Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I am trying to wean you all nicely as I won’t have a reliable Internet connection for the three weeks starting on Friday. Here are some inspiration photos for your viewing pleasure.
I should also say that I will be thrilled to post the quilt (or visual journal page) of anyone who makes a piece using one of the photos I post as their inspiration on this blog. Have fun!
I sat down today and sewed together all of the FOTY pieces I had cut. I had two batches from a number of sources. The one belowwas from my Memorial Day Weekend travels. The rest of the fabric was from a rip or wo to new Pieces, the fabric I bought while TFQ was here for EBHQ in April and miscellaneous online orders.
The above batch is much more cheerful than the group below.
Now I am only behind on the fabric I bought in Seattle over the weekend. At least it is washed.
PS I don’t know what is going on with the size of my photos. Ever since I got the new version of Photoshop Elements, I can’t adjust the size like I used to be able to in Photoshop Elements 3.0. I may have to breakdown and buy the book THEN go through it. I’ll work through. Thanks for your understanding.
Some of the fabrics came from eQuilter. Once again I was annoyed to see that I already have the pink dots. Something about their site makes the fabric look different. Oh well, at least it isn’t brown. I can use the pink, but I would like to get something new for a change. The Basix dots on the bottom are just replacements for fabrics I have almost used up. I need to get back to those Pineapples.
TFQ and I went to Angie’s AKA the Quilting Loft. We both made a beeline for the bolts of dots (upper lefthand corner above) when we saw them. Neither of us had seen them before. The mags are mostly patterns, but I am feeling the need to soak in quilt-everything. Fast and Fabulous has a fabric box that I might try to make sometime.
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i saw this tile on Franklin Street and thought it looked a lot like a Grandmother's Flower Garden, but with a twist. It is in an entry way in an apartment building.
I started this bag a month ago and was finally able to finish it today. It is really fun.
Detail.
I have no Internet connection at the moment (shocking , I know), so here is a photo via cellphone of the additions to the fabric family. We spent time at Quiltworks Northwest, where the people were very friendly. There were a number of fabrics I remember from my February visit, but some new ones, too. I’ll post a better photo later. Thanks for reading.
I have totes on the mind this morning!
I love the graphic nature of this tote and the cup images are perfect. I would love to see this fabric somewhere and make my own tote out of it. I am not that fond of the ribbon breaking up the middle image, but fighting with my sewing machine over buttonholes makes me understand how a ribbon would be so much easier to apply.
I saw this tote on Flickr this morning and thought that it looked similar to the Eco Market Totes that I have been making. One of the attractions of the Eco Market Tote is the shape of the bag part, which this bag shares. I will have to look around and see if I can look at the pattern in person. Let me know if you have made one of these totes.
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QA had a sleeve pattern some time ago. I thought this was a creative slant on the sleeve idea. This is the first time I have sent a picture to the blog from my phone. I may do this more often over the next month as I will be traveling and my computer is going to the hospital.
As an added bonus, I finished one Flowering Snowball (Cross Block) last week. I particularly like this one, because it has the coffee print. I think I am close to the end of piecing these blocks. I want to do a self border so I have to make those blocks. It is just a feeling, so we’ll see how it progresses.
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I couldn’t stay away from my workroom on yesterday. I found a playmate for the child and left them to their own devices (except for an occasional admonishment to go outside away from the screens) while I sat and sewed. I sent Aja’s Bullseyes off to her, as I may have mentioned, last week. She received them Thurs or Fri, so I only had my blocks to work on.
This calling business was a bit disconcerting, because it seemed like my mind had a mind of its own. Normally, I will sew a bit, do the laundry a bit, sew a bit more, make my weekly phone calls, sew a bit, change the laundry and do the dishes and sew a bit more. Yesterday my body and mind were united and they were having none of it. I went to the workroom and basically stayed there. No dishes, no laundry and the dinner didn’t get started until almost 7pm. IT WAS FABULOUS!!!
This is one of the blocks and I really liked it. I fussy cut the last circle and was sad to slice it up, because the flower is so perfectly displayed.
These are my blocks after I have added the last circle. The blocks in the upper right hand corner are blocks that weren’t in the photo I posted the other day. My design wall isn’t big enough to accommodate all of the blocks.
These are details of the blocks from the upper right hand corner.
Now my Bullseye blocks are nearly complete. I have sewed the last circles on and trimmed all the blocks down to 9.5″.
This is how the back of a block looks after I have sewn the last circle and before I have cut the back of the second circle out. You can see that Julie and Aja have cut out the backs of the background and the first circle.
Here is how the above block looks after I have cut out the back of the second circle. This reduces bulk and provides lots of lovely circles for another project.
I finished the process of cutting out the backs of the second circles, and I have sliced the blocks into quarters. I am preparing them to be sent off to Julie and Aja.
Here is how I set up the blocks to slice them. I love the Creative Grid rulers, because they have a lot of different markings that allow you to line up the ruler so the block is sliced very precisely.
I keep two quarters of the block and send one quarter each to Julie and Aja.
Here are my slices. I just slapped them up on the wall, but I like the internal maze surrounded by a larger maze and may go with that type of design for the final design. I think I will have to put some of the stronger colors, perhaps red, in that internal maze so that it stands out. I will also want the self bordering technique to give the piece a finished look You can see it in Seeing Red.
