Bigger and better

Three things to be happy about:
(1) coconut juice
(2) learning another way to fix hamburger
(3) shredding old papers

My mail carrier is still wearing her uniform shorts, my neighbors on both sides are still running their AC.  It IS October, right??  Just saying...

I hung a larger moon behind my couple, what a difference two inches makes!

Pulling out one of the Accuquilt circle dies (which I've never used) seemed like a good idea, but to get the perfect size I had to go "old school" - the bottom of a popcorn tin!

Just goes to show ya.

Taking advantage of some of Jennifer's scraps! 

I wanted to add grass to the bottom of the piece ...

But it doesn't add anything to the overall effect does it?  Especially since the fabrics I used make them look like they're standing atop a ruffled skirt.  Out it goes!

On the other hand removing the shadow beneath their feet didn't take anything away from the overall effect, thank goodness!

Looking good.  See, they don't have to dance on the grass, they can dance in the air, right up to the moon!

I've started adding the hourglass borders, I want to have two rounds on each side.  After I got this on the design wall I sorta wished I'd made the hourglass units smaller, 3" rather than 4". 

I pieced way too many already, it's a bit late to let my mind go there!

That's it for now, sew forth and sew on...

Changing direction

Three things to be happy about:
(1) a moving target
(2) fall foliage
(3) pigs in blankets

I like the two yellow scrappy blocks I started making for the December guild meeting but they're very piecing-intensive!  They'll take more time than I want to devote right now because I also need to make a challenge quilt for December.  I can either make two pillow covers with what I've pieced, or make two more blocks for a small hanging.

Some years ago I made this house wall hanging from gifted scraps that I never quilted.

The point of making a scrap project was to show other guild members what can be done with small pieces .... this will do what we wanted.  I need to decide on an outer border and quilt it, plenty time to finish it for the meeting.

Now for my challenge quilt (music theme) I can use this silhouette couple that I've had for a very long time, it even has fusible on the back.

My idea was to name the quilt "Dancing in the Street," but buildings drawn in perspective had me stopped in my tracks!

Then yesterday I took a different direction - how about "Dancing in the Moonlight"??  Anybody remember that song remade by Van Morrison?

I'll hang the moon behind them so their heads aren't lost on that blue background, but it needs to be larger I think ...

I like the idea of their partial shadow cast by the moon, might have to cut it off when I do the ground, though.

The border will be made from neutral and black quarter-square triangle - or hourglass - units.

I made a lot of these sometime last summer when I was just doodling around, so I have a pretty good head start!

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Twirling my seams, pressing in a counter clockwise direction...



Gotta love that dry iron from the Vermont Country Store!

Have a great Saturday, sew forth and sew on

Black and white

I was looking at a co-worker's black and white photo of her daughter when I thought that sometimes b&w images show more detail than color ones, isn't that interesting?  From there my mind went (naturally) to b&w quilts I've made, and I realized I have very few of em.  Yet, I'm always collecting black & white fabrics! Go figure.
 

Here's a Sunbonnet Sue I keep at the office that I made shortly after I started quilting; she's paper-pieced and I call her Amish Sue, AND she's wearing leather shoes from an old hand bag. I remember buying the pattern from Cottonseed Glory in Annapolis, Maryland, and I enlarged it since it was only 6".  The one on the right is from the same pattern - actually I think I made that one first.

Now here's an interesting phenomenon - for this one I elongated a foundation-pieced cup and saucer pattern in EQ4. 

The fabrics were all the same shade of black when I made this, but after hanging in my office for a lot of years, it faded something awful!  You can see the damage, I'm not sure if it's from light coming through the windows or the fluorescent lighting, or a combination of both. 

I pinned the backing up to show the difference in the color... it's the same fabric as was used in the middle cup - what a difference!  I think it's interesting that the saucers and both cups on the right hand side didn't fade, or if they did it's very subtle.

Here's one I thought I'd throw in at no extra charge, just because it's hanging on my office wall. 

I had this silhouette made at a Renaissance Festival in 1978, oh my how I've changed!  The little man who made this cut it at 4 inches, this is an enlarged version I made on a copier. 

I still have the original in a drawer someplace, I'll probably commit it to fabric sooner or later.

Friendship block

I found this handy-dandy "tool" at my local Dollar store, two plastic mats that are meant for chopping veggies.  I like to slip one between my fabric and pattern when I'm laying out my applique designs because they're easy to see through.  To keep the pieces from shifting, when I get it all laid out I just pick up the mat and transport the entire thing to the ironing board.  You really can't iron on this mat (ask me how I know!), but I think it's handy because the block slips off really easy.

I haven't been able to get any sewing done for a couple of days, but yesterday I made a block for a friend whose sister passed away recently. I was inspired by the opening scene from The Color Purple where Celie and Nettie are playing in a field of purple flowers, just enjoying being sisters.  

I traced the entire piece on fusible, then I fused it to a piece of black Moda Marbles by Patrick Lose.  I really like that fabric!  I buy it by the bolt. 

The good news is, I was able to limit the number of pieces to 3 large ones and 4 little ones (the strips on Nettie's blouse).  So basically, you're looking at 7 pieces of fabric!  I typed "Sisters" in WordPerfect at 200 points, then I just printed it out and traced it onto fusible.

I think it came out nicely!

Linda