece on the right above not only captured almost the entire palette of the quilt, but the print itself feels like a patchwork so I left it in large whole blocks.  I considered the direction I would orient the piece for a while though, in other words, what colored edge of the piece would be adjacent to what other piece of the quilt.  When you have a single piece that varies so much within the print, this becomes pretty important, and that decision can really take the whole composition in various directions.“

I am especially interested in the line where she writes “I considered the direction I would orient the piece for a while though, in other words, what colored edge of the piece would be adjacent to what other piece of the quilt. ” I agree that this is important and she says it so well. This concept or idea has been on my mind since I began working on those tiny 4″ Sawtooth Star blocks. I wrote about it in an early Star Sampler blog post. I wrote “I want the stars to be crisp and I don’t want the colors of the fabric in the stars to bleed into the background.” It is the same idea, though AMH takes it a bit farther in that she is using larger pieces and going with the way the fabric is colored in informing her composition.

While this may be a small thing, I find it often important to think about whether fabrics are bleeding into the background and whether I want that look. If your composition wants the fabrics to merge, you can get a soft, smudgy look. It is easier to blend fabrics into each other when they are already merging into one another.

If you want a crisp look, it is important to make the background very different from the foreground pieces. The forethought will make the piece look crisp and defined.

 

T-shirt Quilt, Finally

T-shirt panels
T-shirt panels

I started this quilt a long time ago, so when I pulled all of the t-shirts out last week, I wasn’t sure where I was or what to do next. The top photo shows the pieces to use as a start.

I had already trimmed off the colors, cuffs and backs, so I trimmed the other t-shirts in prepartion for interfacing them. That was a trip down memory lane. The small sizes of the shirts are hard to reconcile with the giant boy-Young Man who lives with me now.

I spent most of the day on Saturday trimming the t-shirts and pressing interfacing onto the back of each t-shirt panel. I chose a grey pebbly print that I bought before the Young Man was born to make the shirts a uniform size. After sewing sashing to a couple of the panels, I found that that technique was not working for me. I decided to just fill in between the panels. I had thought about sashing each panel and making little stars as the cornerstones. I am not sure it is going to work, though. I think I just need to fill in between the t-shirts and have stars quilted into it.

T-shirt panels
T-shirt panels

When I cut the t-shirts, I was forced to cut them all to a different size based on the design on the front, which is the main part of the quilt’s design. Looking at the all the designs and brands, while working through this process, made me think of the Young Man’s interests and how they have changed. I do think I will offer to make him another t-shirt quilt to encompass his current t-shirts, which reflect his current interests. However, his size won’t change as much during the 4 years of high school as it did during the K-8 period.

In a way, this quilt is about the fabric. The stretchy t-shirt fabric. It is not terrible to sew once the interfacing has been applied, but the cutting is tricky. I also find that sometimes the design sticks to my sewing table as I sew.

I really thought I had more t-shirts, but I guess I was brutal about the ones I chose. the Young Man also wore a lot of plain colored t-shirts as he got older, which are not interesting in a t-shirt quilt.

I almost didn’t cut up the Winnie-the-Pooh sweatshirt (dark blue, lower right) as it was so adorable and I remember chasing after the Boy trying to put it on him when he was super tiny. There are bits of schmutz on some of them, but I guess that just means they were used and well loved.

T-shirt quilt, after the weekend
T-shirt quilt, after the weekend

The boy came in and looked at the layout Sunday afternoon, as I was working on it. He liked what I had done so far. He did, however, ask me to remove the Blue’s Clues t-shirt, so I will put that one on the back. It is probably a good thing as my design wall is full and I would like to keep the size of the piece to the size of the design wall.

The bottom photo is what I ended up with after working most of the day Sunday on putting the piece together. I am particularly proud of the section with the smaller pieces (middle right).

I feel like I made good progress.

Dark Blue Cat Bed

Blue Lion Cat Bed
Blue Lion Cat Bed

After trimming all the t-shirts for the Young Man’s t-shirt quilt, my scrap bag was overflowing. The cat beds don’t take long to put together, so I sewed the pieces up and stuffed the bed with shards of t-shirt material and cotton scraps. My scrap bag is nice and clear now and the cat bed only needs a bit more stuffing.

I can’t make the next meeting either, so Kelly and I may meet downtown to exchange stuff for the meeting. The cat bed is heavy, however and I don’t want her to have to haul it around while at the Exploratorium with her daughter, so I may just mail it to Amanda.

Look for the pattern and information in this previous post.

FOTY 2013 – Late June

Fabric of the Year 2013-late June
Fabric of the Year 2013-late June

I am still cutting squares for FOTY 2013. You can see a lot of the squares from the Round Robin piece in this group.

I was trying to put the squares in color order, which is a good exercise. It is also hard if you are working with what you have rather than being able to select specific colors to fill in. I did pretty well, but was having trouble with the pearl Bracelets purple. It is so dark.

See the last group.

Round Robin Start

Round Robin Start
Round Robin Start

I wasn’t able to attend the meeting last weekend, but got my start to Kelly and she shepherded it to the meeting and to the person who will work on it.

She has given my piece as well to the person who will work on it. I put it in a bag I made a few years ago as I thought it would be nicer than a plastic bag or a cardboard box.

I included one of the small books Maureen made for me for thanks last year so that people could write their thoughts somewhere organized.

As I thought, I used a group of fabric I bought at Birch Fabrics a few years ago. They are definitely older fabrics, but favorites of the modern set as well. I hope I haven’t embarrassed myself by the fabrics I chose. I added a few others to add interest. On the off chance someone bought the same group and made a quilt from it, I wanted mine to be a little different.

I can’t wait to see the piece that I get to work on.

Sketching #192

Creative Prompt Response #192: Flourish
Creative Prompt Response #192: Flourish

This response brings up a lot of questions for me, not the least of which is what is a guy with a cape and a feathered hat doing in a modern city? Is it a modern city?

Again, I am not sure I succeeded in this response, but I do feel like I am stretching myself, which is a good thing.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Sketching #191

Creative Prompt #191: Flashing
Creative Prompt #191: Flashing

Have you seen the original prompt? I have been responding to the prompts, but not posting them. Since I have not been sewing much, I have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for posts and voila! You get a prompt response.

I made a mistake on this one overlapping some of the background with the foreground, so the flashing light is not highlighted.

Live and learn.

Enjoy the process.

I am trying to make those my mantras.

Creative Prompt #213: Boat

sailboat

Brooklyn comedy sketch group

canoe

Poem: A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky by Lewis Carroll

A BOAT beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July —
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear —
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream —
Lingering in the golden gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?

boat ramp

kayak

USCG Office of Boating Safety

gondola

Don’t rock the boat

motorboat

Fishing boats

Banana boat song

speedboat

wooden boat restoration

Row, row, row your boat

raft

Let’s go boating!

 

punt

toy boat (say it 3x really fast! toy boat toy boat toy boat)

yacht

longboat

crew

watercraft

logboat

boat builders

Definition:  “A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland (lakes) or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a vessel small enough to be carried aboard another vessel (a ship). Another less restrictive definition is a vessel that can be lifted out of the water.”

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to  post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

26 Projects – June Update

I know. I didn’t post an update in May. My last update was in April. I don’t think I finished anything (as in NOTHING) in May. Sad, really. I blame it on all the travel. Yes, the travel.

Finished 2013 Projects:

  1. Corner Store: Finished on 1/1/2013 YAY!
  2. The Garden. Finished on 1/5/2013 YAY!
  3. Stepping Stones: Finished on 2/14/2013 YAY!
  4. Fabric of the Year 2011: Finished on 2/27/2013 YAY
  5. Calm: Finished on 3/14/2013 YAY!
  6. A-B-C Challenge: Finished on 3/31/2013 YAY!
  7. Petrillo Bag*: Finished on May 5, 2013 YAY!
  8. Super Secret Project #1: Finished on June 13, 2013

Other non-quilt Projects finished

-5 donation Pillowcases

Still WIPs

  1. Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances  is working diligently, though I know she feels frustrated with the foundation pieced block. I think part of that is because she is left handed and I am right handed. I finished the foundation piecing tutorial, along with my block for this part of the class. I am not giving up on her.
  2. The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though I did think about working on it. I hope that counts for something. I really do need to get back to the quilting. I am still a little mad at myself for making such good progress and then getting sidetracked. I thought quilting the Whole Cloth quilt would get me back in the swing of quilting, but apparently not.
  3. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. Mrs. K. gave me more PP fabric and I won some from a giveaway. I still think it is a sign that I need to work on this. Leaders and enders.
  4. See: needs satin stitching. Small, also a possibility for finishing. I really have the feeling I came so close to working on this project this month.
  5. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. I like the piece, but don’t know where to go from where I am. Mouth? Hair? The attitude I need to have is that I can’t ruin it; there is always more fabric.
  6. Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much.
  7. Flower Sugar Hexagon: I thought about sewing more hexagons together. Although not difficult, sewing Y seams is a bit of a chore, so I get tired of doing it after awhile. I could, perhaps, use leaders and enders to get this piece moving?
  8. Young Man’s t-shirt quilt: have cut up the t-shirts and am still in the process of applying fusible.  He reminded me again this week that I need to finish that quilt, so I pulled some of the t-shirts with fusible backing off the pile and put them on the design wall for inspiration. I also fused the interfacing to a few more t-shirts and think this project may not be so bad. I may have gotten some mojo back for it. Some of the t-shirts from when he was much smaller are so little and adorable.

Ready for Quilting

  1. Original Bullseye: At the quilter
  2. New:* Wonky 9 Patch: needs basting, quilting and binding. Not on original list
  3. Infinity blocks: blocks sewn together into a quilt top, borders on. Back and binding made; ready to be quilted.
  4. New:* Sparkle Pink – At the quilter.  (not on original list)
  5. New:* Swoon – At the quilter.
  6. Spiderweb: Top is together, binding is made. This is at the quilter.
  7. New:* FOTY 2012: top, finished, though I can’t decide if I need a quilting border. Back and binding are complete; I am waiting to take it to the quilter.
  8. New:*Star Sampler: Top finished, back and binding finished. Ready to go to the quilter (not on original list)
  9. New:*Fresh Fruit: Top finished, back and binding finished. Ready to go to the quilter (not on original list)

Please note that even if you combine the two lists above, I do not have 26 projects on this list anymore. I have made progress!!!

In the Finishing Process

  1. New:* Super Secret Project #2: Back from the quilter. Sewing on binding.

Abandoned

Nothing so far for 2013

Hunting and Gathering

  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
  • Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering.
  • Stepping Stones #2 using Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.

Last update for the 26 Projects List. Read it. There’s some interesting stuff there.

I thought you might want to take a look at the first list I made, the one with the 26 Projects. I started the list in October 2011. I have made progress. I plan to stop this post when I have no more projects from the original list to write about. I wonder when that will be?

*New – Project started after I started working on the 26 Projects list

Donation Pillowcases etc.

Donation Pillowcases
Donation Pillowcases

Not enough doing good this year, so I am working on changing that. I have been out of town so much that I am also slacking on cat beds, though I may be able to remedy that this week.

These are the pillowcase fabrics and parts that I found lurking in the [never ending] stack of fabrics I have been ironing. As you can see that pink/plaid flamingo fabric I discussed on Twitter has a starring role.

I pulled out a black with a grey background and cut it up for another 16 patch block donation quilt. I am using orange as the alternate squares. I may punch it up by adding blue squares as well. We’ll see how much of the right blues I have. I hope to make that into a top, and make the back by the next BAMQG meeting.

Vintage Tuesday #5

I am tempted to tag these posts ‘Old Junk.’ I haven’t done it yet, but I am thinking about it.

Starry Starry Night
Starry Starry Night

I must be on some kind of roll with my old quilts. This is Starry, Starry Night. Again, it is a 1990s project and I believe it was a round robin by mail project. Who can remember?

Aside from my Mariner’s Compass center, I really like the border that looks like it is half in the black and half in the grey.

I am almost sure this is one of the last, if not the last group project that I worked on.

I thought of it after I decided to play along with the BAMQG Round Robin.

 

What I wrote on my website “This border exchange quilt is owned and was completed by Jaye A. H. Lapachet. The quilt was started in 1994 through the Q-XCHG Listserv. It was completed in 1999. Participants in the exchange were: Debbie Atkins, Leslie Burnette, Rosalie Freudenberger, Jaye Lapachet, Dianne Morelock, and Amy Lobsiger. Machine quilted by Laura Lee Fritz.”