Progressing on the hexagons

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

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

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

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

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 ....

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

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 ?

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

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

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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 ?

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

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 ....

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)

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

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 !

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

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

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

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

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

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.