New Year; New Projects

Several years ago I started crocheting a teddy bear. I'm not a skilled crocheter, so bear parts - head, arms, legs - languished in a closet. After a recent clean-up, I took the pattern and parts to my friend Sandy K. and asked if she'd be willing to finish and donate it. She did, and gave me this picture to let me know that the teddy has been donated. Thank you, Sandy for saving my feeble crochet attempt.

Similarly, many months ago I shared a pile of no-longer-loved fabrics with Big Cypress Quilters. It included this border print that I bought in 2002 when I visited my Swiss friend, Edith. We attended Carrefour Européen du Patchwork in St. Marie-Aux-Mines, France, and I bought a number of European-made fabrics. Joanne D. used this fabric from Amsterdam to make a table runner, and did a nice job! 

What I've been doing is making a name tag. Big Cypress Quilters asked me to teach a basic English paper piecing project - a simple name tag design. 

I made one EPPed Grandmother's Flower Garden patch entirely from a print with my name hand-embroidered in the center.

The other side is EPPed with solids-only, using my Bernina 770QE alphabet to machine-embroider my name. 

To hang the name tag around my neck, I used a 28"-length of wide grosgrain ribbon, folded in half and edge-stitched on both sides, then sandwiched between the two flowers.

I thought the solids were a perfect background for some of my quilting-related pins! I left the EPP papers in the solid hexagons, and poked each pin through the fabric and paper. Pin backs are in between the two flower garden blocks that I hand-stitched together.

I'll be teaching this to Big Cypress Quilters on Tuesday, February 8 at 1 p.m.

In my last post I shared the improv block I made after taking Sherri Lynn Wood's virtual Abstract Piecing Scrap Play workshop. I wasn't happy with the block, so after my South Florida MQG friend Maureen @maydecemberquilts suggested I add some "dark" to the block, I took it apart, inserted bits of royal blue, and... I love what it did to make the block pop!

Improv block approximately 25" X 25"

Wanting to keep up with improv "practice" as Sherri Lynn suggests, I have pulled out every bit of orange, blue, and yellow scraps (prints and solids) that I own! I thought I had a lot of scraps, but it's evident that I'm using them up. 

My intent this year is to continue improv practice, so I made this 12" X 13" block today.

I'm also continuing to use scraps to make my ninth Kawandi, the largest one so far, at 18" X 24". It's a bit of an experiment, changing colors as I hand-stitch toward the center using an aqua variegated Aurifil 12-weight thread. The next scrap color is raspberry/purple. 

My friend Patty @elmstreetquilts recently let me know that blogger Marie Bostwick wrote a post How to Make a Temperature Quilt and along with other makers, used my quilt as an example. I got a kick out of her description:

"Who doesn't love the Drunkard's Path block? This quilt from FlourishingPalms made my heart go pitter-pat!"

I'm flattered, and so excited about seeing my temperature quilt hanging at QuiltCon in Phoenix. That big event is only 38 days away! 

Book Recommendation
This is a repeat post about reading (by audiobook) - and finally finishing! - Go Tell the Bees That I'm Gone, the ninth book in the Outlander series written by Diana Gabaldon. It took me all of the 20 day check-out period to listen to 49½ hours of the story.

I wasn't disappointed in the book, but I think I expected more "happenings." It's been six years since Written in My Own Heart's Blood (book #8) was published, so in this one, Ms. Gabaldon often reviewed - through conversations between various characters - events that happened in previous books.

Character interactions were often among Jamie and Claire's descendants: Bree and Roger; Ian and Rachel; William (Lord John/Jamie's s
on) and Arabella; Jenny (Jamie's sister) and an Indian shaman, and other new characters. Time travel was talked about, especially between Bree and Roger. About half the book was spent with Jamie and Claire as they rebuilt their (previously burned) home on Fraser's Ridge, in Virginia.

Historically, a siege and battle takes place in Savannah. Having been in Savannah twice, I enjoyed that part. On Google Earth I found the house where Lord John Grey and his brother Hal lived: 16 Oglethorpe Street. Seeing this makes the fictitious history more real.

16 Oglethorpe St., Savannah, Georgia

The book concludes in 1780. Book ten is expected to be the last book in the series. 

Because the Outlander series is my all-time favorite book (series) ever - one step above Gone With the Wind - I'm giving this my highest score.

Linda's score: 5/5

Some Best Buy shopping has me owning this 58" tall tripod for my Canon point-and-shoot camera. I'm looking forward to taking pictures with it, especially photos of groups like Central Florida MQG, and quilts on my design wall, photos I previously took using a tabletop tripod.

I shared the conversation below on Instagram, so forgive me if you've already seen it.

On Saturday evening, Dan was making dinner for us - grilled salmon with a Bérnaise sauce - when we had this exchange.

 

His response had me laughing out loud, and somewhat in astonishment of his knowledge! Who would have guessed he's picked up on my thread preference?! What other things does he know about quilting? 

Well, my Dad has told me several times that from reading my blog, he knows more about quilting than most men. If these fellas have been paying attention, Dad's absolutely right! Linda