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