What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

That's Clyde's opinion. The weather this week has been way too hot and sticky, and the poor guy is still missing his friend.  Truthfully, the weather makes me feel a bit sluggish, like Clyde in this photo.

I was getting that usual creepy feeling that arises when I try to keep track of too many pressing tasks in my head. So I made a little list yesterday, and crossed off one task yesterday. This evening I got the one freelance task on that list well underway--just needs proofreading and a consistency check in the morning before sending to client. Let's see how the rest of my week unfolds....

Here is where I am with the big rosette. Finished the next ring. Tomorrow morning I can print the rest of what I need to finish this biggie ...

Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post.  So many people said lovely things about my quilts over the weekend.  I'm all enthused to start something new now, but I'm also enthused to finish some of my WIPs - which is a very good thing.

The final quilt I won an award for at the Capital Quilters exhibition was la passacaglia.  I won the "Best Hand Pieced" award and was thrilled about that. 

This picture shows the new approach I am using to piecing the star bands on La Passacaglia.
See the disconnected sections on the lower right.

Life has returned somewhat to a new equilibrium.  Little Bonnie Cat is stable on two meds, which she will probably need permanently. She has a tiny bit of a wheeze still, but is more herself and not withdrawn anymore. We are grateful, and don't take her for granted, enjoying when she seeks us out for some attention.

I have made progress on several fronts.

Writing project well underway. Small compensation but it's a bit of process design, which was one part of my job that I enjoyed, and it's on a long deadline and totally done at ...

So much to do, but I am starting to catch up before the next wave hits. Got a small writing gig to tend to as well. I don't want to let go of all my clients and it's still easy money if I can make the deadlines work.

I finished a rosette on Sunday, it's about my favorite hot beverage:

A bit of a sewing slowdown due to life's other commitments. But I managed to get this far on my latest rosette this week.

Some colors are very energizing. I'm on a high right now between Ringo Lake and La Passacaglia.  No additional progress on Ringo because I was at my bee today, stitching away, laughing and having fun with my quilting pals.  I finished the current ring of my second big rosette and just auditioned it next to what I have done. I am excited, and hope to knock out the outer star band in short order. I decided at the bee that I needed to replace one shape in that ring that wasn't working for me, but I just found ...

But some of us just turn up the heat and sew more quilts.

Have had a relatively productive couple of days.  Finished clue 5, pulled out an old UFO to work on for a while, and started to scrapwrangle the left over strips and triangles from Ringo Lake.

Cut some 1.5" squares to use as leaders and enders. These will always work up into little four patches and nine patches that can be used in a variety of ways. The triangle shapes can be used in the wild and goosey blocks. There is a small pile of slivers now ...

After enjoying a quiet Christmas, I was able to get Clue 5 done. I hope we can start some assembly soon, as my little stacking box set is getting maxxed out and I will have to engage alternate clue storage soon.

The brown and neutral combo seems a little ho-hum, but I am sure it will play its role well against the other brighter colors we have been working with.

Or the bin, actually.  These came together so well for me that I only had to trim a few of them where the points flew out to the side a bit too far.

Here’s what I’ve been up to for the holiday weekend. Not pictured is my very anemic start to Bonnie Hunter’s On Ringo Lake Mystery Quilt. Hopefully there will be something to look at from that soon. First up, this is … Continue reading →

I finished the wall hanging for the church auction. I am happy with the way it turned out and hope it does well at the auction. I am fairly certain that I am not a big fan of fusible appliqué, … Continue reading →

On Friday I went to the Auckland Festival of Quilts with my mum, Joy, and my friend from Wellington, Anne.  We had a good time and were very impressed with all the beautiful quilts on display.

Here are some of my favourites:

Firstly my mum, standing next to her la passacaglia.  It was entered as "Exhibition Only" because it was finished in 2016, so not eligible for prizes.  Mum couldn't enter it last year because it was away in Houston as part of the Quiltmania la passacaglia exhibition. Lots of people said it looked lovely, so that was very ...

I really hate the star ring. It worries me that I might lose interest in finishing because of those stars...

But here's what I finished today. I think the scale on the big peppers is too large, but I'll live with it.

Yay, finished the big rosette.

Made the last starfleet shapes, assembled them with the joining diamonds and banged them in.

Almost got that big rosette meshed in. The design is sort of like gears meshing, isn't it?
But my eyes are saying NO MORE for today. Made a few mistakes, and realized I was missing one diamond in the star ring of one of the smaller rosettes. Pawed through lots of stash til I found the fabric. It was stressful.

I layed in a joining strip so I can attach my large rosette to the others. I think I will put the rest of the rosettes around this one in a one at a time fashion, because this has been a test of my skills.

True Confession: I had to rip out some stuff because I lost track of what was already attached to the large rosette. I just have a little bit of filler left to do near those large green pentagons before I sew on the biggie.This picture gives a rough idea of what it will look ...

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here – at least in the sewing room. And on the couch while watching football games. Want to see some pictures? First, the second Rosette 2 of La Passacaglia is done and pressed. The center started out with cool colors and then it heated up on …

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