No change in the weather, except that there is more snow and the wind is blowing harder. The news shows many accidents, some with loss of life. Right now, the sky is still cloudy, snow still falling, but it is very bright. Yesterday I got a glimpse of blue sky, just enough to make me hopeful!
Yesterday I put the binding on Kaleidoscope 3, for want of a better name. It is a bit larger than 2, smaller than the first one I made. I left the photo 'large' so a double-click should reveal my crazy scribble quilting. This one will hang in a window. I have # 2 there now and even though it is too small for the space, the light shines through and it looks like stained glass. This one will fit better and have the same effect. I used the gray print on the back, mostly because I had enough of it, but it gives the other fabrics that look of stained glass when the light shines from behind.
Now I'm working on an asymetrical quilt. The challenge was to design a 12" block in odd squares and rectangles, then put it together by rotating the blocks or doing something interesting. You can see the block here, but when the quilt is finished, it will be more difficult to discern where it begins and ends. The color didn't turn out well on this one. Perhaps I was too close and the flash distorted things. I'm sewing the other blocks so will soon have the top done and ready to post. Hopefully the colors will be truer then!
One thing about this weather -- I've no reason to go anywhere and more time in my sewing room! Trouble is, I also feel like curling up and eating chocolate.
Since weather seems to be the topic for quilt blogs these days, these pictures ought to make everyone feel better about their weather. Or maybe they will make you want to grab a big comfy quilt, wrap yourself in it, and drink hot chocolate all day! That is about what I feel like doing!
We had a balmy week last week, tulips up, grass showing green, buds on trees, etc. Then it started to snow on Friday. It has not stopped. The one photo is our front step at 9 am. At 7, my husband had shoveled it bare! The other is the view out my studio window to the back (northwest). It is cold and the roads are terrible. We had to go out late yesterday and watched cars turning 180 degrees in front of us, two going in the ditch, a large pick-up on its side in the median, and when we got home, there was a robin sitting in the tree on the boulevard!
We often say here in Alberta, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."
I'm waiting!
I've been quilting much more than taking pictures or blogging. This week the mystery quilt has gone to a longarm quilter, so it seems a good time to post another picture. (net work connection is acting up... and keeps disconnecting in the middle of uploading, so I'll post when I get it fixed)
This is K-2, my second kaleidoscope. I did a narrow piping in the binding and put a few beads on it, mostly a cluster hanging from the middle. Yes, my points matched (some wind up putting a button to cover up this difficult part of this pattern), but I wanted to do this.
The close-up shows the quilting. I did a formal pattern, which looks nice but I hated doing it.
K-3 is partly quilted and should be finished soon. This one is getting a similar quilting pattern but all freehand, which I call scribble quilting, and I make it up as I go along.
I love making these and will do one now and then just for fun. I'm imagining the next one in bright, rich colors, even metallics.
Life can certainly side-track blogging. However, today I'm getting this posted and skipping breakfast (not really, but almost).
This is the result of all those mysterious pieces and strip-sets. The quilt top is 4 x 5 blocks, with sashing. Here it is tacked to my design wall so I can work out my ideas for borders. I think I will go with the arrangement down the left side, Only the wider border on the outside will be in the same fabric as the cornerstones in the sashing. I'll also bind it with that fabric.
This is for a long single bed, no bed skirt. My mother-in-law, who is in her eighties, wanted it wide enough to hang down like a bedspread. That makes in more like a queen size. I plan to have it long-arm quilted. I think she will like this old-fashioned look, made more interesting by being scrappy.
I would not likely have picked this pattern, but making it as a mystery quilt was a lot of fun--and used up a whole lot of pink and teal florals that I had no idea what to do with or why I bought them.
I did alter the design by making the sashing a bit wider than it called for, mostly because I didn't want to add really wide borders (to get the size needed) and have it look like it was more border than center.
Happy quilting!
Last night was the last class for the Mystery Quilt. We sewed steps 6 - 9, but of course didn't complete all of them, only enough to see what our quilt is going to look like.
I'll keep you dangling for awhile. The photo shows the next steps. The 4-patch blocks had a rectangle sewn to one side, then a rectangle and square (from a strip pieced set) sewn to the other side. The hour-glass had two squares sewn to two corners to make the V-shaped block as in the photo.
We each did enough to put together one block. It also require sashing, so when I get the sashing done, I will post the block... unless of course someone wants the directions and do this mystery, and not see the end result until they are done. If so, say so, and I'll post them in order.
I'm happy. My mother-in-law will love this one!
I have to confess that I tried to find the finished version of this mystery quilt using Google. No success! I am mystified, which delights my friend who brought this teaser to our group. We cut out 80 of this and 160 of that and strips and rectangles, all using four values. I decided to use up some florals that may never get sewn into anything otherwise.
So far, this is what I have. She says, with 10" borders (not cut out), this little pile of stuff will make a queen-size quilt. Hmmm! Do I believe her? Only because she is my friend! I put my ruler in the photo so you can see how small these piles are. There are 80 4-patch blocks, 20 of the 9-patch, and 80 of the hourglass. The rest remain to be put into something?
More on Monday. In the meantime, I'm quilting the rest of K-2, and here is a photo of Jen's kaleidoscope quilt ready to be sewn together.
Not bad for someone who has never sewn anything! She says looking at it terrifies her, but everyone loves the Amy Butler fabrics!
I'm getting sick of looking at the same post, but I am quilting. I've cut from four values (12-16 fabrics) the pieces for a mystery quilt. Nothing is the same size or even multiples of the measurements, so it has me bamboozled. I am looking forward to what this will be. It is a class that my friend and co-teacher is offering. She took my Kaleidoscope session, so now I'm taking hers.
Also, I'm nearly finished some elaborate swirls and shapes on Kaleidoscope 2 (K-2 for short). It has started to suggest placement for beads or jewels, so that is motivating me, but tracing the quilting designs takes forever. The lines are also hard to see on so many different fabrics. I'm doing one area at a time so my quilt pencil/chalk combination doesn't get lost! The quilting is subtle but I'm very happy so far.
I really like K-2 and K-3, and want to make more of these, then the thought came to me --- when I get to K-9, will it turn out to be a dog? (I know, that is pure corn, but it did make me laugh out loud.)
Here is a picture of "Joy Always" a small piece I did for a wedding gift. The symbol is Chinese for 'love' and the couple are very dear to us. The quilting is in gold metallic and shows up better in life. If you double click the picture, you can see it.
I picked the design from a Dover clipart book and figured out the piecing without too much trouble. The back didn't look too pretty when it was done so I gave it another backing, like a lining.
No change in the weather, except that there is more snow and the wind is blowing harder. The news shows many accidents, some with loss of life. Right now, the sky is still cloudy, snow still falling, but it is very bright. Yesterday I got a glimpse of blue sky, just enough to make me hopeful!
