Project Linus Completed

I love the way this turned out so much that will be hard to part with it for Project Linus. I wish I had a baby in the family to give it to. If anyone else want to make one of these quilts, the link is here.  You don't have to make 15 blocks.  A row or just one is good too, and although the picture in the magazine shows the blues as all being the same, mine are not, and I think it looks fine.

We have about six inches of snow on the ground here, with more coming down,  a good day to stay inside and sew.  It's the first snow day of the winter, and I'm enjoying it!

A New Year

Happy New Year.  It's been a while.  Household work and Christmas and other activities have kept me out of the studio and away from Blogger.  I hope to be back.

I did make my mom a birthday card,

and yesterday I had a lovely afternoon.  I fired up a Glee marathon through Netflix streaming and worked on these cute blocks for Quiltmaker's Project Linus quilt.

I've made one of these several times in the past and have enjoyed it.  I'm not sure this time though; there's a bit too much paper piecing for my taste, so I may just finish a few blocks.  If I do continue, here are my fabric choices.  Love them!  That may keep me going.

Also on the schedule is the Hoffman Challenge.  I do have an idea, and need to start sketching, and I need/want to make some more pieces for the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative.  All my previous ones have sold.  Incidentally, the January auction is underway, and the quilts are very good this month.

Looking Up

I'm feeling more cheerful about my work since the last post for several reasons.  One is shown below.  My daughter-in-law took the Athena's Puzzle quilt home when they visited last week, and here you see it in use. What could be better!

I finished the scarf.  The color combination in this outfit is not the best, but you get the idea.  This was fun, incredibly fast, and satisfied any knitting urge I may have had.

And finally, I learned that my joke quilt has been accepted by Road to California.  Entering this seemed like a long shot to me; I thought the quilt's uniqueness would be in its favor, but the quilting isn't up to the super level that seems to be expected everywhere.  So the email was a happy surprise.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I did lots of cooking yesterday, and am cleaning today, but not too strenuously.  

What I've Learned Recently

1.  Sometimes less is more.  I like the way this charity quilt turned out with minimal quilting.  With the polyester batting, it should be enough.

2.  How to make an ugly quilt:  Throw in too many, too bright "accent" blocks.  Oh, well on a dark and stormy night it will be just fine.

3.  I can still knit.  I just discovered this novelty yarn, called Marina Glitz, and thought I could manage a scarf that requires only eight stitches.

You pick up the loops on the top of the web and knit them, and the result is this ruffly scarf.  Although it's a bit trickier than I expected, I have finished half of the skein in two nights of TV watching.  It might be tempting to make more for gifts, but most colors seem to be out-of-stock in all the web sites I checked.

Ho Hum

Must get motivated.  Must get motivated.

This will not help much.

Here's the latest Hoffman Challenge fabric.  First off, fabric with roses is not my style, but the other problem is the disappointingly sleazy quality of this fabric.  It looks more like a Walmart knockoff than a Hoffman--the weave is coarse, and the colors don't have the usual sharp definition. At $10.50 a yard the high cost of cotton is really hitting home.  To be fair, there seems to be a white over print over the images which may have something to do with the blurred look, but the general effect isn't very successful.

I do have an idea, but I'll need to get motivated to start.  That seems to be the hard part for me lately.

Happy Halloween

The Interpret This! door revisited.  What Photoshop can do with a basic quilt!

Seasonal Work

I hardly ever make something in seasonal colors.  It's tempting, but I know that by the time a piece is done the season will be just a memory, and I'll wonder what I was thinking.

In the last few weeks I've done so much driving through the countryside drinking in the early fall colors that I couldn't resist.  So here's what I'm working on.  It's an attempt to capture the colors of early fall, September here, when the landscape is still mostly sun-bright green with accents of yellow and gold from the fields of soybeans and the Spanish Needle along the road.  The bright red comes later.

The maple leaf block superimposed on the split nine-patch is one of Judy Martin's ideas, and it seemed to give the effect I'm after.  I deliberately kept the value contrast a bit fuzzy in places so the colors are mixed as they are in nature.The border will be random-length strips of the dark green.  The piecing is almost done now, and while I won't have it quilted before early fall is a memory, it's been surprisingly enjoyable to work inside on the the colors that I love outside.

I've also loved paying attention to the piecing.  Working on a succession of fast pieces has been fun, but it's satisfying to try making the triangles match exactly rather than just come "close enough".  Craftsmanship can be its own reward,can't it.