Welcome November.
Fall is finally fully here! After such dry months, it's not our prettiest
but I'm always so happy to see it, no matter the circumstances.
The above pic was taken just days ago but everything has changed
very quickly already. The days have been dark and drizzly.
Perfect quilting weather but not great for our build situation.
Oy.
Without a real home (with actual trees!), my favorite place to enjoy
fall right now is on the golf course. (Even if I'm currently in the worst
slump since I've started playing...but let's not be negative, eh?)
Halloween is behind us so I'm now in what I've dubbed my
"instrumental-only Christmas music" phase.
(The serious stuff comes after Thanksgiving.)
Christmas also made a light appearance in my latest quilt top.
My next one is not season-specific though it does have some
fall tones to get me that seasonal fix. But hey, I'm getting
ahead of myself. Grab yo'self a cuppa and let's begin:
The progress...
After crawling around painfully on our [temp] lousy hard floor to
finally finish an entire top last week, I said I'd not be finishing any
more tops until I'm in my new studio. Er, I may have lied about that.
Actually, maybe it's more like I misspoke.
I flew through these blocks in mere hours and tried laying it out
on a bed instead of the floor. Not ideal, but it got the job done.
Sorry about the lousy rental-house lighting--especially on
those low-volume candies--but here it is. I'm sure quilting it
up with swirly snowflakes is just what it needs to make it pop.
There was still the matter of the HST border and I really didn't want
to leave those for another day so yeah, I finished the whole top.
I'm not real thrilled about the effect of the low-vol fabrics in the
zigzag of the border but, it's done. So be it.
I guess my pics are less than enticing but if you're looking for a
last-minute gift to make (yes, I know it's early yet but we know
how we are!), here's one you can knock out in a day or two.
Next up...
Mini Missouri Star Quilt (BLOCK Vol 8, Is 5)
I started another project from BLOCK mag. I was leaning toward
a quilt by Lisa Bongean but seeing the bajillion flying geese in it
I went with what I thought was the simpler project. Tsk.
a quilt by Lisa Bongean but seeing the bajillion flying geese in it
I went with what I thought was the simpler project. Tsk.
Add in that I chose to use my Kim Diehl "Every Heart Beats True"
layer cake. Five points for pulling from the shelf but a big, fat
minus two for having to work with color combos I'm not comfy with.
And for this quilt, you have to do a lot of combining. Above are all of
my pieced star centers paired up with star leg fabrics on a 6 ft table.
Do I have room in my wee temporary studio for a 6 ft table?
Not at all. Desperate times, desperate measures.
Speaking of measuring, the inner squares didn't exactly result in a
4.5" square so I'll have to content myself with some imperfect points.
Minus two
I made a note on the pattern to use starch next time. In my opinion,
one should always use starch when dealing with triangles (bias).
Do I follow my own advice? I'm prob 50/50 but it's all about
having time, and having space to both spray and dry it.
And for another subtraction, these blocks are not exactly quick,
especially when you consider how I'm putting some decent effort
into lining up those points as best as I can. Minus one.
I'm not anywhere near done yet but I'm sure you've noticed this
quilt isn't scoring well. For now, I'm just saying that if this one
strikes your fancy, proceed with caution.
In the next 2 weeks, I'll be busy with the house, accompanying
hubs on a biz trip and trying to finish these 56 blocks so I think
skipping another week's post is in order. There are 46 days until
the big move; I'm not yet sure at what point to stop sewing and
start packing [again!] but for now, I'll sew whenever I can!
One last thing...
I guess I can't leave off without a sneak peek at the house:
This is to do justice in a pic but this is the butler's pantry--basically
a complete kitchen: sink, dishwasher, oven, microwave, wine fridge
and, drum roll, a huge fridge/freezer combo similar to restaurant size.
On the left at the far end--can't see in pic--I'm having grow-lights
installed for my herbs over the winter. I can't cook without them!
The main kitchen will have another oven with cooktop, sink,
dishwasher and a regular fridge. For a family of real foodies,
these two rooms will be heaven for holidays and entertaining!
I'd love to share pics of the kitchen but it's a bit too early.
So much will be happening over the next few weeks!
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