Freehand Rainbow Appliqué

I haven't had many finishes this year, so even a small one feels good. Such is the case with this Freehand Rainbow Appliqué design that I made into a pillow. It finished at 19" X 19", no doubt due to my pillow-finishing method that includes binding along the edges. 

Each rainbow arc was freehand cut, and hand-stitched to a background with needle turn appliqué using 80-weight Aurifil thread. 

After machine sewing together the nine patches, I made a quilt sandwich (with Quilter's Dream Request batting, and white muslin on the back) and hand-quilted with 12-weight perle cotton - specifically, Spaghetti by Wonderfi. 

I finished the piece using my favorite sewn pillow method. The back has an overlap opening (practically invisible here!) in which to insert a pillow form.

This is the spot where I do all my handwork. My comfy aqua swivel glider allows me to turn to appreciate the view of our front yard Bismarck palm, and I have a Daylight Slimline II floor lamp nearby for evening stitching. 

This Freehand Rainbow Appliqué design is the creation of Jo Avery of @joaverystitch who lives in Scotland. I first saw Jo's design here on her blog, and then saw Anorina's @sameliasmum cushion, made from Jo's design. Of course, then had to make it myself. Wouldn't a whole quilt made from these blocks be wonderful? 

As always, when I'm doing lots of handwork, I most often listen to a book. 

Book Recommendations

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney is about Adam and Amelia Wright who have won a weekend away at a remote converted chapel on a loch in Scotland. Amelia thinks their time together is needed because lately their relationship has been rocky. She works in an animal shelter. Adam is a screenwriter who's been working too hard. He also has face blindness, a condition where he cannot recognize faces (a real condition; I looked it up!), even that of his wife. 

When they arrive at the chapel, in the dead of a winter snow storm, they're surprised to see there's no one to welcome them: no heat; no food; no hot water. Amelia swears she sees a woman looking in through a window. What kind of place is this? They're suspicious, and begin wondering if the other person is lying about why they're here. Who's being honest?

In this one, you'll definitely find plot twists and turns that will keep your attention through to the end. Thanks, Cindy @liveacolorfullife for sharing this title in your recent blog post! 

Linda's score: 4.1/5.0

Heather Gudenkauf is my new favorite author! In Not a Sound (the third title I've read by this author), we meet nurse Amelia Winn who, in the past two years, has become completely deaf due to a tragic accident. She's just getting back on her feet after becoming an alcoholic, ruining her marriage, and being separated from her only daughter, her husband's child from a previous marriage. Amelia is coping by engaging in rigorous activities. She does everything with her trained service dog, Stitch, who is not only her ears, but her best companion. When they find a body, Amelia's world comes apart again. It's a nurse friend. Now she must not only cope with her hearing loss, but she simply must figure out who might have killed her friend. 

Once again, I really enjoyed the author's use of Iowa in the story. This time, I appreciated that the nurse-friend's husband's alibi was that he worked at (John) Deere, and was in Waterloo at the time of his wife's murder. (Some of you may know that my husband is a John Deere retiree from the factory in Des Moines, Iowa.)

Linda's score: 4.3/5.0

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths is the first book in the "Ruth Galloway series." My library app had it available only as an E-book, so I read it on my I-Phone. I'm hooked! Thank you Cindy @liveacolorfullife for mentioning this series in a recent blog post.

Ruth Galloway is a single, slightly overweight archeology professor at a local college. She lives with her two cats in a remote area of northern England, in the Saltmarsh. When a body is discovered in the marsh, she's called in by police to determine whether it's a local girl, Lucy Downey, who went missing ten years ago. It isn't. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson appreciates her forensic skills, so when another girl goes missing, Ruth becomes more involved. She reads a series of letters the police have received over the years, and determines to figure out who sent them, and why. 

I intend to read the next book, The Janus Stone (#2 in the series), and it too is available to me only as an E-book. Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Just to show that I don't spend all my time at home, here's where we were Thursday. We decided to drive two hours to the Gulf side of Florida and spend an afternoon on the beach. This was the first time we'd visited Fred Howard State Park, near Tarpon Springs. It was lovely. Watching the ocean and clouds was the nicest way to pass the time. 

To top it off, we stopped on the way home for a Twistee Treat hot fudge sundae. The day couldn't have been more perfect. Linda

Kawandi #2, and Happy Thanksgiving

Several weeks ago I shared my attempt to self-teach how to make a Kawandi (quilt), Siddi-style, following a YouTube video - the only video I found on the topic. That Kawandi turned out okay.

Kawandi #1, 15" X 25"

So, many evenings find me in my aqua chair, under my Slimline floor lamp, doing handwork - hand piecing a Starfish quilt, English paper piecing, or lately, indulging in my new Kawandi/Siddi quilt obsession Hand work just feels good!

I learned a lot more about Siddi quilts after taking @therootconnection 's virtual workshop on November 6. With Kawandi #2, mistakes in Kawandi #1 were corrected (not enough fabric contrast), and additions were worked out (adding "fula" at each of the four corners, and accessorizing with "tikli," tiny randomly-placed squares) .  

Kawandi #2 is made with solid scraps. Only fula at the four corners are prints, from a folded square of fabric.

The fabric I selected as backing is from Christina Camelli's "Moongate" collection. Choosing the back fabric is the first step in making a Kawandi which is assembled completely in reverse from a regular quilt. All the piecing/quilting is worked from the outside edges toward the center. I used Quilter’s Dream Poly Request batting, and Aurifil 12-weight thread in off-white, #2000.

 

Since our kitchen includes a colorful array of Fiestaware dinnerware, this Kawandi looks good on our dining table.

Finishing this Kawandi means I'm mostly caught up on projects, except for the Maria Shell-style patterned improv quilt I started a few weeks ago - the one I've named Italica.

"Caught up" is good because this Friday, November 27, I'll be taking another virtual workshop. The instructor is Ilka White who lives in Melbourne, Australia! She teaches a two-session workshop called "Braided Rag Rug," that uses old tablecloths, sheets, and clothing. Looks like this is how we get started, using a clip board to hold the work.

Since our time zones are flip-flopped, I'll be starting my workshop at 8:30 PM. It's three hours long. I'm hoping my excitement about it will keep me going until it ends at 11:30 PM! Then, the following Friday, December 4, I'll do it all again to attend the second three-hour workshop session.

A Canadian doctor-friend on Instagram @kupitis, has been especially busy during this pandemic, and posted this to her Instagram feed a few days ago. It speaks volumes about the inconsiderate behavior of many people, and how worn out health care workers have become. 

Everybody I know continues to stay at home, and wear masks and sanitize when they must go out. As we should.

Dan and I will be at home by ourselves for Thanksgiving. He's doing all the cooking except for my job of making a salad, and pumpkin pie and whipped topping. There might be some after-dinner gin rummy or Rummikub game action too.

I hope you, and those you're self-quarantining with, have a blessed day. Linda

Blogging With a Handicap

I’m popping in with a brief hello this week because I am index finger tapping this post on my iPhone!👆🏼

Our MacBook Pro, which I typically use for writing blog posts, is undergoing service work for a swollen battery (of all things). We drove more than an hour to an Apple store in Orlando to learn that’s the reason the notebook hasn’t been laying flat on a table, nor the lid closing completely. Our particular model, made in 2015,  has batteries that are integrated with the keyboard, so the bottom of the MacBook has to be replaced. Of course, I am unhappy to be without it, realizing how much I depend on it. We won’t get it back until next week!

A whole lot of quilting has been happening on my temperature quilt. Of the 378 four-inch Drunkard’s Path blocks that comprise the quilt top, 173 of them are quilted. Even after 30 to 40 hours of quilting invested in it, I have a long way to go.

A little hand quilting has also happened, though it’s practically invisible!

And a couple more rows have been added to my crocheted afghan.

I think I’ve exhibited great restraint in not starting something new, especially as I’d like to participate in our Central Florida MQG Mid-Century Artist Challenge, due April 6. And I have a new cross-body bag pattern I’d like to make.

It’s a typical quilter’s lament, isn’t it? Too many projects; too little time.

Oh! And I mustn’t forget to mention a happy January 26 FlourishingPalms blog-iversary 🤗 for 11 years of  non- stop blogging! Thank you especially to a dozen or so of you who’ve followed me since the early years, and continue to make blogging worthwhile by regularly commenting.

Debbie J.; Anne D.; Susan S.; Karen R.; Rosemary B.; Elizabeth E.; Sue; Pat; Nancy; Farm Quilter; Robbie; Teresa; Janice; Paige and several others. 😊 I appreciate you!

It’s simply heart-warming to have formed friendships!

Two more audiobook finishes bring my January total to eight.
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult is about 13 year-old Jenna who has never stopped thinking about Alice, the mother she lost one tragic night. Now living with her grandmother, Jenna reads her mother’s journals and searches for online information about her mother while saving babysitting money to hire a detective and a physic, and pursue for herself what happened. The story revolves around elephant life in the wild, and in a New England elephant sanctuary. The book is liberally filled with information about elephant behavior that parallels a mother’s behavior. I found it completely fascinating. I’m giving this high marks for being riveting. I didn’t want to stop listening.

Linda’s score: 4.5/5.0

 This title - The True Love Quilting Club - by Lori Wilde is the second book in the Twilight, Texas series. The title is misleading; I thought I was picking up a book about a quilting group, but discovered that the quilting club has shirttail involvement in the story about Trixie Lynn who changes her name to Emma and pursues an acting career, while always thinking about the 14 year-old friend, Sam, she left behind in Twilight. When they reunite 16 years later, sparks fly. It’s an extremely steamy, graphic romance... if you’re into that sort of read. And honestly, I wondered if the author was ever actually around quilters making quilts because her terminology seemed a little off. I wasn’t overly fond of this book, mostly because it was trite.

Linda’s score: 2.8/5.0

Zippered Snack Bags

Last Saturday our Central Florida MQG members had the opportunity to learn how to sew zippered snack bags, led by fellow member Cindy, during our usual Saturday Sew-In. See our Central Florida MQG blog post, with pictures, here. 

These are the zipper pouches I made during the workshop. Cindy brought lots of bags with her and offered them to us. I picked the Hershey's Chocolate bag, but I brought the Twizzler's bag with me. It was such a sacrifice to eat them!

I learned that when a bag has a clear section (like the Twizzler's bag), you have to put fabric behind it, otherwise, the wrong side of the lining fabric will show through. I love the polka-dot I picked.

I made the Dove and coffee zipper bags at home. The Dove chocolates bag is from Cindy, and the coffee bag is mine. I love H.E.B. (grocery store) Cafe Olé, San Antonio flavored coffee that I get when I'm in Austin, Texas. That one turned out big enough that I'll use it to store scissors.

The notion that makes these bags work is iron-on vinyl, which I had never used before. Though, I had a roll of it in my stash, purchased many years ago at a Des Moines Area Quilter's Guild "garage sale" of members' stuff!

I've used all the vinyl I had and will certainly get more. Here's the product at JoAnn Fabrics.

Making these is addictive! I'm now eyeing all kinds of snack bags as potential zipper pouches! 

If you're curious about making them, here's a good video tutorial by Missouri Star. 

My sister visited over the weekend and at my invitation, selected a Dresden Plate quilt for herself.

Susan with her 12-1/2" X 12-1/2" Dresden quilt.

Together we determined who will receive the remaining three quilts, and those will be mailed this week. Using petals I have cut out, I'll make another one for myself.

In the meantime, I've returned to hand-quilting my selvedge quilt. I'm using size 8 and size 12 perle cottons in different brands and colors, to quilt colorful concentric circles.

All the white squares in the quilt center are quilted, and now I'm quilting the white rectangles around the outside edges.

Audiobook listening continues as I quilt. 

"Mummy's Favourite" by Sarah Flint, is flat-out, a story about a serial killer. The online synopsis says:

Buried in a woodland grave are a mother and her child. One is alive. One is dead.

This book genre isn't my usual favorite, but I like the main character, Charlie Stafford, a young, savvy, and intuitive female D.C. (detective constable) in the London Metropolitan Police. This is the first book in the DC Charlotte Stafford series, so I'll probably read more.

Linda's score: 3.8/5

It's a good thing I have quilting and an audiobook to distract me because Sunday afternoon, at about 3 pm, an area water pump broke down. We had no water for more than an hour, and couldn't get through to our Community Watch to report our problem. We later learned that such a huge area was without water that Community Watch was inundated with phone calls. An emergency team got right on to the repair, so we had water within two hours... and were drinking it/using it... until much later I received a text that we are on boiled water restriction until further notice.

It's inconvenient to not be able to safely wash our hands at the sink, or hand wash a couple coffee mugs. We're cautious when showering, and we have bottled water, so we're ready to handle this until the restriction is lifted - about 48 hours from the time of the incident. I am grateful we haven't lost electricity. Linda

I Presented! And I'm Quilting.

The past several days were fairly busy. On Saturday, I helped members of our Central Florida MQG make badge holders. That was fun, and kept me on my toes too!

On Monday I went to Ormond Beach, about 1 hour 45 minutes east of us - Atlantic side of Florida - to Racing Fingers Quilt Guild. Their 60-plus members requested a program on modern quilting, and I was happy to fill the bill. Plans were made back in February.

"What is Modern Quilting?" is a 93-slide presentation that begins with how the modern quilting movement began, from social media, and fabrics to aesthetics and techniques seen in modern quilts. Of course, I talked about QuiltCon too, and what a great show it is. Gosh, it's easy to share with quilters what I'm enthused about.

Following my presentation, I gave a trunk show with 12 of my modern quilts. I could have taken along a lot more quilts, but I was cognizant of staying within my allotted one-hour time frame!

It was nice to have a reason to see some of these quilts again. They are usually stored in pillowcases the top of our closet!

This is "Ad Libbing," made by Lora Douglas and me in 2014. It was juried into QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, Texas, and received third place at the Daytona Beach AQS show in 2016.

"Shapes" is a favorite, made for the QuiltCon 2015 Bias Tape Challenge. It too was juried into the show. Both "Ad Libbing" and "Shapes" are double-batted with Quilter's Dream polyester and wool. They're both domestic machine quilted by me.

It was nice to share several of my most recent finishes too. This one is "Spin Art," inspired by Christina Cameli, and made with Painter's Palette Solids using a 9 degree ruler.

What better audience to see my Florida quilt?!  By the way, see how the photographer captured me in this photo? The halo? (It's probably an air vent.) Proof that I really am an angel!

It's a lot of work to prep for a program, but definitely worth it! I talked with several quilters who were very interested in modern and asked many questions. One of them later commented on my Instagram feed, "Thanks for coming. I think I'm a modern quilter and I didn't even know it!" Ahhh... that's music to my ears.

At home, I've continued to hand quilt. The timing of this quilt has worked out well as my Bernina was picked up Tuesday for servicing. Yes you heard that right. A tech comes to my house to pick up my Bernina, and then delivers it when it's done!

So this is progress over the past few days. All the circles are hand quilted now.

Currently I'm finishing-up straight line quilting in the vertical strips of the background.

The quilt will end up about 36" X 48". A nice size for a baby gift. I've begun to ponder a name for all those burnt orange and white circles. I've come up with "O-O Orange."

Once the binding is machine-sewn to the quilt top, I plan to do this (below). See the hand-stitched binding? Hand quilting to secure the binding seems appropriate for this particular quilt, don't ya think?

CREDIT: The above picture is from ShannonFraserDesigns Instagram feed, and am sharing it with her permission. She has some pretty stuff if you'd like to check out her blog too. 

Now I want to leave you with a funny. One of my students shared this with me a long time ago, and I came across it again. It's a classic, to share with your quilt-y sew-y friends.

I said to him:

"I don't ever want to be kept alive, dependent on a machine and fluids from a bottle."

He got up, unplugged my Bernina, and poured out all my wine.

Linda

The Spice of Life

Since last Tuesday's surgery, life has been about numerous things to keep me occupied, and be grateful for... 

First of all, cards of well wishes! Goodness! So many of them, some even from people I don't know! Neighbors brought flowers, and bread, and an Iowa friend sent me books. 

Two cards came from members of the Des Moines chapter of The Modern Quilt Guild. What a surprise! On the envelope of one was written: "So many well wishes and prayers from DSMMQG, we needed two cards!" Oh my friends... I am so touched. Thank you.

And if that wasn't enough, our daughter sent an envelope of notes from her family. These two "cards," from grandsons Tay (age 3-1/2) and Aesa (age 2-1/2) are so darned sweet. Mom asked each of them what they wanted to say to Nana, and then wrote their words beside their drawings. Such sweet sentiments, but Aesa's concern for me is a suggestion, "Some soup, maybe?" Yes my sweet boy, soup may help.

Easter Sunday was lovely. We spent part of the morning on parking lot duty at church. I thought you'd like to see the latest in parking lot attendant fashion. There's nothing so trendy as a darling aqua-and-navy dress/sweater set, accessorized with a neon-green vest!

On the church reception table, along with the morning's snacks, was this Easter egg tree. Those smocked eggs were made by me many years ago. They're one of the few hand craft items I saved in our move, and was glad to see them put to use.

Over the weekend, my Aussie friend, Lindi emailed to tell me I won the Jolly Jabber's fq bundle giveaway. I'm so grateful to Lindi for thinking to tell me! I haven't been so good lately about keeping up with blog-reading due to being a bit distracted. The fabs are on their way, and they sure look great. Thank you FatQuarterShop!

I'm making steady progress on this wall hanging of foundation paper-pieced Palm Tree blocks. After arranging the pieced blocks on my design wall, I took a picture. It's nice to see it in color and black-and-white, the latter being a good way to check value placement - the dark and light contrast that affects the visual impact of a quilt.

Saturday I straight-lined quilted along the edges of each FFP block to stabilize the piece.

Then, I marked lines with a red Frixion pen, and started big-stitch quilting using green #8 perle cotton. 

This hand quilting is taking longer than machine quilting, and my fingers are sore from tugging on the needle, even though I'm using a gripper to pull the needle through.

Tonight is our Central Florida MQG meeting. We have so many activities going! And this is the meeting where we're explaining changes in the Modern Quilt Guild, and asking people who've been attending since last November to make a commitment to join - AKA pay dues! With those monies, we expect that by July our chapter will officially join the national MQG. 

In exciting and relieving news, today I received the surgery pathology report indicating that my breast cancer was confined to the tumor that was removed last week. There's no cancer in my lymph nodes! I'm cancer-free! Thank you, all my praying friends, and praise God!

Tomorrow I begin the "insurance" part of keeping myself free from breast cancer - radiation. First, a savi catheter is being inserted in the lumpectomy cavity. (I'll utter a little "Yikes!" I think.) Then, a couple days later, a visit to a radiation specialist will make sure the catheter is positioned correctly, and a radiation treatment "map"/plan will be created. Then, we're expecting radiation treatments to begin next Monday - twice a day at intervals of six to eight hours apart, for five days. Prayers are still appreciated. I'm holding on.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Psalm 16:8 (NIV)

Linda

Blast from the Past

The year 1976 was the year of our country's bicentennial. It's also been said that 1976 was the year quilting first began to reemerge as a pass time. I was a teeny part of that resurgence.

In 1976, I was a 23 year-old, stay-at-home, new mom. We lived in a rented townhouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I didn't know very many people because we had moved to that city, from Wisconsin, less than two weeks before our daughter was born.

Never able to be idle for long, I needed something to do. I'd already been sewing, done some crewel embroidery, and joined in the macrame craze - it was the 70's after all! I needed something else to occupy myself during naptimes. That's when I took a three-week adult education class on quilting.


Everything we learned was done by hand. We drew templates and cut them out of cereal boxes. (Rotary supplies hadn't yet been conceived.) We pieced and quilted by hand. The only quilting book I could find to buy was this one, a Dover publication originally printed in 1949.

Our teacher taught us how to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden block. I appliqued mine to the back of one of hubby's denim shirts. Ha! What a great guy he was to humor me by wearing it, even though he looked like a walking target.

We didn't keep the shirt, but what I still have is the first quilt I ever made.
It's also my first UFO. 

Variable Triangles, 84" X 93"

The pattern is Variable Triangles, and it's made from all found fabrics in my house at the time. Curtains, Jill's little dresses, and my old maternity tops were fair game for being cut up and put into this quilt. I'm sure that not all the fabrics are 100 percent cotton.

After hand piecing it, I hand pieced widths of muslin for a back, sandwiched it with polyester batting, and started hand quilted it. The quilting isn't finished.

After all this time, I can't think of any good reason for finishing it.

But I will keep it.

Until now, this quilt hadn't been photographed, but since I've been inventorying all my quilts, it's one I'm glad to document. On a spreadsheet, I'm noting things like the quilt name, pattern used, colors, dimensions, and year made. When I'm finished, I'm looking forward to knowing how many quilts I have!

This evening, in spite of the snow, I'm heading for a sew-in with members of our Modern Quilt Guild. We'll be sewing all day Saturday too. I've got a goal: to make and add the last round to my medallion quilt. There. I've said it. Now it will happen. Right? Linda