Experimentation

Many moons ago, I bought some fabric, cut it up and then never used it.  Last night, I dug through it to see if I could use any of it to experiment with. 

True Blue

I made 6 more blocks today; every seam had to be ripped out at least once, it seemed.

The six I made today

The entire cache of blocks

When I cut a fat quarter of neutrals, I can make six blocks; right now the dark vine neutral is dominating, but hopefully as I piece more blocks it will recede into the variety and not stand out so much. 

Trying Out Diamonds and organizing containers.

Thursday, again no school.  Spent the time cleaning snow and trying to line up diamonds.  With scraps from my stash, I tried out diamonds with sashing and diamonds without sashing.  Too much guesswork in lining them up.  Wish there was an easier way.  Though it might help to actually read/watch a tutorial on how to sew them. :)

It only took ten attempts of pinning and ripping to get these lined up.

These never made it lined up; I gave up. 

Friday, I decided my quilting room needed a make-over.  I have too many projects as WIP, due to several considerations, not the least my own attention span, and they were getting jumbled.  So I went to Target and bought lots of containers.   

My favorite of which are the large clip box, because they are big enough to hold finished blocks and long enough to hold strips of yardage waiting to be cut.

These stackable friends are good for the pieces in process, from sewing machine to cutting board to ironing board, thought not in that order.

And here is my true blue quilt taking up a hundred containers: 18 blocks down, 22 to go.

I love containers, they keep the pieces straight: hourglass on the left, HST on the right. 

Now, about the floor...

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. - Mae West

Plan C, on a snow day.

Snow, wintry mix, rain, and a storm that arrived 12 hours earlier than expected caused school to be closed again.  So we ensconsed ourselves in the basement, listening to Netflix and sewing up a storm. And of course, in a room that is hugely rectangular, with lots of perches and other places to catnap, I turn around to discover that my quilt is the only place Koshka wants to chill.  

Not in love with this quilt, but its coming along, and I'm interested to see what it looks like when its all together. 

Postage Stamp, 2/3? done

 

Not to be outdone, Koshka poses with the fabric stash

Chick-Chick Poses with the first row of a quilt.

Planning

Saw some fabric I liked.  Bought it.  It's not my usual style -- but the poppies appealed to me.

Then didn't know what to do with it; the picture online belied the size of the poppies:

It seems a shame to cut up the poppies.  So the quandry became to find a pattern or design that would perserve the poppies ... I pulled out my colored pencils and sketched this:  

  

Ignore fact I can't count in the top center squares... they should be 2 x 5 instead of 2 x 6. 

Here's the initial coordinating fabrics.  I'm not sure about them all, but I'll let it stew.  Then I have to do math again.  But not today.  That's another day.  



Kitchen

My house is small.  My kitchen is small.  I have one drawer.  My kitchen is so small, my silverware lives in the pantry.  Guests never find it. 

But having recently married and recently been the recipient of registry gifts, my kitchen might seem even smaller. And having heard inquiries into how it all fits, I thought I would show photographic evidence:

Each type of bowl is used for a specific purpose: if I ever lose my white metal bowl with the blue rim, I won't be able to scramble eggs again.  If the blue bowls front and center were shattered, oatmeal would no longer be consumed.  

The other week,  I was re-watching the old Julia Roberts' movie Sleeping with the Enemy and I realized I was the enemy.   This picture made me turn the spice front and center.  Hm.  Why this behavior doesn't extend elsewhere (like my closet or my desk) is a mystery.

This, also, makes me think I'm the enemy.  Tomatoes only on the bottom shelf and black beans and corn on the top. 

Remember bowls have a specific purpose: the green bowl is only for eating pistachios.  And welcome to my seasonal collection of mugs: Hidden in the back. a black cat for fall, the peppermint strip for winter, the dragonflies for spring, and the lawn chair for the summer.  

My coveted Le Creseut dutch oven, my pan collection and mixing bowl.  Baking materials are carefully stacked to the side.  

I'm making pork chops with apples and onions in this picture.  Yummy. 

I wonder what I'll make tonight. 

The Beginning of Plan C

Woke up this morning at 7:02 and lept into the shower only to be told it was a snow (ice) day and no school.  Which meant another day to quilt. 

I didn't finish piecing the Imagine quilt...
I decided to cut and piece two blocks for my True Blue Quilt (11 down, 89 to go).  No pictures, sorry.

Then I stared at my fresh palette fabric, and stacks of reassembled rows that still need to be pieced and went with the math for figuring out how to cut the fabric with layer cake directions and yardage instead.  

My fourth graders would be proud of my long-division skills. 

I made 21 four-square blocks and 16 flying geese.  

My mother would be proud of my pressing.  

Imagine

So I finished making the 64 blocks for the Imagine quilt from my Schnibbel book. 

With MLK day, I had time to spend piecing the rows together...  Here are two rows pieced together. 

Then, there were four:

Good thing I had taken this picture mid-way through.  The cats decided to help re-arrange the pieces when I decided to take a break:

Just for fun, because, as the quilt comes together, I'm on pins and needles hoping it comes out right.  (For example, the green I doubted during piecing looks better than I thought.)