A Christmas Miracle with Curved Piecing

The quilting goddess was in a good mood this week. My latest Progressive Party project was all curves. Three blocks of curves. Three blocks of curves that will go in someone else’s quilt.

They turned out.

Admittedly, the project included templates, these were mostly gentle curves, and the fabrics were good quality (allowing just enough stretch to make a smooth seam, not so much that I had to angst over distortion). Also, I’ve done a few projects with curves in the last year so my skills aren’t all that rusty. But still – three blocks and they all came out! This is worth celebrating, so I did.

Luck and wisdom!

The Kid’s Quilt That Could

Rain returned to my part of the world, making it safe from fires. This includes the fire inside that gets me into the studio to create. It didn’t help that I no longer loved the piece on the design wall. It has a bunch of animal and forest prints, and will be given away to a charity. Then I got my own little Christmas miracle when I walked into the studio and the green strips started to sing through the gloom.

This is the reason I chose that green, because it adds a little zing to whatever fabric is next to it. Well, I think it does, and I know small children like bright colors, so it stays. Anything that keeps me sewing when it is cold and rainy is okay by me.

Luck and wisdom!

Choosing Colors

The rain came back, which is good news for our garden, but not great news for my quilting. Proper light is essential for picking colors. Trust me, at the moment the light in my sewing room is far from proper. Still, there is an opportunity for me to learn more about choosing colors by looking outside. I would never have thought that a dull gray would do anything to enhance red, but what I saw on our sidewalk is changing my mind.

Here is a shot of the brothers, sisters, and cousins of the leaves on the sidewalk, this time framed with brown against the gray sky.

These are not my usual colors, but I like the way they work together. While I won’t be searching through my fabric stash until the sun returns, I can always plan which drawer I will look through first when it does.

Luck and wisdom!

Crazy Quilts, A Lifetime Commitment

Recognizing that the last three blocks I planned for this crazy quilt will not be finished in the foreseeable future, I sewed the nine blocks I have together. Then I waited for them to tell me how to embroider over the seams.

I got bupkus. In desperation, I sewed a line of chain stitches down one seam. The blocks remained silent.

Like all good quilters, I’ve got books on every aspect of the art. Three of my embroidery books were easy to reach, so I started going through them for inspiration. The books won’t shut up. Every page is screaming, “Pick me! Pick me!” The blocks, however, are shaking their heads, saying, “Don’t even think about it.” I hate to tell you what my threads are telling me.

So, I’m guessing this project represents a lifetime commitment. Anyone have any advice for navigating the crazy quilt relationship?

Luck and wisdom!

Embroidery, or Picking Up Stitches

My crazy quilt pile called to me this week, so I consolidated the stack and picked up some blocks. The floral block above is done enough. I’ll put more stitching on it when I put the top together, but it needs some context before I can decide what I want to do.

The block above was easy, as I had always intended to use an outline stitch for the koi. I set the block aside because I discovered I didn’t have enough blue embroidery floss to finish the design. Luckily, a delicate peach floss caught my eye while I could still adapt the color scheme.

This block needs more work, but will also need context before I know what to do with it. I’m calling it done for the moment, because I’m pretty sure I could cover the entire thing with stitching and still not be happy with it.

One thing I am happy with is my decision not to save all the last bits of floss. Instead, I’m going to fill a scrap of Aida cloth with blocks of color. You can see the beginning above. I may put beads on it as well. We’ll see what the project tells me to do.

The thread in the box is the part of my collection I could get my hands on. I know I have more floss and specialty threads somewhere, but they’re playing a real good game of hide and seek with me. This is why cleaning my sewing room has been a grand adventure for such a long time. I really have no idea what I’ll find when I finally get to the last pile.

Luck and wisdom!

The Great Wall of Quilt Tops

So the good news is I bought some nice batting on sale and decided to rough cut the batt for the four small quilts I need to finish. The bad news is I have more than four tops in the stack. This I did not know. I really thought there were only four in the stack, but there might be six. It’s hard to tell, because the tops get squeezed together. Looking at the layers is like touring a coal mine. I’m certain if I leave those tops unquilted much longer they’ll be compressed into diamonds. This is especially true if I continue to put the batting and tops together on top of the pile.

Here is the view from my sewing machine at the moment. I have a better understanding of what the soldiers who fought in the trenches of France during World War I must have felt. The good news is these quilts are small – and I have a deadline.

The better news is I cleared out the floor of the sewing room closet for the first time in years. I’m hoping I can keep it clear for a little longer, but just this week an item I thought was going away needs to be stored for a little longer. It is on the ironing board right now, but it can’t live there and I have no place else to put it but in the closet. On the floor. The once clean floor. Ah, well.

Luck and wisdom!

Eve’s Requiem and Me

 

A few years ago, Spider Road Press published one of my short stories in Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery, and Horror. I made an art quilt to commemorate the event (my story is called “The Family Tree”). The anthology must still be doing well, because on October 10 Spider Road Press offered an Instagram giveaway for those submitting their favorite quote or image from the book. Given that it is Halloween month, if you want to indulge in some spooky stories check out Eve’s Requiem (now with a new cover).

Luck and wisdom!

Figs In Space

I unearthed an experiment of space fabric layered on batting and quilted, and decided it would be an ideal foundation for my fig applique. Don’t ask why, just go with it. I attached the applique with some running stitches, and added beads and embroidered leaves.

The binding is narrow sheer ribbon. The planet patch covers the spot where the ribbon ends meet. Technically, this is a single fig in space, but the plural sounds better to me so that’s what the piece is called – Figs In Space. Consider this your whimsy for the day.

Luck and wisdom!

What’s At Hand

The curse of productivity is that you find yourself repeating the same pattern because it is efficient. After running through a bunch of tops for donation quilts, my creativity decided to take a vacation. Realizing I needed to do something completely different so I could face my fabric collections again, I took a look at what was at hand. This is what I found.

My original idea was to create a forest scene, but that wasn’t working. Someone suggested I cut it up, bead the units, and make pins. That may still happen, but for the moment I’m beading the piece whole.

I have a box of beautiful green beads that I would love to use, but not a lot of any one variety. I may bead the center and turn it into an art piece, then trim off the edges to make small pins. Regardless, the project at hand is letting those little gray cells work again, and that’s good enough for me.

Luck and wisdom!

Changing My Mind

I unearthed this small top in one of my piles, put it on the design wall, and said, “Self, what were you thinking?” For some reason, just before abandoning it I decided this already busy piece needed sashiko. It doesn’t.

While I am quite willing to change my mind about the embellishment, I am now at a loss as to where I should go with the project. Make it larger? Bead it? Turn it into a tote bag?

The same goes for this piece. Don’t ask why I thought lobster and astronomical novelty prints should go together. Even if I remembered my reasoning then, I probably wouldn’t admit to it now.

Both pieces will stay on the design wall for a little longer. One of the advantages of being a sci fi writer is that I’m quite willing to indulge in magical thinking, including the (perhaps vain) hope that the quilts will tell me what they want me to do next.

Luck and wisdom!