Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
In between everything else, I made a few more donation blocks. Next year, I might write one big post on donation blocks and publish it at the end of the year. I am sure you might be more impressed with a big selection of blocks than the ones and twos I tend to post.
Doing Good
Help Sonoma County quiltmakers recover from losing everything. The Santa Rosa Quilt Guild writes on their website: “We are so grateful for the outreach by the quilting communities in California and throughout the country to help us recover from the effects of the fires in Sonoma County. Your heart and generosity are a perfect expression of what we quilters do. Calls for fat quarter donations through Facebook and Instagram were an unexpected surprise.
While they don’t ask for them, I would send NEW tools and supplies -rotary cutters, rulers, mats, thread, pins, Wonder Clips, sewing machines, machine needles, and other notions and supplies that a quiltmaker needs. If I had lost my home I would want to get sewing again ASAP. Of course, they might all be super busy.
Happiness Is A Warm Quilt is seeking donations of bed-size quilts (nothing smaller) and pillowcases for children affected by the fires. The Quilt Show has a blurb and some links. You can find them on Facebook or contact Happinessisawarmquilt@gmail.com.
As a reminder, there are lots of opportunities to provide some comfort to those in distress. Take a look at the post from the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild, calling for blocks and quilts. Also, Quilts of Compassion is collecting quilts for Houston.
The Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt uses a ruler I have heard about called the Folded Corner Ruler. This is by Antler Quilt Design. I wasn’t sure what ‘folded corners’ were so I watched the video on the Fat Quarter Shop website. I realized that I could use this for the Triple Star. Of course, I only have about 20 more of these types of units to make, though. However, you know how I love rulers. 😉 You can buy this at the Fat Quarter Shop, Amazon (yes I get a piece) or on the Bonnie Hunter site . It is out of stock everywhere, except on the Antler Design site. Some of the sites are not taking pre-orders. I did see some other rulers that seem to do the same thing when I was surfing around.
Other Artists
Have you seen Mr. Domestic’s butterfly?
I was very sad to hear about Nancy Zieman’s death. Her obituary is posted.
Carrie Bloomston is offering creative life coaching phone (or FaceTime) consultations on Mondays and Thursdays in November. The sessions are 55 minutes for $95 (+ $5.25 WePay fees). You’ll pay via WePay through the Sign-Up Genius form below. (All times are listed in Mountain Standard Time.) Email questions to info@carriebloomston.com and sign up online.
I had an unexpected day of sewing on Sunday. Mom and I were scheduled to visit her quilt show, but she was called on to act in her Presidential Duties at her church. I was sad not to see her, thought glad to avoid the 2+ hour each way drive. My long commute has prevented us from getting together regularly and that is hard. Mom and were able to catch up for a few minutes on the phone and that was nice.
I sewed instead. I sewed A LOT.
One of the projects on which I made progress was the Triple Star blocks. I have made all the blocks called for in the pattern. After taking Sarah’s class on Saturday, I have a different idea of the layout and may need to make more to get the right balance.
The pattern calls for a straight set – 4 down, 4 across. After Sarah’s class, and after thinking about the layout of the Stars #3 Donation quilt, I want to do something different, more interesting.
I did a quick layout with three quarters of the blocks, which resolved my uncertainty. I like the asymmetrical idea, though I realize that I may need a few more blocks for the upper left and lower right hand corners.
Even if this particular layout (definitely without the toes) will not be the final layout, I am on the right track. Using Sarah’s technique, I be able to cut exactly what I need to put it together.
Saturday I took a class through BAMQG with Sarah Goer. Sarah is a GREAT teacher and her class, Planned Improv, is fabulous. I liked it, mostly, because it was a design technique that I can use beyond the class. It is a technique that could be similar to using Electric Quilt, but sometimes I need to sit down with graph paper and scribble.
I went to class thinking that I would expand the technique and use it for one of the Niece-phews quilts, if it worked out. I had one nephew in mind, so I brought reds for the foreground and dark grey for the background. I thought I could make a pillow cover for a gift if i was not willing to commit to making a quilt using the technique.
The technique is great. Mary C asked me where this technique had been all her life and I wondered the same thing. Another thing I liked about this technique is that it isn’t quite improv, but it is not a buttoned up pattern either.
I am pleased with the way the block came out. I think it has potential for becoming a quilt.
The block is 25×24, so I don’t have to make many of them to have a large lap quilt. I have some squares cut, so I can make another block soon.
I made a little progress over last weekend, after fixing my Oops. I was able to take down the bottom quarter of the quilt top and put up the pieces for the top left quarter. In addition to the three rows you see in the image, I have two more rows to sew to complete half the quilt.
I know I am getting ahead of myself, but I am excited to see the progress of this quilt. It is really a lot of piecing. The result is fantastic, from what I can see so far, but it is taking a long time to piece.
The half rows I am piecing have 75 units to sew together to get the 6 block half row. I say units because I have already pieced the units together. Each blue star has 32 pieces and each pink star (not the border blocks) has 24 pieces. I am glad the units are all pieced, I have to say.
I was hung up on the Triple Star project because I needed to cut a few more pieces. I couldn’t seem to get to it. It seemed like a good thing to do over the weekend while I was home fighting off a cold. Wielding a rotary cutter isn’t always a good idea when taking cold medication, but in this case, all the cold relief was minor.
I got the pieces cut and was back in business making Triple Stars in between putting En Provence together.
I finished n.12, which had been in process for a few weeks. I was also able to finish a second.
I am finally making progress on this project again. Three more blocks and I can put the quilt together.
A few weeks ago, I went to a conference in Monterey. For many reasons, Monterey is one of my favorite places and October is a great time to visit. I was fortunate that the weather was fantastic and I took some beautiful photos. You might see more from this trip later.
I walk a lot and a path I was on gave me a great view of the pier and the Bay. I decided to use this for my next ColorPlay. What I expected was bright colorful palette.
As usual, the default palette was neutral. Might be a nice palette for a new house.
This one got a little better with the addition of the Cobblestone. I tried to doctor the palette with the addition of a more turquoise-y. Couldn’t do it. My photo just didn’t have the turquoise.
I decided to embrace the neutrals. This one is almost all grey with a blue-grey thrown in to liven things up.
The next neutral palette is a darker one. The Kona Spruce and Kona Stone is a really nice combination in the palette above.
The Kona Teal and Kona Everglade look similar, but are just a little bit different. Everglade is a tiny bit lighter. The gold adds a slightly different look. More like the day right after sunset.
I felt like I exhausted the options of this picture despite the promise, so I left the number of palettes at five.
I whipped up another pillowcase to send along with the Walker Bag to Friend Julie. I forgot to take a photo before I sent it off, but she was kind enough to oblige.
The fabric is some that I bought at PIQF on a whim. While I intended to think of something fabulous and special to make with it, it seemed right to use it for this particular pillowcase. I definitely made it for a fabulous and special person.
I am pleased with how it came out and I have little piece left for the FOTY 2017.
My knitting needles were barely cold before I cast on a scarf for the YM. I want him to have one as well. Almost as soon as I finished the Cosmic Wonder Dust scarf, I started his.
He thought the Madeleine Tosh yarn was a little rough (he is very kinesthetic and also very tuned into the way things feel). At PIQF, I bought some wool and silk yarn from Thread and Ewe. It is Avalon yarn by Round Table Yarns – 50% superwash merino and 50% silk, DK weight. Even though I was annoyed at the “DK weight” – clearly designed for experienced knitters – I was eager to try it out.
The fibers are not as tightly wound (spun???) together, so I have to be careful not to knit only part of the strand as I progress along the row.
Like the Monarch scarf, this yarn is slippy, so the stitches tend to slide off the needles if I am not careful. While I cast on to straight needles, I am knitting with some circular needles and the line between them is a bit short, so I have to be careful.
I really hope this yarn is soft enough for the YM.
As if I didn’t have enough piecing to do on En Provence, I had to spend some time un-piecing and re-piecing. It happens, I know, but I was pretty annoyed with myself when I realized my error.
The alternate blocks that are on the interior of the quilt have a half square triangle at each corner to keep the chain that zigzags across the quilt whole.
Does that block look like it has four HSTs? One at each corner?
No.
The question, then, became could I live with the error or did I need to unpick?
One consideration was that I had already sewed that block into the quilt. If I could live with it, I could save a lot time. However, the block was only sewn on two sides, so I wouldn’t have to rip apart much of the quilt.
However, I noticed it because the chain was broken, so clearly the error was noticeable.
Also, I would be short of four patches.
I decided I couldn’t live with it and fixed it. I am happier now.
I finished the Cosmic Wonder Dust scarf last Thursday! Yay! Now I have all of the scarves finished for the kids uh, young adults who helped the YM during his cast phase. They are not wrapped or boxed or mailed, but knitted is a good place to be.
This was made with Madeleine Tosh Chunky yarn. This yarn was a little different than the ones I used for the Lichen and Nighthawk scarves. it is Madeleine Tosh Chunky. It knitted up faster, though I didn’t have as much time to work on it. Good thing it was chunky yarn. The unexpected part is that it is not as long as the others. I should have bought three skeins, but didn’t. C’est la vie.
I can’t always stop when I start and pillowcases are like candy. I had promised the YM a couple of pillowcases for his housemates. The pillowcases are popular among YM and his pals, because of the high quality fabric.
My promise and the call for pillowcases for Sonoma and Napa fire victims got me in gear. In addition to Bento Box and Chocolate Box pillowcases, I made two more. I also made the requested case, a skeleton pillowcase and a Little Green Men pillowcase just because I love the Little Green Men.
I made the LGM pillowcase for the YM, but told him he could give it to his new housemate if he wanted. I didn’t want the new guy to feel left out.
You never know when skills/patterns from Sew Days will come in handy. Remember a few months ago when we made walker bags for the folks at a local nursing home? Peggy worked out the pattern for that day. I remembered it and when I found out my friend was getting her hip replaced, I contacted Peggy about a few measurements and made one.
The fabric line is called Alien Invasion. I pulled the purple bins out of my closet and found it. My friend will have to try it out and see if it is practical. I told her I would make another, if it didn’t work.
This feels just like a vision board. Bloomston says “your mission statement is one way to water your grass” (pg.85). I’ll have to believe her and try.
“In this chapter we’ll write a so-called non-business ‘business’ plan — a creative mission statement” (pg.85). In the course of this exercise, she asks us to toss out the “Photoshopped perfectionism” (pg.85) of our creative life. We all know what that is, sometimes called Instagram. 😉 Creative life is not “all tied up in a pretty bow and stylized like a cool magazine lifestyle shot” (pg.85). We “have to start with” our “feet on the earth, even as” we “reach for the stars” (pg.85).
Carrie has a worksheet that will help us envision a creative life. She suggestions that we “look back in our family history” for a “passionate person,” a grandma who loved “to can peaches,” an “uncle who tinkered away in the garage making wooden benches” (pg.86) for inspiration. She wants us to “close your eyes and picture yourself in your creative life. See as many details as you can. Be specific” (pg.86). The worksheet has good and specific directions for filling it out. Photocopy it so you can use it over and over.
You can see the last post on this topic from last week.
Nota bene: we are working through Carrie Bloomston’s book, The Little Spark. Buy it. Support the artist. Play along. There is much more to each spark than what I am writing. The original chapters will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston’s book, so you get the full benefit of her fabulousness! You can see my book review, which is what started this flight of fancy.
I bought this fabric awhile ago in order to make a pillowcase for the YM’s new housemate. It has been languishing until BAM lit a fire under me to make some pillowcases. I bought more fabric at PIQF and from the Fabric Depot. I got inspired.
The first thing I did, after finding the fabric again, was find some coordinating fabric to go with it. Red with an interesting texture. Hope she likes it. I know nothing about this woman as she has never been around when I have visited the YM.
I had enough extra to use some of this fabric as a cuff, so I made another red pillowcase and will use that to donate to the Sonoma and Santa Rosa fire victims.