Pluggin' Along

With no project deadlines, and therefore no purpose for any making, I've been stumbling from one project to another. 

I'm trying not to work on Kawandi all the time, which I'm tempted to do. Love the raspberry/violet colors, and now need to decide whether to complete it with these colors, or maybe switch back to yellow. 

I've done a little puttering on my Sherri Lynn Wood improv piece. Since I don't know where this one is going, it's not easy to work on. 

At Saturday's Central Florida MQG meeting, Beth presented a program on architectural shapes that have been turned into modern quilts, and how to pick out parts to use in a quilt design. She gave an excellent presentation, and concluded with a challenge to create a modern quilt from an architectural photo. The finished quilt, at least 20" X 20" is due at the April 9 meeting, and we're to show a picture of our inspiration.

This picture of a staircase is my inspiration... 

that I plan to turn into a minimalist quilt with Painter's Palette solids. 

Last year, when I offered to make a braided rag rug for my Texas friend Patty, she sent me a box of fabrics that included home dec prints; sheets; and a towel. This week I pulled out everything and started stripping.

Though Ilka (of Melbourne, Australia) taught us (in a two-part virtual workshop) to tear fabric strips as we go, I find it easier to braid from a pile of strips at the ready. Hopefully, these piles will become an oval rug. Because I intend to be very careful, I expect it to lay flatter than the first oval rug I made!

Book Recommendation

Well, I'm off and running with audiobook-listening in 2022. In case you're interested, I paused long enough to put my 2021 Reading List and ratings on this blog - see the tab at the top of the home page. I hope you make good use of it! I left the "month read" in one column, so if you want to read my review of the book, you can visit my posts from that month.

It's really interesting to know that I read 70 books in 2020, and 69 books in 2021. Though, with Outlander falling at the end of 2021 and going into 2022, it's long enough to count for at least two books! Actually three. 

Anyway, my first full read for this year was "meh." Learning to Speak Southern by Lindsay Rogers Cook is a story of a young woman, Lex, who is running from a past that's filled with unhappiness, growing up with her parents in Memphis. When Lex experiences a huge loss, and a family friend provides a ticket back to Memphis, Liz reluctantly returns. Expecting to leave again as soon as she arrives, when she is given the opportunity to read a sealed letter, written by her mother, she comes to realize she needs to stay to read all the letters. Hopefully she'll learn why her mother behaved toward Lex the way she did. 

This is a story of unexpected family secrets, and how Lex comes to understand that she's just like her mother, a mother she always disliked, but how family is the most important aspect of life. The best part of the book for me, was Lex's devotion to a book about the origins of words. Being a journalist, I love learning the meanings behind the words Lex talked about.  

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

The "Collaboration" issue of Curated Quilts just arrived, and I was tickled to see OUR "Ad Libbing" quilt in the Gallery section.

Lora and I made this quilt in 2014, and had good success with it. It was juried into QuiltCon Austin in 2015; IQF in Houston; and earned third place at the AQS show in Daytona Beach! Here's my post with details about how I quilted it on my domestic machine. 

Also, in this issue is the "Harmony" quilt that Curated Quilt staff put together from blocks sent to them. I'm happy to have been part of that collaboration too. My block is at the far right end of the second row... not that anyone really cares! 😁

This week, when I visited my LQS to pick up a package of Bernina bobbins, I noted that the shop was selling small spools of 50-weight Aurifil. When I commented positively about that, I was told that they're phasing out Aurifil, and recommending Konfetti thread by Wonderfil.

For the second time, I was told that their sewing machine techs are seeing too much lint in machines using Aurifil, and that they recommend Konfetti, which is also 50-weight. Apparently Konfetti is double-gassed. Anyway, this is the rack at the shop, so the next time I need a color, I'm going to give it a try. At half the price of Aurifil, why not? Have you tried it? What do you think? 

This coming week I'm giving a What is Modern Quilting? presentation to Citrus Friendship Quilt Guild in Inverness, Florida, and really looking forward to that. I've updated my presentation to show QuiltCon Best in Show through the years, and include more about how social media has influenced the spread of modern quilting. I'll also get to share some of my modern makes in the trunk show at the end. It's fun for me to pull those quilts from the closet shelves!

Next Saturday, January 22, I'm teaching my modern wedge quilt workshop to members of Central Florida MQG. This is the "Carousel" quilt they'll be making. One of the best parts of such a workshop is seeing the colors and combos students come up with. 

It's 32 days until QuiltCon! Linda

P.S. My programs and workshops schedule - see the tab at the top of the home page - is current.