Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Sunday, April 14, 2019
The quilt is finished ...
The "Ties That Bind" quilt has been bordered, quilted, and a binding has been put on. It is completed! I started it in January, I believe, and not bad getting it done in about 3 months' time. I'm very fond of this one, a very handsome quilt in my opinion. It's on my bed now.
There were a few challenges thrown my way once I started to sew the blocks together. I had already sewn 3 strips of 5 blocks each when I noticed that the pattern join between them was not consistent. Instead of interlocking triangles, I was getting some joins that did not interlock and yet some that also did not interlock but in the opposite direction. Sigh. The quilt is so busy with color and pattern that I could probably have gotten away with leaving it be, but I didn't like it.
I had followed the pattern's instructions which said to sew a triangle on "two adjacent corners" for the border blocks and "on one corner" for the corner blocks. It did not mention which 2 corners and it also did not mention that it's important. I was a bit bumbed out about it and at about that time I had to make a trip to NY, so I simply let it be while I took care of duties. On my way back from NY I decided I could make due by sewing a triangle on every corner of every block therefor allowing me to orient them as needed to achieve the interlocking triangles between blocks. This has altered the way the edge of the quilt looks, but unless you know what the pattern looks like in the book you'd never know. I rather like it this way anyway! Win.
The other challenge came when I went to pick it up from the long-arm. There was a pucker of about 3/8" extra fabric along one edge and it was pretty noticeable. As it turns out I have not been sewing my borders correctly! The woman at the shop was very generous in explaining to me how to sew borders on to achieve squareness, with opposite sides of the quilt being equal in length. Lesson learned, new technique in my arsenal. I was able to alleviate the pucker through a little ingenuity. As luck would have it, there was no quilting running across the pucker so I was able to make a slit in the backing behind the pucker which allowed the pucker to relax. It worked perfectly and I sewed a piece of backing fabric across the slit on the back of the quilt and will place my label over that making the whole affair invisible! Win.
While the quilt was at the shop being quilted I made a bag for shopping. One of several I hope to make. Now that we're more conscious of the environment and the excess amount of plastic we throw away, I'm bringing my own bags for grocery shopping. The black fabric I used for the side pockets look like suede but it's only cotton!
I started another bag today and I'm making this one bigger.
A wave of motivation to put up some preserves came over me during this past month and I made some ambrosia conserve, some spiced honey orange slices, and some spiced honey jelly. The jelly was an impromptu affair resulting from the left-over sauce from making the orange slices. I simply added a tablespoon of pectin to it, brought it up to setting temperature and processed it. Quite an excellent jelly which I will make again.
The temperatures here have finally started to rise and we lost considerable snow these past few days. There is still an amount to go but I suspect it will be gone by end of month. It feels good. 'Twas over 60 yesterday and I opened the front door to let some fresh air come sweeping in.
I have some Dahlia tubers set in some potting soil in the bathroom from which I'll take cuttings once they are a few inches high. I learned this technique from a wonderful gardener in the UK. I do love Dahlias.
There were a few challenges thrown my way once I started to sew the blocks together. I had already sewn 3 strips of 5 blocks each when I noticed that the pattern join between them was not consistent. Instead of interlocking triangles, I was getting some joins that did not interlock and yet some that also did not interlock but in the opposite direction. Sigh. The quilt is so busy with color and pattern that I could probably have gotten away with leaving it be, but I didn't like it.
I had followed the pattern's instructions which said to sew a triangle on "two adjacent corners" for the border blocks and "on one corner" for the corner blocks. It did not mention which 2 corners and it also did not mention that it's important. I was a bit bumbed out about it and at about that time I had to make a trip to NY, so I simply let it be while I took care of duties. On my way back from NY I decided I could make due by sewing a triangle on every corner of every block therefor allowing me to orient them as needed to achieve the interlocking triangles between blocks. This has altered the way the edge of the quilt looks, but unless you know what the pattern looks like in the book you'd never know. I rather like it this way anyway! Win.
The other challenge came when I went to pick it up from the long-arm. There was a pucker of about 3/8" extra fabric along one edge and it was pretty noticeable. As it turns out I have not been sewing my borders correctly! The woman at the shop was very generous in explaining to me how to sew borders on to achieve squareness, with opposite sides of the quilt being equal in length. Lesson learned, new technique in my arsenal. I was able to alleviate the pucker through a little ingenuity. As luck would have it, there was no quilting running across the pucker so I was able to make a slit in the backing behind the pucker which allowed the pucker to relax. It worked perfectly and I sewed a piece of backing fabric across the slit on the back of the quilt and will place my label over that making the whole affair invisible! Win.
While the quilt was at the shop being quilted I made a bag for shopping. One of several I hope to make. Now that we're more conscious of the environment and the excess amount of plastic we throw away, I'm bringing my own bags for grocery shopping. The black fabric I used for the side pockets look like suede but it's only cotton!
I started another bag today and I'm making this one bigger.
A wave of motivation to put up some preserves came over me during this past month and I made some ambrosia conserve, some spiced honey orange slices, and some spiced honey jelly. The jelly was an impromptu affair resulting from the left-over sauce from making the orange slices. I simply added a tablespoon of pectin to it, brought it up to setting temperature and processed it. Quite an excellent jelly which I will make again.
The temperatures here have finally started to rise and we lost considerable snow these past few days. There is still an amount to go but I suspect it will be gone by end of month. It feels good. 'Twas over 60 yesterday and I opened the front door to let some fresh air come sweeping in.
I have some Dahlia tubers set in some potting soil in the bathroom from which I'll take cuttings once they are a few inches high. I learned this technique from a wonderful gardener in the UK. I do love Dahlias.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Homesteading? ....
I can't really say I'm homesteading much because I don't own any livestock.
Before I first moved here I thought about the possibility of eventually getting a few sheep (they would help with some of the brambles that's for sure) and a few chickens. Neither grace my property these 6 years later. Can it really be six years!? It will be so at the end of April; the time has flown. I haven't completely given up the idea of a few animals, but I'm well cognizant of the work involved and I'm not sure it's a good idea right now. But it's an appealing thought to have a few sheep to keep the wood/field barriers well kept, and to harvest their wool for spinning. Perhaps in a year or two.
I worry about predators, especially as regards something as small as chickens. The other night I got back from rehearsal at about 10:30 pm and as I got out of the car I heard dog-like sounds in the woods right above my house. A long 50 foot walk in the dark from the car to the deck... I didn't linger. Probably coyotes or wolves I imagine.
I am doing homestead-y things though, despite my lack of domesticated fauna. Last Sunday afternoon I drove down to nearby Laconia to browse around the antique mall with something very specific in mind: a butter churn. I found one! And it was not cheap. But it's an old Daisy glass jar butter churn and it works. In anticipation of finding one, I had picked up a quart of heavy cream while grocery shopping last Saturday. From the one quart I got 12.5 oz of butter and a pint of buttermilk. I used the buttermilk Monday morning to make pancakes. Oooh-la-la. The butter is lovely! I hope to start keeping myself supplied with hand churned from now on. It costs approximately $6 for a quart of heavy cream. 12.5 oz of good butter (I usually get Kerrygold) plus a pint of buttermilk would come close to $6 if not over, so I'm probably not saving money but I have the satisfaction of making my own and there is something to be said for that. I know exactly what's in it and I can salt it as little or as much as I want. Besides which I can control the water content. This may become more important in the future if I decide to make my own croissants! See video below.
The churn:
The smaller bottles behind the churn are filled with some hand/body lotion I made this afternoon. I purchased all the raw materials a few weeks ago and had a bit of spare time today so here's my firt attempt at making lotion. The ingredients are quite simple: oils (this one is made with almond oil), stearic acid (thickener), vitamin e oil (antioxidant to prevent the oils going rancid), emulsifying wax, distilled water and scent. I scented this with wisteria-lilac oil. I also added a preservative (Germaben II), otherwise it would have to stay in the refrigerator and would only last 10 days before spoiling. It's got a very nice consistency to it.
Like so many people these days, I'm jumping on the "reduce plastic" bandwagon. It really is appalling how much single-use plastic is generated and tossed away to linger in landfills for a very long time. I haven't managed a whole lot yet, but a few small steps: I bought a safety razor last month and that will alleviate the toss-away plastic things I was using. I'm trying to bring my own bags when I go grocery shopping; it's going to take a bit more effort to remember them every time! I'm trying to avoid buying products in plastic bottles if possible. But you know, it's impossible to go completely plastic-free; it's everywhere. Almost everything is packaged in plastic and within the plastic there are individually plastic-wrapped items so much of the time. Oh dear.
The quilt has progressed amazingly well. I only need to make 2 more corner squares and I can then sew all the blocks together and sew borders on. I may well be taking this down to the quilt shop for quilting by end of week.
We had more snow today, all day long, but it amounted to only about 3" probably. We are under a lot of snow, 2.5 to 3 feet at least. And I keep watching gardening videos from the UK where they really have started to enjoy spring and are working their gardens already. It is now an endurance test over here... it has been a long winter. I have decided I will build another garden bed this spring out back where the previous owner had hers. That space gets more sunlight than any other location on my property and I'm thinking of putting my tomatoes and cukes and squash down there this year. One potential problem is that the ground there stays quite damp, but I think it's worth a try. It's always very hard to mow the lawn there anyway, and it won't be awful to alleviate that chore!
Much music lately. I signed up to play at the next UVMC salon which will be on the 30th at a private residence in Hanover. I will play Debussy's Prelude #4 from Book 1. This week I am finishing up work on the 3rd Cello Suite by Bach on the cello and played the 1st Bouree in class Thursday for my fellow classmates. I'm also working on several Cappricios and Intermezzi by Brahms on the piano. Hope to record some of them one of these days.
Croissant? Did I mention croissants above? I had some good croissant last time I was in NYC. There is a very good patisserie on Broadway between 13th & 14th Streets and I had a real croissant. Oh, they are good!! Very good croissants requires good butter so that's why I was thinking about croissants when mentioning my new butter churn. This guy, Alex, has a wonderfully inventive Youtube channel which I subscribe to, and in this episode he visits a Parisien bakery. What's not to love about this!?...
Before I first moved here I thought about the possibility of eventually getting a few sheep (they would help with some of the brambles that's for sure) and a few chickens. Neither grace my property these 6 years later. Can it really be six years!? It will be so at the end of April; the time has flown. I haven't completely given up the idea of a few animals, but I'm well cognizant of the work involved and I'm not sure it's a good idea right now. But it's an appealing thought to have a few sheep to keep the wood/field barriers well kept, and to harvest their wool for spinning. Perhaps in a year or two.
I worry about predators, especially as regards something as small as chickens. The other night I got back from rehearsal at about 10:30 pm and as I got out of the car I heard dog-like sounds in the woods right above my house. A long 50 foot walk in the dark from the car to the deck... I didn't linger. Probably coyotes or wolves I imagine.
I am doing homestead-y things though, despite my lack of domesticated fauna. Last Sunday afternoon I drove down to nearby Laconia to browse around the antique mall with something very specific in mind: a butter churn. I found one! And it was not cheap. But it's an old Daisy glass jar butter churn and it works. In anticipation of finding one, I had picked up a quart of heavy cream while grocery shopping last Saturday. From the one quart I got 12.5 oz of butter and a pint of buttermilk. I used the buttermilk Monday morning to make pancakes. Oooh-la-la. The butter is lovely! I hope to start keeping myself supplied with hand churned from now on. It costs approximately $6 for a quart of heavy cream. 12.5 oz of good butter (I usually get Kerrygold) plus a pint of buttermilk would come close to $6 if not over, so I'm probably not saving money but I have the satisfaction of making my own and there is something to be said for that. I know exactly what's in it and I can salt it as little or as much as I want. Besides which I can control the water content. This may become more important in the future if I decide to make my own croissants! See video below.
The churn:
The smaller bottles behind the churn are filled with some hand/body lotion I made this afternoon. I purchased all the raw materials a few weeks ago and had a bit of spare time today so here's my firt attempt at making lotion. The ingredients are quite simple: oils (this one is made with almond oil), stearic acid (thickener), vitamin e oil (antioxidant to prevent the oils going rancid), emulsifying wax, distilled water and scent. I scented this with wisteria-lilac oil. I also added a preservative (Germaben II), otherwise it would have to stay in the refrigerator and would only last 10 days before spoiling. It's got a very nice consistency to it.
Like so many people these days, I'm jumping on the "reduce plastic" bandwagon. It really is appalling how much single-use plastic is generated and tossed away to linger in landfills for a very long time. I haven't managed a whole lot yet, but a few small steps: I bought a safety razor last month and that will alleviate the toss-away plastic things I was using. I'm trying to bring my own bags when I go grocery shopping; it's going to take a bit more effort to remember them every time! I'm trying to avoid buying products in plastic bottles if possible. But you know, it's impossible to go completely plastic-free; it's everywhere. Almost everything is packaged in plastic and within the plastic there are individually plastic-wrapped items so much of the time. Oh dear.
The quilt has progressed amazingly well. I only need to make 2 more corner squares and I can then sew all the blocks together and sew borders on. I may well be taking this down to the quilt shop for quilting by end of week.
We had more snow today, all day long, but it amounted to only about 3" probably. We are under a lot of snow, 2.5 to 3 feet at least. And I keep watching gardening videos from the UK where they really have started to enjoy spring and are working their gardens already. It is now an endurance test over here... it has been a long winter. I have decided I will build another garden bed this spring out back where the previous owner had hers. That space gets more sunlight than any other location on my property and I'm thinking of putting my tomatoes and cukes and squash down there this year. One potential problem is that the ground there stays quite damp, but I think it's worth a try. It's always very hard to mow the lawn there anyway, and it won't be awful to alleviate that chore!
Much music lately. I signed up to play at the next UVMC salon which will be on the 30th at a private residence in Hanover. I will play Debussy's Prelude #4 from Book 1. This week I am finishing up work on the 3rd Cello Suite by Bach on the cello and played the 1st Bouree in class Thursday for my fellow classmates. I'm also working on several Cappricios and Intermezzi by Brahms on the piano. Hope to record some of them one of these days.
Croissant? Did I mention croissants above? I had some good croissant last time I was in NYC. There is a very good patisserie on Broadway between 13th & 14th Streets and I had a real croissant. Oh, they are good!! Very good croissants requires good butter so that's why I was thinking about croissants when mentioning my new butter churn. This guy, Alex, has a wonderfully inventive Youtube channel which I subscribe to, and in this episode he visits a Parisien bakery. What's not to love about this!?...
Monday, February 18, 2019
Anticipation begins ...
These came home with me the other day ...
Several racks of seed are on display at the local superstore, I could not resist. It's unrealistic to think I can do anything with them for several weeks, but just the sight of them releases endorphins. Seeing them on the counter lifts my mood and sparks hope. It's won't be too long now, I figure in another month we'll be getting close.
I must resist the temptation to start them indoors. Every time I've started seed early, I was way too early. After last year's experiment of starting several seeds indoors, I've come to the realization that it's best to wait and plant most of them directly in the soil. 1) Transplanting is a lot of work, 2) I don't think the plants like it, 3) several of them seem to do better without the disruption in their growth. So I don't think there will be much indoor sowing this year. Maybe a few seeds.
The quilt is progressing quicker than I thought it would. The pattern turns out to be somewhat forgiving, much more so than other patterns I've made. The 9 blocks which make up the inner part of the quilt are done. I need to make 16 more for the outside blocks; they will be very similar to these only slight variations because they will be on the edge of the quilt. To my astonishment I'm making approximately 1 block a day, not something I expected. These 9 blocks are not sewn together yet, I simply laid them down on the floor to see how they look...
It snowed all day today--this is the reality in contrast to the visions and dreams of the first few paragraphs above. So I stayed in all day. Ran out of bread so I decided to try a recipe I saw in a vlog I follow on YouTube for some stove top soda bread. It's amazingly simple, and amazingly good! I will be making this recipe frequently I think.
Several racks of seed are on display at the local superstore, I could not resist. It's unrealistic to think I can do anything with them for several weeks, but just the sight of them releases endorphins. Seeing them on the counter lifts my mood and sparks hope. It's won't be too long now, I figure in another month we'll be getting close.
I must resist the temptation to start them indoors. Every time I've started seed early, I was way too early. After last year's experiment of starting several seeds indoors, I've come to the realization that it's best to wait and plant most of them directly in the soil. 1) Transplanting is a lot of work, 2) I don't think the plants like it, 3) several of them seem to do better without the disruption in their growth. So I don't think there will be much indoor sowing this year. Maybe a few seeds.
The quilt is progressing quicker than I thought it would. The pattern turns out to be somewhat forgiving, much more so than other patterns I've made. The 9 blocks which make up the inner part of the quilt are done. I need to make 16 more for the outside blocks; they will be very similar to these only slight variations because they will be on the edge of the quilt. To my astonishment I'm making approximately 1 block a day, not something I expected. These 9 blocks are not sewn together yet, I simply laid them down on the floor to see how they look...
It snowed all day today--this is the reality in contrast to the visions and dreams of the first few paragraphs above. So I stayed in all day. Ran out of bread so I decided to try a recipe I saw in a vlog I follow on YouTube for some stove top soda bread. It's amazingly simple, and amazingly good! I will be making this recipe frequently I think.
Friday, February 8, 2019
Progress on the new quilt ...
I got all 1200 triangles and squares cut last week and I've started sewing triangles together to make squares... lot's of them.
But before proceeding too far I wanted to construct one sample block to determine if there were any gotchas I need to be aware of when sewing the triangles together. It came out nice and I'm well pleased with it.
I'll be making 25 of these blocks. Each one has 48 pieces in it x 25 blocks = 1200 pieces. Yup, the math works out!
And I keep coming across new projects I'd like to make. Better start a list so I don't forget them all.
I stopped at a local thrift shop this afternoon and found a bag of fabric along with a finished, pieced top all for $15. The top is very attractive and quite well made. It alone is worth hundreds. I wonder who made it? I wonder why it was never finished? One thing's for sure, I'm going to have it finished. It measures 58" square. The fabric is very beautiful.
Oddball weather here lately. Thaws and freezes. Snow and ice. Lot's of ice. Not as much snow. It's February 8th; I figure in 2 months time we'll be greeting spring full heartedly, albeit impatiently. Of course, officially, spring arrives next month but we all know that she and the calendar don't communicate all that well. But I am starting to dream of warm weather and gardens and flowers and bugs. ... I think this year I will build some sort of screen enclosed area on my deck so I can bring the cello outside without getting bitten to death.
At this time of year I look back at pictures I took last summer and it doesn't seem possible that the vegetation could ever be that lush and rampant. These days I can see clearly through the forest tops and beyond to summits behind them. Most certainly not so in the summer.
But before proceeding too far I wanted to construct one sample block to determine if there were any gotchas I need to be aware of when sewing the triangles together. It came out nice and I'm well pleased with it.
I'll be making 25 of these blocks. Each one has 48 pieces in it x 25 blocks = 1200 pieces. Yup, the math works out!
And I keep coming across new projects I'd like to make. Better start a list so I don't forget them all.
I stopped at a local thrift shop this afternoon and found a bag of fabric along with a finished, pieced top all for $15. The top is very attractive and quite well made. It alone is worth hundreds. I wonder who made it? I wonder why it was never finished? One thing's for sure, I'm going to have it finished. It measures 58" square. The fabric is very beautiful.
Oddball weather here lately. Thaws and freezes. Snow and ice. Lot's of ice. Not as much snow. It's February 8th; I figure in 2 months time we'll be greeting spring full heartedly, albeit impatiently. Of course, officially, spring arrives next month but we all know that she and the calendar don't communicate all that well. But I am starting to dream of warm weather and gardens and flowers and bugs. ... I think this year I will build some sort of screen enclosed area on my deck so I can bring the cello outside without getting bitten to death.
At this time of year I look back at pictures I took last summer and it doesn't seem possible that the vegetation could ever be that lush and rampant. These days I can see clearly through the forest tops and beyond to summits behind them. Most certainly not so in the summer.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
The New Year ...
It has just occurred to me that I have yet to write a post in this year of 2019.
Since Christmas, I have recovered from my head-rock impact from that fall on the ice Chrismas Eve. I have (finally) taken my holiday decorations down, though they await being brought upstairs and stored for another year. I waited longer to take them down this year--I was getting much enjoyment from having them around. But as always, there comes a time of struggle when a part of me would like to keep them up longer but part of me wants to feel lighter again, to reclaim my spaces. I'm thinking that since I just took them down this week it might make spring feel like it's coming a little sooner. Maybe? Who knows.
My Christmas cactus blossomed for the first time, albeit slightly after the New Year. It was a gift (you know who you are, and again, thank you so much!). It has very pretty two-tone flowers. There have been 3 blossoms so far and there are at least 3 more buds.
I have decided my next project will be another quilt! I wasn't expecting to start work on another so soon after the last but I'm in the mood. I went through some of my scraps and laid these out on the sofa. They'll become "Ties That Bind" quilt.
I need to cut the fabric into hundreds of squares in 3 sizes. I have a good start on the colored fabrics, will need to repeat with the white/neutral colors.
I finished weaving the remainder of my kitchen towels. The remaining half warp is on the loom awaiting my neighbor to get hers woven. I made only 5 for now because I want to make sure there is enough warp so she can make 6 towels. If there's warp left after her towels are done, I'll make another one. I experimented with different tie ups and made one with a different weft color. They are all from the same warp and the same threading, and the same treadling sequence, just different tie ups (refers to which pedals are tied to which frames). It's amazing how many different patterns can be made simply by varying the tie up.
Here are the towels just after I removed them from the loom. Not yet cut apart, or washed, or hemmed.
And the finished towels.
On the music front, orchestra rehearsals have begun for Beethoven's 2nd Symphony and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #4. I adore them both. I remember hearing the Brandenburg Concertos when I was a child.... heaven! They are divine.
Lastly, I'm going to share this video I stumbled upon this evening. It's really, really good, and very relevant to these times.
Since Christmas, I have recovered from my head-rock impact from that fall on the ice Chrismas Eve. I have (finally) taken my holiday decorations down, though they await being brought upstairs and stored for another year. I waited longer to take them down this year--I was getting much enjoyment from having them around. But as always, there comes a time of struggle when a part of me would like to keep them up longer but part of me wants to feel lighter again, to reclaim my spaces. I'm thinking that since I just took them down this week it might make spring feel like it's coming a little sooner. Maybe? Who knows.
My Christmas cactus blossomed for the first time, albeit slightly after the New Year. It was a gift (you know who you are, and again, thank you so much!). It has very pretty two-tone flowers. There have been 3 blossoms so far and there are at least 3 more buds.
I have decided my next project will be another quilt! I wasn't expecting to start work on another so soon after the last but I'm in the mood. I went through some of my scraps and laid these out on the sofa. They'll become "Ties That Bind" quilt.
I need to cut the fabric into hundreds of squares in 3 sizes. I have a good start on the colored fabrics, will need to repeat with the white/neutral colors.
I finished weaving the remainder of my kitchen towels. The remaining half warp is on the loom awaiting my neighbor to get hers woven. I made only 5 for now because I want to make sure there is enough warp so she can make 6 towels. If there's warp left after her towels are done, I'll make another one. I experimented with different tie ups and made one with a different weft color. They are all from the same warp and the same threading, and the same treadling sequence, just different tie ups (refers to which pedals are tied to which frames). It's amazing how many different patterns can be made simply by varying the tie up.
Here are the towels just after I removed them from the loom. Not yet cut apart, or washed, or hemmed.
And the finished towels.
On the music front, orchestra rehearsals have begun for Beethoven's 2nd Symphony and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #4. I adore them both. I remember hearing the Brandenburg Concertos when I was a child.... heaven! They are divine.
Lastly, I'm going to share this video I stumbled upon this evening. It's really, really good, and very relevant to these times.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
A block a day ...
... keeps the doctor away? Well I don't know about that! But it is one way to ensure the quilt gets completed in short order. I started making the blocks for my latest quilt on 11/22 and I finished the top on 12/22! 20 days to make 20 blocks and the remaining time to sew the connecting sashing and borders.
This quilt block is called "Picnic In The Park" and is several levels of difficulty below the "Celtic Solstice" that I finished in November. It was a very enjoyable sew, aided in no small part by all the wonderful colors I had to work with. I began with a roll of rainbow colored fabrics, sold as a single fat roll. Each piece was was about a quarter yard. I purchased it because it was pretty--I'm such a sucker for these things!--not knowing what I would eventually make with it. When I saw "Picnic In The Park" in a book I thought it would make a fine experiment to try the rainbow colors on, so I divided the fabrics into groups of 3 similar shades/hues to use in each block. There were enough distinct colors to make 7 different colored blocks. I wanted 10 distinct blocks so I popped on down to the quilt shop and purchased 3 sets of colors to augment what I had. I made 2 blocks in each color, giving me 20 total blocks, enough for a good sized quilt.
Likey, likey!
It is now down at the shop for quilting on the long arm. My "Celtic Solstice" came back from the long arm earlier this week. It looks fabulous! Now I need to put a binding on it and it will be completed. I have another quilt from earlier in the year (or was it last year!?) that still needs a binding so I think I will do that one now as well. When "Picnic" comes back from the shop, that will need a binding too. After those 3 projects are done I think I will tackle quilting the wool applique top I finished earlier this year. It cannot go on the long arm machine because of the wool applique. I practiced hand quilting a bit and realized that it's just not a possibility right now (it would take me forever!), so I'm going to have a go at free-motion quilting on my godmother's Singer Red Eye (thank you so much, Aunt R and P!!! :) ).
After that's all done? Hm. What's next?
This quilt block is called "Picnic In The Park" and is several levels of difficulty below the "Celtic Solstice" that I finished in November. It was a very enjoyable sew, aided in no small part by all the wonderful colors I had to work with. I began with a roll of rainbow colored fabrics, sold as a single fat roll. Each piece was was about a quarter yard. I purchased it because it was pretty--I'm such a sucker for these things!--not knowing what I would eventually make with it. When I saw "Picnic In The Park" in a book I thought it would make a fine experiment to try the rainbow colors on, so I divided the fabrics into groups of 3 similar shades/hues to use in each block. There were enough distinct colors to make 7 different colored blocks. I wanted 10 distinct blocks so I popped on down to the quilt shop and purchased 3 sets of colors to augment what I had. I made 2 blocks in each color, giving me 20 total blocks, enough for a good sized quilt.
Likey, likey!
It is now down at the shop for quilting on the long arm. My "Celtic Solstice" came back from the long arm earlier this week. It looks fabulous! Now I need to put a binding on it and it will be completed. I have another quilt from earlier in the year (or was it last year!?) that still needs a binding so I think I will do that one now as well. When "Picnic" comes back from the shop, that will need a binding too. After those 3 projects are done I think I will tackle quilting the wool applique top I finished earlier this year. It cannot go on the long arm machine because of the wool applique. I practiced hand quilting a bit and realized that it's just not a possibility right now (it would take me forever!), so I'm going to have a go at free-motion quilting on my godmother's Singer Red Eye (thank you so much, Aunt R and P!!! :) ).
After that's all done? Hm. What's next?
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