Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I had to make another Carpenter’s Wheel block. I just had to do it.
I worked on it on Sunday after making HSTs and Flying Geese on and off during the week.
I wanted to make it to add the HSTs that I forgot on the 1st block.
I may exchange the patch in the very upper right hand corner as I think it is too dark – or too contrasty or something.
I am not done sewing this one, so you’ll probably see it again. I am pleased with the scrappy low volume look.
My last batch will make a cohesive quilt. This group less so. I had one leftover from the previous batch. When I returned home from the meeting on Saturday, I decided to cut up some cream and green squares for a background and make more donation blocks.
I pulled out a small bin of 2.5″ squares that I cut up for donation quilts a thousand years ago and began using those to make more squares. There is a lot of blue.
The blocks are interesting. They aren’t as cohesive, as I said, but they make an interesting group of blocks. I don’t know that they will all be put together in the same group.
I have more to make.
Another thing I did on PlayDay was to cut up my Ta Dots fat quarters into 10.25″ squares. I did this in anticipation of making half square triangles. As I did that cutting, I took the opportunity to cut up a lot of FOTY 2015 quilt rectangles.
I am not planning on letting these patches lay around all year next year. I am working on cutting pieces I need for various projects from the yardage I have pressed and plan on working on this piece early in the year.
Note that I said “plan”. We’ll see how it goes.
This plan was set in motion by my need to cut a lot of different fabrics for the HSTs and Flying Geese I needed for the Carpenter’s Wheel. The Ta Dots HSTs were an added bonus. Getting fabric off of the ironing board has made me feel like I am making progress, even if I am just cutting.
The black and white stripe at the bottom is one of the stripes that will be used as the other half of the HSTs.
I haven’t posted a Design Wall Monday for awhile, because there is no point in posting a boring design wall. I don’t think you should look at a boring design wall.
2. Stepping Stone block. I just put it up there for inspiration and because I like these blocks.
3. Most recent FOTY patches
4. Newest donation blocks
5. 3rd Carpenter’s Wheel block
6. 1st Carpenter’s Wheel block, which looks more like a quatrefoil
7. 2d Carpenter’s Wheel block
8. Donation blocks in process
I think my design wall looks quite cheerful at the moment and that pleases me. What project is on your design wall? Leave a comment with a link to a picture of your design wall.
I am linking up with the Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara.
Meet Henry IV.
Yes, I have made another softie owl and also called him Henry. It could be confusing, but think of those Tudor Kings. There were bunches of them. Wait until I make a Henry VIII. I’ll have to put something on him to reference the old king.
There is something about these owls that makes me think of them as Henry. There is also something about these owls that I really like.
I had worked on the mosaic pieced brown for awhile and finally had a large enough piece to make another softie. On my Playday (what I am now calling the day I sewed the Carpenter’s Wheel) I also worked on Henry IV. It was just a whim and it panned out.
I am not done putting blue on the inside of the wings. Not sure why I like that so much, but it seems right.
This time I had real problems following the directions. I am not sure why, but my Henry is together and sits up very well. I stuffed him with schnibbles again except for the weight that keeps him up.
This will also go to a friend after I am finished having him decorate my sewing table.
Posts about the Henrys:
Henry I
Henry II
Hhhmmm – no Henry 3. I guess I’ll have to make one later. Oooops! I should have checked before I named Henry IV. Oh well.
I was anxious to get the Octagon 9 Patch back up on the wall. There it sat for a few weeks and now I have taken it off the wall again. I couldn’t get all the blocks up on the wall anyway and I wanted to use the design wall for the Carpenter’s Wheel.
The exercise wasn’t completely useless, because I got to look at the pieces for awhile. I really have a lot of warm colors in this piece. I like that it makes the quilt feel warm, but I wonder if I need more cools. Also, as Julie said at one point, the solids do look a bit like holes. I think I can mitigate that by having Colleen quilt in each one.
Also, in realizing I couldn’t put all the blocks up, I figure out that I needed to count the blocks and decide on the layout. Sounds stupid, I know, but I always think the piece will just come together. It would if I had an infinite design wall, but I don’t so I have to count.
I had a brilliant idea after deciding to count, but not wanting to count only to have to count again in a week because I forgot the number. I pinned the blocks together in groups of 10. Yay! or DUH! depending on how daft I feel at the moment.
Snowball blocks: 110
9Patch blocks: 111
Without really trying, I have a very similar amount for both types of blocks. Perhaps I counted before?
Now comes the math. I have to figure out how to lay out the blocks – basically starting with a nine patch or an octagon is mostly what I need to figure out.
The other thing I was wondering is if I need to put another row between each row.
taxi medallion
Definition: “A taxicab, also known as a taxi or a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice. This differs from other modes of public transport where the pick-up and drop-off locations are determined by the service provider, not by the passenger, although demand responsive transport and share taxis provide a hybrid bus/taxi mode.
There are four distinct forms of taxicab, which can be identified by slightly differing terms in different countries:
Although types of vehicles and methods of regulation, hiring, dispatching, and negotiating payment differ significantly from country to country, many common characteristics exist.” (Wikipedia)
Yellow Cab
Etymology: “Harry Nathaniel Allen of The New York Taxicab Company, who imported the first 600 gas-powered New York City taxicabs from France in 1907, coined the word “taxicab” as a contraction of “taximeter cabriolet“. “Taximeter” is an adaptation of the French word taximètre, coined from Medieval Latin taxa, which means tax or charge, together with meter from the Greek metron (??????) meaning measure.[1] A “cabriolet” is a type of horse-drawn carriage, from the French word “cabrioler” (“leap, caper”), from Italian “capriolare” (“to jump”), from Latin “capreolus” (“roebuck”, “wild goat”).
The taxicabs of Paris were equipped with the first meters beginning on March 9, 1898. They were originally called taxamètres, then renamed taximètres on October 17, 1904.[2]“(Wikipedia)
cab fare
A natural analogue to angles and trigonometry is developed in taxicab geometry.
“Taxi Cab” song by TWENTY ONE PILOTS
Checker cab
United Taxicab Workers – CWA
Taxicab Industry. In the United States, there are approximately 6,300 companies operating 171,000 taxicabs.
Taxicab Confessions
Taxi ( TV Show 1978–1983)
The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Board of Directors established an Advisory Taxicab Committee in September 1994.
Taxi Driver (1976 movie with Robert DeNiro and Jody Foster)
cab driver
taxicab with the doors open. A phrase used to describe a person who’s ears stick straight out from their head (at about a 90-degree angle) (Urban Dictionary)
In mathematics, the generalized taxicab number Taxicab(k, j, n) is the smallest number which can be expressed as the sum of j kth positive powers in n different ways. For k = 3 and j = 2, they coincide with taxicab numbers. (Wikipedia)
The A-Team: Season 2, Episode 7 The Taxicab Wars (1 Nov. 1983)
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 get familiar with your blog or website.
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.
We are also talking about this on Twitter and Instagram. Use the hashtag #CPP
This third tally runs hard on the heels of my last Christmas Pillowcase update. I won’t keep you guessing, if you didn’t read that post. I finished the task I set out for myself. I am finished with the Christmas pillowcases.
Here is the grand total of what I have finished:
TOTAL NEEDED: 3
Again, I AM DONE except for the mailing.
Yes, this is the week of lists.
To Do List:
To see the 26 Projects Lists, which list quilt WIPS, visit the October 26 Projects update. August’s To Do List has a couple of changes, which is heartening.
**New this time
Done in 2015:
The other day I watched a Fons & Porter episode that had been saved on my Tivo. Deb Tucker was the guest and she was making the Carpenter’s Wheel block (quilt project is called Country Fair). She has updated the pattern to make quicker work of the piecing. I stopped the recording and gathered up pen and paper, drawing out the design as the show went on. I do that sometimes as much for the opportunity to draw as to remember a pattern I might want to make. I think the stars and lots of pieces made this block catch my attention.
The top drawing has a lot of mistakes, so I made the bottom drawing as the final, even though it is much smaller.
I really like Deb Tucker. She is smart, sensible, confident, excited about quiltmaking and doesn’t simper. I have her Flying Geese ruler and like the way it works. I haven’t watched any, but she has a lot of videos on her website. I may have to go watch a few. TQS has a recent episode with her that I’ll have to watch as well.
On the show, they use a ruler called the Square2 ruler, which Deb Tucker designed. They use it to make the Diamond Square units. I didn’t really want to buy the ruler before I could make the block*. I really just wanted to see what the block was about, thus the drawings.
I also took a photo of the block off of the TV. I didn’t think it would come out as well as it did. It is a good reference and they don’t have a good photo on the F&P website.
I am not a really big fan of the fabrics used, The look of the piecing offered enough interest for me to soldier on and fabrics are easy to change.
If you look at the block and break it down, it is not that difficult. There are squares, HSTs and Flying Geese. Change that Diamond square unit into two Flying Geese and there is absolutely no scariness.
It occurred to me that I could make one block and have it be part of the low volume challenge at BAMQG. I could make the one block into a cushion cover or something. I decided to try out one block. Not sure what, but something grabbed me and I wanted to make this block. Not a quilt. One block.
By my estimation it had 82 pieces and, once sewed, turned into about a 16″ block when finished. I decided to use the low volume mini-charm packs I bought at Quiltwork Patches in Corvallis, Oregon. I got a pang of fear and that fearful voice in my head started whispering “what if you need them for something else??” I ignored the voice, opened the packet and began to lay out the block.
There is JOY is using something right away or nearly right away. I am not sure there is joy in saving things for later. I’ll have to think about that and report back later.
On Saturday, I made it. I reveled in the the piecing. I ended up making a version of what I saw and drew. I forgot some HSTs.
As I said, there are a lot of pieces in this block and, thus, there was a lot of cutting I had to do. I used some of the 2.5″ squares I have been cutting for the Goodnight, Irene pattern I plan on making, but haven’t started. There is always more fabric to cut, right? I used the opportunity of using the Flying Geese units instead of Diamond Square units to mix up the fabrics even further.
So, it is a version. I like it, but I forgot those HSTs. I am not bothered by my mistake as I like what came out. I like the cheerfulness and the scrappiness. I just want to see the block as Deb Tucker made it, but in my fabrics with the low volume background. That means I am making another. Just one more block. Perhaps another cushion cover?
A couple of worries: do I have the low volume concept down? Is it ok to have a low volume background and a bright and cheerful foreground?
and
The mini-charms aren’t washed. I didn’t smell anything when I pressed the parts as I made the block, which was good. I don’t have a rash, which was also good.
*It looks like Deb Tucker will have a booth at PIQF, so I’ll have a chance to check out the ruler sometime at the show.
I finished the last Christmas pillowcases. Hooray!!! I just sat down and did a bit of sewing one day. I had about an hour so I only finished a couple, then I finished the stragglers a few days later. Voila! I am done.
The two Dear Santa Pillowcases are some of my favorites. On the left will go to Raymond, the SO of my 3rd oldest nephew and the right will go to the actual nephew. I hope they don’t look too girly.
I really like the sense of humor that Cotton & Steel has with some of their designs. I also like the 50s look of the design. I am waiting for some Christmas designs that include the Shiny Brite ornaments I like so much.
The blue lights pillowcase is similar to the white lights pillowcase I made the other day. This will go to one of the middle nephews (so many nephews!!!). I think the lights might be a little smaller, but I am pretty sure the fabric is from the same line as the white lights pillowcase.
I have more fabric and am tempted to make more pillowcases, but am going to hold off. I had some fun just doing some tests the other day and want to keep that feeling alive.
Now, guess what I am worrying about? Packing up and mailing all of these things out to the Niece-phews! Sheesh! I have over a month and can do it a little at a time.
I finally got down to cutting some fabric, especially working on the pillowcases last weekend. You can see all sorts of different projects in this group. This is a good thing as it means I am actually using fabric. Yes, there are some fabrics that will go into the stash. I am working on using fabrics. I really am.
I did the last bits of the binding on Field Day Zipper on Friday Night. It is finished. I should hold it for the BAMQG meeting, but I want to get it off to the recipient. It is a nice quilt and I hope she will like it.
I showed it at CQFA and people really liked the Sangria background. I was and wasn’t surprised. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
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 get familiar with your blog or website.
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.
We are also talking about this on Twitter and Instagram. Use the hashtag #CPP
Definition: “an implement, container, or other article, especially for household use.” (Google)
“Utensil may refer to:
fork
EcoSecurity Utensil (ESU) offers solutions for safety and humane treatment where utensils may be misused.
knife
Based in San Francisco, Utensil Recordings releases artist singles on vinyl and digital downloads. Our musical focus is the underground dance floor.
spoon
implement
writing utensil
utensil tray
Trongs – finger food utensil (who knew?)
spork
Boon ModWare toddler utensils
The Vision 1321/1327 Cart and Utensil Washer/Disinfector is a high-capacity mechanical washer intended for use in the efficient cleaning of reusable items.
Improve your customer’s dining experience with your custom Utensil Buddy™ …
Foam Padded Utensil Gripper
“Evident Utensil” song by CHAIRLIFT
The History of Eating Utensils – California Academy of Sciences
Last Defense Utensil Wipes allow you to eliminate 99.9% of germs and bacteria found on what you may think are clean eating and drinking items.
Compostable Utensils
Utensil Welding Gun (Lego)
The Russian Rubix was accepted into the New Quilts of Northern California. I had to drop off it off this week and took the time to make the drive to New Pieces yesterday. I could have sent it, but decided that if I went sometime late morning – mid-afternoon I could miss most of the traffic and it would be less hassle than cramming it into a box and sending it.
I did my normal morning routine and then headed out.
I don’t go over there that often. The bridge is such a barrier, for some reason. I didn’t grow up with bridges and when I was in college I thought nothing of crossing the bridge every weekend for some adventure. I brought a sandwich just to be on the safe side. 😉
I was pleased to go to New Pieces again. It has been while and, after I had been there for a few minutes, turning in the quilt, I took some time to look around the store. I was really impressed with the selection of fabrics. They had so much fabric – more fabric than I have seen in a shop since I went to QuiltWorks Northwest several years ago. I distinctly remember practically tripping over bolts as we walked around at that shop. It wasn’t quite that bad at New Pieces, but there was a lot of fabric. There was fabric that I had never seen before, which I LOVE! They have lots of Asian fabric, which is not my favorite, but it was more than I had ever seen before.
I was trying to be strict with myself about fabric purchases since the ‘fabric cup’ in my workroom runneth over. I did find a couple of fabrics – one I never expected to find and the same motif in a different colorway – that needed to come home with me. I also found a grey and a fabric for a gift.
The shop is large and they had a good selection of notions, rulers (Creative Grids), books and thread. It was great.