Last Monday in February

Click to embiggen images

I have been clearing up the scraps and putting things away this last week more than sewing. Among the things discovered were these five completed blocks from a pattern by Canadian designer Margot Languedoc called Cotton Garden.

I love love love the look!

I thought about throwing them into the strippy, briefly, and if I change my mind or get distracted again, well, that is always an option.

The project as designed requires 30 x 8" blocks set with sashing and when I started it I thought it was ideal to showcase the delicious 10" Tonga Treat pre-cuts in Pomegranate I have been hoarding.

Not a difficult block to make and I don't recall how I got distracted. Anyway goals for this week:

• make another five Cotton Garden blocks
• make border, piece the backing and make the bias binding for Domiciles

Check out lots of other Design Wall Monday blog posts at Patchwork Times

Y'all come back!

Waiting for the Storm

We had a storm warning, it was not been as bad as initially forecast, so far. We had about 4" of snow last night and more is expected. The sound of the wind howling, keening, singing and sighing through the grain elevators about 1/2 block from my house is one I will forever associate with my stay in South Dakota. My home in Hawaii is in a very windy area so I am used to wind noises, (not that there is any comparison in temperatures of course) but I do like the extra, slightly eerie dimension the elevators contribute.

I can't help thinking about the homesteading pioneers in South Dakota. No tee-vee machine, interwebz or radio, living in a shack built out of sod if they were lucky or an uninsulated wooden shack if they were not. What a hard life they had and how comparatively easy we have things today. How lonely those bitter winters must have been. They were a hardy breed as were their children, the generation that is almost gone now.

The other day I read a blog post written in May of 2010 about

"... quilting blogs where we don’t just show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision."

This struck a chord with me and reading further I saw that over 850 quilt bloggers had signed up and linked to it. I was quite surprised because I do not recall ever seeing that particular button on any of the many blogs I visit. On the other hand it is quite old so maybe it was a passing fad, but it made a lot of sense.



This brings me to the batik windmill blocks I had made. I saw the project as a wall-hanging or very small lap quilt in an old magazine of Lori's and it caught my fancy as such things are wont to do. After making three of them I knew I didn't want to do another 27 for an entire quilt.

They are an odd size, about 13" because I put narrow sashing and a cornerstone in the middle. I did that because I just did not like the way the block looked with the fairly ugly and very mismatched "bought in a moment of madness bargain bundle of batiks" I decided to use. What to do? Waste not want not and all that. This is a moment of indecision if there ever was one...

I have some thoughts, mainly in the direction of a row or horizontal strippy quilt. This might (partially) solve my butterfly moments problem. What do you think? If I do go that route, what should I choose for my next row?

Y'all come back!

Design Wall Monday

Very little on my design wall this Monday and this is a good thing! It means I am getting stuff done. Top left are four blocks for, one day, a scrappy blues Ocean wave quilt. They just sit there from week to week because I like looking at them.

Top right, I have added quite a few 2-1/2" triangles to my ongoing 'leaders & enders' Thousands of Triangles quilt. All the triangles are bonus triangles from various projects; most recently the little red houses blocks. I join them into sets of sixteen to make an eight inch block. If I live long enough one day I will have a bed size quilt.

Bottom left are two batik windmill blocks. This is my present to myself for being a good girl and completing two UFOs, I get to create another one, but only 4 blocks, then it is back to turning UFPs into happy dances! Woo-hoo!

Mt Domiciles top is pieced, all that remains to do is make a narrow border, piece the backing and make the bias binding.

Check out lots of other Design Wall Monday blog posts at Patchwork Times

Y'all come back!

Silently Falling

This morning it is curiously warm, probably because there isn't a breath of wind.

The white spots in the picture are enormous snowflakes, falling straight down.

I was amused by Boysie snapping at snowflakes landing on his back as if they were flies. Little things please little minds! Since the snow was literally hock deep for him at a little over 6" on my measuring stick, he didn't waste a lot of time before asking to go back inside. That dog hates wet feet.

My plans for today are simple:

• finish sewing rows together on my Domiciles quilt,
• find a border & binding fabric,
• make a narrow border & bias binding,
• catch up on some friends blogs, and,
• finish reading (re-reading) The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye while curled up in my chair, drinking tea.

Y'all come back!

Red and White

In October 2011 I saw a simple red and white quilt on my friend Jay's blog, Midwest Quilts. I don't know why it caught my imagination. All I can tell you is that I went and dug out all my ancient red scraps mostly from a 1999 Fat Quarter Bingo win and made my own version of it. With all the ancient and ugly red scraps used I was able to buy lots of lovely new reds with a clear conscience.

Click any image to embiggen (I hope)

I dug out some backing fabric, made some bias binding and sent it off to Lori to quilt.

Lori didn't like the backing and she hated the binding so it sat, unloved, on a shelf.

When I came back to South Dakota last year I brought some chicken fabric with me. I bought it in 1996 from JoAnns, mainly because of its name. Who could resist "Tossed Chickens"?. Those were the days when they had nice fabric, before they got so cheap in quality and expensive in price.

The chicken fabric met with Lori's approval. Phew!

The finished quilt measures approximately 60" x 72". It was quilted and bound by Lori. The large Hibiscus pantograph is by Diff'rent Strokes, and as you can see, the quilt is undergoing the nap test.

Done is a feel good moment and this is Number Two for 2013.

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My Little Helper & Friends

Bella is very attached, and needy. She was very ill when I found her but physically fine now. She positions herself strategically between both computers. She seems to like the fact that my mouse hand is constantly touching her.

Dottie is much more independent. Her main concern is that the food bowl is kept full. She is much older than the other two who are still kittens.

Boysie is a Jack Russell Terrier, also a rescuee, we adopted him and a cat when his previous owner had an ultimatum from her employer/landlord... He will be three years old May 1st. Sandy is exploring the vacuum cleaner box and Boysie would dearly like to get in there too but he is just too big, or the box is too small, or something. Bummer.

Bella and Dottie share a deep appreciation of quilts, especially when they are on a bed. This is a scientific nap test.

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Monday Design Wall

Having cleared all the works in not very much progress off my design wall, this is the current project to be finished before I even look at anything else! It is my Domiciles house quilt, pattern by Aardvark Quilts, available here with free S & H.

This pattern is not the tiny paper pieced houses that had such a following last year. These blocks are 6" finished, quite small enough, thank you

I am having difficulty keeping blocks up on the design wall.

Kitty Bella has developed a passion for the yellow glass head pins I use. As fast as I put blocks up she takes them down and runs off with the pins.

I had six rows arranged before she fixed it! Grrrr!

See lots more design walls at Patchwork Times.
Y'all come back!