The Full Monty?

My "last minute" full spectrum piece is done....but I'm out of steam to write about it.  It involved hundreds of topstitching lines. It's a bright colorful piece and it just dawned on me that I might call it "The Full Monty!"

I learned late tonight that Dr. Adams has been ill....so hanging things up in her office will be delayed until at least next week. I'm not sure if this is good or bad for me....I was ready to get it all off my table. But in the mean time I'll keep sewing....and maybe I'll even clean the kitchen!

In the middle of the day I got a birthday box from my sister Nancy....and along with some other fun things there was chocolate! Just what I needed! Thank goodness pieces were individually wrapped so I was able to limit myself to just one. That hint of chili was interesting and awesome!  Thanks Nancy!

Last Minute

"Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute."  author unknown

I still have a lot of little details to take care of before I can hang things this week....partly because silly me started something new today that I've been thinking about for a long time.

It's very colorful and I'm making it for a particular spot in Dr. Adam's office.  I couldn't stop thinking about it so I just had to stop and do it.  Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow and I'll share it then.


I am happy to report that after a lot of pondering I finally came up with a way to mount and hang my accordion piece.  It's kind of odd....and at the very least it will be a conversation piece. 

Using very stiff batting I made an under quilt of sorts and tacked the valleys of the accordion to it. I made it a bit smaller so it wouldn't show.  It was tricky trying to get the pleats even and it turned out just a bit wonky....but it's all part of the home made charm.  I will insert a dowel into the blue triangles at the corners to give it something to hang from.

My Sweet Sam

I got to spend a good chunk of the day with my son Sam.....and that brings me joy!   

He's such a sweetheart and super thoughtful and creative and came bearing gifts.  He bought a birthday card....but made it into a box.  How clever is that! He knows me well.

And inside that box was another box with an interesting little fidget toy. It has something to play with on all six sides like a spinner, a switch and buttons to push.  It's tiny and totally awesome. Thanks Sam!

                          

The Quilt Series

My ever evolving quilt series has been sitting out on the dining room table for a while now and I'm getting increasingly OK with it. It has the effect I wanted of working through the color spectrum and the cohesive elements help make it work as a whole. The only two not glued down are the red one...and the star...I'm still mulling those over.

The design of my first green/orange just didn't seem quite right...so like I mentioned a few days ago I started over. I started with the basic formula....a polka dot, my favorite batik, and three Kaffe stripes.

I wanted the green polka dot at the top, the striped fabrics separated by solids...and I wanted an uneven horizon line. 

I decided I had to slice up the green and add it to the top of each bottom piece to get the uneven horizon line.  

I was a little worried how the polka dot would look chopped up and sewed back together....but in the end I liked the piecey effect.

This is where I ended up. As always there are a few things I would have done differently....but I'm going with it. 

Conversation

"Sometimes the greatest adventure is simply a conversation."  Amadeus Wolfe     Thanks for the great conversation Joyce!

Today, with the sunshine, all these little gems are wide open.

"Finish"

"Whatever it takes to finish things, finish. You will learn more from a glorious failure than you ever will from something you never finished."  Neil Gaiman

It was a rainy day today....and all of a sudden the tiny little daffodils at my back door popped open.  I love these little guys....and I actually also love a rainy day.

The purple quilts have been almost done for a while but now they're actually finished.  I touched up the black on the canvases....gave them a good pressing and carefully glued them down. Now they just need names.

I think I've mentioned I've been rethinking a few of the first quilts I've done for this series. Inspired by both purple quilts I started a new orange/green one yesterday and I think I'm going to like it better. These are just the pieces and parts...I'll have a finished product to share soon.

Picture Perfect

It was a picture perfect spring day....and colorful and joyful from start to finish.  Anita and I came across another carpet of blue scilla on our morning walk...

...I had a delightful outing and lunch with good friends....

...and there was a beautiful bouquet from Emily my God daughter, and a fun box from my sister Marilyn waiting on the front stoop for my birthday.

How lucky am I!!!





I made these nesting boxes for Marilyn years ago and she re-gifted them back to me full of goodies.

Most the boxes are made out of recycled calendars....and a few have greeting cards cutouts on the top. I may follow Marilyn's lead....and regift them to someone else for their birthday full of goodies.  

Paul headed out of town early this morning...but thanks to friends and family for the texts, calls, cards, e-mails, FB greetings, and outings it was a picture perfect 59th birthday! 70 degrees didn't hurt either!

Spring Blue

I love the carpets of blue scilla in the spring!

  

Something New

I'll admit that I've had many moments of "what was I thinking" about this upcoming show. I'm second guessing myself all the time. It's the home stretch now and I should be working on my finishings....but instead why not make something totally new!  I had a pile of fused rainbow batiks and a repurposed long skinny frame and decided to put the two together to make a colorful mirror.

I had success fusing fabric onto wood for my Folt Bolt collages....so why not fuse fabric onto a frame.  So first thing this morning I cut some strips, gave the frame a light sanding and started fusing. I just wrapped and ironed....it worked well.



Oops....the dark burgundy pattern in the frame was showing through the yellow fabric....so I paused and gave the rest of it a couple coats of gesso primer. I should have done that to start with.

 

I laid each strip across the frame and ironed it on both sides before I clipped the middle.  This kept the sides symmetrical. I wrapped the fabric around to the inside and the back and used the tip of my iron to get into the crevices.

The frame is about 16 x 6 and the opening is about 3 x 12.  I think it's going to be called "the whole box of crayons." I'll stop in my favorite frame store this week and have a piece of mirror cut.

Something new...and I think it's kind of fun. The only thing I would have done differently is not have the lines so straight.  More curvy cuts would have been more interesting. Maybe there will be another one?

Blue Moon

"I'm pretty sure I seized the wrong day."

This made me laugh out loud....unfortunately it seems to describe too many of my days recently.  I saw it on Pinterst and it originates here on a greeting card.

This is another 5 x 5 one and is a little more summery....I'm going to call it "once in a blue moon." I used gold metallic ribbon for the horizon line to pick up on the gold dots in the sky. 

Many Moons

How many moons does it take to get it right?  Four.

One of the projects I worked on while I was away was this appliquéd snow scene. And this morning after four tries I finally got the moon right and stitched on the last tree.

I know it's spring....but it was snowing yesterday morning so this seems particularly appropriate this year.

To make the moon(s) I layered a piece of lightweight fusible batting onto a circle of cloth cut a bit larger.  I inserted a piece of card stock for stability, basted around the edge, and gathered it up tightly and gave it a good pressing. At that point I could take the paper out.

I didn't like the first one because the fabric and the batting were too thin and you could see through it. I tried a a couple of fixes that didn't work.  Unfortunately I didn't audition the size adequately and I made it a second time with an extra layer but decided it was too big. The third one ended up bumpy and I could see the ridges of the gathered fabric...so that didn't work either. Nevertheless I persevered.  

The fourth one was just right....this time I left the card stock in which gave it a nice crisp, opaque look.  Since it was going in a frame I didn't think it mattered and it was still easy to appliqué.  Phew! Fourth time's a charm!

This looks like the minis I've been working on (I'm making more of those too) but it is bigger....the opening of this one is 5 x 5 and the fame is 8 x 8.  

Details

"Reach as high as you can, and then reach a little higher. There you will find magic and possibility. And maybe even cookies." Mare Johns

Where does the time go?  Today just flew by....and I can't believe April is rounding the corner.  Along with catching up on laundry and house chores from being away I'm tending to some of the finishing details on my little quilts. 

I found this funky button at a craft store up the coast and it's just right little detail for this purple quilt.

Details details....lots of little details to tend to.

Colorful Projects

My friends worked on colorful projects during our get-a-way...here's a little peak at some of them.

A year ago I wrote about an amazing applique quilt Jane was working on.  I gave her some ombre fabric for the birds and it was fun to see them all done sitting on the colorful branches. She spent some time this weekend working on a flying geese border for this quilt and it's going to be fun to see it when it's all done.

Patsy worked on a mind boggling cross stitch she's had going for a while. The stitches are so tiny it looks like a painting. The textures and depth are amazing!

Janice worked on this beautiful shawl....and one evening made this work of art. Yum!                                                                                                  

Alicia worked on her Hollywood glam cathedral window quilt. The finished piece will make a black and white pattern with pops of pinks. 

I'm so inspired by my talented friends.

R and R

My down east get-a-way was just delightful! The opportunity to spend time in such a beautiful place with a great group of women who make me laugh and nourish my soul is a true gift.

I'm especially fond of Patsy's wood shed. It was a bit blustery and cold so the wood stove was cranking and we were cozy and content all tucked in for a few days of rest and relaxation.