Color Stories

I don’t know when I first saw the term “color stories.” In one way, the phrase sounds a little bit like keeping up with the Joneses – everyone is saying it, so you might as well say it, too. But after sitting with the words and rolling them around on my tongue and through my head for awhile, I decided that I like what they imply. I like the two words together. I like the pictures they create in my head.

In thinking about the words in our society, it seems to me that there are ‘standard color’ stories that we all understand*. Red and Green generally implies Christmas. Pink and blue denote girls and boys. Red, white and blue usually means patriotic in the US. The French, UK and Australia flags are red, white and blue as well, but I don’t know how they feel about the color combo. Red, orange, brown, when combined, tell us Autumn is upon us. Avocado green, gold and orange [shag carpeting] tell us the story of 1970s remodels. Black represents death here and white represents death in China. Barbie’s color story is pink even with Barbie showing up in stores dressed as a doctor, astronaut and other professionals to counterbalance all drama about her bust size and high heel shoe feet. Apparently, wedding planning includes developing a color story rather than just picking your colors. Seems like a lot of extra pressure. There are other standard color stories that we understand in our society. Which come to mind for you?

To me, color stories mean a group of colors that are saying something (ahem, telling a story). I have always made up stories, so if I let my mind go, what colors say becomes a story. In my head, the story may have characters, plot, the whole 9 yards.  If I don’t take the time I just get an impression of a story that can become more later.

I wonder what happens when standard  color stories are disrupted? For example, I have seen Christmas change to turquoise, silver and pink in some circles. Does that mean those still using the standard red and green are old fuddy-duddies or will they be laughing when the turquoise, silver and pink color scheme goes out of fashion and looks dated?

If you look around there are color stories everywhere. That is one of the reasons I like Instagram. Joyce and Phoebe posted a picture of bowls that I saved, because of the sunshiny-ness of those yellow-orange bowls. They say happy, sunshiny weather to me.

One of the easiest color stories is the rainbow, like the Confetti Dots that Quilting Adventures posted the other day. Rainbows are, basically, easy to use as a color scheme. Perhaps they are not as challenging, because we can get gradations of fabrics, like the Confetti Dots, and we don’t have to put a color story together ourselves

I also think that we have vague color stories to which we default. Bright or reproduction, for example. You know me, I am always encouraging you to make cheerful quilts. What kind of color story is ‘cheerful’? The word makes me think of bright and happy. I never really set down on paper what I thought about making cheerful quilts, beyond no brown and not depressing. I can see that it might be time to move on to more of a story because of some of the questions running through my mind.

House Beautiful Nov 2014
House Beautiful Nov 2014

House Beautiful, yes the magazine, has a small feature called “This Month’s Paint Index”. It is a thin visual list of the colors used in the month’s issue. Looking at that tells the color story of the issue. The November 2014 issue has bright lime yellow-green upholstered chairs set on a bold Blue-Green-Teal cover. It is eye-catching to say the least, but these colors are meant to attract a potential reader’s attention. The colors in “This Month’s Paint Index” seem to be much more subtle, more realistic for use in a real person’s house.

When I see blue and gold, I think of my alma mater, UC Berkeley. When I see red, green and yellow, I think of summer and picnics. When I see pink and white, I immediately think of the colors of my sorority.

In the end, for us quiltmakers, I think that ‘color stories’ are no different than color schemes or a color palette or anything that denotes the interplay of colors in our quilts. The phrase does go a bit farther, though, if we want to add plot, characters and scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Nota bene: ‘understanding’ is different than agreeing with. Also, color stories may be understood by many people, but not universally. Also, color combinations vary by culture.

BAMQG Meeting – Holiday Extravaganza!

I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel for posts and I don’t know why. Too many demands on my time, perhaps? I suspect not enough sewing, but this means you get the BAMQG report ASAP! Aren’t you excited?

Claire told us that the 501(c)(3) paperwork has been put in. That is a ton of work and GREAT news.

Quilty Happenings

  • Amish Exhibit at San Jose Museum Quilts & Textiles. Reception is on 12/7/2014 from 2-4, though SJMQT members and the artists are welcome to a walk through starting at 1pm.
  • BAMQG members have a show up at the Los Altos Public Library through December 31, 2014. It is open during library hours
  • CQFA Members have a show at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library in the Wallace Stegner Environmental Center. I have 3 quilts there! Through April.
  • Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association show will be in March or April and the BAMQG will have a big presence, both in quilts and helping out.

Meetings

  • The meetings in 2015 are all scheduled to be at the Redwood City Public Library Community Room. The one that might change is the December Holiday Extravaganza because of the Redwood City parade that usually coincides with our meeting. Stay tuned on the BAMQG blog for updates.
  • Sew Day: January 3, 2015 at Los Altos Public Library
  • Charity Sew Day: February 2015 at Los Altos Public Library. Probably the first Saturday. Stay tuned on the BAMQG blog for updates.

Events

  • There will be three speakers next year, Stacy Lynn Wood, the lady from Peppermint Pinwheel and another, as yet to be named, national speaker. Buy or renew your membership to join that fun.

There was a prize drawing for the UFO Challenge and I won a spool of Aurifil thread! Yay! I can totally use that. There is a super prize in January and I can’t wait to see what that is. I hope I don’t have to be present to win as I can’t make that meeting.

BAMQG 2014 Swap Items
BAMQG 2014 Swap Items

The Holiday Swap was awesome. I didn’t participate beyond admiring all the gifties.

I didn’t take a picture of the food, but the committee did an awesome job. There are now five of us who eat a GF diet, so there were plenty of GF goodies of which to partake. I had some yummy chocolate thing that Claire made. Yay for chocolate!

After that I just chatted with people. I found out that Michelle S has a blog. I had never spent time talking with her, but we were sitting next to each other and just got to talking. She does a lot of handquilting and doesn’t have many UFOs, which is quite envious, I have to say. She is also using the Hoffman Challenge fabric to make her City Sampler/Tula Pink blocks. I have to say that Michelle’s blocks made mine look terrible. 🙁

I also had the chance to discuss bindings with Annemarie. She has a large hexie made from Kaffe Fassett (and friends) fabric. She was thinking of cutting off the outer hexies and I encouraged her to either fill in the edges with triangles to make them square a la the Eye Spy or to bind them around the outer hexies,  leaving them in tact like I did, sort of, with Flower Sugar. I really wish these designers would stop telling people to cut off their hexies.

Russian Rubix Big Steps

I was making a trip to see my quilter yesterday so all week I made a huge effort to get the piece done. I had to put on the last border, make a binding, and make the back. I slowly made may way through all the steps a few seams at a time and was able to get the quilt to a place where it was ready to quilt.

Final Corner, Final Border
Final Corner, Final Border

The first thing I accomplished was the final border. I am pretty proud of these borders. I did have put a spacer in on two sides to make two sides fit, but I really feel like, as April Rosenthal said, I have mad math skills. Really, I don’t but it was nice of her to say and it is a nice thought to consider since nobody who knows me would say math is a strong point for me. 😉

In the process of the last border, I did have to make more blocks. I forgot to make the last two corner blocks when I was making the last border blocks last weekend (I think??). I think I was distracted by the Black Friday Sew-in Google Hangout. I was trying to do something rather rote so I could pay attention to what the others were doing, but apparently I can’t count, sew and Hang Out all at once.

Russian Rubix Top Finished
Russian Rubix Top Finished

The back and top are too large for me to photograph on my design wall, so Friend Julie and Colleen were kind enough to hold both up when we brought it over to Colleen’s to be quilted.

I was really pleased with the photo (despite being taken on my phone), but also with the way the quilt came out. The spacers don’t really show up much and I think the top looks really great.

We talked a lot about the quilting. It will be quilted in Signature Thread in the Cotton Candy colorway, which is a variegated that gets used on my quilts a lot, because it blends with my fabric color palette pretty well. I also chose bamboo batting this time, because Colleen said regardless of the density of the quilting, the quilt will still be drapable. This might be a bed quilt, so drapability is good. Also, I have been wanting to try bamboo.

Russian Rubix Back Finished
Russian Rubix Back Finished

The back went really well. I used a big piece of IKEA fabric that Kelly got for me. I thought I had 6 yards, but think I ended up with three, thus the piecing of the other part of the back. I used up the background fabric and most of a half yard of the barcode fabric, plus the stitch purple to add a little width and provide some distinction between the two halves of the quilt.

The stitch purple is a bit of a precious fabric and I was reluctant to use it lest I need it for a ‘better’ project, but I decided I didn’t want to use ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’ fabrics for the back because I still have to look at the back and I want the back to be nice, too. And, of course, there is always more fabric.

This is a big project and it is finally finished. WHEW!

Creative Prompt #287: Parrot

Macaw

Parrotheads

Parrots International is a non profit organization promoting international cooperation for conservation of endangered parrot species and improving the lives of pet parrots.

Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Definition – “Parrots, also known as psittacines /?s?t?sa?nz/,[2][3] are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes,[4] found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoidea (“true” parrots), the Cacatuoidea (cockatoos) and the Strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots).[5] Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere as well. The greatest diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia.

Characteristic features of parrots include a strong, curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. Most parrots exhibit little or no sexual dimorphism. They form the most variably sized bird order in terms of length.

The most important components of most parrots’ diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. A few species sometimes eat animals and carrion, while the lories and lorikeets are specialised for feeding on floral nectar and soft fruits. Almost all parrots nest in tree hollows (or nest boxes in captivity), and lay white eggs from which hatch altricial (helpless) young.

Parrots, along with ravens, crows, jays and magpies, are among the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade, as well as hunting, habitat loss and competition from invasive species, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds.[6] Measures taken to conserve the habitats of some high-profile charismatic species have also protected many of the less charismatic species living in the same ecosystems.[7]” (Wikipedia)

Parrot Virtual Machine

The Parrot Confectionery

Priceless Parrot Preserve educates the public about exotic birds and gives a permanent home to abused, mistreated, and unwanted exotic birds.

Parrot Flower Power Channel

The Parrot Imports

Parrot Cay Resorts is tucked away amidst the crystal-clear waters of the Turks and Caicos

Parrot drone AR.Drone 2.0

Parrot Bluetooth hands free car kit

Parrot virtual file system “speaks” a variety of remote I/O services include HTTP, FTP, GridFTP, iRODS, HDFS, XRootD, GROW, and Chirp on behalf of ordinary programs

Parrot Magazine covers all parrots and parrot-like birds, including reader stories, articles covering breeding, behavior, and health care.

 

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.

Dream Projects #3

As I said in the last post, projects I have wanted to do for awhile kept springing into my head and I really needed a place to put them. I realized that once I cleared out my head, there was more space for other stuff. Guess what happened? More new projects popped into the free space in my head.

I am still not dating these posts, I will just continue to number them. I still like the idea of pretending that time is not passing, so they will just be on the list as I enter them. I still want these posts to be abut the possibilities.

Like I said last time, some of these come from the Current Projects list (Hunting and Gathering section). I don’t know if I will keep them there or move them here. Lots to work out, so continue to stay tuned.

Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Quilt

  • Pattern: Original
  • Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly, but other colors for the leaves and flowers
  • Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to some piece of fabric in the ‘ticker tape’ style. I am thinking of making it similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.

Basketweave Baby

  • Fabric: Scrappy
  • Pattern: Fons & Porter, series 1000, episode 1005
  • Thoughts: I like the challenge of piecing this quilt and the unique piecing

Blue Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: blue 2.5×4.5 rectangles
  • Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
  • Thoughts:

Blue Lemonade (Hunting and Gathering)

Easy Street

  • Fabric: pinks
  • Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
  • Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge.

Food quilt #2  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Pattern: Disappearing 9 patch
  • Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
  • Thoughts: Gift for son of good friends for graduation. I have started cutting for this in a serious way. I just need to figure out alternate colors.

Food quilt #3 (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Pattern: Disappearing something, probably 4 patch or 9 patch
  • Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
  • Thoughts: Gift for nephew for graduation

Half Moon Modern Quilt

  • Pattern: I have some ideas, but nothing definite
  • Fabric: Half Moon Modern Fabrics. I have half yard cuts, I think, plus some odds and ends and I’d like to use them together with some additional fabrics, or, at least a background.
  • Thoughts: I do think it is difficult to start with fabrics rather than a pattern.

Music Quilt

  • pattern: Don’t know
  • Fabric: music prints and tone-on-tones
  • Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his graduation quilt

Neutrals and Red/Scarlet Quilt

  • Pattern: Sew two ~3″x3″ squares together, slice each separate fabric and insert a red strip, resew and sew the two squares to another set of squares.
  • Fabric: neutrals+white, black and whites. I have some of these. I bought them not know what to do with them.
  • Thoughts: gift

Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
  • Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
  • Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me.

Pink Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: pink 2.5×4.5 rectangles
  • Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
  • Thoughts:

Scrapitude #2

  • Fabric: scrappy again, but with NO browns or blacks or super darks that look like holes; also more blues and perhaps a different background, though I do like the dots on bright white. I would make sure to skip the dots with a cream background.
  • Pattern: Scrapitude by Charlotte Hawkes
  • Thoughts: I want to try and figure out how to make the edges NOT on the bias.

Silk Colorblock quilt

  • Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
  • Pattern: Similar to Colorblocks 2
  • Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them.

Spin Wheel  (Hunting and Gathering)

Stepping Stones #2  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: 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.
  • Pattern:

Stepping Stones #3

  • Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have lots of pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
  • Pattern:

Windmill  (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
  • Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates

This is clearly not a regular feature, but it could be an irregular feature.

Current Projects – November 2014

I am a bit late in posting this post, but I have made some progress.

Finished 2014 Quilt Projects

  1. Disappearing Pinwheel: finished 5/30/2014
  2. Fabric of the Year 2012: finished 4/24/2014
  3. Flower Sugar Hexagon: finished 7/1/2014
  4. Fresh Fruit: finished May 3/3/2014
  5. Infinity Quilt: finished 3/3/2014
  6. Scrapitude Carnivale: finished 6/3/2014
  7. See: finished 8/11/2014
  8. Spiderweb: finished 2/22/2014 WHEW!
  9. Star Sampler: finished 7/3/2014
  10. Wonky Nine Patch – finished 9/6/2014

I might be stuck at 10 quilts. I had hoped to finish at least one more, but I don’t know.

Finished 2014 non-Quilt Projects

Still WIPs

I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all, but the list is getting a lot smaller.

  1. Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances and I haven’t really worked on this for a long time. She recently got in touch about starting up again and she finished her hexagon block.
  2. The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, periodically, I think about working on it.
  3. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this, though, I do think about it. The Lunns have a new line of PP fabric out. I am curious to see the new colors. I only saw a few at PIQF
  4. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. My career counselor breathed new life into this project for me. She asked a simple question and the end result was inspiration for this piece, but I kind of lost steam again after printing images on paper to try out different designs. Lately, I have been feeling like I need to finish this piece as it should be a good reminder for some other stuff going on in my life. Perhaps that will spur me on.
  5. Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much. Possibility for abandonment. I have to face reality.

Ready for Quilting

Wow! Everything on this list is new, as in it was never on the original 26 Projects list.

  1. Fabric of the Year 2013: top, back and binding made; ready to take it to the quilter
  2. New:* Super Secret Project #4: at the quilter
  3. Table runner: Basted; needs quilting and binding. I am planning on free motion quilting this myself for practice, which may be a challenge when my main machine is not working. (Not on original list)

In the Finishing Process

  1. I am binding the Green T Quilt, which Gerre and I worked on together.

In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project that is “In Process.”

Hunting and Gathering

  • Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5?x4.5? blue rectangles
  • Blue Lemonade: cutting blue, green, purple 2? squares
  • FOTY 2014: cutting out 3″x5″ rectangles.
  • Pink Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5?x4.5? pink rectangles
  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
  • 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.
  • Stepping Stones #3 using the Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. I just remembered this project. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and should think about actually using them.
  • Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps

Abandoned

Nothing so far for 2014

You can find the last update for the Current Projects list provides a good comparison to this month.

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 REALLY GOOD progress. Up until last month, I was still planning to stop this post when I had no more projects from the original list to write about, but now, that the end is in sight, I am not so sure. It is so useful to keep track of all of my projects. Since I still have some pretty old projects on the list, I don’t have to decide right now.

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

Various & Sundry 2014 #14

Patterns and Blocks

Camille Roskelly posted about Market and included some info about a new Scraps Inc book. She contributed a quilt, parts of which look like inside out Flying Geese.

Starting in January, you can help raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and get a quilt pattern. Read about it on Camille Roskelley’s blog.

EQ held a BlockBase Sew-along back in 2012. In writing a review for you, I found it and thought I would share. I would probably get overly ambitious and do something like make all the blocks in a smaller size a la Dear Jane, but this Sew-along is a good start.

You can always use my pillowcase guidelines, but if you want a different experience, take a look at A Spoonful of Sugar’s pillowcase design. This is a really pretty post as well.

Exhibits and Such

BAMQG members have quilts inspired by Amish quilts at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. There is a recent, interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News, which a friend from Chicago sent me!

Primal Green 2 is on at the San Francisco Public Library. This is the main branch and the exhibit is on the 5th floor. I have three quilts, Beach Town, Flower Garden and the Whole Cloth Quilt in the show.

Social Media

This is such a tough time of year to write a blog. I sometimes wonder why I do it and I realized that I wonder that more during this time of year than other times. I get myself back in a right place in my head and remind myself that I do this writing for myself and my blog has become a great resource for myself! I know you are busy, but take a moment to comment on the blog. I get a lot out of your comments and am glad you are reading.

Tools, Supplies and Fabric

I found out from Alyssa Lichner that she has updatedthe Kona® Cotton to Aurifil Thread Conversion Chart and you can find it by going to her site.

Media

I heard from Ms. Lottie that Linda and Laura Kemshall have a new magazine out, Through Our Hands.

The Electric Quilt Company will soon have online classes. Keep checking their website for start dates and titles of classes.

December To Do List

To Do List:

  1. Quilt Christmas table runner
  2. Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) ;-)
  3. Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
  4. Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
  5. Dragon Box (gift)
  6. Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops) – found the pattern, which is a good start.
  7. Make 3 notepad covers (gifts)
  8. Day in the Park backpack variation
  9. Sew Bon Appetit apron
  10. ATCs for CQFA January Meeting – I should have enough time, right?
  11. Make two bags for gifts

To see the 26 Projects Lists, which list quilt WIPS, visit the October Current Projects update. Last month’s to Do List is about the same.

All small items that have been completed since November 4, 2013 (prior to this month’s list). This really shows progress, right?

  • Make free motion quilted piece into a bag
  • Sew Church Ladies apron
  • Blocks for BAMQG Opportunity Quilt
  • Binding on Wonky 9 Patch
  • Sew on sleeve for Original Bullseye
  • Kelly’s Brown Round Robin
  • Pillow from cake tea towel
  • Try plain square for center of Russian Rubix blocks
  • Hand sew bottom opening in Shopping bag for BAMQG
  • Finish binding on T-Shirt quilt
  • Secret Santa gift for BAMQG
  • Kathleen’s Round Robin
  • Make sleeve for Original Bullseye
  • Finish sewing triangles for Scrapitude
  • Take apart Ribbon Star and resew
  • Color Group donation quilt
  • Binding for Color Group donation quilt
  • Make shopping bag for BAMQG
  • Sew coffee patch to red bag
  • Sew coffee patch to bathrobe
  • Sew green and red striped 8 pointed star (probably should include an item called “find background template for 8 pointed star!)
  • Scrap Lab backpack
  • Make binding for Disappearing Pinwheel
  • Petrillo bag #2
  • Bright apron as a gift
  • Paris apron as a gift
  • Finish tote for Mom‘s auction (new 6/2014)
  • Layer, baste Christmas table runner
  • Cut background for black wavy line 8 pointed star
  • Sew white on black wavy line 8 pointed star
  • Quilt/stitch fish postcard – finished
  • Make receiving blankets
  • Sew BAMQG label to donation quilt for Band Mom
  • Sew BAMQG label to green donation quilt back
  • Cut lining fabric for Church Ladies apron
  • BAMQG label to Flower Sugar donation quilt back
  • Sew sleeve on See
  • Sew facing down on See
  • Make donation blocks

Russian Rubix Continues

Friday was the Black Friday Sew-in. I didn’t do anything in terms of giveaways or prizes. No time this year and no prizes.  I don’t seem to be a reviewer for Lark  any more since they closed their NC office and my contact was laid off. C’est la vie.

Russian Rubix with 3 Borders
Russian Rubix with 3 Borders

I worked on the Russian Rubix for the amount of time I had to sew. I wasn’t able to sew all day on Friday, but I am pleased with the progress I made. My progress:

  • I finished all but two blocks for the borders. I thought I made all the blocks I needed, but realized, after putting the last border together, that I had forgotten about the corners.
  • I sewed another border on. Before I actually sewed the border and kept it there, I sewed it on, ripped it off and sewed it on again, but there are now three borders on the RR quilt.

As you can see from above, the top is starting to look like something other than a floppy mess. I am thinking of using Kelly’s letter fabric as the back. I have fabric I may as well use it. I have a nice large chunk and that might make the back easier than piecing a back. Right now I need some easy.

Book Review: 1001 Patchwork Designs

1001 Patchwork Designs1001 Patchwork Designs by Maggie Malone

This is a bit of a cheap date review for a couple of reasons: little text, old book, iffy quality. Since I have been talking about blocks and their structure I am going for it.

I don’t know why or when I originally bought this book, but it was awhile ago. The publication date in my copy is 1981. The age and some of what the author says makes me think it may not have the same level of scholarly research that the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilts or Jinny Beyer‘s The Quilter s Album of Patchwork Patterns. This is not a bad book, but I think, at the time, the provenance of blocks may not have been considered important AND there is nothing about where the author got her information I don’t think anybody thought it was important, but this book may have been a step in the direction that ended up as the two books mentioned above. There is a bibliography at the end, but no footnotes or reference notes.

The books starts with an introduction in which the author describes her theory of teaching as well as a bit about the book and block structure. The introduction also directs the reader to a section on drafting.

This book has one of the best lines about drafting I have ever read, “The major advantage of being able to draft a pattern is the flexibility it allows you in designing a quilt.” The section goes on to enumerate the variety of ways knowing how to draft a pattern can help you in your quiltmaking. It was awesome to read why drafting is important. While I prefer to draft blocks in EQ, knowing how to draft really helps in the process and in designing quilts in general. The thing I like about this section is the practical tips on how to use the drawings in the book to start learning about drafting. There is an example of some of the math that is useful.

After a couple of pages of introduction and the few pages on drafting, there is a very little additional text in the middle of the book. All the rest of the book is comprised of pictures of blocks until a few sections at the end of the book. I actually like this, because I have enough text in my life and sometimes I want to just look at blocks. I tend to focus on the text, and skim the photos, so little to no text is better in this kind of book. I also like it that the blocks are black and white, mostly line drawings. It keeps the distractions minimal.

Towards the end of the book, there are the ‘obligatory’ pages on Determining the Quilt Size, Fabric Requirements, Quilting and Setting the Top. The final pages of the book include a bibliography and index.

In looking through the book, I saw a lot of blocks that are now showing up in the Modern Movement, such as some of the circle blocks (pg.192-193) so popular in quilts now such as The Circle Game. The #854, the Rising Sun, looks pretty familiar as well. The Snowball Wreath, #974, is also shown, though none of these blocks have any piecing directions. This is an inspiration book only and you have to know how to draft in order to use these blocks. Of course, there are directions elsewhere on the web.

I hadn’t ‘read’ the book in a while. It called to me when I was looking for blocks to suggest to TFQ. When I pulled it off the shelf I was pleased to see that the blocks were divided into section by the structure of the blocks, as mentioned before. When I started looking through the first section, I had to wonder if all of the blocks were categorized in their proper structure? One I wonder about is #274, Golda, Gem Star. I can see where it could have a Nine Patch structure, but I still wonder. It is not listed in the index of Beyer’s book, though I see blocks that look similar in Beyer’s 5×5 Base Grid category. After doing some additional research, I found this block on Pinterest and in BlockBase under the same name with #2741 from the Brackman book. Also, there is a reference to QNM 1978. This block makes me wonder where she got her information. The blocks are great and that is just my librarian brain.

This book is really good inspiration and a great start to the drafting of blocks.

View all my reviews

Creative Prompt #286: Lotion

Body lotion

Definition-“A lotion is a low- to heavy-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin.[1] By contrast, creams and gels have higher viscosity.

Lotions are applied to external skin with bare hands, a brush, a clean cloth, cotton wool, or gauze. Many lotions, especially hand lotions and body lotions are formulated not as a medicine delivery system, but simply to smooth, moisturize and soften the skin. These are particularly popular with the aging and aged demographic groups, and in the case of face usage, can also be classified as a cosmetic in many cases, and may contain fragrances.

Most lotions are oil-in-water emulsions using a substance such as cetearyl alcohol to keep the emulsion together, but water-in-oil lotions are also formulated. The key components of a skin care lotion, cream or gel emulsion (that is mixtures of oil and water) are the aqueous and oily phases, an emulgent to prevent separation of these two phases, and, if used, the drug substance or substances. A wide variety of other ingredients such as fragrances, glycerol, petroleum jelly, dyes, preservatives, proteins and stabilizing agents are commonly added to lotions. Lotions can be used for the delivery to the skin of medications such as:

It is not unusual for the same drug ingredient to be formulated into a lotion, cream and ointment. Creams are the most convenient of the three but are inappropriate for application to regions of hairy skin such as the scalp, while a lotion is less viscous and may be readily applied to these areas (many medicated shampoos are in fact lotions). Historically, lotions also had an advantage in that they may be spread thinly compared to a cream or ointment and may economically cover a large area of skin, but product research has steadily eroded this distinction. Non-comedogenic lotions are recommended for use on acne prone skin.” (Wikipedia)

lotion tissues

Motion.Lotion

hair lotion

lotion making kits

Blow Dry Lotion

tanning bed lotions

hand lotion

jellyfish sting lotion

Wilson’s Leather Lotion

hand lotion

 

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.

Inspiration Wednesday

Dramatic Clouds
Dramatic Clouds

Aren’t these clouds dramatic? I really like dramatic clouds and can never seem to get a dramatic picture that looks like what I see. This one looks pretty close.

It is a busy day. I made the fillings for the pies yesterday, but need to bake them today. Mom bowed out for Pie Day this year. I am also making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake instead of one pie. I wanted to change it up a little.

For those of you preparing for Thanksgiving, have a good time and enjoy the process.

More Receiving Blankets

3 Receiving Blankets
3 Receiving Blankets

I went to Stone Mountain and Daughter, a fabric store in Berkeley, a few weeks ago looking for some fabric for pants. I didn’t find the pants fabric I wanted, but they had a nice selection of flannel at a good price, so I bought some pieces to make receiving blankets for a friend’s daughter who had a baby a few months ago.

I know the colors are not totally matchy matchy, but I liked something about the combination.

Decorative Stitching
Decorative Stitching

I like making receiving blankets for gifts, but they are still a pain to make so I used some large and loose decorative stitches. I am pleased with how they look and will send them off soon.

DWM- Thanksgiving Week 2014

I have been sewing a little, but it feels like I have been riding a stationary bike: sewing for hours and not going anywhere. I need to change that and finish something. I know I shouldn’t be product oriented, but sometimes finishing something big gives the ego a good boost.

Thanksgiving Design Wall
Thanksgiving Design Wall

The design wall looks different than last week, though I am sure you can see the similarities. As you can see, the design wall is packed. I kind of sewed everything that wasn’t already sewn down and threw it up on the wall.

1. Two hot color four patches that I thought I would use as the beginning of a quilt, but haven’t done anything with yet.

2. Red and turquoise four patches. I made one additional since last week.

3. Completed red and turquoise four patches. The most recent one is on the top.

4. BAMQG donation blocks. I made them using leaders and enders. Aren’t they cheerful?

5. Same FOTY rectangles as last week. I am looking at The Great Unwashed and wondering what fabrics I want to wash and iron so they can be included in FOTY 2014.

6. One Field Day Zipper ‘block’. I cut the patches apart from each other on Saturday and somehow that one ended up on the design wall.

7. Russian Rubix Octagons. I still have a few blocks to make for the border, so I still may need some of the octagons. I am not sure if I will use all of these in the Russian Rubix quilt or if they will be part of the Snowball/9 Patch quilt I have in mind. Since the border is nearing the end, I will know pretty soon.

8. Black & Grey Teenaged Boy Donation blocks and I happen to be using them for rewriting my chunking tutorial.

9. PIQF Crosses. I think TFQ and I will probably abandon this project, but I had so many pieces cut that I decided to work on sewing them. I may give the blocks to the guild as donation blocks or I could put them together as the center of a donation quilt or I could make a pillow.

10. City Sampler block n.31. Bleah. It went together like a log cabin and I am not very happy with the way it turned out.

So the process continues…

 

I am linking up with Judy over at the Patchwork Times.