I wanted low-volume but it was TOO low-volume and the colorful mix of the crumbs got lost.
I tried a third time, and here's how ...
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As my friend Steffi and I left the country club [see below] two sandhill cranes strode over the hill and across the sidewalk. They are making their way north to Wisconsin. They were intent on one another and I was able to get within ten feet to snap the photos.
GFWC-IL District 10 (General Federation of Women's Clubs-Illinois) held its annual Art Show luncheon on Wednesday. The country club dining room was spacious and the tables were far apart. Each table was set for six people (though the tables would ordinarily accommodate eight) so we were spaced. It was ...
read moreI was going to make simple slab borders for the elephant-block placemats.
I didn't like the "fenced-in" effect.
If I took the fence out the elephants would be swimming in a pool of neutrals.
What to do, what to do?
I have quilted the elephants and the neutral backgrounds on all four. I hope to finish quilting the borders today.
(And now I have 16 ...
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The batik variable stars are now a flimsy. I made 36 blocks and used 32 of them. It may not look like it, but there is a color arrangement -- warm backgrounds in the center and cooler backgrounds around the perimeter. (The four blocks I did not use were ...
read moreThank you for your guesses / votes about the rainbow geese layout. Here is a sneak peek. Come back Monday morning to see the final arrangement.
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It's Purim (last evening through this evening). My hamantaschen get more triangular with each batch. I have a tendency to put too much filling on each round so they lose their shape. I used the recipe on the Solo label--essentially a short, not-very-sweet cookie (2 sticks of butter and 3/4 c sugar).
Here it is! The quilt I've coyly called "Code Name Welcome Home" has been sent to and received by my friends B and K. Its real name is Labyrinth Walk.
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| Labyrinth Walk, 84 x 84 |
The backstory: B does not sew. Not buttons, not hems, and certainly not quilts. Five years ago a picture of the Labyrinth Walk quilt popped onto her Facebook feed and she was teased about "her" quilt. It went viral--she says 40,000+ reposts--even though she clearly stated that she DID NOT MAKE the quilt. Last fall B and her husband suffered from a house ...
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I used batiks for "Toward the Morning," the mini I sent to Kathy.
This was the first time I've made a flange binding.
The triangles-in-formation design is from a stenciled frieze at Crab Tree Farm which I toured in July, 2019 .
The colorway was inspired ...
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Not only better, but also bigger. Note that I made a new block to replace the upper left checkerboard so it's more balanced, as well.
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When I posted the photo of 50 red/white Ohio Stars earlier this week I warned you that I was thinking about settings.
Here's the result! The sashing is not a repro but it was the right tone. Deb Tucker's Square Squared ruler made easy work of the cornerstones. (I tried the Square-in-a-Square ruler, and even went to a class for it, but it was awkward to use. I like Deb's ruler better.)
I have 20 white-corner Ohio Stars ready for the next project.
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[The binding is dark blue. The cream-colored design wall looks like another border, but it's not.]
The designer used 5" squares for 4.5" blocks. I used 4.5" squares (and 2.5" strips for the four-patches). It's 55 x 61.
I intended to make the quilt with fabric from the guild giveaway last month but I couldn't achieve the color balance ...
read moreI'm not big on seasonal decor -- a pumpkin and mums on the front stoop in October and nutcrackers on the mantel at Christmas are about the extent of it. But I do have "summer" and "winter" dishes. This week I swapped the Summer Chintz for Fair Winds.
My husband gave me a generous check for my birthday. That was in June. My purchases have arrived!
The Tracey's cutting table was delivered last evening. It replaces the table I bought in 1995. That table's gate legs gave out about four years ago. I propped it on two bookcases. (Tracey's also made my sewing machine table. I purchased both through Sew & Save in Racine.)
The new cutting table is bigger (40 x 72 vs. 35 x 58) and has drawers and a storage shelf in the middle. The bookcases still fit nicely under the table, though ...
read moreI sold two quilts to VH, our wonderful housecleaner, and said I'd take payment in trade. On Wednesday she and I spent five hours in my studio cleaning and dusting from the light fixtures to the baseboards. She straightened all the stacks of fabric on the shelves.
I took photos that evening. Two days later I haven't messed it up very much, but I don't predict that will last very long.
(I bought the house because the finished basement family room was ideal for my studio. The previous owner had a model train setup under the track ...
read moreAugust has melted away! (So did June and July, for that matter.) I am pleased to report that I completed the three wall hangings that comprised my August One Monthly Goal.
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I made these two for the immediate past co-presidents of the Zion Woman's Club. (I'm the new president.) The club will not resume in-person meetings until February (and that will all depend on the pandemic and guidelines that we don't know yet) so I don't know when these will be presented -- but I'm ready!
The third wall hanging is for the Teal ...
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It's a flimsy! 5-3/4 yards.
The blue wedges are two different 30's prints. I didn't have enough of either for the borders but, hooray, I had a newer Aunt Grace repro (an estate sale purchase, as I recall) that worked just fine.
The week's been busy. Outpatient elective surgery for my husband on Wednesday required us to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. and thus up and at 'em earlier than that. (The procedure was successful and we were home by 10 a.m.) We watched the Democratic National Convention which ended at ...
read moreOn Wednesday I wrote that I was in no rush to make the string spiderweb blocks. I'm using Bonnie Hunter's paper-pieced method (more info here: String Spiderweb). Her instructions are from 2005. Yikes!
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I pulled a blue print from the 30's stash and got enough wedges for 14 blocks. I finished them and still had a pile of 1-1/2" strips (and lots more uncut). I found the same print but in a slightly different blue and put that aside. A third print is a different pattern but a similar blue to the first and there ...
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