Stems, Blooms and (later) Leaves

Slow progress still counts as progress, right?  Here's a peek at the first of the English paper-pieced Little Daisies appliquéd to the background of the setting squares for the lone star quilt that I decided upon as my June goal for a Lovely Year of Finishes.

I think the stems begin to reinforce the idea of the star shapes as flowers and the leaves to come will make them seem even more flower-like. 

I started with squares that will later be sliced in half diagonally and sewn to the center to put it on point. First I added the stems on the machine and now I'm hand appliquéing the EPP stars in place.

The paper–or in my case, card stock–does help maintain the straight edges and points of the flowers ... but also seems to slow me down as it's harder to manipulate the fabric because of the stiffness. These photos show where I am now.  One corner (three flowers) done, three more (nine flowers) to go. And then I'll be taking a really hard look at the un-flat nature of the center and adding these to it to put it on point.

Blue leaves will be added after the setting triangles are in place and the outer border is added and the option for the leaves to cross into the border.  While I work on these, I have been thinking about design options for the pieced border that comes next.

If you like the 8-petalled daisies, you can download the templates (for a 6 inch block) from my Block Patterns page. The pattern was intended for hand-piecing–I used the center and petals to cut shapes for English paper piecing (EPP).

Quiltus Interruptus

I was quilting this small quilt in February when my Bernina died (2 weeks after coming back from the dealer after it died in January).

I was frustrated and not feeling completely confident in their abilities, but since they are the only dealer around, I talked with them at the Fiber Arts Fiesta and arranged to take it back. It's more than two hours of driving there and back ... for a fix–at least I hope it is a long-lasting fix–that took less than a minute.

I didn't finish this on the Singer 301, because it doesn't like the lightweight threads I'd been using and I wasn't sure it would look the same.   After I finish filling in the white background with feathers, I plan to use the pattern n the vintage sheet you can see in the strips on the front as a quilting design, then flip the quilt over where there's more of the sheet and use it from the back as a quilting design for the plain borders.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that my lovely purple Bernina is really fixed this time.  Wish me luck.

And joining the crowd for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.   Check it out to see what others have in-progress this week.

Only in Santa Fe?

I went to the Tuesday morning Farmer's market, looking to see what was in season here.  I picked up some fresh garlic, rainbow swiss chard (peeking out of my shopping bag), a few other local veggies and stopped in the new café for coffee and pastry.

... which, in this case, was a latté and a blue corn donut with lavender-blueberry glaze from a local donut shop, Whoo's Donuts.  Yum.

Getting Ready for some Appliqué

Here's a photo of my progress with the scrappy red little daisies that put together using English paper piecing and the sewing basket that I use to carry small projects from studio to den and back again.

I bought it at a quilt show in Michigan. I thought the basket was beautiful and I liked the useful little dowel that holds spools of thread and keeps them from rolling off tables (and out of the paws of curious cats).  The envelopes contain the paper pieces for the daisies; my sewing kit holds needles, thimble, thread, and a small pair of scissors ... though they usually end up in the bottom of the basket, just as they are now.

I'd been thinking about making some sort of liner/organizer and, earlier this week, I saw Benta's tutorial post on making a Crafty Caddy.  Mine is smaller.  I started with a 10 inch square to make it 4 inches square and 3 inches tall. As she suggested, I added a inside pocket.  I decided to bind the top edge instead of having a seamed edge and, because I was having so much fun playing with scraps, I also made a small pin cushion with a strap on the back to slide onto the dowel with the spools.

   

My cats have been known to pull pins out of pincushions and so keep them in closed tins.  This little pincushion will be used to park a needle or a pin or two while I'm stitching.

To fit in the basket nicely, the corners were folded flat–they are still functional as pockets for my small scissors, a seam ripper, etc. This afternoon, I'm placing the vines that will support these star-like flowers; my plan for Slow Stitch Sunday, is to begin the appliqué tonight.  I'm ready.

A New Month, A New Block Pattern, Choosing A New Goal

The month of May seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, didn't it?

For me, the start of each month comes with two quilt-y tasks, make sure the lotto block guidelines and directions are posted and decide on a project goal for the month for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

For our continuing year of 6-by-9 inch rectangle lotto blocks, we're making this variation of a traditional ship block in blue and white.

You can download the print-friendly directions from my Freebies Page on this blog.  The Tall Ship Block Pattern includes directions for making 8-at-once half square triangle units beginning with two large squares.

Everyone is always welcome to join us on the Block Lotto.  If you like this block and want to play along, the guidelines for this month are here:

Tall Ships Sail into the Block Lotto in June

Here's the virtual quilt, constructed from photos of blocks from Block Lotto sneak peekers, Angie, Debbie, Helen, Kathleen, Margaret, Nan and me.

I seem to have inadvertently messed up the table formatting on that page when I added the image and link for the Tall Ship pattern ... probably a sign that it's time to re-organize it. I noticed recently that I have more than 50 sets of photos on Flickr that have been blogged as tutorials, tips, projects or block patterns. Who would have thunk it, when I volunteered to re-start the block lotto as a beginner-friendly activity and practice for making blocks for Bees and exchanges?

I may well spend part of the day playing with web pages ... as I continue to waffle between several projects I'd love to finish in June. I know myself (and my speed or lack there of) well enough to know that, practically, I will only be able to finish one and so I need to stop waffling and decide in time to post my goal for A Lovely Finish. The contenders are:

1. The red-blue-cream-tan star quilt with the anything but flat lone star in the center.  I have been working on this one and have some momentum, plus it would be a nice finish in time for the Fourth of July. I posted about some of the challenges with this old, old project here.
2. Another oldie-but-goodie UFO that just needs to be quilted–a string star small bed-size quilt. I keep feeling the urge to make a string quilt, but tell myself I need to quilt and finish at least one of the three string quilt tops here before starting another.  In my mind, it's sort of like my approach to buying books–no new books unless I create space on my bookshelves by giving some of the books I own away.  I have stencils for a quilting design I plan to use. I think the additional preparation step of marking the quilt has been holding me up, despite last month's goal to learn to love the preparation steps.  I couldn't find a photo of this one, but if it's chosen–and maybe even if it isn't–you'll be seeing a lot of it. 
3. The architecture challenge for the 15 minutes blog.  I signed up and chose and posted a photo as inspiration, here.  The deadline is early July.  Making this my June Goal would ensure I'd get it finished. 
4. Another oldie–a quilt for which I planned to directions in 12 steps.  I'd been thinking I would finish in time to blog the directions over the 12 weeks of summer.  The quilt top is nearly finished (and has been nearly finished for ... years). Summer begins in June ... so it would be another good choice.  Plus I think it would be a lovely quilt to have around the house in Summer. Here's a peek at it in-progress.
   
   
   

I don't know why that I have lately felt inclined to pull out these old WIPs and work on them.  I suppose it's a good thing and because I do seem to be finishing some of them, I'm not asking too many questions about my motivation and just going with the flow.  Now I just need to narrow my focus, choose one (or work on the new project for the challenge) and GET IT DONE.

I'm going to allow myself wallow in indecision a couple days longer over the weekend and see which of these projects insists it must be my Lovely Finish for June. 

More Favorites from Albuquerque

If this group of quilts have a theme, it's the spectacular stitching.  First up is A Trip Around New Mexico by Ardith Alumbaugh, Albuquerque.  It was quilted by Leona Van Leeuwen.    As you might guess from the dates at the bottom, last year was New Mexico's centennial.

There's a lot to like about this quilt, but it was the quilting around the silouttes that made it one of my favorites.

For me one of the best things about seeing quilts alive and in person is noticing all the small details.  Speaking of small, this was the winner in the Miniature category, Cherry Blossoms by Barbara Deshler, of Albuquerque.

Inside those perfectly stitched sashiko stitches sections, there are machine quilted feathers.

This quilt, It's Spring by Norma Jean Koelm of Albuquerque, won the hand quilting award and the stitching is lovely ...

... but it's the use of color that made it special for me. 

I think the thread painting in the next quilt, Boomer  by Jodi Scaltreto of Hillsboro, NH, is some of the best I've seen.

This technique is on my list of things to try  ... one day.   The detail on this dog was amazing. 

In honor of Hexie Friday and my own new-found fascination with English paper piecing, I'll finish with this interesting arrangement of hexies, Union Jack Quilt by Cindy L. Kurey of Albuquerque.

I thought it was a clever arrangement and one I haven't seen before. As a lover of scrap quilts, I enjoyed a close look at all the different fabrics that the quilter used in her hexies.

You can see all my photos of the quilt (and weaving, knitting, hooking, etc) from Fiber Arts Fiesta 2013 here.

I'm adding this post to the linky party for Weekend Update on the Block Lotto.  Join me! 

One of my Favorite Quilts from Fiber Fiesta

Two blog posts on the same day from this occasional blogger?  Even I am a little surprised.

I wanted to post a few of my favorite quilts from the Fiber Arts Fiesta last weekend, beginning with this one–Echinacea by Nancy Steidle of Santa Fe.

I love the contrast between the flowers and pieced background.  The wonderful detail in the centers of the flowers is exquisite.

I love how the flowers and leaf designs are also quilted into the background–maybe because that's my plan for a flower quilt of mine–and how she added the beaded detail of the centers on the quilted blooms.

It's no surprise that this quilt had three ribbons hanging from it, for best in category (Pictorial- Large), for Hand Appliqué and for ???

A New Playmate for Johnny?

Yesterday evening, while I was sitting at my desk at one end of the studio, doing something on the computer, Johnny be Good was energetically playing around with something at the other end.  This wasn't unusual activity.  Even though Johnny and his sister, Grace, are 7 years old, they still play like kittens and continue the tradition of seeing everything as a toy.

At some point, Johnny came over to the desk ... a long tail hanging out of his mouth.  I thought he was bringing me a (dead) gift, but it was clear when he dropped the lizard and started playing with it at my feet, he just wanted to introduce me to his new friend. 

About the time I was figuring out what was going on, he picked up his new friend, carried her through the kitchen and into the living/dining room and resumed their game of catch and release on the sisal rug.

This New Mexico Whiptail Lizard (I think) must have followed me inside when I was carrying in groceries earlier in the day.

While I was thinking up a plan to separate cat from new lizard friend and lizard from my house, they played on.  At the point I grabbed the camera and took these photos, I think the lizard was stunning ... and perhaps thinking up a plan of her own to get away from that cat.

I knew it was strictly play for Johnny when he picked up an edge of the rug so that the lizard could run underneath.  He was teaching her how to play over/under like he and Grace play with rugs (and quilts on beds).

The lizard clearly didn't understand how the game was played and never popped out from under the rug to attack the cat.  (Imagine that).

Play (and the lizard) slowed enough that I was able to capture him under a plastic storage cup.  While I went into the studio to grab some thin cardboard to slide underneath so I could pick up cup and lizard and carry her back outside ... Johnny continued to play with her and slide her (inside) the cup) around on the floor.



This morning, after breakfast, I found him sitting on the rug and looking around as if expecting to find his new "friend."

If you are curious about the NM Whiptail lizard–the New Mexico State Lizard–I found her (they are always female and reproduce parthenogenetically, without a man) on this state symbols site.

Johnny's sister, Grace Hopper somehow missed all the excitement–she was upstairs napping through the commotion and didn't come down until it was time for her to come into the studio and remind me to grab some handwork and head upstairs to the den to hang out with her.   I don't think the little lizard would have lasted long had both cats been part of the "game." 

Surprise! That Was Easy!

I mentioned the oopsy in the placement of some of the diamonds in my red-blue-cream lone star the other day. Here's a closer look.

I wasn't all that confident about my ability to remove a strip of 4 diamonds from the middle of the piece, flip it around and put it back correctly, but ripping it out was easy.

(Sorry, this photo was taken at a different angle)

And it went back together surprisingly fast ... and (almost) lining things up and re-sewing the inset seams was pretty easy, too.

Looking at all those OLD seams in the old UFO gave me some insight into why the lone star is not flat ... which may be a good argument for finishing projects when you start them so you never have the opportunity to see those old not-exactly-a-quarter-inch seams ;-)

I'm joining Esther for WOW (WIPS on Wednesday) and Leah's WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

Fiber Arts Fiesta!

Saturday, I drove to Albuquerque to check out the Fiber Arts Fiesta, a show created by 16 guilds and groups across the fiber spectrum... and many vendors to supply your every fiber need (an desire).

For many of the exhibiting artists and visitors, the sentiment on this mixed media piece by Judith Roderick is true: Art Makes My World Go Round.

I will blog about some of my favorites this week, but here's a taste of some of the  knits, rugs, weaving, lace, crochet, polymer clay, beadwork, and quilts that caught my eye.

Use the links under the mosaic to go to the original photos on Flickr and read the credits.

You can see all my snaps from the day in my Flickr set: Fiber Arts Fiesta 2013.

1. Detail from REDheArts, 2. Sew, What Do you Think?, 3. Forest Mink, 4. Sweater Cardigan, 5. Sweater Cardigan, 6. Dad and His Model A Ford - Detail, 7. My Raven: A Healing Rug, 8. Octagonal Floral/Hit-or-Miss - Detail, 9. Detail from Window Box Challenge, 10. Dia de los Muertos, 11. Audra's Star, 12. Cracked Ice, 13. Made with Love - Detail, 14. Night Flowers 2, 15. Trip Around New Mexico, 16. Paper Shredder Quilt, 17. Complementary Colors, 18. Storm at Sea - Dance of the Gulls - Detail, 19. Draggon Blossom - Detail, 20. The Value of Water, 21. Music in the Canyon, 22. Dandelions - Detail, 23. African Aviary Tryptych - Detail, 24. Cherry Blossoms, 25. Mariner's Sunrise - Detail, 26. Thanks, Friends, 27. Sculptured Peanut Can, 28. Dot Drake Display, 29. Long Beach Sand & Sea, 30. Flor Da Corda, 31. Study in Red & White - Detail, 32. Red-Fire of the South-Recognition - Fengshui Series, 33. Skyscape, 34. Black Neon Square - Fractured Square Series, 35. Bobbin Lace Lizard, 36. Firebird

"It Will Quilt Out" ... or Will It?

I've been looking ahead a little and thinking about a project to focus on for a Lovely June Finish.  Here's what's on my design wall:

This is an old UFO with some challenges.  It was made from individual diamonds as part of a fabric swap/challenge. It isn't flat.  I put it together during a quilting day with friends and was assured by more experienced quilters that, "it will quilt out."  I guess I'm finally going to find out if that's true :-) 

One four-diamond strip was flipped the wrong way around. Oops. 

I've already blogged about the challenge of those flower-like appliqué pieces that I've since decided to replace with English paper pieced star-flower shapes. 

It seems like a good time to work on a red, white and blue project ... it could become June's lovely finish and a patriotic quilt to have around the house for the Fourth of July.

Updated to add a link to the June Goal Setting Party for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Taking things apart ... so I can put them back together again

Here's my completed test version of the Little Daisy, adapted to English Paper Piecing and appliqué.

Friends suggested how I could use these templates to make something that looked more like the original plan ... or how I could use EPP to prepare those original flower-ish diamond shapes for appliqué, which were both excellent ideas.  But, in the end, I decided to take the original shapes apart and reuse the red diamonds to make more of these. I think the octagon centers make them a little more flower-like while maintaining the diamond petals.

I'm not sure yet, but I think the left-over blue diamonds could become leaves for my new red daisies ... or blue star cornerstones for the border.

This afternoon, I'm feeling scattered and find myself jumping between some spring-cleaning chores and a couple projects, unable to settle into any one thing and make some real progress.  I figure that deciding to move forward on this idea for Slow Stitch Sunday will give me something focused and meditative with which to end my day.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I was happily surprised when the mechanic finished up the work on my car Friday afternoon, because it meant I could drive to Albuquerque for the Fiber Arts Fiesta yesterday and spend the day with quilts, rugs, weaving, lace, knitting ... and vendors.  While I'm fighting with the new version of Flickr to upload my photos from that amazing event, I'm checking out the quilts in the online Bloggers Quilt Festival.

If you haven't been following along, this weekend is a good time to discover all the great quilts.  Voting is open through May 30, so you can also vote for your favorites in each category.   

The Main Page has general information and links to each of the category pages. 

I've blogged about the two quilts that contributed: 

Small Comfort is #16 in Group or Bee Quilts.  

You can see more of the quilt (and less of Grace Hopper the cat) in my blog post about the quilt I made from comfort blocks sent to me after my dad died  here.

Cock-a-Doodle Tea Towel is #26 in Wall Hanging Quilts.

This quilt was my first attempt at free motion quilting on my old Singer 301.  It's not perfect, but I love it and enjoy it everyday hanging at one end of my kitchen.  You can see more photos in this post.

This is the first time I've joined the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, though I have always enjoyed the eye candy.  What a great tradition it has become.  

Problem Solving in Quilting

One of the things that I absolutely love about quilting is that there are usually multiple ways to accomplish a design ... and no one right answer.  Last night, I pulled out an old unfinished project with a few challenges–we won't call them problems ... yet.  One of the challenges that had held me back was my vision of some abstract flower shapes, made from diamonds that would be appliquéd to a pieced background. Appliquéing all those edges straight and keeping the points pointy intimidated me.

In the way that one project can inform another, I wondered if I could use English paper piecing as an appliqué preparation technique and keep all those edges straight, points, pointed and flowers looking all the same.

I wanted to maintain the same basic diamond shape–the diamonds are used in another part of the quilt.  I remembered this Little Daisy block that I had made earlier this year and thought it would work.  I used the petal and center octagon templates for this block, which were intended for hand-piecing, to create paper shapes for EPP for my test.

If you are interested, you can download the Little Daisy templates from my Freebies page.

Here's my EPP test in progress, beside the original plan. As you can see, I'm also thinking the petals would look better scrappy and that the blue petals at the base (inspired by the traditional Carolina Lily block) don't work in the new shape.  The stems and leaves will be blue on this red-blue-cream quilt.

I'm joining the linky party for Angie and Billie's Hexie Friday  ... and hoping that those with experience with appliqué of EPP shapes will offer me some tips and/or advice about my idea.

I'm also joining the Weekend Update on the Block Lotto.  (It's worth the click over, just to see what Linda's making from some colorful lotto blocks she won.)

If you came by as part of Hexie Friday to check on my progress on the tea coozy made from Regina's Star Flowers,  I finished it earlier this week (yay!) and you can read more about it here:

Star Flower Tea Cozy - Done (but Far from Perfect)

Currently Parked on the Design Wall

Today, my design wall looks like this.

A piece of selvage fabric, layered, pin-basted and waiting for me to decide how to quilt it–the stencil next to it is one possibility; a piece of batik with three giraffes that I may be ready to use as part of a design for a new project, and a flock of 10 scrappy geese blocks for this month's Block Lotto.  Nine of them were made seven fabrics, ranging from light to dark to prove that it was possible to make 9 unique blocks (the maximum number to enter into the drawing) from only 7 fabrics.

I am experiencing that pause in the flow that comes with finishing up some projects and beginning others.  Since finishing the checkerboard picnic quilt and the English paper pieced tea cozy over the weekend, I haven't decided if the next thing will be one of these or something else.

To see more design walls, check out the link list on Judy's Design Wall Monday 

Star Flower Tea Cozy - Done (but far from Perfect)

My first English Paper Piecing project is finished--a tea cozy made using Regina's Starflower templates.

As I was was stitching down the binding around the bottom, It struck me how much the shape looks like nothing so much as a quilty ski hat (I even slid it onto my head last night ... and no, I did not take a photo)   The shape was actually inspired by this little tea pot and it's upright bamboo handle.

I'm not especially happy with the free motion quilting in the blue background–I probably should have stopped and waiting until I was better rested, but I was motivated to finish it last night.  I'm hoping that after it has been washed and dried, the crinkles will hide some of those imperfections.  Here it is, covering the tea pot, from both sides

    

And one last look of the pot that inspired the project.   

The next time I feel like making a little pot of tea and heading up to the den for some TV and hand-stitching, I'm ready. 

I made one more flower.  I'm thinking of using some of the dark blue scraps with the flower for a mug rug.