Counting Down the Days

I've been working on a few different things as I am counting less than six days until I head to Phoenix for QuiltCon. Each day it gets closer, I'm more excited. 

In my sewing room... 

My restock of Painter's Palette "Sky" and "Daisy" arrived from Pineapple Fabrics (best price now, as cotton fabric prices continue to rise), so I've set to working on my architecture challenge quilt again. I've made myself a goal of having a finished quilt top before going to QuiltCon.

Still liking to switch to hand stitching in the evenings, I've been big stitch quilting. Two small linen fabric sandwiches have turned into zipper pouches. These are samples I'll use when giving my "Big Stitch Quilting and More" lecture/mini workshop several times over the coming months. 

Students will get a small kit to practice big stitches, and can turn it into a zipper pouch if they wish.

 

Keeping up with the Patchwork Pony Sew Along hosted by Jo Avery in the UK, this week's assignment was to use the long gusset strip to join the two sides of the pony. For this pony, I pieced several fabrics together and then quilted them on top of batting. 

For the denim pony, I cut a long gusset from a blue jeans leg. Obviously, I pinned a lot before sewing, to ensure that the two sides matched-up!

 

Turning the thick denim fabrics right side out, through the small slot in the pony's belly, was a little challenging. 

But I had so much fun rotary cutting small batting pieces into chopped bits! Can't explain why this was such a satisfying activity, but it felt so good to roll the cutter back and forth across the cutting mat to turn chunks into useable bits. From the top of my sewing room closet, I found and emptied two plastic bags of leftover pieces. Using-up is such an "ahhh" feeling! 

If you like what you're seeing, Jo's Patchwork Pony pattern is here (a percent of her profits are being donated). And be sure to look at a stable full of ponies on the Instagram hashtag patchworkponysustainablesewalong

Each pony is a nice size: 14"H X 13"W X 2½"D. Next week they're getting manes and tails. Oh, and eyes!

On Tuesday afternoon, I taught English Paper Piecing to 26 quilters in my Big Cypress Quilters chapter of Quilting Guild of The Villages.

I was asked to teach how to make a name tag - a little Grandmother's Flower Garden block. Seven hexagons on each side of the two-sided name tag, so everyone is piecing a total of 14 hexagons. 

Name is stitched on a Bernina

Name is hand embroidered

Our chapter has an Accuquilt, so one of our members helped everyone cut hexagons from their selected fabrics, and also cut out two hexagons from the fabrics onto which they'd stitched their names. 

I took along a couple of my finished EPP projects, and another WIP. I've made 58 of the 60 needed medallions in this Prudence Quilt. I've been EPPing this since winning an Instagram giveaway of the Prudence Quilt templates and papers from Lilabelle Lane Creations (a $105 value!), back in June, 2019!  Won't I have fun laying out all the medallions and crosses for the final design?

 

The afternoon was a great success, and reminds me how much fun it is to teach. I think several of these quilters are hooked on EPP!

Book Recommendation

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield takes place in England where a young woman, Margaret, lives in an attic room above a bookstore that she operates with her father. When a letter arrives from the famous Vida Winters, an authoress with dozens of titles to her name, Margaret, who has never read a Vida Winters book, is intrigued. Ms. Winters wants Margaret to come to her home and write her biography. A promise is made that Ms. Winters will tell the truth, and Margaret will write that truth. What is revealed is remarkable and unfathomable, and not quite adding-up. Intrigued, Margaret visits the ruins of Ms. Winter's childhood home, where she meets someone who adds a new twist to the truth. 

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Hubs and I have been enjoying watching Olympic curling on TV. We learned about the sport and become hooked during the 2018 Olympics when John Shuster and his team won gold. 

We've already watched all of mixed doubles play. Sadly the US didn't win a medal, but Italy, a team that played undefeated, deserved the gold. Now we're watching the four-person men and women's teams. In round-robin play, both teams have played and beat the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee). 

Women's play against the ROC, February 9

Did you know that the QuiltCon Awards Ceremony will be livestreamed? Anyone, anywhere can watch it, so add a note to your calendars:

Wednesday, February 16, 7 PM Mountain time (9 PM Eastern time)

LINK

Linda

Patchwork Pony Prep

This is the schedule for the Patchwork Pony Sew Along being led by Jo Avery in the UK.

This week we're to prepare two outer panels that will become the two-sided pony. I dug into a bin of leftover patches and blocks to come up with these two panels and the long strip that will join the two sections. 

I quilted each piece onto batting and then cut the pony shapes.

I made a second pony using denim (jeans) and canvas/home dec fabric. Next week we'll be sewing ponies together with the long fabric strips.

Several of you mentioned that in the past you'd made a Scotty Dog or a similar type of pony. So did I! This is one I made for a grandson, in December 2014. Jo's pony isn't quite like this dog. 

I've returned to rug-braiding since cutting more strips from a thrift shop bed sheet, and two of hub's shirts. I'm braiding with eight strands. Now I'm taking a pause again because I think this rug needs a darker blue. Time for a thrift shop visit.

Book Recommendation

Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves is book #4 in the Vera Stanhope series. Unfortunately, as so often is the case, after reading book #1 (The Crow Trap), I could not find book #2 and #3 in audiobook format through my listening apps: Hoopla and Axis 360. So book #4 is my second Vera Stanhope listen.

Detective Investigator Vera Stanhope has joined a health club, ostensibly to show that she's making an effort to be fit. When she finds the body of a woman in the sauna, she's on the case. Assisted by her crack team of investigators - diversely different personalities yet oddly suited to the work- including loyal Joe Ashworth, her right-hand assistant, they begin interviewing everyone who knew the woman. When they discover she's a social worker who was involved in a high profile case where a young mother drowned her son, old assumptions are revisited. Of course, Vera brings more information to light to catch the murderer. 

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoy watching old episodes of Vera on TV (on the Ovation channel. I have no access to the newest episodes.) If you like a good who-done-it, this is one to read. 

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

While outdoors Thursday afternoon, taking a four mile power walk, I returned home just as another rocket was being launched from Cape Canaveral. These two pictures are of Falcom 9: Starlink 4-F, carrying another load of communications satellites. 

From our house, which is 110 miles from the launch site, we've seen a half dozen launches now, but it never gets old. It's still a marvel of engineering and science. Linda

New Projects

Don't ask me why, but when I saw the adorable ponies being made by Jo Avery, I fell in love. They're so darned cute! (I met Jo at QuiltCon in Savannah, and her Scottish accent is as cute as she is.)

Though I don't know a small child who might like one of these, I decided I'd make at least one to donate to the Children's Home of Florida.

"Patchwork Pony" pattern by Jo Avery

Jo's pattern is for sale, with a portion of sales going to a UK organization called Create and Sustain. These ponies are meant to be sewn using only materials you already have at home. The Sew Along begins tomorrow. 

I bought the pattern, and have dug into fabric scraps and leftover batting bits to get started. Though I'm depending on the sharing nature of local friends for felt and yarn to make the eyes, and mane and tail!

If you're interested in joining, here's the link to Jo's post with details.  Though I'm not sure I can keep up because QuiltCon falls during the Sew Along, I'll do my best.

I've previously shared that I've begun designing my quilt for our Central Florida MQG Architectural Challenge. As inspiration, I'm using the picture I took of the Miami Children's Museum, from the balcony of a cruise ship (our one and only cruise in 2019).

I pulled ten colors of Painter's Palette solids. After checking the museum's roof angles against my rotary ruler to work out that they're 60° angles, I started cutting fabrics into those angles. I moved around pieces and could see a possible three-dimensional effect with the placement of lights and darks. 

When one row worked out, I added another row. 

I like where it's headed, though I still don't know what the finish will look like. This is the first time I've intentionally approached designing this way.

Improv Discussion

Yesterday, my friend Maureen (in South Florida MQG) and I had a phone chat about the design method I'm using. She calls it "improv," as she understand improv is creating as you go, whether it's precise or imprecise piecing.

Not to be contrary, but I said I always thought improv meant rotary cutting without a ruler, and using organic pieces to assemble a quilt. 

We had a nice discussion about it, and ended up saying we'd like to know how other quilt makers interpret "improv." Do you have any thoughts about it? 

Nonetheless, I won't be going any farther on my architectural design until I receive an online order of more Painter's Palette "Sky," the lightest blue. 

Speaking of ordering fabric... have you noticed the price of raw cotton? It hit $1.28 today. A record high!

Not to get into a detailed economics lesson, but basically... last May, when we experienced an increase in the price of quilting fabric, by about a $1 a yard or so,  cotton was at about 96 ¢ Can you imagine what retail price $1.28 will translate to?! Fabric prices have the potential to increase by 50%!

My public service announcement to my quilt-loving friends:

If you haven't yet bought quilting cotton fabric needed for a project(s), or you anticipate needing batting, I recommend buying it now. Prices for both products will increase. It's just a matter of "when."

Book Recommendation

You really can't go wrong with any Liane Moriarty book. She's an Australian author who manages to write captivating stories with great insights into a variety of personalities. 

Apples Never Fall is about a family of six, the Delaneys, who live and breathe tennis. Parents Stan and Joy, married nearly 50 years (she's my age) have recently retired from running a tennis club, and are trying to adjust to a newly-quiet lifestyle. Each of their four adult children had the opportunity and potential to achieve tennis greatness, but are now living with various levels of success and struggles, especially in their personal relationships.

When Joy leaves a cryptic text message for her kids, and no one hears from her for days, the family begins to speculate about where she may be. The police are notified. They're recalling that only months ago, a young woman, Savannah, appeared from nowhere on their parent's doorstep. She ingratiated herself, moving in with them, cooking for them, and making the four kids suspicious of her.

I especially enjoyed this book because it's the first time I've read about the pandemic in a work of fiction. I wondered, early-on in 2020, whether authors would ever write about Coronavirus. Liane did. The pandemic isn't mentioned until the last chapters of the book, but the topic works seamlessly into the storyline. Well done, Ms. Moriarty! 

Linda's score: 4.6/5.0

Expecting to be a bit disappointed in any book that followed Apples Never Fall, I was happily surprised to be captivated by Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman. 

Dr. Emma Lewis is a preeminent neuropsychiatrist who is invited to look into what happened to a man found wet and wandering on a British beach, seemingly unable to speak. To investigate his case, she must return home to a place where 14 years earlier, an incident occurred that changed her life, and those of her mother and brother. When Emma meets Mr. Nobody, oddly, he reminds her of someone from her past. Unexpectedly, everything that's happened in the past becomes part of the present, and she must determine who's behind the confusing information she's receiving.  Linda's score: 4.4/5.0

In other fun and games - literally - have you tried playing Wordle? I learned about it from a blogger-friend, Cindy.

It's a word game that can be played only once a day, so you can't become too addicted! And it's not an app, but rather available through the Internet.

I learned this morning that Wordle was sold to the New York Times, so I don't know what that might mean for the future of the game. I only know I am enjoying it, and not doing too badly.

Linda

13th Year!

Thirteen years ago today - Monday, January 26, 2009 - I wrote my first blog post!

Six people commented on it. Looking at those comments... only one person still follows and comments on my blog: Debbie J. www.aquilterstable.blogspot.com. Wow, Debbie! How fantastic is it that you and I continue to follow and read one another's blog posts after 13 years?! Thank you so much for that!

If I'd known I'd attain this blog-longevity, I might have written about something other than making my first Pavola to celebrate Australia Day (today).

Though in the first month of blogging, I wrote only four posts, in November 2009 I wrote 22 blog posts! Seems like a lot, but back then blogging was the primary means of communicating with other quilters. With the pervasiveness of Facebook and Instagram, many people withdrew from from blogging, and reading blogs.

Early-on, I followed more than 80 blogs. Though 75 blogs are still on my reading list, many of the makers that I still call friends have stopped blogging. I miss, and feel sad about no longer knowing that they're creating and doing. When they dropped the blogging habit, our closeness went away too.

In 13 years of blog-posting:

• I've written 1,138 blog posts
• on average, that's 88 blog posts a year
• or, 1.7 blog posts per week
• I wrote 163 posts in 2009, compared to 68 posts in 2021
• since March 2019 I've written 124 Book Recommendations
• thanks (blame?) for those reviews and ratings go to my friend Karen E.
• refer to "Books List" (top of home page) to view and/or download those titles
• received 13,100 comments, and replied to nearly all of them
• "no reply commenters" can find my replies to them on that particular blog post
• I documented the making and finishing of 156 quilts
• quilts range in size from 10" X 10" to 98" X 109"

In 13 years of blogging, I've blogged about...

...visiting Australia four times, when our daughter lived in Five Dock, a Sydney suburb;

While in Sydney, I taught beginner quiltmaking at Darling Point Anglican Church, sharing the experience with these friends, Di B. and Di. J.;

...numerous quilting classes and workshops I taught, among them, 35 five-week beginner quiltmaking lessons;

...winning my first and only Best in Show at the 2012 Machine Quilter's Showcase in Overland Park, Kansas. 

My prize was a Bernina 440QE sewing machine;

...moved from our Iowa home of nearly 33 years to live in Florida ('nuf said);

...met my best Florida friend on July 10, 2012;

...welcomed five grandchildren into our lives by marriage and by birth;

...made and maintained special friendships through quilting and social media;

Deb @ireniebeanie24 in Iowa

Carla @lollyquiltz in Kansas;
Cindy@liveacolorfullife in California;
Doris @madebyabrunette in Iowa

... in 2013 was diagnosed. and received radiation and drug therapy for non-genetic breast cancer; and the same year was diagnosed with severe peripheral artery disease, caused by genetics. I've had seven angioplasy, three stents put into my femoral arteries, and live with PAD through drug treatment;

... in 2019 said a heartfelt good-bye to our dear Hogan;

On November 5, 2010 I wrote a post about The Modern Quilt Guild, a "new quilt guild." I encouraged readers to check out!;

I co-founded the Des Moines MQG in 2010

and when I moved to Florida, Central Florida MQG was founded in 2012

...in 2013 I attended my first modern quilt show, QuiltCon in Austin, Texas...

And now I'm counting down the days until I will attend my fifth QuiltCon. In 21 days!

... along the way met some well-known quiltmakers;

Christa Watson

Angela Walters

Victoria Findlay-Wolfe

Christina Camelli

Lee Monroe 

Jo Avery 

Jacqui Gering, in her Kansas City studio

Alex Anderson

...had the pleasure of hosting two international friends, both met through the Internet and our blogs!

Edith QuiltsundMehr.blogspot.com from Neftenbach, Switzerland in 2013

Di @darlingdi from Sydney, Australia in 2017

... and could continue to reminisce about much, much more! Sewing projects, weaving, braiding, fabrics, techniques... dozens of events and activities that have happened in the past 13 years! Thousands of pictures have been uploaded to blogger!

Most of it has been good, and that makes me very grateful. Especially knowing that all of my family and I made it through the worst of the pandemic. I'm earnestly thanking God that the COVID-19 vaccine was created.

The last thing to share today is a Kawandi. 

This is the ninth small one I've made since learning this hand-stitching, scrap technique from Sujata Shaha, in a November 2020 virtual workshop.

 For the first time, I tried a planned layout of scraps. It finished at 18" X 24". 

I can't imagine what the next 13 years has in store, but I hope it will continue to be about family times spent together, friends, and sharing quiltmaking with others. For sure, I plan to blog about all of it! Linda