I am very sorry for this. I couldn’t help myself. Many days I feel like I need a case of the stuff. And I could share it with friends. Plus also I think if one is taking photos in the pet supply store, one may need some of this. And I don’t have fish. And what with summer “vacation” looming, I’d better place an order.
I now have an overwhelming need to go and do something productive.
First of all, do you think I should break out a new marking pencil? I do have more. It’s becoming something of a personal challenge at this point. Everyone has to have goals.
So, when I last left you, I had a vision in my peapod brain that I would use Kona snow for my backgrounds–nice and clean, ya know? That was a little too tame for me. I graduated to a LOUD AND LARGE AQUA GINGHAM. It looked like paper plates on a tablecloth. Clever. But, you just couldn’t see the fabrics in the plates. The boss, who is the boss and thus much wiser than I am, put the plate on the dark, dark purple with gold stripe ovals you see above (I know, hard to see, I’ll work on that and get back to you). I am so excited about this project. As for the flower petals, a few have a funny X stitch in black, some have a neutral straight stitch and some have small rick-rack underneath. The LOUD AND LARGE AQUA GINGHAM is going to come back into play later. Stay tuned. This could get interesting…
This is what is going on today. I haven’t yet gone on and on about one of my favorite quilt designers, Barbara Jones from Quilt Soup. I fell for her lovely and fun designs at my first Quilt Market. This is one of her latest designs, Paper Plates. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to get right to it with some Chocolate Lollipop. Oooooh, is it ever fun! And, being a rebel (and reknowned lazy girl…), I decided to do rick-rack-turn applique on the large plates. Do you know this one? If not, add it to your list of applique tricks. Barbara’s pattern recommends a wonderful method of starch and freezer paper applique prep, and I’m by no means criticizing…I’m just, well, lazy.
Barbara’s design includes some medium large rick-rack around the edges of her plates. So, I brought out some large-ish rick-rack, sewed it to the RIGHT side of the pieced circle, making sure to sew about 1/4″ away from the raw edge of the fabric and right through the middle of the rick-rack. Then we go to the iron and we FLIP the rick-rack to the back and press the lovely new finished edge of our applique. Voila. I know, not spectacularly original, just helpful when you’re lazy like me. I’ll be adding rick-rack around the edges of the smaller circles and maybe around some flower petals. But I’ll do that the old-fashioned starch and Templar way. If the rick-rack is too narrow, I’m thinking it would be too fiddly and would need to be stitched IN the seam allowance and then turned out. We shall see. Can’t get things too complicated…I’m lazy, remember?
Anyway, Barbara also has a new fabric line out with Marcus Bros. called Ellery–gorgeous stuff. So, go visit her and get some patterns and some soup recipes!
This is what happens when there is a tiny miscommunication in the house. But, who’s to complain? OK, who wants cake?
I am making the sampler quilt from Kaffe Fassett’s Museum Quilts book. Maybe I should say I’m in charge of making it (and kitting it, BOM-style). I like this quilt. I am sooooo tired of this quilt. I am finishing up the small blocks and moving on to what’s left. Enthusiasm waned about 10 months back. However, my quilting thrives with externally-imposed deadlines. So, I am CERTAIN that my enthusiasm will return when I realize I just need to sew the blocks together! Voila and all.
Today I visited with block 39 in all of its diamond-y goodness. You will see my very good friend above. Seam Ripper is sitting threateningly near block 39. It was a seam ripper smackdown today. You know, it’s not the ripping of the seams that I mind, it’s picking all those little threads out of the seams afterward. Today’s block 39 was a test-run to make sure things would go smoothly. Three more of block 39 to go. Must remember to cut a paycheck for Seam Ripper…with overtime. I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll see of this project.
On another note, ou-la-la, a box arrived from France, fancy! I like me some gizmos. I read about this Japanese pencil in Quiltmania and decided I had to try it. Methinks the shipping was more than the pencil. Allegedly, its marks come out, poof, with water! I will report back once I can bear to take it out of its precise little packaging. I’m one of those people.
Finally, I did not succeed in my eBay quest. Foiled again! Quick like a bunny, go take a look at this beauty. Don’t you just love the freshness of the colors? That I can work to replicate.
This one’s for Kathy. While taking this picture, I found the one known physical flaw (yes, yes, operator error is inherent) in the new camera. The bigclunkyoldone had an advantage in its flip out and around screen. There is no available vertical space, so larger quilts are photographed on horizontal, say, queen-sized spaces (op. cit. yada yada yada). It is nearly impossible to square-up the pic you’re taking while standing on a chair, arms extended over the approximate center of a quilt, craning your neck to see if you can catch a glimpse of the screen. Yeah, well, it’s all rocket science variety over here.
And, speaking of those lovely quilters I’d like to move in with in Australia…this falls into the Little Known Facts category: both of the dogs (and their hair) residing with us are ALLEGEDLY mixtures of Australian shepherd and Boston terrier. Do you see it???? Maybe this should be classified in the Bill of Goods category.
Oh, the quilt above is made from Free Spirit’s Utopia. Free pattern: here.
OK, out of my way, I have an eBay auction to watch… If things go well, I’ll show you that later! No sniping!
Marginally quilt related. A new Mama-Cam arrived just in time for Mother’s Day! Why must one use the video function on the camera to record the dog tussles and then play back the dog tussles making sure there is at least one other person who watches the re-play? I was told, “I’ve seen that show.” Endlessly amusing, no?
So, here is a “new” picture of the Utopia quilt that is finally being quilted.
And, one of the tusslers makes an appearance wearing doggy camouflage so as to blend into her natural beige surroundings. She is in hiding.
I just washed the last official dishes before Mother’s Day! Glad that’s done and I can now rest on my deserving (?) laurels. Happy Mother’s Day!
We will now take a brief foray into the month of aMy. We heartily celebrate this most hallowed of months because there are presents for three official holidays in May (aMy): my 15th wedding anniversary occurred this year (a different number of years is honored at this time each year), Mother’s Day and I am a mother (the proof is whining about something or other in the other room), and, finally, this is the month of my birth. The convergence of these three events turns the month into aMy. There we are. Festivities will culminate on the 20th of the month on which I will become, I believe, officially middle-aged. Go figure. When did that happen?
In my honest opinion, there is nothing that can’t be improved without a little lime green. Even in the envy department. I’m doing my best to keep my mind off of quilty activities in Salt Lake City. Only because I’M NOT THERE and there is fun to be had. And sore feet. And sore backs. Neither of which I have (wait, let me awkwardly lift another medium sized dog out of a bathtub and I’ll at least have the back part).
Instead, I’ve been keeping company with the little man:
Run, little man, run! I’ll admit, I’d been sewing regularly and for quite some time before I took my eyes off my work and saw this little running man who must be the full-time manager of the stitch regulator department. At first, I thought there was something wrong with my machine: Why is there a smelly little man showing up on my sewing computer’s screen? Ahhh, slow to catch on, this old-time English major (use your words, people!) is late to the iconography (if you will) party. I just don’t get the pictures sometimes. He isn’t smelly, he’s running…I get it. With that, I’d better go and see if I can catch the little man.
Next time we will address the month of aMy.
Ah, the pleasures of pin basting. Things stay where you put them…especially if you pin every three or so inches. I would like to say that pin basting is meditational. Unfortunately, I use the patented Pin Baste on Top of a Queen-size Bed ™ system. That involves stretching and bending and getting down on my knees…resulting in more grunting and groaning than meditation allows. Let’s call it Basting Yoga. But, it is a system that doesn’t let me down and I slide a large cutting mat around under the area to be pinned.
Two tops got the basting treatment this morning. I took a break (who leaves me home alone with chocolatealmondbuttertoffee?) and read Kristin’s post on machine quilting. How timely. I am usually able to get past one of my perfectionist tendencies (if you avoid doing it, how can you possibly do it wrong?) where machine quilting is concerned. But I completely relate to what she has said.
The Modern Mix quilt is up next for machine quilting. I enlarged one of the bird motifs from the Summer in the City fabric and that bird landed right in my quilt. Caw!
In my next post, we will discuss the Month of aMy.
Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts 