Last year I found a quote in Judy Martin’s newsletter by a reader who talked about projects classified as mind sorbet, which I recounted in a post. After the Tarts Come to Tea, I really feel like I need some mind sorbet, something that I don’t have to think about much. The Tarts was a real design challenge: worth it, but a challenge. Now I need a break.
Fabric Selection, August 2009
These are the fabrics I have been collecting for the past little while with the idea of making this quilt. There are an abundance of dots, but hopefully enough other designs and scale to make it interesting.
I scanned back over some of the posts showing fabrics that I bought with this project in mind. I don’t see them in the picture above, so I will need to look at them and see if they fit in with the idea I have in my mind.
This quilt was inspired by a pattern by Terri Atkinson called Yellow Brick Road, which I wrote about in a post called Avoidance Issues. The idea was further encouraged by a trip to Texas in April. For once I sat in a window seat and was able to look at the regular patterns created by lots and fences, etc. After that trip, I had a lot of ideas and went crazy putting my own designs “on paper”. EQ6 makes such an exercise really easy. The project is really all about the fabric, though.
Sorbet, August 2009
This image looks a little weird because it is exported from EQ6. I haven’t colored all of the blocks, but this should give you a bit of an idea of the next project.
I made two blocks today. They took me about 5 minutes each, which is exactly what I wanted.
2 Sorbet Blocks, August 2009
In order to get the variation, I need to print the rotary cutting directions for the rest of the blocks. We’ll see what we get.
Slowly, but surely the FOTY 2009 blocks are stacking up. I doubt that FOTY 2009 will be as large as FOTY 2008, however I consider it to be more complex so smaller is better. I know I know, sewing in addition to cutting is part of the quiltmaking process and doesn’t necessarily constitute ‘complex.’
😉 I just like to see if you are paying attention sometimes.
As I said before, these blocks make great warm up blocks before a serious bout of sewing, so that is what I did on Saturday after getting the 9K set up again. If you look at the photo in Sunday’s post, you can see one of the green blocks under the feed dogs.
I decided not to combine the two Ginger Blossom prints that I used in the Striped Tote with Flowers and the Flowered Tote with Stripes. They already had enough cavorting and will get some more time to do so when I make the quilt for which I have been collecting fabric. I really like the effect of the dots with the flowers.
FOTY detail pink
I had some hot pink dots that I hadn’t yet made into a block, so I used that with the flower print. Haven’t done anything with the stripes. I need to press some more fabric and then we’ll see what transpires.
I do really like that pink Gigner Blossom flower print for some reason. It makes me feel happy.
The Infinity blocks had been languishing for a little while. I needed some test subjects for the tuned up machine, so I sewed a couple. The middle one is of the ones I made on Saturday and the others have been hanging around for awhile waiting for me to photograph them.
The fabric I used for the middle blocks is an old Jinny Beyer fabric and it is really crisp to press and sew. Lovely!
I have only a little bit of the white left, so the block portion of this project is nearing completion. I will have to see how many blocks we end up with, however. It needs to be some kind of normal number and not one that won’t work in putting a quilt together.
You might think that this is the same tote I posted last week. It is, however, the opposite of the one I posted last week. I used the stripe for the main part of the fabric as opposed to the flower fabric, which I used for the accents this time.
I think that this may be the best tote that I have ever made. I don’t think that I made any mistakes (knock wood). One thing I did with this tote was sew on the button before I sewed all the pieces together. It was a lot easier!
I guess it is time to move on to another pattern. We’ll see.
A week ago Monday, I trekked over to Lafayette to take the 9000 in to be repaired.
Failure. They were closed. I thought about calling, but then didn’t, trusting that they would be open. I had to be over there anyway for a family event, so it worked out ok.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whether you are my wallet or not), the Cotton Patch is right across the street. I went over and looked around. I resisted a lot, but did buy a few things including those ever-so-tempting Japanese Quilt magazines. I bought 2 issues of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin.
Purchases, July 2009
See the turquoise and pink on the covers of those issues? I am like a bird magpie with shiny things when I see that color combination.
I bought the pear pattern for my Grama, who perpetually needs something to do. We’ll see if it sparks her interest.
There were a lot of nice fabrics, though I do miss their solids room. I tried to be restrained and just bought a couple of must have pieces. Dots, of course. The background of the green dot is the accent color of my living room.
The magazines were the coup de grace, however. Those Japanese quiltmakers are dedicated. The intricacy of their work is a never-ending source of inspiration for me. I was pleased to see a couple of coffee/tea/cup quilts with block patterns in one of the issues! YAY! Now I can consider the purchase research for the Tarts.
I am still working on that one last section of the Tarts, so these designs will be good inspiration. I thought of using a pattern to piece that section, but was disabused of that idea pretty quickly. Back to the drawing board!
I almost never rip the patterns sheets out of magazines. One of the issues’ pattern sheet was already ripped out and I didn’t notice until I got home. I took the opportunity to look at it and had no idea what I had been missing. I am not much of a maker of patterns, but the inspiration on that sheet is worth the price of admission.
Marsha McCloskey has a new ruler out, which I bought from her website. I bought it because of the 1/16th inch measurements. I was trying to cut pieces with 1/16th inch measurements for the Omega Teacher Pillow and was wildy unsuccessful.
I bought some fabric. It was cheerful; I had ideas for what to use it for and I just couldn’t resist.
I loved the pink stripe and pink flowers on the left. They are cheerful. I, first, bought a half yard of each to go with the blue. As I was chatting with the cutting lady, I decided that they would both make fabulous tote bags, so I bought enough for tote bags. The others are fat quarters that I thought were cheerful. The funny part was that the cutting lady kept all the bolts aside so she could get some of the same fabric.
I need to get busy on tote bags as I now have the fabric to make four of them!
I really cannot believe that it is Wednesday already. I am glad, because that means the weekend is closer. The week is flying by.
Preventing an Avalanche
As you know from a previous post, my fabric closet is prone to avalanches. I needed to rummage towards the bottom of a stack for a plaid. I took all the fabric from that section out and it sat on the floor where I rummaged through it, petted it, looked at it and reorganized by color. Most of it is back in the closet now, but there are a few pieces that still need some attention.
I have a stack of dots that won’t fit in the dot drawers. The need a home. A stack of Jennifer Sampou fabrics destined for a future Interlocking Triangles quilt that I need to integrate with their fellows.
It was fun to look through the fabric. I refreshed my stack of blues for the Infinity blocks. I made 8 of those this weekend in the process – four for me and four for my SIL. They make a good warm up for sewing.
Fabric 2
I also found the piece of plaid I needed. It wasn’t in the giant stack, however. It was in the green bin so I didn’t really need to take all that fabric out! Oh well, as I said, it was fun.
K and Mrs. K came down for the Pamela Allen class. They had a four hour drive, which was above and beyond IMO. Still, I was (and still am!) so thrilled that they joined us, because they (not in any particular order):
did great work
added great comments to the class critiques
brought loads of fabric that we all rummaged through
are FABULOUS company
I invited them to stop and have dinner with us on their way down to Santa Clara. After the long drive I didn’t want them to have to forage for food as well. I thought we could have a nice chat; they could get a look at the Child and we could talk about projects.
They showed up and I come to find out they have a gift for me! I love gifts, especially unexpected and perfect gifts. It was a perfect gift: dot fabrics. It was a perfect gift with a wonderful presentation.
Perfect Presentation
I love seeing the fabric the people think I will like. K and Mrs. K know I love dots! Perfect!
Whole Dotted Enchilada
Thanks, for the fabric, for your friendship and support.
Here are my latest FOTY blocks. I love them! They make me feel so cheerful. Can you tell I have received a lot of blues and pinks?
Some of these fabrics I am going to pull out for a project for which I am collecting fabric. Not sure which ones, but I’ll post a pic when I get a little further along.
I swear I only bought the purple dot and two of the Christmas fabrics for gift bags. The shop sent me all of these fabrics including those little reindeer fabrics (hhmmm).
Fabric, April 2009
I had an idea for the dots and one thing led to another, but I am not going to that cool quilt shop in Carpenteria unless my sister pays. No more fabric for me for awhile.
I thought today, with people out of the house, would be a good day to catch you all up on what is going on. It isn’t going to happen completely. I am going to do a quick update and promise more later. Promises, promises, I know. I have missing my blog writing, though, so you are not the only ones who are suffering.
I have a lot of photos to post and they take time to process. I don’t just want to slap a bunch up there. I have some fantasies of someone from a card company looking at my blog and then hiring me to share my photos so they can make a line of cards out of them. We can all dream! I know I still have a lot to learn about image processing before my fantasy will become a reality, but I do know how to crop, so I am going to do it.
I also have the Creative Prompt drawing to post for March 27 as well as a bunch of inspiration photos. Yes, I finally got my annual photo of a cheery tree in bloom with some wonderful closeups.
FOTY Late March Blocks
I have been working on the Zanzibar blocks for FOTY 2009. I cut the pieces for these a week or so ago, but just sewed them this morning. Some of the pieces were too long as I sewed them together, so I have to check my cutting and make sure I am not getting sloppy. That project progresses.
Infinity Blocks
I decided to call the above blocks (from the project with SIL) Infinity blocks because they look a bit like an infinity symbol. I haven’t been able to find a name for them, but may when I go to Always Quilting tomorrow. I used the scraps from the most recent tote bag I made for one set of the blocks. I heard from SIL, too, after sending her a sample, that the block looked fine.
If you didn’t listen to This American Life this morning (or whenever the most recent show is aired in your area), go and listen to it. The show is all about the effects of the current economy and stress. I like this show, because they seem to talk with regular people. In order to get away from my stress briefly I went south last weekend to visit my sister. Ostensibly we were going to update our scrapbooks; really we hung out, went to scrapbook and quilt shops and visited the Granny. I was able to sort photos from a trip I took that I want to put in an album. I am ready to start putting them in an album. YAY! I am going back on the weekend of May 1 to start work on the project.
Treasure Hunt Fabric
One of our stops was at the The Treasure Hunt, a shop the size of a small suburban house (NOTE: not one of those monster houses, but the kind your grandma bought in the 1950s and you visited all the time when you were a kid). It is located in Carpinteria, California (Treasure Hunt Country Crafts – www.carpinteriaquilts.com 919 Maple St, Carpinteria -(805) 684-3360). It is truly a not to be missed shop. Not only does it have a satisfying selection of quilt fabric, tools and supplies, it also has a knitting section and two small craft supply rooms. They have cheerful fabric there. There wasn’t much, if any, Civil War-baby poop brown-depressing fabrics. The impression I got when I walked in was CHEERFUL. Fabrics are organized by line or by type. Want to see all the colorways of a fabric design? They are right next to each other. They also had a dots section and a stripes section. It would be hard if you were looking for blue of a certain shade, but I loved-loved-loved the look of the store. The people working there were very helpful. They didn’t have the turquoise/azure blue Windham Botanical Pop fabric I need, but I would definitely go back there again. I may post some photos later. The ladies were anxious about giving me permission to take photos, so they said they would ask their boss and get back to me. We’ll see.
Blue Island Quilts is also nearby, but I didn’t go there. Maybe next time.
When I got the above fabrics home, I laid them on the floor and think I will use all of those in the bottom row except for the black-on-whites in one project. Not sure what yet, but something. I love the way they look together. It is also a different color scheme than I normally work with. I’ll probably have to add more fabrics to it (a lavendar, maybe?), but it is a wonderful and inspiring start to a project.
As of yesterday, I am also no longer a small business owner. This means that I only have one job after 7 years of consulting alongside my regular job. I finally got a full night’s sleep last night (the stress was really doing me in), which is exciting in itself. I am excited to work on what comes next…writing?? quilt project designs??? I am wanting to get back to my career counseling to move the project along. That will have to wait, but I will do my exercises and make progress. You can bet that whatever it is will involve more quiltmaking!!!
Color Me Quilts fabrics
After the sale, I stopped in at Color Me Quilts (Color Me Quilts & More, 37495 Niles Blvd, 792-6567), which was in a perfect location to relieve some stress yesterday morning. I bought the stripe to go with the fabrics from The Treasure Hunt for the pink and brown project. The dots are, well, dots and how can I pass them up? I think they will go well with the cherries for the blue and pink project I am also planning. the blue dot will work well in Patrick’s quilt and the Pineapple. Cheerful, cheerful fabrics.
It is never too early to be thinking about gift bags, so I found some Christmas fabrics on sale and bought some of those to make gift bags for the holidays.
Future Bags
I am not a huge fan of Laurel Burch, but I don’t dislike her fabrics, either. The colors are a bit nontraditional, which I like. I saw a lovely white Christmas fabric, but it was too see through to effectively hide gifts, so I passed on it.
For now, thought I have to go sew a bit and get ready for the rest of the afternoon. Thanks for reading and for your comments!
Here are the latest FOTY 2009 blocks. These blocks are so easy to make that they are like candy. You can’t make just one.
I am thinking that I will use these fabrics, except the bright white circles fabric, for a Yellow Brick Road type quilt. I wrote about these fabrics on January 17, 2009 and on February 23, 2009.
I bought a lot of this turquoise fabric (Botanical Pop from Baum Textile Mills/Windham Fabrics) – probably about 6 yards and made tote bags out of it. Now I want to make another and it so old (January 2008?) that nobody has it. I am hoping that one of you will have it and bargain with me for it. I would like at least 1.5 yards, but 2-3 would be better.
You probably remember the search for that Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy fabric from May of 2007 in which Julie found the fabric at a random sore in her area. I am hoping that she or one of you will have the same good luck!
I don’t think I ever saw the yellow, but would like some of it, too. A little piece is fine. If any of you see it or have access, let me know. Thanks!
The FOTY 2009 block has been selected. It is from a quilt called Zanzibar by FunQuilts. You can find it in their book, The Quiltmaker’s Color Workshop, a book I highly recommend for the in depth discussion of putting colors together.
TFQ and I are going to make the same block and see how that goes. I made these first two thinking that I would use each fabric twice. I want to see a bit of the fabric, so I will use each fabric for the outside of one block and inside of another. I am interested to see how that idea works out.
I also am thinking that I will continue with the “waves of color” Jag I seem to be on and put like colors together. This may prove a bit of a challenge and I will have to change later, but for now that is my idea.
These blocks go together very quickly as each patch is 3.5″.
