An Undone Week

Much of this week was spent merrily walking foot quilting, for hours on end. After a long day of quilting, I proudly took these evening photos - the best shadows to enhance the quilting. 

I admired my work from every angle...

...including the design wall.

That's when I saw a huge, I-can't-live-with-it-like-this mistake!

In spite of being well-basted with pins, the large < shapes I'd quilt made the vertical columns all bow. What to do?!

Knowing that Amy Friend @duringquiettime is a die-hard walking foot quilter, I sent her these photos and asked. Might the curves be blocked out after washing? Amy graciously responded, suggesting that batting might be part of the problem. I had to agree that Quilter's Dream Puff (100 percent polyester), though having a wonderful depth for showing off quilting designs, might be a little "slippery" for the dense quilting I had done in clusters of matchstick quilting. I should have used a cotton batting. 

What's a quilter to do? Remove the offending stitches. It took about seven hours, but all of the quilting in the section of curry, yellow, and peach solids was undone - across the 70" width of the quilt. 

Then, I misted and steam ironed, tugged and patted, and generally did what was necessary to make those vertical columns straight. A ruler as guide, and lots of pins helped. This section has been re-quilted now, but still has a couple issued to fix. Finished pictures later!

Last Saturday was the Central Florida MQG "Improv Paper Piecing" virtual workshop with Amy Friend (one of the reasons I felt comfortable asking Amy about my quilting) and these rectangle foundation paper pieced blocks are the result of that workshop. 

Amy's concept for making improv designs is fantastic! It was suggested that we each make only one block, and then make a mirror image of it. She then taught us how to copy, multiple, twist and turn the design for different layout possibilities. I love the entire concept! I'm not particularly happy with my rectangle-shaped blocks, but I definitely want to explore this method.

The Alison Glass Stitch Club introductory e-journal arrived in Sunday's email. After thoroughly reading it several times, I excitedly shopped through my stash for fabrics I'll use to make a 54" X 78" improv-style Kantha quilt. The next journal arrives April 19 with cutting info. I can't wait! 

I couldn't resist any longer, and used my post-QuiltCon electronic discount code to shop at Morris Textiles for this Sally Kelly fabric. It's "Florissimo," from the Eden collection. I don't know why I'm so smitten with it - perhaps the colors? - as I usually don't like floral prints. I bought three yards! 

I also picked up these two Eden prints. Some of the Edan prints have insect designs, and those I definitely don't care for.  

As my friends will attest, I'm not a list-maker. However, I'm going on retreat today, and don't want to forget all the projects I have in mind to work on over the next six days. I expect that only two, maybe three of these items will be checked-off as finished because they're "ongoing" sorts of projects. 

When on this type of retreat, not only do all my quilt-y supplies, clothes, and toiletries go with me, but each of us brings our own food. It takes lots of planning to get ready for such a long time away from home. Not surprisingly, I'm looking forward to it, especially time spent with friends.

Book Recommendations

The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson is not an easy read. I dislike saying so about a work of fiction, but the truth behind the story is what makes it painful. I like the slave woman, Pheby, for her resiliency in the face of helplessness and loss, but the story was tough-going. I kept expecting a small bright spot, a moment of "Yes, finally some good news!" but it never comes.

Pheby is a slave offspring of the master of Bell Plantation who finds love with the slave man who cares for the horses. Pheby lives with her mother Ruth, a respected slave who works in the loom mill. When the master leaves with Ruth, Bell Plantation's mistress makes life intolerable for Pheby, who is suddenly taken away to live in a Richmond jail that deals in the slave trade. When Pheby attracts the attention of the jailer, her life takes a different turn; she becomes the jail mistress. Raising her children in this hopeless environment, she means to ensure they're educated, and will do whatever must be done to ensure that their lives  will be different than hers. 

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

If nothing else, I like The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich, for the cover! Definitely a quilt there, right? 

The story takes place in Minneapolis, and is about Tookie, a gullible woman who gets into trouble when she steals a corpse for a girlfriend, and accepts money for doing it. Years later, after serving a prison sentence and early release, she goes to work in a book store that's haunted by a recently-deceased customer, Flora. What Flora does puts fear into Tookie, who tries to find understanding through Indian myths and traditions. Then, the pandemic...

This is only the second book I've read that incorporates the pandemic into the storyline, and in this case, also what happened in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd. Though I wasn't fond of the haunting part of the story, I liked it for it's relevance to current events...after I looked past the author's political bias. 

Linda's score: 3.4/5.0

The Stories We Tell by Patti Callahan Henry takes place in Savannah, Georgia. It's about a distinguished southern couple, Eve and Cooper Morrison, who, respectively, own a print business and a digital magazine. Eve's converted-from-a-stable shop is on their family property, so it's not uncommon for her to spend all of her days and many evenings working. Eve's sister, Willa, who doesn't get along with Cooper, also lives on the property.

So when the police arrive to tell Eve that Cooper and Willa have been in a serious car accident together, she doesn't understand. Add to the scene, rebellious 17 year-old Gwen Morrison who adores her Aunt Willa who is now suffering from memory loss, and it becomes Cooper's job to explain what happened. When his responses to questions don't match the facts that Eve is learning for herself, she begins to question her loyalties. 

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

How is it that I managed to listened to nine books during the month of March?! It's probably a testament to the amount of time I spent quilting at the sewing machine... and un-quilting. April surely won't be a repeat of March! Linda

Good Week!

With my iron level restored, I'm feeling good, and it's been a good week. 

I'm still pressuring myself to keep walking foot quilting my Architecture Challenge quilt, and I'm making progress.

I've also had some excellent moments of distraction.

A small distraction has been to start another hand-stitching piece. Following a "Mary's Clamshells" tutorial by Sunny Day Supply, I enlarged a clamshell template to 3", made a plastic template, selected solids inspired by a piece of African wax print, and cut 50 or so clamshells. 

With 80-weight Aurifil thread, I'm needle-turn hand appliquèing. The top row of clamshells is done, and the next row is glued into place, ready for appliquéing. Eventually I'll finish the piece with big stitch quilting.

My thought is to combine the appliqué piece with curvy improv pieces (à la Sherry Lynn Wood) that I've made with African wax prints. It's all at the "thinking-about-it" stage.

Handwork is definitely in my future. Sunday (March 27) is when the first instructions will be given for the 2022 Alison Glass Stitch Club Kantha Sew Along. Anticipating that, I bought more pearl cotton, the arrival of which was a highlight this week. On the left is Alison Glass #8 Eleganza pearl cotton "Sun" collection by Wonderfil, from Snuggly Monkey; and on the right is Wonderfil #12 Spagetti "Tropics" collection from Red Rock Threads.

Have you noticed how much raw cotton prices are rising? When I first shared my concern about increasing cotton prices (on my blog, in May 2021), cotton was 90¢ a pound. Back then, I let you know the price would probably continue to climb.

This morning cotton was $1.32+ a pound. (I hate being right!) Before you know it, we'll see those higher prices reflected in our quilting cotton fabrics - $14 to $15 a yard for prints, I'm guessing. We're already seeing some fabrics at $13+ a yard.

Quilt batting prices will inevitably climb too. So, two weeks ago, when www.battingsupersale.com offered a 15% batting discount, I bought!

For at least six years now, my friend Karen and I have been buying a roll together. We agree on a batt we want and then split the cost. It's a great way to go because one of us doesn't end up with too much, and we share the shipping cost. This 93" X 30 yard roll of Quilter's Dream Cotton Select (white) was $242.21. We should be set for a while.

Another happy moment this morning was when I received email notice that my "Grandma's Leftovers" Kawandi has been accepted into the Gallery, in the "Utility" edition of Curated Quilts! Whoo-ee!

I'll soon be mailing it to Curated Quilts for photography. 

Book Recommendations

What are the odds that I'd pick up two books in a row, by two different authors, that both have storylines in the same place? Florida! And even more remarkable is that both books are excellent!

The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews (this is my third read by this author; you can't go wrong choosing her books!) is about Letty Carnahan who lives in New York. When she finds her sister Tanya's body, Letty remembers a promise she made to Tanya - that if something ever happened to her, she was to take Tanya's daughter, grab the "go bag," and run. Letty isn't sure where they're headed until she finds a faded magazine advertisement for a motel, The Murmuring Surf, in Treasure Island, Florida.

Arriving there, Letty immediately encounters a police officer who happens to be the son of the motel owner. Yet the owner herself takes sympathy on Letty and Maya, and gives Letty a job in exchange for a room. Still, Letty must be cautious. Maya's father, Evan, may be looking for them. But as Letty discovers, Tanya was keeping secrets. 

I got a kick out of the senior snowbirds that wend through this story. Each one is a good amalgamation of senior personalities I've met since moving to Florida! 

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood begins in 1969, in Massachusetts, where a happy family of three - Ab and Ginny, and their young son Peyton - await the birth of another child. When the baby, Lucy, is whisked away at birth, Ginny is told that she'll be put in a special school for retarded children. Lucy has a heart defect.

Ginny can't stop grieving. She never gets to see Lucy again. Until, in 1971, a newspaper reporter writes a series about Willowridge, and its squalid conditions, and Ginny goes to see for herself. It's as bad, if not worse than the reporter said. So Ginny takes Lucy for the Labor Day weekend. With help from her friend Marcia, they plan a fun weekend, but Ginny soon realizes she cannot/must not return Lucy to Willowridge. With Marcia driving, they head south, encountering adventures along the way that eventually decide their destination - Week Wachee, where the mermaids are. 

I personally enjoyed this book's references to many 1971 specifics - news items, advertising, billboards, motel rates, gas station attendants, and the like.

Linda's score: 4.2/5.0

The most wonderful thing that happened today was at the conclusion of Bible study, when I gave away the Seaglass Quilt I recently finished. Today concluded our eight week study of Revelation.

Several weeks ago we talked about "the sea of glass," Rev. 15:2, and I immediately knew who I wanted to have the quilt I'd made - Judy, who leads a weekly Bible study each fall and spring.

I am grateful I know how to make a quilt like this, and even more grateful I could give it to someone special who deserves it. Judy puts a lot of research and study time into every lesson. I'm blessed to have been in every study she's led in the past seven (maybe eight?) years.

The wonderfulness doesn't stop! On Saturday I'm taking a six-hour virtual workshop with Amy Friend

@duringquiettime: Improvisational Paper Piecing. Members of Central Florida MQG are going to learn how to design improv paper pieced blocks. 

Can I just say how much I love taking a workshop from home?! It's so handy to have supplies at hand, and switch-out fabrics or tools as needed. I'm looking forward to this one! Linda

Quilting Only

Only machine quilting has been happening here. I feel like I'm dragging myself to my sewing machine to work on my Architectural Challenge Quilt. It's due at our April 9 Central Florida MQG meeting. I say "dragging" because my heart isn't in this kind of quilting. That's because: 

1. I haven't been able to settle on the overall quilt design; 
2. and, I'm trying to do only walking foot quilting (not my favorite), because I want the quilt to read "minimal."

Ugh. Between these two challenges, progress has been very slow.

But on the positive side, I'm trying-out combining three different weights and colors of Aurifil thread on this quilt: 28-weight and 40-weight on top; 50-weight in the bobbin.

Because I've used Quilter's Dream Puff batting, the loft makes the quilting highly visible. 

I still need to figure out what to quilt in between the channels because that puckery puffiness just won't do. While I'd like to free motion quilt - it's faster! - I'm thinking that more straight-line walking foot quilting is needed. Yuck.

 

For Blog Post Writers

I follow, read, and comment on about 70 quilting blogs. Reading some of them can be difficult. What I mean is... Some bloggers write posts that I struggle to get through because the text format is center-justified like these paragraphs.

Do you too have a hard time reading center-justified blog posts too?

Did you know - or have you discovered for yourself - that it is more difficult to read a blog post that's centered?

For those who don't know, and may want to make it easier on their readers, left justification is the best format. I learned this in college, in journalism school.

Now I'm off my soap box. 

Book Recommendation

Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave is about Sunshine Mackenzie, a wildly popular social media cooking success with millions of YouTube and Instagram followers. The trouble is, Sunny doesn't cook!

When her media sites are hacked, photos and secrets are revealed that can't be undone. She not only loses her fans, in one swoop, she loses her condo, her husband, and her career. With nowhere to go, she takes off for the last place she wanted to see again, her hometown, where she must confront the sister she left behind. She also begins to face the ways she's lied her way through life, and while she wants to starts over again, this time she has to do it by being honest. Along the way, she comes to realize that learning to cook might not be a bad way to begin again. Linda's score: 3.9/5.0

 

A couple weeks ago, at my annual oncology check-up, an iron panel revealed that for the second time, my iron level was low.

Like hair turning gray, and bones becoming brittle, apparently this is what happens when we age. I turned 69 last Friday. 

While am certain I take in the recommended daily requirement of iron by drinking fresh-pressed green vegetable juice, and eating salads made with red leaf lettuce and spinach, after talking with a nurse, it's likely that absorption is the problem. Eating strawberries, cranberries and mandarin oranges has been recommended, to aid with iron absorption. Who knew?!

In any case, within a ten day period I had two iron infusions and I am feeling better, though I didn't know I was feeling "low" until I'd received the first infusion!

Actually, the day after each infusion, I felt like the Energizer Bunny! When I mentioned this to the nurse she explained that a steroid is administered first, to counteract the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction. The steroid is followed by iron, then saline. But it's the steroid that "wires" me!

I'm telling you this because everyone should have the opportunity to have such a positive medical experience! Go for an iron infusion if you are told you need one! Linda 

Showing Off!

At Saturday's Central Florida MQG meeting, some of the 12 quilters who took my January 22 "Modern Wedge Quilt" workshop, returned with their completed tops and finished quilts. Marcia is making her two sections into bolster pillows. It makes me so proud to see the results of a day of teaching and learning, and appreciate the colors and prints each quiltmaker chose to use.

L-R: Courtney, Karen T., Bonnie, Barbara, Marcia, and Donna

And though Becky wasn't in my workshop, she made a wedge quilt top too. 

Becky

I'm also sharing that my 2019 Temperature Quilt will soon be on display at the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center in Pompano Beach, Florida. 

My temperature quilt is centered in the advertising graphic! 

The exhibition begins Friday, April 1 with an opening reception from 6-10 pm. It continues through Thursday, June 23.

Plan a visit if you're in the Pompano Beach area - see the red marker on the southeast coast of Florida.

Besides me, featured artists (and their Instagram handles) are:

Patricia Auten @pattimakesquilts

Sarah Cain @sarahjeanmakes

Brigit Dermott @brigitgail

Barbara Garvine @bgarvinemiami

Jacquie Gering @jacquietps

Valerie Goodwin @valeriegoodwinart

Nicole Kaplan @patchworkduck

Deborah Krajkowski @deborahkrajkowski

Sarah Lebebvre @sidestitchesdesign

Charlotte Noll @kirkenoll

Heidi Parkes @heidi.parkes

Sherry Pacquariello @otterbeequilting

Diane Paquin Provost @dianepaquinprovost

Carole Lyles Shaw @carole_lylesshaw

Kelly Spell @kellyspell

Cheri Ucci @cheriucci

This afternoon, I presented "Big Stitch Quilting and More" to 21 members of Quilting Guild of The 

Villages (QGOTV).

My program began with more than 80 slides that touch on the differences in various types of handwork - Boro, Boho, Kantha, Sashiko, Kawandi, big stitch quilting, and visible mending. 

Then, students had a chance to try big stitch on linen, using sizes 8 and 12 perle cotton. 

This is a lovely group of quilters, and it warmed my heart to hear them as they left... making plans to stitch together again at one of the QGOTV monthly open sews. Mission accomplished! A few more quilters excited to big stitch quilt! 

Since discovering how much I enjoy hand stitching, particularly Kawandi, I'm open to all excuses to do more handwork.

So when I saw that Alison Glass is offering Stitch Club 2022 as a Kantha Sew Along, I registered (only $18)! I'm looking forward to this!

If you're interested too, go here. 

I've also registered for an April 12 virtual Sashiko 101 workshop with Claudia Martinez of Snuggly Monkey @snugglymonkey

While I think I've done Sashiko before (self-taught) it will be good to learn the right way of doing it.

If you're interested - this wonderful shop focuses on hand-stitching supplies - here's the link to Snuggly Monkey, located in Durham, North Carolina.

Book Recommendation

Mary Kay Andrews is a prolific author, and Spring Fever was just as entertaining as the first Andrews title I read: Fixer Upper. Spring Fever is a long listen at 15½ hours! But, if you're in the mood for a light, engaging story, this is a winner. 

Annajane is sitting in a packed church with her best friend, preparing to witness the wedding of Mason and Celia. When the flower girl, Sophie collapses while walking down the aisle, Annajane rushes to take care of her, and engages in conversation with the groom who just happens to be Annajane's ex-husband. 

Annajane and Mason have a long history that goes back to their teens, when Annajane's first job with Mason's family's business - Quixie, a cherry-flavored soft drink company. Even though she's now VP of marketing for Quixie, she's ready to move on. She's engaged to a musician, and preparing to move from Pasco, North Carolina to Atlanta. But with things unsettled with Quixie, and Celia seeming to too-perfect, and with suspicious motives, Annajane isn't prepared to simply walk away.

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0 

Linda

Seaglass Quilt Finish

My 34½" X 50" Seaglass quilt is finished. 

Already, I want to make another one!

It was fun choosing fabric scraps (and cutting into some stash) to come up with as many different prints, and a few solids, as possible. No print or solid is used more than twice. 

'

It's sandwiched with Quilter's Dream Cotton Request. Quilting was easy... just free motion quilt around each shape. This video plays back at double-speed, so you can imagine how much slower I actually FMQ.

Though it isn't necessary to change colors for every print, I used this opportunity to empty a few thread spools! Such a good feeling.

In the bobbin I used Wonderfil 100-weight Invisifil thread. One of the empty spools (above) was Invisifil.

When Seaglass was quilted, I cut fabrics to make a faced finish. My favorite facing tutorial is on the Bernina, We All Sew site. It calls for 2"-wide strips folded in half, and four 5" squares folded into triangles for each of the corners. 

Though I always hand-sew down facing, for this quilt I left the four corners unsewn. That's so a dowel rod or curtain rod can be tucked under two triangles, and used to hang the quilt. 

I have someone in mind to gift this to; it will be perfect for her. In the meantime, I'm plotting my next Seaglass quilt, thinking to use some orange, or maybe pink, or maybe even purple in the accent area. So many possibilities! 

This is the closest I've been to water since being in the Atlantic Ocean last June. Thanks Flo, for being a great quilt-holder!

If you're interested in making a Seaglass quilt, like me, you'll have to register and pay for the www.ExhaustedOctopus Seaglass course. Darn it. Instructions are not sold as a pattern. Linda