Tilde's Quilts

The true meaning of Cinderella

2012-01-28T09:46:00.000+01:00

The other day, I had set aside an afternoon with one purpose, and one purpose only : To get the binding for the big Passacaglia-quilt cut, and machined on.
And this is where the true meaning of Cinderella comes into play.
We all know that she went to the ball, met her prince, and lived happily ever after.
What we rarely consider is, that most of her time, until that moment, was spent cleaning, clearing and generally working her way through the daily house-keeping chores.
SO, before I could even begin to start on doing the 'real' task of the afternoon, I had to find my inner Cinderella, and do the chores.
Here are some 'before' and 'after pictures.

The ironing-board

Before

After

The cutting-table

Before

After

The table around my sewing-machine

Before

and Before

After

The Waste-basket

Before

After

The chair
... yes ... only one picture on this one. I didn't have it in me to disturb a sleeping kitty :-)

And then, just because I was at it anyway. The yarn-stash (with assorted tributaries):

Before

After.
Still stuffed to overflowing, but at least I can now see what is there!

(and yes, I'll show you picture/s of the completely finished Passacaglia. Eventually. Once the binding has been hand-sewn down. Until then, it looks more-or-less like it has done in previous pictures of the thing).

Sunflower # 22

2012-01-25T19:30:00.000+01:00

Another attempt at a fussy-printed centre.
It looks good enough. The wonkyness of the centre is due to the fabric (the flowers on this batik are not as symmetrical as they seem at first glance), not the method.

Harry Potter Shawl

2012-01-21T19:00:00.000+01:00

As you, who read this blog know, I am currently doing a lot of knitting.
This is my most recent knitty project. A shawl for my DD. It is Harry Potter, done in Illusion-knitting, in as much as when you see it straight on, it is just red and yellow stripes.
However, magic happens, when you start looking at it sideways.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :

Neat, isn't it?
I'll keep you updated as I progress further :-)

A Finished Quilt !!!

2012-01-18T19:30:00.005+01:00

Yes, dear Reader, I am proud to tell you, that I have FInally finished my TeaRoses.

Quilted by Sue Baddley of Summit Creek Quilts.
And as of a two days ago, it now also has a binding :-)

AND as of today, there's even pictures :-)

Front of the quilt

And the pieced backing, using remains of the collection I used for the flowers

A corner-view

Sort-of close-up of the quilting. I chose an all-over, because I don't like my quilts too stiff. A good custom-job would probably be extremely beautiful, but also make the quilt really stiff and unyieldy. I like it as it is.

January Leaves

2012-01-14T19:00:00.007+01:00

I'm procrastinating on my quilty projects.
Big time.
And this means, I'm knitting.
Big time.

The 'I miss Evenstar' knit (in the remains of the yarn used for said Evenstar shawl), turned out to be a really fast and easy knit. I know it looks very filigree-like and thus also hard-to-make, but it went surprisingly easy ... and fast.
The pattern is called "Frozen Leaves" by Anusla, and is a free pattern over at Ravelry.

Sunflowers on the Design Wall

2012-01-11T19:00:00.001+01:00

SO, I am stalling at 21 Sunflowers. Yes, yes, yes, I know there are only 19 in the picture, but that's because the two not in the picture are not on the design-wall right now :-)
And, as you can see, the Sunflowers are separated into two different groups.

The differences between the groups isn't as clear on the pictures as they are in real life, so you'll have to take my word for it, that the (so-far) smaller group is very ... clear cut, compared to the (so-far) larger group.
It isn't that one group is beautiful and the other is not, it is just that ... one (the larger) is much more ... fuzzy in the lines.

What I'm thinking right now is, that I'm looking at two small/ish quilts, both with 12 blocks. The ... clear-cut one to be made with a white/neutral background, the more fuzzy-around-the-edges one with the many-coloured green I bought for background for the Sunflowers.

After Evenstar

2012-01-07T19:30:00.004+01:00

After the Evenstar shawl, I miss knitting, so ... another project has been cast on, and started, using the remnants of the gorgeous (but slippery) silk-yarn used for Evenstar.
Now, I know this picture doesn't look like much, but it will be a beautiful, small, shawl once it is finished. The pattern is Frozen Leaves by Anusla. I found it on Ravelry, but the directions are free! And don't be put off by the fact that she writes in Russian. If you can read a lace-chart, that is all you need to do.
I would recommend, however, that you go to Ravelry and download the free, emended charts made by love2stitch found there.

Hit and miss

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000+01:00

Well. Sometimes I learn old things. Things I knew (if I stopped to think), things that I should have considered. With this block, the lesson that has been taught (again) is : when using small-ish bits to make a block, don't use fabrics with a large-ish pattern ... at least not if you want the bits to 'read' right.
I like the Sunflower proper here. I do not like the outermost triangles. They don't really work with the rest. After seeing it finished and on the design-wall, I actually considered frog-stitching the outermost row of triangles and setting something else in there, BUT, they stay. I don't mind that my quilts are not picture perfect, and that stupid choices and teaching-blocks are visible.
And let me tell you, it looks a lot less messy on the picture compared to real life.
The magic of photographs ...

Opinionated Opinions

2011-12-28T19:30:00.005+01:00

It is - and has been so far - a very quiet week between Christmas and New Years, which means, that I have time to sit and stitch ... and to think.
And I've decided that I will - occasionally - use this blog to state an opinion.
Don't worry, I'll call them 'Opinionated Opinions' (because they are), and you can just ignore'em when you see'em :-D

ANYway: Ever since the debacle back in August, where we who stitch, knit, bake, sew and blog about it were mightily put out, the whole feminist issue has been (occasionally) tumbling around in my little head.
And frankly, I don't get it.
No. Really. I do not get it.
What is it about traditional female pursuits (and the women who pursue them) that makes ... let's call them neo-feminists so angry?

Back in the hoary dark ages of my youth (we're talking the 1970es and 80es here), I remember women taking up the traditional crafts of womanhood, and turning them into feminist weapons, precisely because they were traditional crafts of womanhood.

We knit, certainly, but we knit what we want, not what 'the (male) world' wants us to.
We sew, certainly, but not the clothes 'the (male) world' would like us to.

So, here's the conundrum :
How come it is suspect, self-repressive and downright despicable that I knit, quilt and embroider, whereas a male textile artist like Kaffe Fassett is admirable when he does the same? And don't get me wrong, I think Kaffe Fasset is quite the bee's knees, it just ticks me off mightily, that when he does it, it's laudable, when I do, it's ... despicable and/or ridiculous.

How come, that my attempts at making tasty, well-balanced and cheap meals for myself and my family is a suspect, self-repressive pursuit, whereas the experiments of Rene Redzepi are laudable?

If we're talking feminine self-repression, denying me the right, the joy and the ownership of traditional female pursuits, while lauding the male take-over is anti-feminist in the extreme.

So, please, tell me again : Why are (traditionally) female pursuits not part of feminism any longer? Why is it, that the crafts/wo/manship of the (usually) textile kind is not appreciated? To a degree where it is ridiculed and dismissed?

Anyone?

Evenstar !!!

2011-12-25T19:30:00.000+01:00

Well, I have been busy, haven't I :-)
It isn't blocked, so it looks a tad weird, and all the lovely holey pattern in the border isn't really visible, BUT Evenstar is finished.
So : Happy b'day and a blessed Christmas to you, Martha! I hope you enjoy your shawl once it arrives on Long Island.

Sunflower # 20

2011-12-17T19:00:00.000+01:00

I like this one. Really like it. The blue innermost triangles work well here (me thinks) and the general brightness of the block ... what can I say. Love it :-)

Never underestimate the border: Evenstar shawl - 5

2011-12-14T19:30:00.000+01:00

Never underestimate the border.
Famous (not quite last) words.
Goes for quilting, patchwork, applique, and most definitely for knitting as well.

About one third of the border on the Evenstar shawl is now knitted. It is looking good, and I am looking forward to getting it out of the way, and move on to something else.
Give me another couple of weeks and it will all be done.
... hopefully ...

Blue or Green

2011-12-10T19:30:00.001+01:00

And now it's time to get a wee bit back to the Sunflowers. They are so much easier to tow along than a complicated lace-shawl, or indeed a full quilt which is in the process of being bound :-)
This weeks offering, which is Sunflower # 19, looks like this :

Colours are a strange thing. Consider the centre-fabric on this. When seen on its own, it looks green ... well ... mostly green, with some teal thrown in too. When seeing the circle (without the rest of the Sunflower around it), it still seems mostly green-and-teal.
Here, with the bright 'other colurs', it looks mostly blue.
The influence one colour has on another, never ceases to amaze me.

Evenstar shawl - 4

2011-12-07T19:00:00.000+01:00

Chart 3 is now finished, and 'all' that is left to do is the border.
BUT, to quote Ann from Oz : "Never underestimate the border".
56 repeats of a pattern that runs over 20 rows each, with 16-24 stitches in each row ... that's a lot of stitching still to do. BUT, I am ready to start it now.

... and even if I say so myself, the shawl is looking good. Real good. Good thing I have yarn to make one for myself as well (yes, this one is a gift).

And in case you have been directed to this post via a Google search : I am not doing the beading. I do not do beads in knitting of this size. No way. Adding close to 3000 beads to the yarn before starting the border, or doing Susan Pandorph's trick with a(n extremely thin) crochet-needle ... not gonna happen. But the border will. Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath :-)

The giving of gifts

2011-12-03T19:30:00.001+01:00

I have a DFreind who has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer. She has had the operation (half a lung removed and just about every lymph-node on the same side). Had the biopsies (all looking good).
She has now started the chemo.

Now, chemo is hard on every part of you and there are times where you desperately need the hug, but cannot tolerate the touching or even having people too close. Naturally, a quilt is an obvious thing to give in this situation: it is a long-distance hug that the recipient can take as often as she needs it ... but I don't have time to make her one! And I'm not giving away any of the ones that reside with me right now.

At this point, it is actually very, very good to have a bag of 'white elephants', to wit : One circular shawl, diameter 60" +, pattern from 'A Gathering of Lace' (Feather and Fan shawl, designed by Eugen Beugler), yarn is 'Geisha' from Blue Moon Fiber Arts (currently my favouritest yarn in the world, 70 % mohair, 20 % silk, 10 % nylon, soft as anything and a joy to knit), and all that needed be done was the tying up of the first and last thread and then the washing and blocking of the thing.
I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it, and love the way it looks, but since finishing the knitting, I have had serious doubts as to whether I would ever get around to actually using it, hence the 'almost there' status of the thing.

BUT now the last ends have been tucked in, it has been washed and blocked, and before it is gift-wrapped, I just wanted to show it off. It is not a quilt, but still something she can wrap around her, something which is both soft and warm, and which can hug and hold her when arms and people are too much to have close by.
I hope she uses it to threads.

But why am I blogging about it?
Do I want to brag about how generous I am?
No, not really.
I do want to brag about the beauty of the piece, because I am very well satisfied with how it turned out.
I also want to encourage you, dear reader, to give while you can.
I have - fortunately - not given many gifts like these, but each and every one of them has been given with much love and many good thoughts, and each and every one of them has been used - with equal joy - by the recipient, bringing her or him the knowledge of love and care with every use.

Give while you can.
Don't wait or think you need to have made the gift 'especially for NN', because you don't have to. If you have the time and energy to whip up a quilt in a week, more power to you; I have neither that time nor that energy. I do, however, have 'white elephants' that are both beautiful and well made, and I am not holding on to them in case a 'better recipient' comes along.
With each gift of this kind, I hope it is the last I feel the need to give, but I know that will probably not be the case, so I work happily along, finishing quilts and shawls and afghans, using the best materials and making them as well and as beautifully as I know how.

More on Lace knitting : Evenstar shawl - 3

2011-11-30T19:30:00.000+01:00

The thing about knitting lace is, that you don't really have a clue what it will look like, until you have knitted more than one repeat of the pattern.
The further thing is, that once you have knitted more than one repeat of the pattern, and you realize that you misinterpreted some part of it (the pattern) you need to unpick quite a lot.
The even further thing is, when knitting something where the pattern changes more or less constantly, you get a very beautiful result ... but it can be frustrating.
Exhibit A is the current 'end' of the Evenstar shawl

In a knit-purl sequence, why should I follow the pattern when it says 'knit through back link'? Does it matter at all or is it just a piece of designer idiocy, created to make me loose what little patience I have left with unpicking because I forgot (again)?
The answer is: It matters.
Doing a ribbed (k1, p1) part, with the knit-bits stitched through the back of the stitch means that the knit-stitches stand out more. Since the effect one wants on this particular bit of the pattern is, that of slender columns (think Rivendell in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings triology), you want them emphazised.
And therefore, I unpicked and re-did.
Again.
And no, I don't really mind. I want to do things right, but I am on a constant learning-curve here. Mostly re-learning things I used to know (or should know by now), but disregard ... and pay for in unpicking.

The good thing (yes, there is a good thing) is, that I can now knit this particular segment in my sleep, without loosing any 'knit through back' stitches :-) and I will pay better attention to ... well ... let's not be too unrealistic here ... for at least the next couple of rows :-D

Christmas-decorations

2011-11-26T19:30:00.003+01:00

Well, Advent is just around the corner. Tomorrow, actually, so today we start unearthing the first of the Christmas-decorations.
... and I've been making a new one.

I have (sadly) not bookmarked the page where I found this pattern so I cannot give credit where credit is due. If you know from whence they originate, please tell me, and I'll refer to the site. It was a blog (I think), and the idea is too cute for words. SO, I knitted up a pair of tiny mittens, they are finished now (didn't take long), and are ready to go on the tree once we get one up :-)

Love'em.

And now to something completely different

2011-11-23T19:30:00.003+01:00

OK. I'm taking a wee break from the Sunflowers (and so, dear reader, are you), because ...

TA-DAH ! I have quilts.

TeaRoses and Passacaglia are back from the long-armer, and are looking great :-)
Which means, that, the next couple of weeks, my stitching will not be Sunflowers, but binding on quilts. It is long-winded and tedious (to me), and almost feels like real work, but ... it has to be done, and I loooove when it is done.

And don't worry. There will be proper pictures and close-ups and such, once the binding is on.

Evenstar shawl - 2

2011-11-19T19:00:00.012+01:00

The Evenstar shawl is progressing. Slowly but surely.
I have now reached the third stage of the process (chart 3), which is the last before the edge goes on ... and it is a huge chart. More than 60 rows, each with 560 (or more) stitches on it. But I am having fun ... in a masochistic sort of way.
Let me put it this way : I am learning a lot about knitting lace with the directions in a foreign language.
It is a challenge.
I am also (re-)-learning why I don't do a lot of knitting with pure silk : there is no give in it, and if you drop a stitch on lace-knitting like this, you might as well just pull the plug on the thing and unravel until you reach the closest life-line, because there is no 'hold' in the yarn either.
As before, this has not been blocked, and it will (hopefully) be the last picture you see of it until it is practically finished. Lifelines are a great thing, but picking up 560+ stitches, just to show you a picture ... IF on the other hand I mess up, and need to unpick at one or more stages of the next 60+ rows, I will remember to take a picture and show it you, if not ... you'll just have to wait as patiently as you know how :-)

Double the bits

2011-11-16T19:00:00.004+01:00

Double the Sunflower, Double the joy. Well ... almost double the number of pieces 97 bits of fabric in this one, and that is without the background-fabric on. That will add another 4 bits to make 101 pieces of fabric in one 12" block.
I must be mad.
Sunflower # 18 for your perusal. Another fussy-printed centre, and - again - tried to match the colour of the pattern on the centre, and the inner-most triangles.

Still flowering

2011-11-09T19:00:00.004+01:00

Sunflower # 17.

A growing patch of flowers

2011-11-05T19:30:00.011+01:00

So now there are 16 Sunflowers.
And they are looking good, even if I say so myself :-)

The bright and the bold

2011-11-02T19:00:00.007+01:00

More Sunflower. I like the light rays around the sun-face on this one. I liked the dark orangey ones too, but I think I like this one better.
The yellow fabric I've used for the middle bits are the - now almost extinct - remnants of one of the first F/4s of batik I bought. It cost an arm and a leg, but the colour was too lovely for me to resist. It still is. Love those saturated, unafraid, yellows

Auditioning backgrounds - part 2

2011-10-29T09:00:00.003+02:00

Well, after all the song-and-dance on this blog about what background to choose for my Sunflowers, I bit the bullet, and now I have two options, none of which have been shown before.

Option 1 : Lots of different blues.

Option 2 : A fabric bought the weekend before last, which actually has all the nuances of greens that I use in the flowers proper, and a few more, plus some yellows and blues too, and a big leaves pattern, which will probably be unrecognizable when cut into pieces.

I think I'll go with Option 2, the fabric of the many greens, for the main quilt, and with Option 1 for the 'Reject' quilt.
And no, they are not properly rejected blocks. As was the case with the Passacaglia, there will be blocks that doesn't work with the rest, and the ones that stick out the most will be getting a multiple-blue background and will - eventually - form a quilt of its own ... hopefully a quilt smaller than the one with greens in the background :-)

All things bright ...

2011-10-26T19:30:00.005+02:00

Well, this one certainly is bright.
Sunflower # 15, for your perusal and (hopefully) enjoyment. The fabric I've used for the outer diamonds doesn't work too well, but ... it stays !

Gorgeous Hexagons

2011-10-22T19:00:00.005+02:00

This past week-end, I spent a wonderful couple of days in a vicarage in Jutland (Louns if you want to look up the place on Google Maps or the like).One of the things we did was getting DFreind to the point where she can finish her second quilt-top. Yes. Her second.
It is made using the 1" shapes from Inklingo Collection # 1 (a sold-out CD), and is looking spectacular. And yes, you can still get most of the shapes here in downloadable collections, viz. the 1" hexagon collection and the 1" diamond collection. The only shape used here, which is no longer available (unless you have Collection 1) is the 1" elongated hexagon.

The picture does not do the colours justice, just so you know. It is far more vibrant in real life than it is here. I can hardly wait for it to be a finished top, so we can send it off to a quilter :-)

Still shining

2011-10-19T19:30:00.007+02:00

Sunflower # 14.
And I'm still enjoying myself hugely. And I like the colour grading from pink, via orange to yellow. Would love to have the individual shapes show up more clearly, but ... you can't have both a gradation (?) and a clear difference.

I do fear, however, that I need to start printing and adding the backgrounds soon, just to get a better impression of what the finished article will look like.

... but I think I'll make just one more Sunflower before doing so :-D

Auditioning backgrounds

2011-10-15T19:30:00.007+02:00

Well, "That Perfect Background" hasn't worked out. Can't find more of it anywhere in the world, so I'm looking into alternatives. And this is where a digital camera is a true blessing, because one can place the blocks, take a picture, and move on to the next suggestion.

Here's a fabric that I just got in. Ordered it ... just because. I will need to order more (and hurry up about it) if I want this.

And this is the fabric I ordered, because it looked close to "That Perfect Fabric" while on the monitor. Unfortunately, it turned out to be much lighter in real life than it was on the picture on the screen. It doesn't happen often, but it happens. Looks ... ok, I guess, but rather light. The good thing about it is, that I have enough of this fabric :

And then something completely different : What about a bright, warm, yellow background ? If this is what I end up deciding upon, I need to order more, and - again - need to hurry up about it.

I'm holding out a bit, though. I'm going with a DFreind to a place which never has a sale, but has a warehouse full of fabrics tomorrow. She might have something. I hope so. If not ... I'll just have to make an executive decision and stay with it.

A Baker's Dozen of Sunflowers

2011-10-12T19:00:00.006+02:00

Another attempt at 'doing something' with the huge centre of the 12" Sunflower block
This time, I've dug out some patterns I made ... what ... 8-10 years ago. Applique. Some of them are actually perfect (and the perfect size) to use as Sunflower centres.

And I like this one.

What I did was :
Print the Sunflower circle on the yellow fabric.
Draw the applique-pattern on the back of the green fabric (and since it is a batik, the 'back-front' thing is not an issue. At all).
Layer so the yellow fabric is on top of the green; both with right sides up, and so the printed circle aligns with the drafted circle (a light-box or a window with day-light on the outside are great helps here).
Baste from the back.
Applique !

Stitch the Sunflower as usual.

Finished.

I like this one. I'll dig through my old designs again. I know there are at least two more circular designs in there, that might, just might, be appropriate to use for a Sunflower center.

Printing with too little fabric

2011-10-08T19:00:00.013+02:00

Occasionally (frequently), I find myself just short of the desired size of fabric when I want to print something with Inklingo.

Example : I want to make some small Broken Dishes blocks. For that, I need HST.
What is more, I would love to have them finish at 3", because then I can make them work with the 6" format that I mostly use for my block-experiments.
Now, to print a total of 8 HST, each 1.5" with Inklingo, I need a piece of fabric which is 5.25 x 5.5", BUT, I would so much like to use some (prewashed) 5" charms (which, after washing, are then more like 4.75 x 5").

Here's what I do :
Cut the freezer-paper 5.5" square.
Set the printer's Custom-size to 5.5" square

On the plastic-side of the freezer-paper, print the desired shape. In this case, 1.5" HST in Layout 1. Print it with colour 00. It really doesn't matter if you can see the actual print here. What is important is, that you can see the rulers that are on top of and to the left of the print proper.

(click on picture to see more clearly ... and yes, I can barely see the 00-colour print on this sheet of paper. I can, however, see the ruler-lines fairly clearly).

Take the 5" square.
Position it so that it just (barely) covers the straight line of the printed (and visible) ruler. (again, click on picture if you have trouble seeing what I mean)
Iron in place.

IF your iron gets slightly gunky from this exercise, take a brown paper-bag (or another uncoloured piece of scrap-paper), place it over the edge of your ironing-board, and run the sole of your iron over the edge a few times. This will do away with most gunk on the sole of your iron (trick learned in clothes-construction class; it works when you want to remove remnants of fusibles like vlieseline or steam-a-seam from the sole of your iron).

Print normally ! staying with the 5.5" user-defined / custom-size of setting.

As you can see, the fabric just (just !) covers enough of the print to give me both cutting- and stitching-lines for all 8 HST.

The general principle can be used with any (custom) size paper. Set your setting to the size paper you need, and you can (just) make do with a piece of fabric which is up to 0.5" smaller on one or both sides.
It is a particularly useful trick to do, when you - like the case is in this example - have a certain size pre-cut, and need just that teeny little bit more fabric to make it really work.

... oh, and my printed 5" charms ?
They are made into Broken Dishes and Pinwheel blocks, and I'm doing them as Leaders-Enders (thank you for the term, Bonnie Hunter)
And yes, in the fullness of time, there will be enough for a quilt :-)

... in the fullness of time :-)

Nicely Neutral Sunflower

2011-10-05T19:00:00.007+02:00

Or : Sunflower # 12.
I know I have 'always' said, that fuchsia and chartreuse are neutrals. So here it is. The nicely neutral Sunflower, using (from the outside and in) : chartreuse / lime, orange/pink, fuchsia, turquoise, and orange!
And with a fussy-printed centre too :-)

There is one full sun left on the F/4 of Sun-fabric used in the centre here, I think I *need* to make another one, with the fussy-printed centre, but with light-yellow inner triangles, to match the light-yellow rays of the sun on the fabric ... and even though this block seriously kicks ... donkey. It kicks donkey, the turquoise really stands out up there on the wall.
... but I might just return to it anyway :-)

Knitting in a foreign language

2011-10-01T19:30:00.004+02:00

And so it is October, the weather is getting colder, and I'm knitting again.

I've started Susan Pandorf's 'Evenstar' shawl. And I blame Martha. (Martha carries the blame for many beautiful and wondrous things that are in my life, so I'm sure she'll shoulder this one too).

Lace-knitting without a multitude of reapeats is a challenge on its own. To do lace-knitting, where the pattern is written in a foreign language adds a new dimension to the challenge (and yes, to me English is a foreign language). There are some of her abbreviations that I can simply not wrap my head around, and have spent quite some time on Ravelry and google to try and find out what they were.

Thank God for YouTube, and generous people who share how to do things. Seeing a stitch is essential when you cannot understand the written directions.

ANYway, the Evenstar shawl is well started, using silk-thread (from Blue M oon Fiber arts for which the pattern is written), in a lovely variegated blue. Silk isn't very forgiving to knit, and since the project has just been started, it isn't in any way blocked yet. I hope you can still see a bit of the loveliness.

The pink thread (you can see it clearly on the small picture to the right), is a life-line. Amazing concept when knitting lace in the round :-) And again, thank god for YouTube :-)

And yes, I know one usually doesn't blame someone for that which is good, but since many of the good things Martha has brought into my life are quite addictive, I think that blame is a good word :-)

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 11

2011-09-28T19:00:00.008+02:00

After loads of double Sunflowers, with and without the home-made middle bit, it's time to return to a single one. BUT with a fussy-cut / printed centre.

And yes. It works. Sort of.
The outer triangles are not the perfect green for this combination, BUT, it will work well enough, when seen with the others ... I hope.
I'll have to see what else I've got on the shelves that would work for fussy-printing.

That extra bit for the Sunflower

2011-09-24T19:30:00.002+02:00

I've had a question : That extra bit for the Sunflower, the 'small outer-triangle, large inner-triangle combo' thingie. How have you drafted it.

Easy-peasy.

Use 2 sheets of freezer-paper.
From the 6" Sunflower collection, print a sheet of Outer Triangles
From the 12" Sunflower collection, print a sheet of Inner Triangles

Make sure your sheet of freezer-paper is big enough to yield 16 bits. I just printed on a Letter size (8.5 x 11") piece of freezer-paper. That got me too many bits, but that's ok.

Cut out 16 of each shape leaving the Seam Allowance in place.

On the 12" Sunflower Inner Triangle bits, cut away the bottom (curved) seam allowance.

Iron the outer-triangle bits on top of the inner-triangle bits (see picture on the right)

You can leave the seam-allowance on your templates, or you can cut them away. It all depends on how you prefer to prepare a block with freezer-paper rather than Inklingo.

I chose to leave the seam-allowance on. That way, I can place the composite templates right up to each other, and know I have the seam-allowance in place.

If you do that, you - again - have two options :
Draft the stiching-line on the fabric-piece, or not draft the stitching-line.
If the rest of your Sunflowe is prepared with Inklingo, you do not need a stitching-line, because there are stitching-lines on every piece it is going to be joined to. Just peel off the paper and you're ready to roll.

BUT, some of you might want a stitching-line anyway, in spite of it being unneccesary. I would suggest that you draft that before peeling off the freezer-paper.
I would further suggest, that you place your ruler so the 0.25" mark is just outside of the paper. Just. Not visibly away from it, just ... just outside.
When you draft your stitching-line (using a fine-line pencil), it will be placed right :-)
Click on the picture (right) to see it in a larger size, you will be able to see what I mean.

... but really, you don't need that stitching-line. You have perfectly good stitching-lines on the other pieces, and since you've used Inklingo to prepare everything (including the templates for this bit), it will all fit together nicely.

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 10

2011-09-21T19:00:00.007+02:00

Green inner diamond. Check.
Homemade middle bit. Check.
.... hmmmm .....
Other than me thinking that the fabric I have chosen for the outer (large) diamonds, is not really suitable for this, I like it.
Maybe one could use the fabric better ?That'll be the next one to try.

... hanging on the wall

2011-09-17T08:00:00.000+02:00

(sung to the tune of "Ten Green Bottles")
9 Sunflowers, hanging on the wall
9 Sunflowers, hanging on the wall ...

Picture is a bit dark, they are brighter in real life, but they are up there on the wall, brightening my play-room every day. And I think this is a case, where more is more. Don't you ?
And I've been looking into background-fabrics. A (little) while back, I ordered some F/4s and found what I believe is 'that perfect blue' for setting them. Sadly, it is a batik from ... ooooh ... 2005 (? I think), and I thought it was no longer available anywhere in the world.
So, I asked on a list, and someone found it at the Blue Bamboo on-line shop ... only - sadly - it turned out to be sold out. At the Hingeley Road quiltshop, all but a F/4 was sold out too.
SO, Google didn't return any useable results; quiltshops.com didn't return any useable results; eBay didn't return any useable results.
So this is my last ditch effort. The fabric is an (ancient) Hoffman batik; E137 Sea Breeze, and looks like this :

The above is a F/8 of the fabric, and the dark splashes are coppery, not really brown or red. Anyone ? I need (at least) 3.5 yards.

Only 100 days to Christmas !

2011-09-15T08:23:00.009+02:00

Ladies (and gentlemen), I have an announcement : This year, Christmas day will be December 25th.
Yes. I know it is shocking news, and that it takes you completely unprepared.

There is worse : December 25th is only 100 days away.

If you want a stress-free (or just stress-reduced) Christmas, this is the perfect time to start doing what you can do in advance.

If you are planning to make hand-made Christmas-gifts this year, you are too late.
Sorry, but there it is. It will take (at least) twice as long as you think it will, and you will not have the time to work 8 hours a day on those projects for the next 3 months.
Face it !
Pick one of the Christmas-Present-Projects you have already started. Yes. Just one ! Focus on that. Take it all the way to the finishing line. Once that project is finished is time enough to pick up and focus on the next one.

Procrastination is a fine art, but it ain't fine if it stresses you out.

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 9

2011-09-14T19:30:00.016+02:00

SO, double Sunflowers with or without the hand-made middle bit work for me.

But there is still a bit of 'shaking up' I can do.

Sunflower # 8 is - and this is one of the small ironies of life - not green enough :-)
And there is (at least) one placement of green I haven't tried yet.
So that's what is being tried this week : Green inner diamonds.

Do I like it ?
Well ... the inner Sunflower seems almost a separate flower, and I'm not sure I like that.
The centre 'spokes' stand out very clearly, and I think I like that.
I will try to mix 'green inner diamonds' with 'home-made middle-bit' and see if that works better.

That aside, yes, I like the block ... but then, I have liked all of my Sunflowers so far :-) And yes, I can see the 'faults' of a block and still love it. Lesson learned from Dear Jane :-)

On to the next one !

I have fabric !

2011-09-11T19:00:00.001+02:00

The Dear Jane collection from Windham.
Lovely, lovely fabrics. Just the kind of cotton-therapy that one needs on a day like this.
And yes. I do remember.
All too well.
But I don't feel the need to add my voice to the throng. Read your newspaper today, or watch the many, many memorial-programs on your telly.
Then go hug the stuffing out of someone you love, and do something which makes you happy.
I'm patting fabric today :-)

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 8

2011-09-07T19:00:00.013+02:00

SO, I liked the double Sunflower with 'homemade' middle sort-of diamonds (made from 6" outer triangles and 12" inner triangles), and decided to make another one. This one.

In conjunction with the other Sunflowers I've made (so far), the outer diamonds are very, very bright (and light), and the block sort-of stands out, but in and of itself, it is a great-looking block (at least to my eyes).

There must be something in the water

2011-09-04T19:00:00.009+02:00

... there really must be. Something in the water. Or the air. Whatever.
Because these colours turn up everywhere :-)
We had some freinds over for dinner yesterday, and she had scrounged up some of the last flowers in the garden. A perfect match for my Sunflowers :-)

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 7

2011-08-31T19:18:00.005+02:00

Results on Sunflowers so far :
I like the double Sunflower.
I do not like having a big 'empty space' in the middle, the kind I get when I do a 'single Sunflower' in the 12" size.
I like it that there isn't too much green in the flowers.
What about making the outer triangle on the 6" sunflower and the inner triangle on the 12" sunflower of the same fabric ... and then aligning them ... and then doing away with the seam, by making my own 'middle diamond' template.
Done :

And frankly, even though there isn't quite enough contrast in there, I think this is very close to 'That Perfect Sunflower' ... at least in the double sunflower category. Never fear, though, I'm going to plod on and continue to experiment with this block for a while to come.

My machine and I

2011-08-28T19:30:00.006+02:00

You who read this blog on a regular basis will know that I like hand-work.
Any kind of hand-work really.
With a preference for what my freind Diane in NY calls 'DLS' (Dinky Little Sh ... Stuff).
BUT, I do have a sewing-machine. As a matter of fact, I have 3. I have a hand-crank, that DH salvaged from a dump, took home, gave some TLC and now it purrs on like nobody's business.
Then there is the Viking / Husquarna. It was top-of-the-line 22 years ago, it isn't anymore, but it still goes strong.
Finally, there is the tiny Janome, which is what I tend to use mostly. It is small, doesn't have a zillion different stitches, but it works.
... most of the time.

Now. I like my machines well enough. Yes. All of them. And in broad general, they are not too averse to me. We're not like BFF, or intimate in any way (remember my hand-work preference), but ... generally we can work together well enough.
And then, one day, we couldn't.
The little one just stopped. Wouldn't budge.
And, after some work, I understood perfectly why :

Exhibit A (on your right) shows the compact used-to-be-fluff I picked out of the spool-house. Using tweezers. It was stuck fast and really hard.
There is nothing fluffy about it. The spool is there to show just how much there actually was.

After I had carefully lifted all of that from the spool-house, I 'stole' DHs canned air, and gave it a good blow-through as well.
And now the little Janome purrs on again, and harmony has been re-established in the little home.

The moral of the story :
Clean your machine.
If you are on intimate terms with yours, you probably know already, and don't need my reminder, if you are more like me, and not all that close with your machine, now would - probably - be a good time to get out the tweezers, the canned air, a bit of patience, and get the fluff out of the spool-house :-)

I blame the Van (aka : Sunflowers 6)

2011-08-24T15:00:00.007+02:00

.... or "Here Comes the Sun(flowers) 6"
A young couple down the street have bought a "new" van / car / whatever that kind of vehicle is called. Actually, it is bordering on antique. It is most definitely a vintage car. An around 1968 vintage. For a long time, I thought it was a prop for a movie but nope, it's an original and they love it.

The paint-job and the stickers, are originals, and while it has never been to Woodstock, it definitely wanted to be. So ... this is where I put the blame for the Sunflower of the Week.

See the similarities ?

And then a few notes on this week's Sunflower :
The double Sunflowers I've made so far have had the outer triangles on the 6" bits and the inner triangles on the 12" bits, staggered, so the point of the 6" diamond was in the middle of the 12" triangle (no, diamonds are not 6" and triangles are not 12", but .... you know what I mean, and if you don't this whole post will probably be gibberish anyway). This time, I have aligned them. Outside triangles on the 6"-block-circle, and Inner triangles on the 12"-block-circle have been aligned.

And apart from the fact, that it looks terrifyingly 68'ish in the colours I have chosen (and I blame the constant presence of 'the van' just outside our house for those colours), I like the alignment. I really do. Another thing to experiment with. I also think that the dark green around the edge makes it a lot less garish than it could have been.
And isn't it great, that I seem to be doing one Sunflower every week :-) My own personal Block-Of-the-Week challenge. Leaves me room to experiment with other stuff too, and still feel like I'm advancing on the Sunflower project. Feels good, actually :-)

And, just for the record, I like my 'hippie Sunflower' a lot :-D

It's Blackberry time

2011-08-21T19:00:00.006+02:00

Not the electronic device. The edible sort.

DH, DSon and DSon's freind have been picking blackberries, and had a lovely afternoon turning the berries into preserve and squash / syrup (for diluting with water and drinking ... soft-drink, you know).
And here are the pictures to prove it :

Setting out (some of the) containers for the preserve / jam.

The almost boiling cauldron

Cleaning the edges of the glass with a cloth dipped in boiling water.

Putting on the lid (deep concentration)

The first 4 glasses. More were made. I think we ended up with 12 liters of squash/syrup/juice and about 20 glasses of jam / preserve. DS's freind is going to take about half home. DH has enough blackberries picked to make another batch the same size.

... DD and I will enjoy consuming them.

Dissing ms Aloi

2011-08-21T11:04:00.010+02:00

Have you read ms Aloi's rant about we who knit, stitch and blog ?
Well ... just in case you haven't, follow the link.
I would have liked to comment directly to ms Aloi on the HuffPost site, but frankly, giving HuffPost free access to all my information, including my address-book, is not something I want to do. Instead, I'm doing the next-best thing. I am writing my very own counter-rant on my own, crafty blog.

- - -

When I cut out a new pattern for sewing, I use my great-aunt's scissors. She was a seamstress, and kept both herself, her (unmarried) younger sister and their mother well provided for all her adult life by plying the needle and keeping the upper crust of her town well and fashionably dressed.
I have my mother's pincushion displayed in pride of place; she was a prolific writer in her scholarly field, and brought up a large brood of children, most of whom were not 'by her belly'.
I have my aunt's sewing-box and a good deal of her knitting-needles; she too was a tough, self-reliant female, who spent her life educating young mothers.

Coming from a line of bad-ass women, who did not need empty posturing to make themselves heard or seen, has - I must admit - given me a less than tolerant view of people (disregarding gender), who out of hand dismiss the lives of these women and the way they chose to express themselves at the end of the day.

I am a pastor, a university teacher, hold a ph.d. in a seriously scary scholarly subject, am the mother of two teens, and a wife, freind, neighbour and counsellor as well. I do not waste my time making perfunctory and juvenile statements about immaterial subjects (like super-heroes or vampires), I spend the time I call my own, by creating things that are beautiful to my eyes, and sharing them with my freinds all over the world.

I can wrap myself in one of my aunt's beautiful lace shawls, knitted in the evenings after long days of work, or lay out my mother's embroidered place-mats, or fold my great-aunt's beautiful, monogrammed white-work napkins, that are only used on special occasions, and when I do, I feel a deep connection to these women, just as I do when I cut out a pattern, put a pin in the pin-cushion or cast on a new pair of socks on my aunt's pins.

If you, ms Aloi, consider yourself a feminist, consider too, that being female and being a feminist, is not about being male. It is not about just turning the tables and showing male superheroes posing like female ones. It is about finding a voice. A voice and a place where you, as a woman, can be you, and are empowered.

Your voice - sadly - seems scornful, juvenile, narrow-minded and ignorant, just as you seem to be basing your evaluation of female worth on whether or not a given female is buying into the male way of expression. I do not need to reduce my life and my opinions in that way.

... and 'ignorant' ?
'The Killing' is not originally Swedish, it is originally Danish. And yes, there is a difference. I know the two countries are very close in many, many ways (just think of the myriad of wars that have been fought between them), but they are still not identical. Try looking both up on Google Maps or Wikipedia.

... and Jane Austen is one of the most brilliant authors of any age, whose elegant prose continues to run little circles around her readers, disregarding the subject-matter; it boggles my mind to think you can praise Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood and not recognize the wicked, subversive brilliance behind a statement like this:
"The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author; and to her treatment of the subject I will only add, in justice to men, that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in women than ignorance."
J. Austen "Northanger Abbey" chapter 14

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 5

2011-08-17T18:24:00.010+02:00

SO, circular 4-patch in the centre, version 2. There is no green in the centre, and still the block reads 'too green' to my eyes.
And I think I have broken the 'code' on when I think a block is 'too green' : When the inner and outer triangle on the pieces for the 12" block are too alike, the block reads as 'too green' for me. Strange but true.
Well. At least I now know what to avoid :-)

And then Paula asked if these blocks will go into a big quilt. Well ... depends :-) Right now, I enjoy making them. I am trying to stick to a sort-of colourway (green for all outer triangles, pink-orange-yellow mostly for the inner bits, and in the fullness of time, I think (but haven't decided firmly yet), that they will be set on various blue backgrounds. How big the quilt will end up, all depends on how long I think it is fun to make them, experiment with colourplacement and the like. So : Yes, Paula, they will end up in a quilt ... eventually :-) But when and how big no-one knows.

On to the next one.

Hybrid-piecing Hexagons

2011-08-12T18:00:00.002+02:00

Hand-piecing hexagons is - for me - the natural way to do it.
Occasionally (rarely, but it happens) I get impatient and feel that I 'need' to move forward faster, and that is when machine-piecing comes into the picture.

BUT, machine-piecing hexagons seems to me to be a cruel and unusual way of doing hexagon-blocks. My sewing-machine and I like each other well enough - most of the time - but we are not on what you might call intimate terms, and me doing inset seams of any kind on the machine is not a sight to be soon forgotten (no matter how fervently you might wish that it was, and that your ears would stop burning)

Hybrid-piecing to the rescue !

Machine-piece the straight, not-inset seams, and then hand-piece the 'troublesome' inset seams. And because that sounds complicated (but isn't) here is a small description, with pictures.

I would like, at this point, to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I am not a professional photographer, and getting clear pictures when doing closeups like this, is - frankly - a bear to do. Know that I did it as well as I could. If you have trouble seeing how a picture could possibly illustrate the point I'm trying to make, double-click on it, and it will open 'on its own' in a (much) larger size.

Lay out your block (in this case, a double GFG-flower). I prefer to lay it out with the back up.
(and yes, eagle-eyed reader, there is a number on one of the hexagons. That is because it is printed from the CD. These hexies have been around for a loooong time)

Machine-piece into what might be called hexagon-strips.

Piece edge to edge (!)

When cutting the pieces apart, trim the thread on both sides, so that no ends 'stick out'. On the picture (right), you can see that one side of the seam has been trimmed, the other hasn't.
Trim them all.

Doing this means, that you can 'open' the seam when hand-piecing the strips together, but it still leaves just (!) enough thread to ensure that the whole seam doesn't unravel on you. If you feel iffy about having only 0.25" of thread-end between you and an unraveling seam, clip the thread a little bit further out, and then, with your needle, unpick one stitch at each end. You can do that while piecing.

If you want to press as you go, this is the point where you press the strips.
It isn't necessary, because the rest of your stitching will be by hand, so you can just leave well alone and press it all when the flower is finished. If you really want to press, press all seams the same way. Yes. Same way. It will work out and will press up a treat in the end.

Once all the strips for the flower has been machine-pieced, the hand-piecing part comes.
Since your pieces have been prepared with Inklingo, use a plain running-stitch.

At corners, take a backstitch, so you get both of two pieces anchored to the same match-mark on the single-piece (click on the picture if you have trouble seeing the back-stitch ... I do). Do not break the thread, but 'pass' from one hexagon to the next until the whole strip has been pieced.
Then move on to the next one.

When all the hexagon-strips have been joined, press your double hexagon flower.

It will press flat a treat, and all the intersections will open beautifully.

Requirements :
One of the (many) Inklingo 60-degree hexagon-collections.
1 flower-centre hexagon
6 inner-flower hexagons
12 outer-flower hexagons

Repeat as desired :-)

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 4

2011-08-10T19:30:00.009+02:00

SO. Double Sunflowers look good, but really ... 100 pieces to piece is a bit much sometimes. There has got to be something else I can do with the centre circle.

There is :-)

The collection comes with quarter circles, so ... maybe a circular 4-patch ? Worth a try, at least :-)
And this is the result. I sort-of like it. But I still think that the open space in the centre is too much.
Strangely, this one doesn't seem too green. It 'should', but it doesn't.

On to the next one ! Maybe without green in the centre ?

Barbara Brackman's Civil War Sampler

2011-08-07T11:25:00.005+02:00

Over at the Inklingo Sampler-blog, I'm following Barbara Brackman's Civil War sampler, and writing up printing-tables for the blocks. Brackman does hers in the 8" format, I do the ones at the Inklingo Sampler in a 6" format.
Occasionally, a block pops up, which doesn't really agree with me. Or with Inklingo. Either or both.
And one such, was the block for week 30, Peterson's Stars and Strips. Oh, the 'stripes' part is a piece of cake to make with Inklingo, just use the 1" Log Cabin collection, print 3 reds and 3 whites, and you're good.
The part that doesn't sit well with me is the applique'ed, 5-pointed star.
I don't do applique stars. Not if I can help it.
And yes, I have done'em. 5-point, 6-point, 8-point. And I'm not doing any more than I absolutely have to.
So, I didn't stitch the block. Just wrote up the printing-table, and made a link to a web-page with directions on how to make a 5-pointed star.
And then, a few days ago, I realized that the actual quilt, over which Brackman has constructed her block, does have applique'ed stars, but ... it also has a blue border with white stars.
So, here is my version.
It's a 6" block, and is very simple to make. You can make it 8" by adding some more strips, or by using the Inklingo 1" Log Cabin collection rather than the 0.75" collection I've been using for this block. What is important for this one is : red fabric, white fabric, and blue fabric with white stars.

Follow the link to download a printing-table for the 6" block.

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 3

2011-08-03T19:15:00.009+02:00

So, I didn't like the green-ness of the previous Sunflower.
New attempt. Inner triangles of the larger of the two Sunflowers are no longer green, but rather a light yellow. Same general colour-family as the diamonds.

I like that.
I have also begun to audition fabrics for the background, and I like the general idea of 'bright blue', hovering somewhere between cerulean (thank you, 'The Devil Wears Prada' for that term) and cobalt. Time enough to make a decision, though :-)

What I do not like, is the way the inner diamonds look on this one.
Lesson learned here : When making a Double Sunflower, the fabric used for the smaller (inner) diamonds should read as a solid (or almost solid), and not have a busload of interesting bits of pattern.

On to the next one !
I hope you can tell that I'm having fun :-)

Making Patterns

2011-07-29T17:30:00.004+02:00

So, I have bitten the bullet and done what I never thought I would do.
I am opening my own (teeny-tiny) shop-corner here on the internet, and am, as of today, now, beginning to sell patterns.

I have also 'opened' the left-hand margin of this blog. On it, you will find links to my shop. Each picture will be a link to the shop-page, and on the shop-page, the head-line for each pattern will take you to the blog-posts that are relevant for the pattern.

I know there is only one pattern for sale right now, but there will be more. In the fullness of time.
Do not, however expect to see it next week or the one after. I not only design and make patterns, I see some in my life too, and one of the recurrent patterns is, that every time I believe I have plenty of time and energy for something, something else happens that throws a spanner in the works, and it all goes to pot.
So don't hold your breath for the next one, just ... keep your fingers crossed.

The first pattern is called Tea Roses.
Size of quilt : 48 x 66"
Uses Inklingo Collection #3 for templates.

The pattern uses 10" squares (actually, it uses a Layer Cake), but can be made with F/16s too, or scraps from your stash.

If you encounter problems with either buying or using the pattern, please contact me :
tildebinger (at) paradis (dot) dk
This is my new shop e-mail, so everything sent to that addy will go directly into a separate folder, and I can deal with it momentarily (if I am awake, at home, and by the computer)

This, first pattern is launched with a sale-price of only 7.50 US $
After August 15th, it will be normally priced, and will set you back 9 US $

IF you are living in Denmark, and buying from there, please use the Danish Kroner option in the shop. Here the price - until August 15th - is 39 kroner.

What you get :

A pdf-file (you need to print it out yourself) containing 12 pages, with fabric- (and other) requirements, notes on how to make the block, Inklingo printing tables, and a lot of words.

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 2

2011-07-28T19:30:00.003+02:00

So, the big open space of a 5"+ diameter centre for my 12" sunflower was too much for me.
Which means I'm ready to try something different. Something that will give me more interest in the centre of the block. What about a double Sunflower.
Because, let's face it, where is the fun in stiching a 12" block with 49 pieces (that's without the outside, background, which hasn't been put on yet, and thus does not count), compared to stitchin a 12" block with 97 pieces !
So here it is : Double the Sunflower, Double the fun (! ???)

And lessons learned on this one : Not so much green. I really must reduce the amount of green on these blocks. On to the next one.

Organizing Fabric

2011-07-27T19:00:00.004+02:00

I'm a messy quilter (who would have thunk). When I start a new project, I pull fabrics, and audition them. All over the place. They are draped on tables, on floors, on chairs ... everywhere.
Then, as choices are made, they tend to stay where they were.
On tables, on floors, on chairs, everywhere.
And that is how a true mess is born.
This time, with the Sunflowers, I've decided to try a new strategy.
Once a fabric is chosen, it has been put in a box. Many fabrics in one box ! All together now. Yes, it is overflowing, and there are too many fabrics to rest comfortably in it, but they are all together now. I can take out one, put in another, and I can still, at a glance, audition whether or not I think it works with the rest of them. As it looks now, I would say that this grouping has the prospect of a nice, soothing quilt in the general colourway of 'chartreuse and magenta are neutrals' variety.

P.S. To those of you who think OMG, she can afford magnum bottles of Grand Cru wine from Saint Emilion, rest easy. It was a gift from someone of my acquaintance who can afford magnum bottles of Saint Emilion Grand Cru. And I never (never) say no to gifts of wonderful wine. As you can see, I even save the wrapping. It was the first, and will probably be the only, time in my life where a wine of that calibre ever enters my life.

Another one bites the dust

2011-07-26T19:30:00.003+02:00

This is a finished quilt-top. Not a finished quilt, but at least it is a finished top.

Project was started in late August 2008, and have been stitched on rarely. Until this May, where it moved to the top of the list, and became my priority project.
The blocks are entirely hand-pieced, but the joining of the blocks is by machine.
For the longest time, I called it 'Rectangular Hexagons', but after the previous quilt was finished and up on the design-wall, and this one went up (while the last blocks were pieced), DH said that it looked like old-fashioned, English Tea Roses, so that's the name.
TeaRoses.

In May, I decided to make an effort to finish this top, before my b'day this year, and I'm proud to see that I met my goal.
Now on to piecing the backing.

Washing fabric

2011-07-25T19:00:00.008+02:00

I always wash my fabrics before storing them on my shelves.
Always !

I think I have one JellyRoll that is still wrapped tightly, with the ribbon, that isn't washed, but other than that, all fabric on my shelves are washed. Yes, that includes 5" charms, 10" squares and the other small bits.

Now, washing F/4s and even F/8s is easy. Pop them in the washing-machine with the rest of it, and you're done.
Washing charms, or even the 10" squares, is worse. Popping a small bit of fabric, with nothing but 'loose' sides into the washing-machine, makes for lots and lots of fluff in the load, and might unravel more than one is ready to loose, so, here's what I do :

Using the hottest water I can wring from my tap, and a bit of (mildish) soap, everything is dumped into the hand-wash basin in the bathroom, and left there to soak a bit.
I agitate it lightly, just enough to know I have done it, but as you can see, I have quite a small sink, and there are 40 squares, each 10" now crammed into it.
Rinse - again in water as hot as you can get it - as many times as you need to get all the soap out. On the last rinse, do not drain (!)
Now comes the fun part.
Take off your shoes or socks (or be prepared to have them soaked) and roll up your pants / jeans (again : or be prepared to have them soaked, at least at the hem).

Take the soaking, dripping, running wet squares, one by one, and 'hang' them in your shower. Tiles or glass, either works. My shower has tiles, but I've done this in showers that have glass.

Flatten out the squares as you hang them, so there are no large air-bubble caught between shower-sides and fabrics. Don't obsess ! just ... do it.

And then, when all are plastered to the wall, leave the shower and close the door. Depending on air-humidity, you will be able to pick up almost-dry squares of fabric within a few hours. Some will have fallen on the floor before they were dry enough to store, but that's ok too : Give them a quick run-over with your iron, and they are perfect.

With 'big' pieces like 10" squares, the majority will loosen before they are completely dry. With 5" charms, the majority will stick until they are completely dry.

The beauty of this way of doing things is :
You get your fabric washed.
You don't get fabric that is impossible to iron out.
The majority of shrinking has now happened, AND, whatever nastiness the producer has treated the fabric with, is now out, and even scent-allergics (like yours truly) can handle them without fear of a fit.
And that's the way I do it here in Copenhagen.

Going on

2011-07-24T19:00:00.003+02:00

Well I'm progressing slowly, but surely on the Hexagon quilt.
Now two thirds of it is together.

And that's about what I'm getting done ... which is much more than nothing.

Other than that, I'm reading, and leafing through quilt-history books, and listening to music, and doing nothing in particular.

Working hard at wasting the last week of my vacation. Come August 1st, and I need to get back to studying and preparing and taking notes for classes. BUT not yet. Not yet.

Weather is, as can be seen on the picture on the right, rainy. Interspersed with showers of rain. Unless it is drizzling.
Naturally there is the occasional pour-down, but mostly, it's just rain.

A day of prayer

2011-07-23T19:30:00.000+02:00

Well, in the wake of the horrible happenings in Norway, I've turned off the TV and the radio and all the rest.
I know what happened is horrible. I know it is devastating now, and will continue to be so for the survivors, probably for the rest of their lives.
I know, that thousands of lives are going to be wrecked because of this.

It is beyond words.

I don't want to be caught by a churning TV and endless repetitions of what happened, talked about either in sombre tones, or in the slightly shrill, breathless voices of reporters trying to wring the last drop of drama out of what really isn't a drama, but a tragedy;
instead I've sat down myself to stitch, and to reflect, and to pray.

And I'm halfway there on the hexagon-rectangle TeaRoses.

Very restful colours, and I certainly need those today.

Progressing on the hexagons

2011-07-22T19:29:00.003+02:00

Not much progress on any Sunflowers.
BUT, I have some rows together on the rectangular hexagons, or TeaRoses as DH would have it. One third of the top is now together, and they are, even if I say so myself, looking good.

Now, if only the joining of blocks into strips, and the joining of strips into wider strips, wasn't so mind-bogglingly boring, I might be persuaded to work faster, but procrastination lures around every corner, and sometimes even dances right in front of my eyes.
And you know what Oscar Wilde said about temptation. Whoever can resist a temptation, doesn't deserve it.
I am very deserving today.

And just because, here's my kitty basket-case. Most of the cat is rolling over the edges, and bursting out over the top, as dough which raises, but you see, there are some blocks in that basket, and as long as I persist in sitting here, without a quilt laid out for her to rest on, she has to make do.
Basket case.

Here comes the Sun(flowers) 1

2011-07-20T19:30:00.001+02:00

Today the sun was - surprisingly - out to play, so I sat me down on the veranda, mug of tea and some stitching at hand.
Sunflowers !

I have been in love with Sunflower quilts ever since I saw a picture of one in 'Lone Stars' (Texas Quilt History book, volume 1), which was - incidentally - my very first quilt-book. And I have wanted to make a Sunflower quilt ever since.

I have had recurring searches, trying to find a pattern or a way to make this easier to construct, but every single pattern seemed to involve about a zillion little bits that needed to be cut terrifyingly precisely, and then curved seams galore, or, applique of curves galore. And frankly, I didn't have the heart or the courage to commit to it.

BUT, then Linda Franz issued two sizes of Sunflower templates (Inklingo), and ... well ... what can I say ... I just had to do it. I have already shown 4 small Sunflower blocks, made with the 6" collection, so here is the first 12" Sunflower.
It is 'plain', not double, just a Sunflower.
And I love it, but ...
... there's always a 'but' with me.
The centre fills too much, and is too uninteresting.
And it's almost too green
And I haven't (yet) decided what to do about the background.

I'll try shaking things up, one parameter at a time, and with any luck, by the time I have stitched 'That Perfect Sunflower' I'll have enough blocks for a quilt.

Field of Flowers Finish

2011-07-15T16:03:00.009+02:00

And I have a finished project !
The first one in years. Literally !
"Field of Flowers", which is shown above and to the right. The colours on the above picture are more true to the real thing than is the full picture on the right.

Shown sleeping on the quilt is my - occasionally - cute kitty, Josephine. In my mind (and hers) she's a terminally cute, tiny almost-still kitten. In the parallel universe that everyone else inhabits she's a slightly overweight, middle-aged cat who talks (too) loud, when she's dissatisfied (and she is frequently), hogs the covers at night, terrorizes any new cats that might come under her radar ... BUT, then she lies down on a quilt, rolls into herself and falls asleep, and she's as cute as can be. It isn't just sleeping dogs one should let in peace.
Quilt is made with the Inklingo Drunkard's Path and 6" Sunflower collection, and with oodles of scraps and F/4s (and F/8s and F/16s) from my stash. And if you click on the smaller picture, you'll see it in a larger format, and will be better able to see what it really looks like.

Quilting in Progress

2011-07-10T08:26:00.003+02:00

Well ... quilting is sort of in progress.
It is quite difficult to get up from the current project, and go wash hands or something of that order, because when I come back to the machine, this is what is in progress.
Yes, she looks dead cute our kitty, but it does hamper my style and progress, particularly because my backbone seems to be made of marshmallow when it comes to waking up kitties, kiddies and other cute critters.
I did lift her up, and quilting commenced ... eventually.

200th post and the ugliest backing in the world

2011-07-06T01:00:00.006+02:00

Yep. This is (according to blogger, at least) my post # 200 on this blog.
Took some time to get here, but now it has arrived.

And I have been pondering what to do; keep quiet and pretend nothing special happened, have a big bash with loads of prizes or a medium sized give-away. It is the latter. A medium-size give-away. BUT to qualify to enter, there are conditions, but first a bit of an explanation :

On your right is a picture of what is possibly the ugliest backing in the world. It is certainly the ugliest backing I have ever contemplated putting on a quilt; its main merit is, that it is fabric from the shelves and that together, they represent a little more space for some of the good stuff I actually want.

It is strange that it turned out this ugly, because each individual fabric in the mix is quite nice ... well, was quite nice before they were put together. But the sum of the parts is ... worse than I ever imagined it could be.
BUT, beauty (and hideousness) is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder, so this is where we close in on the give-away :

To enter the give-away, you need to somehow publish a picture of your ugliest quilt to date (back or front), on your blog or in an online photo-album. Once it is published, you go back to this post, and leave a comment with a link to your ugliest endavour, and you're in !
The prize ?
The prize is a 25 $ gift-certificate to an on-line quilt-shop of your choice. Yes. My ingenuity falls short of deciding what you want, so a gift-certificate it is.

Comment, with a link to a picture of your ugliest quilt (back or front) before July 15th, where I will do the draw. And remember, the prize is anything you can get for 25 $ at your favourite, on-line quiltshop :-)

And just so it won't all be ugly : Here's a picture of the finished Field of Flowers top. I swear to you, it kicks more a ... donkey in real life than it does in this picture ... is more alive, if you will. And looks nicer. DD - who has already claimed this quilt - loves the front, but hates the backing. Too bad. If she wants one, she'll get the other. The good thing about the combination - I've told her - is, that in the fullness of time, she'll be able to tow the quilt everywhere without worrying that it gets dirty or torn on the back :-) A few patches to mend it could not possibly make it any uglier than it is already.

Made with Inklingo Drunkard's Path and 6" Sunflower collections.

Eeeeeew ....

2011-07-02T21:09:00.011+02:00

We have owned this house for 21 years.
This is the first time something like this has happened.
Sewers set out, and ... eeewwww.

This is what the basement looks like (the rest of the rooms are more of the same) :

Fortunately, only one essential trunk (with photos and family papers) was hit by the water, so this is what the living-room and the kitchen looks like (and the rest of the rooms are more of the same) :

I think, possibly, that this will be the event that finally pushes me to scan the family photos, my parents' love-letters, and other family papers, and begin processing them.
It will be a few days before I'm back with you.

Simple Woman's Daybook - 2

2011-07-01T14:58:00.003+02:00

I'll do the Simple Woman's Daybook, again. It is still a neat idea. And even though I am not doing it with any real regularity, it is a good way to keep up to date with oneself.

Outside my window...
It is overcast, but with glimpses of sun. Rain has been threatened but not realised. And the doves are cooing. Amazing to be 200 meters from the road-stretch in Denmark which has the most traffic, around the clock, and barely hear the traffic.

I am thinking...
That being without teen-agers for a week is good preparation for becoming empty-nesters.

I am thankful for...
DS graduating, with excellent results; and DD finishing her first year in high-school, also with excellent results. Having gifted children can be a mixed blessing, but they both seem to have finally found a peer-group where their braininess is not a (huge) problem.

From the kitchen...
Have just made an egg-salad. In this country, that means loads of mayonaise (but in our case, tempered with low-fat sour-cream), chopped up hard-boiled eggs, apples and maccaroni; curry, salt, pepper and a dash of mustard to taste. Not diet-food, so we rarely make it, but it does taste good.

I am wearing...
The permanent uniform : Jeans and a t-shirt. Bare feet though. Which is nice.

I am creating...
Beautiful things. And striving for making order out of chaos. Always a hard thing to do.

I am reading...
'Finding Sanctuary' by Christopher Jamison; and - because that is not an easy and fast read - I am in the process of re-reading Dorothy Dunnet's Lymond Chronicles. Not exactly an easy read either, but not one where you have to stop and contemplate every 5 pages either.

I am hoping...
To find more permanent work soon. Being without a congregation is not really what I am best at.

I am hearing...
Genesis, Greatest hits / Turn it on Again, and U2 The Joshua Tree.

Around the house...
Cat is not-quite sleeping on the table. Leaning into my left arm and purring. Mentally she's a kitten, even though she is becoming a middle-aged lady, and has been 10+ pounds for years.

One of my favorite things...
The smell of air-dried, fresh linen. On the bed.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Make a few more quilt-blocks of the two kinds I have going. Hand- and machine-work respectively. And get back to the paper I'm trying to write. It needs to be finished by September 1st, and the sooner I get it licked into shape, the sooner I can dream away the rest of the summer.

Is this weird or what ?

2011-06-28T13:17:00.006+02:00

I'm child-free this week (well, teen-ager free, amounts to the same thing, and the quiet is a balm to both soul and body ... even if I'm somewhat unsettled and on edge by not having the brood within shouting distance).

ANYway. Carpe Diem, take the day, take the opportunity : Time to wash the quilts in their rooms.

Two of them went very well, thank you, but the third. Oh, no. Unintentionally pink in places. Back into the washing-machine, this time with 3, rather than just one, dye-magnet. All 3 sheets came out purple-red.
... and so did parts of what used to be whites on the quilt. If you look at the picture top-right, and see the two stars on the left side of that picture; they used to have white fabric, where there is now light purplish-pink.
Or look at the picture below. Bright whites in some places, but muddy, light purplish pink in others.

And in case you wondered : All fabrics have been washed before being pieced together.
The finished quilt has been washed before. In the same machine. Using the same water-tap. And using the same soap. It did not mis-colour last summer or the summer before that. It did so this year.

Now, I don't have access to Retayne or Synthrapol or any of the other fancy stuff that Americans use, I live in Europe, so : any suggestions on how to salvage this ? Other than learn to love light purplish-pink instead of white?

Graduation

2011-06-25T16:51:00.011+02:00

I do not, as a general rule, do this, but ... DS has now graduated from the local equivalent of High-School, and here are the pictures to prove it.

Getting the cap on Tuesday (when students pass their final test, the teacher who does the exam also gets to put the visible proof of passing on said student's head), after a well-deserved A.

Getting the diploma.

The cap he gets and wears is identical to the cap both his mother and his father ... and 3 out of 4 grandparents' got when they graduated 'Gymnasium' (and his maternal grandmother graduated in 1939, so ...). Not the same cap, mind you, just looks the same.

After the ceremony, all 262 new students (yes, that's how many graduated on Saturday, from this school), started "the drive". Going from home to home, visiting each for 10-20 minutes, and then driving on. By the time they arrived at our place, they had been going for 8 hours, and had already visited 15 different homes, and were - generally speaking - outrageously drunk. But well-behaved and delightful all the same.

So, for 15 minutes on Saturday evening, we had a yard full of students. And since we thought they might be cold after a day spent on an open wagon, we had hot chocolate as one of the things offered. It was recieved gratefully, and enjoyed thoroughly.

Oh, well. A mother is allowed to brag, and to be proud :-D

Consider it done.

Frescobaldi's Passacaglia

2011-06-21T01:00:00.002+02:00

I have been looking for a CD with Girolamo Frescobaldi's 'Cento Partite sopra Passacaglia'.

Diane Boston named Lucy Boston's Passacaglia-quilt for it (full story in Diane Boston's book). So, I have been searching WITHout luck, until my teenage children said 'Have you checked YouTube ?'

Well ... duh, as they would also say.

ANYway I have, now, checked YouTube, AND Vimeo and here it is :
Part 1, and Part 2.

And just so you don't think the quilt doesn't still live, here's a picture of one of my favourite blocks in the big Passacaglia quilt.

Isn't it amazing what fussy-cutting will do ?

Different strokes for different folks

2011-06-14T18:55:00.011+02:00

Before I start : The picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post below. I just think that a picture-less post is boring, boring, boring so ... the picture shows a mock-up of some of my Rectangular Hexagon blocks, laid out on my ironing board. I have at the time of writing, finished 2/3s of the blocks I need.

Another note :
I have absolutely no economical ties with Inklingo (more's the pity). I do not own even the tiniest bit of that company, and I do not, in any way, get paid by Linda Franz or Inklingo ... or, indeed, Accuquilt.

So, get ready for :

Accuquilt vs Inklingo.

On one of my forays around the internet, I stumbled upon a site, that led me to the Accuquilt page, and ... I've heard about it before, and it sounds nifty. It truly does. Slap the fabric on a piece-of-something that comes with the cutting-machine, run everything through with the hand-crank and ... hey presto ! up to 6 identical and precisely cut shapes.

And I noticed the 'Studio Top Selling Die Bundle' which has one Dresden Plate shape, and one size Orange Peel (but only with half-peels), one size Winding Ways and one size Drunkard's Path ... and some leaves, flowers and squares.
Apart from the Leaves and flowers, everything is available in Inklingo. The Orange Peel and the Drunkard's Path collections have squares too.

And I thought, well, Inklingo doesn't cut it out for you. You need to find your scissors or your rotary-cutter.
But if you don't have an ancient blade in your rotary-cutter, you can cut up to 6 identical shapes with that one too. It isn't something the Accuquilt can do that my rotary-cutter can't.

But the price !
I can get just about anything Inklingo, and still have money left over compared to buying the Accuquilt 'Studio Top Selling bundle' of shapes. That particular set of cutting dies costs a whopping 750 $ (and that is with a discount, because it is a bundle); to actually use that particular bundle, I'll have to have the 'Studio Fabric Cutter' as well, and that one alone is 595 $.

Then I thought, how far can I go for 1,345 $ with Inklingo.
Well, the cheapest MacBook (according to apple.com) will set me back 999 $ ... let's call that 1,000 $ (and we all know that Mac is more expensive than generic windows-computers, so I'm not bargain hunting here)
That leaves me 345 $ to get a printer and one or more collections of Inklingo.
An HP deskjet all-in-one, will set me back about 100 $ (remember, I'm not bargain-hunting), and then there will be 245 $ left to get all of the Inklingo collections that are similar to the ones in the 'Top Selling Die Bundle' ... and I will still have money left over !!!
So, the economic bottom-line is, that I can get 4 (comparable) Inklingo-collections, AND a computer, AND a printer (and not the cheapest possible) and still have money in my pocket, compared to buying the Studio Fabric Cutter, and that Top Selling bundle of cutting-dies.

What is more, the cutting-machine will only cut fabric. It doesn't do anything else.

And yes, I also found out, that I could get much cheaper versions if I went with the smaller 'GO!' cutter (which starts at 140 $ for the 'baby' size and costs 350 $ for the 'normal' size), but still ... There is a very limited number of 'dies' for the 'baby' one. If I want the big, top-selling bundle, I need the big, 600 $ machine.

If I then look at what is available for the small, and much less expensive, 'GO!' cutting-machine, and look at the dies for making a Double Wedding Ring quilt ... that set of dies is 90 $, and the prize for the Double Wedding Ring Inklingo collection is only 35 $ ... what is more, the Inklingo version includes a seriously beautiful design e-book.

... it's not even as if one can just slap any fabric in any size or any condition into the cutting-machine either ! It has a limitation on sizes of fabric, just like the printer which prints Inklingo shapes does, and the fabrics used in the cutting-machine needs to lie flat (i.e. be ironed) just as I iron fabric to freezer-paper with Inklingo.

It sort-of boggles my mind how expensive that nifty (and yes, it *is* nifty) piece of equimpment is, particularly seeing that it has one use only. The computer has many other uses, with and without Inklingo, and the Inklingo collections are much, much cheaper than the comparable accuquilt-collections.
I can change a lot of rotary-blades, and buy some seriously good scissors and still come out ahead using Inklingo ... if I am willing to cut under my own steam.

So I think I'll stay with Inklingo, thank you all the same, buy myself some new rotary blades, and continue to cut on my own, rather than invest in a machine to do it for me. It is a nifty and neat idea, but I like the prize of Inklingo better :-)

Oh, and this is not even mentioning, that with Inklingo, you get the match-marks and the cross-hairs which shows you exactly where to match the pieces together :-) That in itself is - in my opinion - worth gold. Particularly when dealing with curved shapes or shapes with lots of bias.

Field of Flowers

2011-06-01T07:10:00.009+02:00

I now have 4 Sunflowers up on the Design Wall together with the Pink-And-Green circles.
And I really think now would be a very good time to call it finished, start sewing it together for real

And I've begun shopping my stash for possible borders. Lots have been looked at, but I actually think that the combination in the mock-up on the picture to the right, is a good option.

The green batik is one that has been living in my stash 'forever', and has been used for multiple projects now. It started its life in my Quilted Diamonds quilt (called 'The Advantages of Natural Folly'), showed itself in at least one block of the Passacagila, is in many of the blocks on this Field of Flowers, and has been interspersed in many small projects also. It is a lovely fabric, and I'm happy I wildly overbought on it, but it is time to begin using the last bits. The fabric will be better loved if living in a quilt than it will living in my stash, so ... yeah ... I think that's the one.

And in case you wondered, here is a picture of the 4 Sunflowers that are going / have gone into the Field of Flowers quilt.

And another picture of the latest Sunflower block. I worried that the orange batik would stand out in a bad way. I genuinely think that it doesn't.

In fact, I think the Sunflower with the brown-and-pink center stands out more than the orange one.

Simple Woman ...

2011-05-24T23:00:00.002+02:00

On one of my forays into blog-land, I found this Simple Woman's Daybook, and thought ... what a neat idea.
Now, I know me, and will probably not be following this up in any way, but as the day winds down, the teen-age rose-garden (the neurosis variety, due to exams and end-of-term) being quieted for the day, I thought ... hmm ... why not do it. So I will.

Outside my window...
It is dark now. It is - after all - fairly late in the evening. But days will get longer for another month still.

I am thinking...
No big thoughts, but loads of smaller ones. As term winds down, my brain is freed from paid work, and ideas start bubbling.

I am thankful for...
My health.

From the kitchen...
Made meatballs (the Danish variety : Frikadeller) with new potatoes and a tomato-salad tonight.

I am wearing...
Jeans and a t-shirt. Bare feet in flat leather sandals.

I am creating...
Blocks for two quilts. One is the Brackman Sampler, one is my own pattern.

I am going...
To bed soon.

I am reading...
"Made to Stick" (again) by Chip and Dan Heath.

I am hoping...
That kiddies' exams go well this next month.

I am hearing...
The quieting sounds of a city, slowly falling asleep (mostly), and the purring of a cat.

Around the house...
Hubby coughing with a late-spring / early summer cold. DD playing the piano. DS playing a violent computer-game to celebrate a well finished exam today. Cat draped across my shoulders, the both of us enjoying each other's company.

One of my favorite things...
Quiet.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Get going on two writing projects. A scholarly one and a pattern.

What I'm up to

2011-05-18T01:00:00.005+02:00

Well, since I'm opening the ball on the Inklingo Sampler blog today, I thought I would show you the sort-of secret project I've been working on these past weeks.
A hexagon alphabet.
... yes. A tad silly, I know, but ... it has been fun to design and make.

And the Field of flowers is growing slowly too. Now that I've made all the letters of the (English) alphabet, it's probably time to get another Sunflower-block or five printed, and get going on making more of those for the project.

And in case you wonder what all the fabrics on the ironing board are for, they are pictorial (novelty) fabrics that I've pulled in order to make an I Spy quilt for my niece's two kids. I aim at having them finished for Christmas (but I'm not telling you which year!)
When there are (reasonable) pictures to share of that project, I will. Never fear.
ANYway, that's what I've been up to, in between fuming over incompetent imbeciles (read the two previous post).

Internet shopping - update

2011-05-12T19:14:00.000+02:00

This is a follow-up on the below post (Internet shopping - what to do).

Today, 6 days after I wrote 'The Company', threatening to out them unless they got their act together, I made one last effort to get hold of them, and get a response other than :
"I do apologize, but i am checking on this and will have an answer as soon as possible"
Sic!
That is the total of the response I got last week; no 'dear ma'am', no signature sign-off, no nothing. Classy, eh ?

BUT I waited until today, and then threw myself into a last-ditch effort.
To try and get some attention, other than the patently incompetent person with whom I had hitherto "communicated", I cc'ed the mail to all and sundry on the company's web-page, including the company CEO. The bottom-line of my mail was, that I threatened to put a name on the below post, and to do so within 24 hours unless someone got their act together.

This FInally, got me a reply that could - in a good light and with a gentle breeze - be considered if not courteous, then at least decent. Still no courtesies like 'dear ms xxx' or the like, and no name-signature on the mail either (just the company address), but at least I finally got a reply which can be summed up with "I'm sure we've refunded your money, but I'll look into it today".

... is it just me who is hopelessly ancient ? Have general courtesies like 'Dear ma'am' and an actual name at the end of a mail really gone so far out of fashion that I should not expect it ? Or is it just a case of 'If I don't tell her my name, she cannot tell on me' ?

A little while later, another of the e-mails I cc'ed to replied, "I'm looking into it, and I'll make sure your money is returned to you"

Well about **** time. Either of those should have been the reply on April 28th (2 weeks ago), and should have come promptly and courteously, not as a somewhat sour response to an out-and-out threat. And if the company, when looking into it, found information that my money had already been returned, and that the glitch was not on their part, they should have sent me another mail informing me of this.

I am (pardon my French) royally pissed off.

What kind of business ignores politely phrased requests, and only react - sourly and with bad grace - to out-and-out threats to their livelyhood (this is a rethoric question, which necessitates no question-mark at the end; the answer is 'no business who wants to stay in business' and should be self-evident).
Whatever happened to customer-service and customer-satisfaction?
I'm a patient person when it comes to understanding that things can go wrong, for people as well as companies, but in order for me to show patience and tolerance of someone, they need to communicate with me. This has not been the case. And now, when communication seems to finally happen, I find that I'm all out of both patience and tolerance.

Needless to say, that it will be a very long time (probably forever) before I buy any of this company's products again, and it will be the same time-frame for my recommending it again. It is a bummer, because I loved their products, but frankly, I am not prepared to trust a company which acts like this with any part of my money, or - indeed - my time.

SO, now I wait another week, and see if my money is indeed returned. I will not hold my breath.

Internet shopping - what to do ?

2011-05-06T17:33:00.005+02:00

I have to ask some advice here, because a situation has occured that I have never had happen to me before.
Some background :
I've been shopping on the internet, with bookshops and quiltshops, publishers, big and small companies, US, UK and locally. I've been doing it for something like 8 years now, and even though my credit-card has been hi-jacked a few times (and been caught in my bank's 'cheat' filter), I have never experienced anything but good to excellent service, and timely response to my orders and inquiries.
This, sadly, has ended now.

On February 28th, I ordered some items from a small company, whose products I know and love. I got an order-confirmation and were not notified that anything was amiss (such as the ordered items being on back-order).
On March 3rd, the amount due was withdrawn from my account. This usually signals, that the merchandise ordered is now on its way to me.
Sadly, that was not the case.
On March 16, I was notified that the merchant had delays in shipments, that my order was on back-order. For various reasons, this made it necessary for me to cancel said order.
So far, so good.
I would think, that good business-practice, at this point, is for the merchant to return the money to the client immediately. Payment has been received, but no goods have been delivered.
Well ... I am a patient woman, and sometimes banks are slow so I took a breather, and things happened and it took a little while for me to act on the non-refund of my money.
We got to April 28th (almost 6 weeks after I cancelled the order, 2 months after ordering, and 7 weeks after the money were withdrawn from my Credit Card account by the merchant), and I checked again, but no money had been returned.

SO, I wrote a polite mail to the company, reminding them that they owed me some money, and requested that they return my money to me, forthwith. Today, a week and a day later, I have not heard from the company, neither have any money been transferred back into my account.
My question to y'all (who are in the US of A) : What are my options now ?
Is there a place to formally complain ? Or do I 'just' start naming names on the quilting-communities I am in, on-line. I would prefer not to do the latter, but I am fairly angry at this point. One thing is to have merchandise on back-order, but to take money from a customer, knowing full well that you cannot deliver the goods said customer is paying for; not notifying said customer with due diligence; and last - but not least - not in any way reacting to a politely phrased request for the situation to be rectified has sort-of done away with my patience and understanding for the small business-owner.

And please understand, this is not (just) about the money. I can survive donating 35 US $ to someone, but I would prefer to choose the cause myself, and have it be something worthwhile like the Red Cross or Doctors without Borders, not a company that doesn't even bother to answer mail from their customers.

SO : What would you do ?

Another Sunflower

2011-04-30T10:55:00.003+02:00

I've been working on other things these past weeks, mostly paid work, but ... another little 6" Sunflower has now joined the Drunkard's Path flowers on my design-board.
This is going to be one kick-a... pardon, kick-donkey quilt.
All in the fullness of time :-)

Maybe ....

2011-04-06T17:01:00.004+02:00

One of the things I'm (re-)-learning is, that I'm not particularly good at finishing things on the machine. I know it goes quickly, but ... machine-work really isn't my thing, when hand-work is available.

HOWever, my flower-field, made with the Inklingo Drunkard's Path collection, is now (slowly) being joined on the machine,
... and as it is going up on the design-wall, it fills it out more and more,
... and my little 6" Sunflower-block was swallowed,
... and .... hmmm .... maybe I should make a few more 6" Sunflowers in (surprise), green and pink (mostly)
... and maybe intersperse them between the simple rounds made with the Drunkard's Path blocks.

Well, no harm, no foul, I can make the blocks, and if they don't work out after all, I can just (did I write 'just' ?) make a zillion of them and get my Sunflower quilt. I seriously think it looks good there. Breaks the monotony of the circles beautifully :-) But it could be just me. One thing is for sure, the next Sunflower will get corners from 4 different greens, not just the one.
Imagine finishing one quilt-top, while surreptitiously starting a new one, all in the name of enhancing the first ?
Miscuit utilis dulce ? (To mix the useful with the delightful. Horace in Ars Poetica, line 343), good name for a quilt, wouldn't you say ? And so apt.

Here comes the Sun(flowers)

2011-04-03T07:54:00.007+02:00

For ages and ages and ages I've wanted to make a Sunflower quilt, but frankly, the thought of marking and cutting all those curvy triangles gives me the hives. Now I don't have to mark them !
Linda Franz has a Sunflower collection out (for 6" and 12" blocks), and I'm happy as a hog in mud :-)

What is more, the 6" size is eminently scrap-friendly, so I might just try to use this to make a dent in my scrap-basket ... yeah, right. Dream on.

Thank you, I will :-D

First Sunflower on the left. If you want to see more of it, go to Linda's Sunflower page (you might want to get the design-book while it's free)

If you decide to buy and need a printing-table, you can find it at the Inklingo Sampler blog.

What a difference a border makes

2011-03-29T07:40:00.009+02:00

I seem to be on a roll.
First the big Passacaglia-top was finished, and now the 'Reject-Passacaglia' top is finished too.

And isn't it amazing how different the wide, outer border makes the quilt look ?
I planned with the wide one, then, when I got to the point where it was just the two slim borders, I thought 'That looks finished', and decided to call it a day.

... then, just because the wide borders were already cut and marked, I put them up there on the Design-wall, around the 'finished' little quilt, and ... liked it. A lot. So ... the wide borders are on now, and another quilt-top is finished.

I call the top my 'Reject Passacaglia', because it is made with blocks that didn't make it into the big Passacaglia-quilt. They aren't wrong as such, there aren't any (big) boo-boos on any of them, they just didn't work with the rest of the blocks in the big one.

BUT, they work ok together, and the borders does pull them in. I know the fabric looks beige (or sand) and it is, but there is a crackle in the mottle, and the crackles are pink and green :-D just like the blocks.

Passacaglia !

2011-03-26T09:11:00.005+01:00

Top is finished !!!
Yes indeedie :-)
Picture more-or-less speaks for itself, won't you say ?
Well, it's taken 2 and a half years to get it this far. Granted about a year of that was spent doing ne'er a stitch on anything at all. Not Passacaglia, not any other project. Another 3 months (or maybe 6) were spent in (mild) denial about the blocks that simply didn't work with the majority.
But now it's finished, and even if I say so myself, it's looking good :-)
Finished size : 72 x 96"
Yes. It turned out a big quilt

As we were taking pictures this morning, a neighbour saw us at it (he knows the deal when I stand in the middle of the road with a camera), and came out to see. Much praise was given, and it felt good. What felt particularly good was, that he rushed of his house, barefoot, just 'to see what you've done now'. Really a nice man, wouldn't you say :-)

Work In Progress

2011-03-16T20:41:00.006+01:00

Saw over at Freshly Pieced (click on the button above if you want to see her blog), that's she's doing Work In Progress Wednesday, and thought I might try to tag along :-) See how it goes, if I can keep it up.

I am - finally - back with a needle and some thread in my fingers. It has been a long sewing-drought, but it seems (finally) to be over. The project that currently sees all work is the Passacaglia. However, the big top is now too big to show easily, so, I'll postpone showing that one off until the weather has calmed down (it's rather blowy outside), and/or it is sufficiently finished for me to get it back up on the wall and take a picture.
Instead, here's a picture of the 9 left-over blocks. Yes. Nine blocks more than was necessary was pieced.
Now, looking at them, I'm sure you too can see that all of them are ... too something.
Too 'loud' or dark or brown or ...
Anyway. They are not bad blocks, they just didn't work with the other 35. Now, they will be joined, more or less as you see on the picture, they will get a border (or 3) of plain stripes, and then I'll decide whether they will go on the back of the big Passacaglia-quilt, or will become a separate small(-ish) quilt.
Only time will tell.

Not a bad reject-quilt, eh?

Empty spaces

2010-12-30T12:16:00.004+01:00

It must be some sort of law of physics, that any available and 'naked' horisontal surface, will fill up in no time flat if left unattended for more than 5 seconds.
Showed you my nice, ready-to-work-on table day before yesterday. Well, yesterday I did laundry. DH thrifted a sack-full of table-linens a while back. Lovely stuff. White, damask- and jaquard-woven stuff, lots of napkins, two sets (each of 14 or 16) embroidered with monograms.

Most of it has been laundered and ironed for the longest time, but ... during my marathon clearing, cleaning and washing day yesterday, the last load of the white linens surfaced, and ... now my table looks like this. Again.

Time for some ironing, I think, and then maybe, just maybe, I'll reclaim my 'empty table' before going to bed tonight.

Setting myself up for success

2010-12-28T13:56:00.005+01:00

Hello again. Two posts in two days :-) Don't get used to it :-)
Well, right now I'm feeling the need to do, and in order to accomplish that, I need to try and set myself up for success.
Knowing me, is (also) knowing that I have the attentionspan of a concussed sparrow most of the time. If I'm bored, I fiddle, and twiddle, and get restless, and ... move on to ... something else.
SO, to ensure that I actually get anything done, I need to make deals with myself. Not in the grand, all-encompassing manner I like to do, but in the small ways.
Yesterday I showed you my sewing-room table. I couldn't handle 'clear the table', but I was perfectly able to handle 'Do 5 minutes on the table', so that's what I did. A grand total of 7 times, and it was ... done.

Some of you who read this blog have seen my 'Boxed Stars', and some of you even know that I'm hand-quilting it. That has been stalled for the longest time, so, yesterday, I decided to set myself up for success in that respect also.

I made a small box, holding everything that I find essential for hand-quilting.
Needles, thread, scissors, Hera-marker, Roxanne thimble, ruler (for the straight lines I want to quilt). On the side, a big book that I place under the frame when I mark a section.
And then, one of the most important things in my setting myself up for quilty success : Before I put it aside 'for now', I thread the next needle and do the first few stitches. That way, I can just pick it up and get going.

One (more) thread done, about a zillion to go ... but that is ok. It's going to be a wonderful quilt in the end.

Hello again - Cinderella'ing

2010-12-28T11:13:00.005+01:00

Well. That was a very long silence, but ... life has been happening. Life and not much (any) stitching.
Excuses out of the way now :-)
I hope I'm back on the block now.
And I'm ready to get back to some stitching.
Problem is, before I can stitch, I need a place to work, and - as always - when things backslide, they backslide, and one of the first places to suffer, and last places to be rescued, is my sewing-room, and ... the table.

SO, nothing for it. Cinderella needs to go on duty (hence the 'Cinderella'ing of the title of this post). You know, Cinderella went to the ball, but before that, she had to clear and clean and scrub and sort and .... So ... yesterday was Cinderella-duty, i.e. Cinderella outside of the ballroom. And just so that you'll know I'm not pulling your leg, here are the pictures to prove, that I actually did something :

Table before I started
After 15 minutes of Cinderella'ing
After another 15 minutes of Cinderella'ing
This morning (and yes, I moved the 'puter in here, since DS is writing his end-of-term thesis in 'the office' and cannot for the life of him keep is mouth shut, and I need peace and quiet to work, so ...)
The remaining problem identified : Piles of neatly folded and lovely, lovely fabric that has no place to go. As you can see, I seriously need to get some stitching going ;-)

An old project is finished

2010-06-06T13:11:00.004+02:00

I don't think I have shown you this project before ?
It is (as is now my wont) made with Inklingo, in this case, the Drunkard's Path Collection, AND the 1.5" circle that is in several Inklingo collections (if you want to see which, go to the Inklingo Index of Shapes)

It's two placemats, and I'm frankly amazed at how much visual change the applique'ed circles gives ... and how much the colour of the circles means to the 'expression' of the thing.

ANYway, they are finished and will now to into the box I have of white elephants, ready to move out into the world as a gift at some point.

Another one bites the dust

2010-05-30T09:22:00.005+02:00

This one is a remake ! This one, in fact. The green of the centre 'leaves' was just too ... green, SO, when (yet another) yard of the fabric arrived, I decided to re-do the block completely. And here it is :

Three more Passacaglia-blocks to make ... and hopefully, only three more !

Passacaglia # ???

2010-05-22T19:22:00.004+02:00

Yes I really don't know which number of Passacaglia-block this is ! I haven't counted them recently, and I still need to make (at least) 4 more to have the full 35 ... and be crossing my fingers that the 5+ I'm (re-)making will fit in with the ones I've 'kept' ... if not, I fear that I will just have to make what I have work !

Never mind : here is the most recent Passacaglia-block. Fussy-cut from the same fabric as that used in the post on Passacaglia below.

Red and shirting

2010-05-16T14:51:00.006+02:00

Since I have too much that I 'ought' to be doing, nothing of that gets done. I need to make another 5 Passacaglia-blocks (at least) to replace the ones that got taken out of the equation, but ... instead of those, hexagons happen.

Made with Inklingo (naturally), with 3" sides. Mostly reds and shirtings, but a wee bit of yellow is in there when a visible third colour is necessary.

And you can find directions on how to make all the stars on the right on the Inklingo Sampler blog ... stars and a few other hexagon-blocks with 3" sides.

Award ???

2010-05-03T08:20:00.008+02:00

Berit at Mit Lille Rosa Syrom has given me an award ... and I haven't got the foggiest idea who to pass it on to, because 7 is both too many and too few.
I follow, and check in on, quite a few blogs, and I really don't know which ones I enjoy the most.

SO, if you have a quilty blog, and want an award, please copy the picture on Berit's blog ('cause I can't seem to be able to do it), and put it on your own blog, and then ... tell us all 7 things about yourself, and here comes the worst part : They are to be INTERESTING things !!!

And in order to be able to pass the award on to you, I now need to tell you 7 interesting things about me ... and there really isn't all that much to tell. SO I've decided to tell you ,who read this blog, something you might not know about me already.

In 11 grade, I knitted a full-lenght skirt in bold cotton colours and with oodles of primitive patterns ( the style is called Hønsestrik in this country, and you can find pictures of the general style here). That was the beginning of a hitherto constant joy : Knitting.
I am allergic to most scents.
I started quilting in 1998, because I had a STUNNING stash of probably 10 F/4s that I bought, just because I loved the fabric. Yes, I know, TEN fat-quarters !!!
I love pink. Any shade of pink, really. Probably a rather pathetic attempt to overcome the total lack of pink from my childhood; my mother didn't approve of 'gendered' colours, so pink was a no-no, and I was continually dressed in 'blue is always nice'.
I love Jane Austen, and re-read the novels frequently. Not because of the plots, but because of the elegance and economy of language, and because she has such a sharp eye for human foibles, and is able to dress them up in a way that makes you forgive not only the rest of the world, but yourself as well.
I speak 2 modern languages fluently, can handle myself adequately in 3 more, and read yet another 3, for a total of 8 modern languages.
I can also read 8 dead languages (with the aid of a dictionary and a grammar)

... I hope there was something in there that you find interesting and/or at least one thing that you didn't know about me before :-)

Passacaglia again

2010-05-02T08:11:00.002+02:00

After a long hiatus, I'm back with the Passacaglia blocks, and a new one has been made.
And I think I might have figured out why it has been stalled for so long. Not only have I been working too much, but I had 35 blocks finished ! Alas, quite a few of them do not work well with the rest, so I need to make 5-7 new ones ... if I do not run out of Background-fabric !
ANYway. Today I will be printing for the border, to ensure that I have enough background-fabric for that at least, and then see how many new blocks can be eked out from the rest.
And here's the first of the re-done Passacaglia blocks

Klosjes / Spools

2010-04-26T09:24:00.005+02:00

This post seems to be a bit of a sales-pitch, and it might well be. But that is only because I really, seriously consider the below to be the best possible advice I can give anyone. And no, I don't have any kind of economic interest in Inklingo ... unfortunately :-)

Spools seem to be all the rage on the net at the moment, and I've seen quite a few people who have bought the Cindy Blackberg stamp-set ... which seems very nice, but will cost you 32 US $ + postage.

I, on the other hand, am doing spools with Inklingo. All the necessary bits are in the Lucy Boston POTC collection, and that is only 30 $, and no postage, since it is downloadable. Once you have registered and bought it, you can download it and be stitching in about 30 minutes.

... and no, you don't need any special equipment. A normal (cheap) inkjet printer, an internet connection, Adobe Reader (which is free), fabric, freezer-paper, iron, needle and thread.
If you're a bit iffy about printing with Inklingo on fabric, I suggest that you go to Linda Franz's Quick Start guide, order some of the free stuff (you need to register to get it, but Linda is one of the good guys)

And no, Inklingo will not ruin your printer. I've been printing with Inklingo for many years now, and have had the same printer all the time, and it still works ! so ...
IF you are doing Klosjes / Spools blocks, consider the cheaper solution .... and get the templates for a truly amazing quilt as well.

... oh, and there are directions on how to make the block/s over at the Inklingo Sampler blog.

The most beautiful book ...

2010-04-25T13:01:00.004+02:00

I bought this book a while ago; Annete Gero 'The Fabric of Society', and it frankly cost a fortune ! but I also think that it is just possibly the most beautiful quilt-book I own.

There is Australian history, and quilt history. Pictures of some absolutely wonderful quilts (and some that are just plain weird), and then there are 27 patterns on a CD and on a pull-out pattern-sheet.
Inspiration for years to come.

... and naturally, the one quilt that I absolutely love, is one there is no pattern for. No matter. It can be adapted to be made with the Inklingo Orange Peel collection, Collection #2, one of the collections that has a circle on it, and a seriously big (applique ?) block.

... Maybe even the Baltimore Medallion block that has now been languishing on the shelves for some years ???
(well, I can see on this blog, that it was finished about the time I started the blog, and that was December 2006)

My mind is spinning with how to make it, and it might even happen some day :-)

Back on the blog ?

2010-04-17T10:14:00.004+02:00

I hope I am ... back on the blog, that is. After a(nother) long silence, I'm slowly edging my way back into where I was before 2 full-time jobs ate all the time I had.
And I'm back getting some needle-and-thread therapy (or vitamin Q if you like).
Right now, my quilt-life is the hand-quilting of Boxed Stars that take up my quilting-time ... which is nice :-) It will be a finished quilt, in the fullness of time, even though there is still an extremely long way to go.
BUT, One Thread every day will see it done.

Dresden Plate ????

2010-01-13T21:48:00.003+01:00

As this is written, I have beaten Cathi !!!
She is always (and I do mean ALways) the first person to publish a block when a new Inklingo-collection out, but this time, I seem to be the first person to publish a picture of a block made with Linda Franz's new so-called Dresden Plate Collection !

Let me be frank, just between you and me and the internet :-) Had I not known Linda well enough to check out anything new she publishes, this one would have gone by unnoticed by yours truly.
I don't like Dresden Plates.
Sorry, but there it is. I know that many people love them, but ... that's why they have both chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice-cream
ANYway. Dresden Plates leaves me pretty cold, but this one ! I couldn't resist it. And even though I am not good freinds with my sewing-machine, and I don't do curves, it is completely (!) machine-pieced. I haven't got a clue what the block is called, and I know I could have done it far more precisely with hand-piecing, but I love it. Karen K. Stone has a quilt with blocks like this (tho' more colourful) called Missisippi Wheel of Fortune.

Mother's little helper

2010-01-09T19:22:00.004+01:00

Sometimes, just sometimes, it is pretty hard to get to the cutting-board.
Particularly when kitty Josephine (called "Feeneh") takes an interest.

She has become very sticky these past days, which is understandable, since our black cat was put down on the 2nd (unavoidable), and the rabbit moved out of here and in with another family yesterday. So ... from 3 critters to just one in less than a week ... makes for an extremely confused and sticky fur-baby.
To an extent where even my sewing becomes interesting. Usually, she only takes an interest when she can lie down in peace on the project, but now, even the component parts have appeal.

Good thing that no rotary-cutter was in action.

The block on the cutting-board is one of the upcoming blocks on the Inklingo Sampler.

Northumberland Star, Barbara Brackmann's Encyclopedia of Pieced Blocks # 2901b

And the winner is ...

2010-01-08T08:27:00.002+01:00

Remember the give-away ? That started on December 24th ?
The Passacaglia-giveaway
The winner is found ! And is Deanna.

I have contacted her privately :-)

... and just so you won't get a post, completely without pictures, here is one of my Drunkard's Path flowers. Just the ones I could fit in on the design-board before Passacaglia took over completely :-)

Passacaglia # 34 and 35 ... and the full mock-up

2010-01-01T08:33:00.003+01:00

And here are the most recent Passacaglia-blocks, the last ones made in 2009 :
First one made with the same striped fabric found in Block # 30

Next one made with the same fabric as # 32, 28, 27, 26, and 25. And, accidentaly, one of the two fabrics that Linda and I are giving away :-)

Finally, a mock-up of the 35 blocks sewn so far, on the design-wall.

I will be taking four out and making new ones.
They might look ok to you on the screen, but they stand out too much in the wrong way when seen in real life, so ... I'm there, but not there. BUT that's ok.

Happy 2010 !

2010-01-01T07:29:00.008+01:00

So, we're out of the noughts and into the teens of the century and the millenium.
Strange ... but nice.

And today is the day, where I try to take stock of my needle-work projects.
I started fighting UFOs as far back as 2002. Then, I had "about 50" projects that were started, but not yet finished. The "impossible goal" was to get down to 10 or less.
When I reached that milestone - and what a happy day that was - I decided to reduce my number of PIGs (Projects In Grocerybags, aka : kits) and to try an bring down my number of started projects down to 5 or less.
... now that one is giving me some trouble ... and 2009 has not been good for my confidence. For the first time since 2002, I end the year with more projects than I started !
I'm still below 10, but ....

And what are they :

Boxed Stars (being hand-quilted)

Lone Star (top finished, to be sent out for quilting)

Drunkard's Path : a mostly machine-piecing project of which I have taken no pictures ... yet. Passacaglia takes up the design-wall completely, so the DP project won't go up there until that one is ... finished.

Rectangular hexagons. Sees occasional work when travelling or staying with freinds

Passacaglia. The only one that I'm seriously working on right now. I have made the 35 blocks necessary for a (roughly) 60 x 84" quilt (plus borders), but four of them are ... wrong, so I need to make another 4, and the wrong ones can then go on the back :-)

Give Thanks. Which I started preparing in 2008, put away during preparation in October of that year, and has not taken it up again ... might be time to evaluate, eh ? Either continue preparation, and actually do it, or give it up and re-distribute the fabric.

The Inklingo Sampler. One block pr. week

... and two knitting projects.

And 2009 did not give me any big quilty finishes. However, 2009 was the year where I started writing patterns, two of which are available for free from Inklingo, and 3 more that are available for free to the members of the Inklingo Yahoo-group. The making of patterns is a frustrating experience, because most of the time, I know how I would like it to look, but am unable to do it, due to lack of proficiency and software.
Oh, well.

Passacaglia - Pattern and Give-Away

2009-12-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

I've been collaborating with Linda Franz on making a free pattern for Passacaglia. It is for a table-runner, but if you have fallen in love with the project and want to make a full-blown quilt, the clues are in the pattern. All that is completely off are the fabric-requirements.
The pattern is FREE ! And you can download it right here.

To celebrate the new pattern, and the season, both Linda and I are having a give-away.
Each of us are giving away 3/4 yards of the two fabrics used to make all of the blocks shown in this post. That is more than enough to fussy-cut the 4 blocks needed for the Table-runner.
Yes. They are fussy-cut from just two fabrics. Both from the Mezzanine collection from Michael Miller (Stained Glass and Gothic Arch).

The give-away goes through all of the Christmas gift-giving season as I know it :-) starting today, the 24th of December, because that is when gifts are given in my country, Denmark.

The give-away ends on January 6th, where gifts are given in - among other places - Russia and Spain, to celebrate the Three Kings.

This is what you do :

To get one chance to win the fabric, leave a comment on this post on this blog.
To get a second chance to win the fabric, go to Linda Franz's blog "All about Inklingo" and leave a comment there.
To get a third chance to win the fabric, put the Inklingo button (on the right side of the page of the Inklingo Projects blog, a bit down) on your own blog, and write about the give-away.

So, leave a comment and run over to Linda's blog and leave another comment.

Then, if you're a blogger, write a post on your own blog about the give-away and the FREE Passacaglia-pattern. And please : leave contact-information in your comment/s.
You cannot win if we cannot contact you !

Passacaglia # 33

2009-12-23T07:26:00.002+01:00

Well, strictly speaking it isn't # 33. It was made a good while ago, and I knew there was a block in there that I hadn't photographed and posted. I just couldn't bother to find out which.
BUT, today, I realized which one it was, so here it is.
Same fabric for the stars as in # 16, 29 and 31.

Passacaglia # 31 and 32

2009-12-21T18:51:00.001+01:00

I continue to be a bad blogger, with all too infrequent posts, but frankly, I have been working, and I have preferred to stitch, rather than blog, in the few moments I've had lately.
ANYway, here are the two most recent Passacaglia blocks.
Same fabrics as # 28 and 29.