Color Explosion

Sunday morning I walked into my sewing room and just had to grin at what I saw - a color explosion! I probably didn't notice it the evening before because the blinds were closed and I was focused on my work. But by the light of day... wow.

It looks pretty messy too, but I don't care a bit! And that's coming from a neat-nut. 😜

Every project has my avid interest. 

Since my left wrist is feeling better (for now, I am NOT playing the ukulele because that's what triggers the pain), I'm FMQing again. Hooray! Last evening I finished quilting this scrappy-strings quilt that was sewn onto telephone book pages. Binding up next!

I also progressed on my LindaNova EPP design. Love the addition of the striped fabrics to give it movement. I'm just finding it difficult to manipulate the piecing with all those stiff papers in the back.

On the design wall is this in-progress pieced backing for a quilt that five of us are making as our 2018 QuiltCon Charity quilt entry. All the fabrics - Painter's Palette Solids - were donated to us by Paintbrush Studios. We're short of the Rice Paper-colored solid for the vertical strip. Gotta get that ordered, but I'm waiting for a Labor Day weekend sale! I've also requested a donation of Aurifil 50-weight thread, but after sending the company three emails - one a week - I still haven't received a reply. Might have to give up on that idea.

And I resurrected this 17" X 17" Octagonal Orb quilt block that I will quilt for a pillow. I'd originally thought to make a whole quilt with this free pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, but after deciding it's a bit tricky to assemble, I settled for one. Love those colors though!

Even my breakfast is colorful! I'm still enjoying my new Fiestaware dishes. And I am very proud to say I'm now making my own yogurt too! It's topped with homemade granola, ground flaxseed and blueberries. Yummy in my tummy!

A colorful feast for my eyes - in a bowl, and in my favorite room! 🙌 Linda

First Finish

I've been head-down on a couple sewing room projects. The first was recovering my ironing table. The fabric is just a piece of white duck, which I like because of the plain background for photographs. The old one was quite stained.

This prompts me to share a couple photos of my sewing room. I don't think I've posted pictures since the floor was replaced, and several new pieces of IKEA furniture and the rug were added. I love this bright space, and particularly so now because the weather has been mild enough that I can open the windows and enjoy the fresh air. 

My Wiggle Me Colourful (that's the spelling of colorful by the Canadian designer) is my first 2017 finish. It's 57" X 65" and pieced entirely with fabrics I had in my stash. I love the interest created by a variety of text prints.

I opted to quilt an all over design because the prints and backing are so busy that the quilting doesn't show.

Batting is Quilter's Dream Request Cotton, quilting thread is 50-weight Aurifil #2615, a silver gray, and the quilt design is from a tutorial shared by A Few Scraps. I came across this design, and many others, through a Pinterest search for "all over" and "filler" designs.

The quilting was finished on Saturday. On Sunday - for the #mqgsewday - I pieced scrappy binding, squared up the quilt top by measuring and drawing a straight edge around the perimeter, and sewed binding to the quilt. On Monday I hand-sewed down the binding.

I'm not digging into anything else because I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a ukulele! After last Thursday's Ukulele Players Club get-together, where I took my first 40-minute free lesson on a borrowed plastic ukulele, and had a blast playing along during the song/singing time - as well as I could - I simply can't wait to get my hands on my own instrument! 

A chat with a knowledgeable sales person at Sweetwater, an online music store out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, helped confirm that the uke I ordered is appropriate for me. I'm getting a Kala concert-sized uke made of Pacific Walnut laminate with Aquila Nylgut strings (for those of you who understand these things). (See picture.) Now, if you see me chasing down a FedEx truck on my street, you'll know why!

As I've been impatiently waiting for my ukulele to arrive, I've been thinking a lot about the similarities between learning to play chords on a ukulele and learning to line dance. (I line dance at least 5-1/2 hours a week.) An analogy relates to muscle memory.

When line dancing one learns dance steps (coaster, mombo, jazz box, shuffle, charleston, lock, rock, etc.) Once-learned, muscle memory takes over so a dancer can recall those steps, and only needs to learn to put them in order for a particular dance. Playing the ukulele is much the same: practicing the chords so muscle memory of the fingertips of the left hand on the frets takes over, and learning to put chords in order for a particular tune. 

I also find it interesting that not only were several line dancers in the Ukulele Player's Club, but also a few quilters. After all, it was quilter-friend Sarah who invited me to join her at uke club in the first place! It must be each person's need to create that prompts us to take on multiple expressions of creativity.

So you quilters out there - you know who you are who never comment on my posts! - please tell me because I want to know if my theory is true:

Does your need to create take any other form of expression besides making quilts?

Linda

Home Improvement

Our home improvement jobs never take the form of do-it-yourself. My hubs is blessed with skill in the kitchen, but none at all when it homes to fixing up. I can live with hiring out.

Such was the case when last week the house exterior was painted, and I got my orange wall in the living room. Next up was to have the old carpet removed from the master bedroom closet that comes off the master bathroom. Before and after. We really like this, but it didn't - poof! - appear. The tile color is "sand" and when some of the tiles didn't match, it took a while to figure out that the installer didn't have a die lot problem, but a box of "mushroom" - the wrong color! Of course, those tiles had to be taken back out. Then there was grouting three days later, followed by caulking. The closet didn't look normal for five days. 

After tiling came laminate. The builder's grade carpeting put in five years ago when the house was built (come February), was showing dirt and wear, in spite of cleaning. Time to make it better.

However, I really didn't think through how much work it would be to empty my sewing room, that being the first room to be tackled. Piles of machines, chairs, notions, tools, fabric, bins, etc. were everywhere in the living area.

We also emptied the guest room, since that was flooring room number two.

To make it easier to move the fabric cabinet in my sewing room, I unloaded it. That was the easy part! What was way more effort was putting it all back again. But see how much more organized it is? In fact, I had enough space to move a few closet fabrics - like text prints, and my new Eureka collection by Emma Jean Jansen - into the cabinet too. I'm not kidding myself that this will stay looking so good, but I'm admiring it while I can.

It's been a ton of work to do this, as I was sorting and reorganizing everything that came out of and went back into the rooms, and then wiping off, vacuuming, and mopping the rooms as the work was done. Everything had a fine layer of dust on it, including furniture in the living room.

This is the finished guest room. I do think the room looks richer now.

And the master bedroom. I love white furniture and think it looks even better with the wood floor. 

Bill did a beautiful job laying flooring in all three rooms.

The sewing room change from carpeting to laminate. 

But the room isn't yet settled. Because the floor needs to be protected, everything now has felt pads underneath. Except those two black, home improvement store, plastic sawhorses aren't going to work anymore. So, it's off to IKEA to get two more of the white wooden "trestles," like on the left. They're adjustable height too, so that's a bonus. Also, I need a rug at the end of the cutting table, for long-term standing. I've ordered new rubber casters for my two sewing chairs to replace the hard plastic ones that could damage the floor. Until those arrive, I won't be sewing in here. 😒

What we didn't anticipate was how not having carpeting would affect Hogan! He seems a little lost, as today's he's wandered into the guest room and my sewing room, and back out again, looking for a soft lay-down spot. And, he wasn't totally successful at jumping up on his window bench in the sewing room. He couldn't get traction. The borrowed rug will suffice until I find something better.

I sat down to write this blog post after using the Hoover floor scrubber to clean all the tile in the house because, rightly so, the paths from the front door to the bedrooms were pretty dirty from the workers.

Once I have sewing room time again, I want to make a couple of these, to keep my sewing machine foot control(s) from sliding across the floor. Oh, but I can't wait! Linda

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Last Week

We don't often have company, so it was a treat to have friends visit for five days last week. Greg and Patty are from my husband's hometown - Mason City, Iowa - and I've known them since 1972. For two years now they've lived in Texas and we consider it an honor that they take time away from their home and family to be with us. A whole lot of laughing goes on when we're all together.

Patty always makes our visits a treat because she asks for girl time. So, via golf cart, we went to my hair stylist so Patty could get a trim, and then next door to the Nail Saloon (not a misspelling!) for pedicures and manicures.

Lunch out, a nice Dan-made evening meal, a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes, and a second day spent shopping fulfilled the request for girl time!

In between activities, Patty and chatted in my sewing room about 12 quilt blocks she brought along. They'd been stored away for more than 30 years! Talk about a UFO! :-) Patty says she made the blocks in 1984 when a group met monthly at the library (on her lunch hour) to get a pattern, and draw, cut, and hand-piece a block.

After playing with how to layout the blocks, we settled on this vertical chronological arrangement: January's snowflake in the upper left; May's basket in the middle top; and September's school house in the upper right, ending with the Bethlehem Star at the bottom right. June's block of the outline of Iowa and Iowa's Wild Rose (state flower) is special.

The blocks were pretty wrinkled - Cranston VIP Printworks fabric from the mid-80s is thin - and not the same size. After Patty left, I spray-starched, pressed, and trimmed each block, and added compensating strips of Kona Ruby to those blocks that needed just a bit more to measure 16" X 16" unfinished. They look much better now.

Patty and I figured out a quilt arrangement using EQ7, so she'll end up with a king-sized (104" X 111") quilt for her master bed, and ordered fabric online - Kona Prussian (blue) for sashing, and Kona Snow for the drop around all four sides. A batt of Quilter's Dream Select Cotton is coming too. Patty wants big undulating quilted feathers in the borders which seems just about perfect for this traditional quilt. We looked online and found hand-quilting: amishhandquilting.com for $1.10 per yard of quilting thread. Patty's hoping to find a group of Iowa Amish women to quilt this.

Our Central Florida MQG is participating in the 2017 QuiltCon East Charity Quilt Challenge. I've collected the fabrics for it, and have been thinking about our design. I'm working on it with Becky.

The MQG has rules that include what size to make the quilt, and which solid colors and manufacturer's brands are allowed. These are the Kona solids to which I have added Kaufman Blueberry Park prints. Prints are permitted that match the solid colors.

I wanted to play with the prints and the free foundation paper-pieced Beach Chair Block I found on the Cotton and Steel blog, so I made this 10" block. Doesn't that Kona Yarrow look good as sand? There's also a Retro Shell and Lawn Chair Block. I think I need to make more for a wall hanging.

This Memorial Day weekend found me making a huge mess in my sewing room. I have been thinking about an original design I'd like to create for QuiltCon East. It isn't coming together as I imagined. Even though I first drew and colored on graph paper, I've lost something in translation. Thought I'd make this with solids from my stash, but the background is coming out more pastel-colored than I imagined.

On the right side of the design wall are all the blocks and circles that have been made and discarded. I'm collecting some nice pieces for a backing! 

After two days of this, in frustration and disgust I sorted through everything and put it away - except for what's on the design wall. It's percolating. Ha! Perhaps I already have a name for this unknown entity! Linda

It's Another Beautiful Day

It was three years ago, on June 23, 2012, that we moved into the house that we bought June 14. Three years ago, with the help of our son and DIL who now live in Austin, Texas, we moved in just as Tropical Storm Debby hit.

The day we closed on the house, it looked like this.

Today, it looks like this. Definitely more settled-looking with landscaping that makes a difference. I love that we can plant annuals... and that they bloom for six month or more!

A few days ago, when a storm was brewing toward the east (behind the house) and the evening sun was shining - it was about 7 pm - I took these photos. Amazing light!

My favorite palm in our yard is this Bismarck Palm. It's a different variety of palm than most people choose for their yards, and it's getting big. I measured the width of one of those fronds, from tip to tip. It's 58"! Big, and impressive! Love it right outside my sewing room window. 

And speaking of sewing room, here's a before and after of that space.

Now this is an "honest" sewing room! No less that four projects are in the works here. At least by making the space my own, it's now colorful! You might understand why I've opted to keep all white walls (except for one) in this house. White is a great canvas for the bright colors I've come to adore.

Happy anniversary - three years in The Villages - to us! Linda

On the Fly

Another week has flown by, full of happy activities. Three beginning quiltmaking lessons are past; two more to go. We have a nice big rec center room for the 20 of us, though I often wish we had more than two hours to use it.

Dan is completely engaged in Tai Chi these days, teaching two full classes every Wednesday morning. Last week his Tai Chi instructor invited him to share in giving a demonstration to more than 60 people at Freedom Point Assisted Living. This is what he wore. Blue is his color, I think!

With all the weekday busyness, weekends are becoming our down time with only the weekly Saturday morning golf cart trip to Farmer's Market for fresh produce - we're each still drinking 16 ounces of fresh veggie juice every morning - and Sunday worship. A new church, Village Park, has seen us at worship for the past two Sundays. We're finding the service very meaningful, and the people are more than friendly! No less than three different people phoned us the week after we'd worshipped for the first time, asking if we wanted to join a small group, or if we had any questions. Since this is the 12th church we've attended in the past 2-1/2 years, we're hoping this could "the one."

pattern photo

So some weekend time for sewing had me crossing a to-do off my list for QuiltCon. I needed a bag big enough for the things I anticipate toting around all day while I'm at the Convention Center. After seeing Di's lovely Chelsea Tote (Lazy Girl) made with selvages, the pattern seemed perfect for my purposes.

I don't care for the tote on the pattern photo, but it's a clever design - a shoulder bag with a separating zipper strap that makes it into a backpack too!





I opted to make my Chelsea Tote with Michael Miller's "Lush" by Patty Young. Because I didn't like the pattern's outside patch pocket, I followed a very good tutorial for installing an inset zipper pocket.

I put an inset zipper pocket on the inside too, right on top of the open pockets. Don'tcha love that "blah" fabric? It always seems just right for the inside of a bag.

At Di's suggestion, I installed a zipper at the top of the tote, instead of leaving the bag open per pattern instructions. I remembered to add one of my labels.

All I have to do is unzip the long white zipper, in the middle of the orange strip, and I've got shoulder strips for a backpack. It will be fun to fill with QuiltCon stuff! Fabric, perhaps. I'm excited to see that Ella Blue Fabrics, of Australia, will be one of the vendors.

Recently I emailed the two pictures below to my students. After suggesting they try straight-line quilting their quilts, and that it's helpful to have support for the quilt while it's in your machine - even the fat end of an ironing board, or a TV tray can do the job - share pictures of my room set-up with the sewing machine bed level with table tops (hollow core doors) on two sides. This is where I quilt on my Pfaff.

My Bernina is set up in the middle of the room (bottom left in the photo below), and is the machine I used for all other sewing. 

Another thing for which I am thankful - a nice-sized room, all to myself, for quilting.

Friday and Saturday is The Quilting Guild of The Villages Showcase at the Savannah Center, held every two years. This is my first time entering this show and I have two judged quilts that will be displayed. I'm also putting 20 of my quilts up for sale in the Boutique. Fingers crossed for many reasons! Linda