Paint Chip Challenge Quilt Top and Back

With my paint chip challenge quilt due May 5, I've pushed myself to the "it's time to make a quilt sandwich" stage. 

This is the quilt top you may have seen in an earlier blog post, when it was 60" X 72". 

I printed the quilt top photo to test how I wanted to slash and re-piece the top. By the way, I Googled cutting up a quilt top and the term for this is "slash quilting." 

The whole quilt top has been slashed and resewn nine times. It's now about 58" X 61". 

I think the disparate curves and angles make the design much more interesting, and my imagination has been piqued about designs to quilt. Mostly I've looked at the abruptly stopped bias tape curves and thought to free motion quilt to continue to the curve... and then, maybe fill in the space with big stitch hand quilting. I'd like to quilt with black perle cotton, but I don't have a lick of black in my perle cotton stash, nor is there any local place to buy Wonderfil or Aurifil. Will see.

Continuing to use stash, I pieced a quilt back that's 61" X 71". 

It was interesting to unearth two pieces of fabric purchased in other countries. The pindot from Australia was bought in 2009 when I was last there. The print from Brazil was a gift from hubs, brought back from that country in 2001 (25 years ago!) when he was there for six weeks on business with John Deere. I'm delighted about using these in this quilt back.

If you're unable to read what's written in bias tape, I'm okay with that. The black and white stripe camouflages the letters that are in Greek. 

What is says is "Jesus is Lord." Linda ✝

Making

I've been sewing! My latest creations are cotton Twist Front Headbands following the Youtube video by Let's Make it Academy. 

I thought I needed these because I've been letting my hair grow. It's been since November that I've had a haircut. While I'm liking the curls on the back of my head...

...my bangs are straight - gray hair has begun growing-in straight.

I'd like to let my bangs grow so as to be able to pull them back but the growing out part is difficult because I don't like hair on my forehead. So I made the headbands, well-aware they're very1950's-looking. 

I modified cutting instructions to make my headband a little narrower. I'm documenting those dimensions here in case I want to reference them to later make more headbands.

Twist Front Headband

Supplies

• 8" of ¾" or ½"-wide elastic
• 2 rectangles, 5" X 15" for twist top (pattern calls for 6" X 15")
• 1 rectangle, 2" X 15" for elastic cover 

Continuing to make Tiny Dolls on a 24-peg round loom, I learned another lesson. After a week-long break, I thought I'd made another doll from memory using scrap yarn recently bought at a garage sale. 

That 14" "tiny" doll on the right is the result! Ha, ha! After finishing it, I realized I'd knitted an E-wrap rather than the U-wrap called for in the pattern. A Google search explains that an E-wrap is a loosE stitch; a U-wrap is a tight stitch. I won't make that mistake again! 

I also experimented with a different color yarn for skin tone. I think the light taupe color, on the left doll, is okay but I'd like to find a milky chocolate color. 

I've started the second panel for my Seed Stitch Poncho. I have only one unused skein of yarn left, so I hope it's enough. 

On Wednesday, April 1, from our house that's 105 miles from Cape Canaveral, we were able to see the launch of Artemis II. The four-person crew is traveling around the moon and back over 10 days. 

In the first pic, you can see the ship just below the clouds. 

Then, it cleared the clouds.

It was visible as a pinprick for a couple minutes. Exhilarating to see from here. I can only imagine what it was like for people who were closer. Several friends asked, so I'll tell you: No, we weren't able to hear anything.

This is my most recent picture of Twistee Treat, an ice cream stand that's going in nearby and that I can't wait to patronize! It's good to see what's been done - the concrete driveway (there's a drive-up window on the left), and outdoor seating. The exterior, including the roof, still needs painting... and sprinkles! I don't know when it will open, but I'm ready!

Linda

End of March

End of March... on April Fool's Day? That seems about right for how things have been going around here. 😀

I don't have much good to report about fabric use in March. I experienced a necessary influx of yardage to work on my paint chip challenge. 

All 10½ yards that came in was Painter's Palette purchased from Keepsake Quilting.

This is the 60" X 72" paint chip challenge quilt top thus far which account for 3⅓ of the yards used. I've been adding black and white striped bias tape, in three different widths. I know the top looks like nothing, but I have another step planned. I intend to slash the quilt top in several places, then reposition and resew. Yikes! I'm uncertain about what that will look like, but I know it can't remain as-is. I plan to print the photo and cut up the paper version before actually cutting the quilt top. 

I also counted as Out Yardage the Cielo top I made (see last post) using the ice cream cone print. Here's how I figured it... I bought that 1½ yards in February and counted it in February as In Yardage. Then, in March, I made the top, but calcuated it as 1⅓ yards of Out Yardage. That's because some of the odd-shaped leftover bits are now among my print scraps. Seems right, don't you think? 

The remaining small amount of fabric used was as lining and pockets for a Sunshine Crossbody Pouch. (I don't count selvedges as yardage used.) This bag - my second time making the pattern - turned out so much better than the first. I'm sure it's because I relocated D-rings to the top of the bag (rather than in the side seams), and along with SF 101 I used a foam stabilizier in each side. 

The orange pocket at the top, with a vinyl window, is for my rec center ID card. 

I also added a slip pocket to the interior. My FlourishingPalms label is on the left.

This is the best-sized purse for me to carry. 

To restore my fabric stash to its February level, I need to do a lot of sewing to use-up the almost extra 5½ yards I bought.  (Sigh.)

Book Recommendations

Due to end-of-February busy-ness with QuiltCon and teaching in Boca Raton, I never shared six February audiobooks. Scores are out of a possible 5.0.

Just a few reviews...

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz is wonderful book if you're in the mood to relive September 11, 2001. It's a rough listen, but very well-done. From the perspective of a 9 year-old boy who's in the World Trade Center with his dad, a restaurant chef, it's an excellent portrayal of what happened that day. Alongside the boy's experience is the story of an 11 year-old girl in present day terrorist-filled, war-torn Afghanistan. The book gives a thought-provoking look into cirsumstances strikingly similar for each of these young people. 

Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon is a must-read for anyone who thinks they're not creative. This short 37-page book (I read as an ebook) is packed with encouraging truths for all of us who have ever thought "I don't have an original idea in my body." Wrong! This is a book to read for a creative lift, and again and again when you're feeling at all discouraged about your creativity.

I'm happy to say that when I recommended the book to quiltmaking friends, it was add to our Central Florida MQG library.  

Here are seven March listens. 

If it Rains by Jennifer L. Wright takes place in Oklahoma during the 1935 dust bowl. A smart-mouthed teen, Kathryn (living with a club foot) comes of age in poverty and desperation. Her older sister, Melissa marries; her dad and stepmother decide to sell the family farm and move. The last thing Kathryn wants to do is leave. Using a dual narrative method (alternating between two characters) the author guides readers through Kathryn's story and Melissa's experiences as a new wife with money and an abusive husband. It's a well-told story of how it must have felt to live during such a difficult time. 

The Knapdale Murders by Daniel Sellers is a who-done-it story that takes place on the western edge of Scotland, along the seashore. There's a small village, lots of locals who know one another, and a female detective investigator recently arrived from Glasgow, trying to prove herself. The town's busybody - an annoying troublemaker - has been found dead, run over by a tractor. It's up to DI Anna Vaughn and the local detective constable to find the killer.

I thought this was a very entertaining book. The narrator has a wonderful, thick Scottish accent. I'll caution you too. If you need TV subtitles to watch British TV, you might wish for audiobook "subtitles" to listen to this one!  

I hope this book is the start of a series. 

Fredrik Backman has done it again - in a good way - with My Friends, a story about an 18 year-old teen who's recently left a group home and is trying to find her way with nothing and no one. In an alternating timeline - 25 years earlier - are four adolescents growing up in difficult circumstances. What ties the teen and adolescents is a famous painting, the story behind how it came to be, and its current value to the world and one individual to whom it was gifted. 

The Time Hop Coffee Shop by Phaedra Patrick is a fantasy story about Greta Perks (love the play with the name) who, with her husband and young daughter, once featured in Maple Gold Coffee TV commercials. With her celebrity fading, Greta is now separated from her husband and struggling to understand her teenaged daughter. Feeling lost, Greta finds an obscure coffee shop, where the proprietress creates a special brew for Greta who gets her wish to visit and live in the Maple Gold town. Ultimately, she must decide whether to remain there, or return to face the present.

I thoroughly enjoyed this imaginary coffee experience, and the whole book had me craving a good cuppa!

A Force of Nature by Jane Harper, is another great book by this Australia author. If you haven't yet read a Jane Harper book, you must! But then, I do love to hear an Aussie accent.

This story takes place in the fictional Giralang Ranges when two corporate groups - five men and five women - are sent out on a team-building bush trek. The men return within the designated time frame. Six hours later only four women return. Where's Alice? Federal Police Investigator Aaron Falk and his partner are sent from Melbourne to the Giralang to interview the returned, injured and bedraggled women and men, and help searchers find out what has become of Alice. 

I hope I've given you info about a few titles that might interest you.

Until my next post, I'll be here, trying to use-up more fabric and listening to more audiobooks. Linda

Moody Making

Having seemed to misplace sew-jo, I thought that perhaps a couple small projects would get me going again... at least get me to sit at my sewing machine. So, using several QuiltCon purchases, I've been making myself sew. 

Last Sunday I made another (my fourth) Cielo top using this ice cream cone print bought from a QC vendor. Having worked out the size that fits me best, it's probably time to use a different pattern. Ha! But there's also satisfaction in knowing something's gonna fit and sew-up in an afternoon.

I'll be ready for opening day of Twistee Treat (ice cream stand) whenever that may be. Since I'm not seeing much exterior building progress, I'm hoping things are happening inside the stand.

Using fabric and cork also purchased at QC, I'm making my second Sunshine Crossbody Pouch, a free pattern from @bagstockdesigns. The bag size is perfect for what I need to carry.

However, I learned a couple things since making the first bag. Primarily: I do not like patterns that position D-rings within a side seam. What happens is that when the bag is carried, those rings pull upward on the sides making the bag bow in the middle. To rectify that, I'm positioning a D-ring at the top left end of the front, and the back.

Also, it's proven convenient to add a clear vinyl exterior pocket/window to hold the ID card I show each time I attend a recreation center activity. I've observed that if the attendant scanning my card is a woman, she'll often comment about it being handy, or a good idea. Men never comment.

😀

Beige cork is from Sally Tomato. 

I pieced orange selvedges to make the bag's sides, and on one side used "Quilt Tattoo" Ransom Letters, from Salty Hippo Studio, to make text that's a bible verse from Psalms - Let All That I Am Praise The LORD.

As for my paint chip challenge/bias tape project, that was going nowhere. I was feeling very discouraged about it until my good friend Karen (a talented quilt maker) gave me some positive encouragement (much needed!) and a couple suggestions. Determined to move forward, I auditioned her suggestions that prompted one of those "light bulb moments."

💡

Even though I like the fuchsia-colored bias tape (see previous blog post), this black and white stripe is much more "me."

I'm making tape in three different widths and gluing them into place to later edge-sew. I also plan to audition appliqué circles in strategic locations. Thanks to Karen, I finally feel like I'm making progress!

I also completed round loom knitting the first half of a poncho. 

The yarn-fabric is super-soft and stretchy, with a pretty seed stitch pattern. Here's the free pattern by Loomahat: Seed Stitch Poncho. 

I've picked up some new-to-me dish cloth patterns from a friend who had an old Leisure Arts booklet, Nifty Knit Dishcloths. Thanks Selena!

The Simple Weave dishcloth on the left is from the book. The dishcloth on the right is a freebie: Waffle Knit Dishcloth. 

I guess I'll just keep working on whatever suits my mood. Linda

Just a Little Making

It's been an argument with myself to get to the sewing machine, but there's nothing like a challenge to push that.

For the second year in a row, Big Cypress Quilters have given members a paint chip challenge.

Blindly we picked two paint chips. We're to use the paint chip colors (prints or solids) to make something. It doesn't have to be a quilt. It could be an apron, table runner, tote bag, or whatever.

We can add one color, and/or a neutral like white. The project is due May 5.

I selected several colors of Painter's Palette solids, my favorite brand of solids because of the nice, medium hand, and colors that never run when washed. Some colors were already in my stash; some I hoped to buy at QuiltCon. When that proved fruitless, I ordered several PP colors from Keepsake Quilting.

After auditioning different contrasting colors including eggplant and orange, I decided I liked fuchsia best.

Colors I've used to piece the background are:

• Irish Spring (light green)
• Lime Mist (dark green)
• Sky (light blue)
• Cracked Ice (medium blue)
• Daydream (dark blue)

Arbitrarly, I thought to piece Drunkard's Path blocks using 12½" templates cut from freezer paper. 

T

Thirty blocks later, I was shuffling to get a nice balance of darks, mediums and lights.

The background is 60" X 72".

Using fuchsia solid, I've made yards of ⅝"-wide bias tape. Yes, I have several sizes of bias tape makers, but this method allows me to make tape that's exactly the size I want.

Now I'm challenging myself to create a tape design. I'm struggling, but will keep playing with this. 

When I don't want to think quite as hard, or I'm ready to kick back with an audiobook in our new Florida room, I've begun a round loom knitting piece that's for me. Yarn is "Premier Flora" #5 chunky, color River, from Herrschners.

I'm knitting a Seed Stitch Poncho, designed by Denise of loomahat.com, hoping that: 

1) One day I will fit back into blue jeans to wear with the poncho; and

2) the yarn doesn't stretch too much, from a medium size to a large! Fibers are acrylic, bamboo, and nylon blend, making the yarn super-soft and somewhat stretchy. I don't know how it will turn out, but I'm enjoying making it.

Of course, it's getting warmer here (81F today), so even when it's finished, I won't be wearing it until 2027! Linda