Allegretto

 

You can see where this is going.

This is what the wrong sides of my quilts look like. Neatly pressed, threads trimmed. Every quilt I make looks like this on the back. Every. Single. One. And they lie flat as a pancake too.

I thought you might like to see some of the fabrics up close.

When Megan received her quilt, Waltzing Matilda, her husband was surprised that my points didn't always match. Well, I certainly like my corners to all match nicely like the four that meet in the photo above, but the points like the one in the circle, THOSE I do deliberately. I like those angles and what they do in the quilt. 

I have decided to name the quilt Allegretto. What does allegretto mean? A direction in musical notation indicating that the musical piece should be played rather fast and lively. I think that describes the feeling of this quilt.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Ch-Ch-Changes

 

This (above) is what I had last night when I said I had some questions. The answers to each of the questions was yes. I tinkered with it yesterday morning before work. I tinkered with it at lunchtime. I tinkered after dinner.

I changed all the things I mentioned yesterday, and I changed so much more, although it will probably drive you buggy to try to find all the things I moved. Once I thought the colors were more appropriately distributed, I had to look at pattern, value and lack of pattern. I didn't want too many busy prints in one spot, nor too many boring ones. Then I started rotating some blocks, because I discovered a way to make a kind of a rhythm.

Now, I really suck at counting, but I just counted 53 changes from the top picture to the bottom one. I could probably tinker forever if I allowed myself to make more blocks, but I am pretty sure this is 99% it. Of course, just when I thought I was done last night, I emailed that moment's picture to Julie, and then made three more changes.

Ladies, I need help with a title.

And OH, Tammy, you didn't miss anything. Ronda hasn't sent me the finished pictures of her quilt yet.

Working on Green & Yellow

 

I had an idea, and needed to rearrange the blocks on the design wall, but first I had to remove them.

I set out my idea, but did not like it, so I put the blocks back up on the wall, but then I realized I had set them up too high, and had to lower them by one block, so I started on one side and worked my way up.

When I stood up to stretch my legs, I saw this, so I went across the room and took a picture of it, because this looked intriguing. I'll file this idea away for later. In the meantime, I kept making blocks.

Once there are enough blocks, I tinkered a bit.

And then I tinkered some more. Now it's time to look at it and think -- oh there are two sunflower blocks in the fifth row from the top that look like they have holes in them. I'll have to fix those (translation: I have to make more blocks.) I also see some of the dark green dragonfly blocks only appear in the bottom half of the quilt, and I will want to move one to the top half, but where? And is the right side of that very top point too green (probably), and is there too much yellow on the left side? When I ask "are there too many" I don't mean actual the actual quantity. I mean visually.

Now, although I have posed these questions, they are for me to resolve. I am not looking for your suggestions. I listed them here because these are the kinds of things I think about when I get to this stage of making a quilt. 

Details: The blocks are currently 6-1/2" square. There are 12 rows of 10 blocks which means the quilt will be at least 60" x 72" and by my rough count there are (at least) 40 unique fabrics. This block is from Sujata Shah's book Cultural Fusion Quilts, although this layout of blocks is not in her book. This is the third variation I have made of this. The first is the Petals quilt, and the second is Waltzing Matilda.

My Wish

 Throughout this whole pandemic when somebody asked me what I was going to do first, "when this was over," my answer was the same, "go visit my dad and get a hug."

Now that I have had both my Covid vaccine shots, and my dad has had his as well, I was able to visit him and get my hug.

"It" isn't over, but it was nice to visit my dad.

 

Update: My dad turns 89 in a couple of weeks. He lives in an assisted living facility that has had a "no visitors" policy during the pandemic.

Still Sewing Binding

 

I worked on the binding of the All Together Now quilt while I watched Top Chef Portland. I have about three feet on one side, then four or five on another and I will be finished.

Added Yellow and a Special Green!

 

I decided I wanted the yellow in the quilt, so I put some of the yellow blocks up semi-randomly. I have to make a lot more blocks, and I have some greens that aren't even shown here, so we shall see.

I think this picture is a lot better than the previous ones...

I had been having some trouble with my iPhone, and I was way overdue for an upgrade, but I didn't think I needed the brandy-spanking new version, so I asked our resident geek to see if he could upgrade mine to a model newer than mine. (Mine was four versions behind.) I only asked that the hard drive space be the same size as my current one, and I told him I didn't care about the color. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to this green lovely! And the photo above was taken with the new iPhone (the new one is an 11.)

In case you were wondering where I was yesterday, I was setting up the new device. When it came time to activate it, the instructions told me to call a specific number, but I couldn't use the new phone, or the old phone to do it. WHAAAA??? I didn't HAVE another phone. So I went over to my neighbor's to do it.

It uses facial recognition to unlock it. All I have to do is hold it up and look at it, and it unlocks. Pretty weird. The new case arrives tomorrow, which is a good thing, because the thing is so damned slippery it slides out of my hands and pockets much too easily!

Is Less More?

 

When I went into the studio last night and looked at what was on my design wall, I wasn't impressed. What would happen, I wondered, if I removed the yellow? I thought I might use it later in the quilt, but "for now" I wanted to see the blocks without it. Not bad. I needed to make more blocks anyway, so while my dinner roasted in the oven, I did just that.

It was looking pretty good, so I kept going. As you all know by now, even this arrangement is not final. I have a lot of fabrics I can continue to play with.

While I work on moving this idea from "Meh" to "Magnificent" it's worth mentioning a few things.

1. You should never fall in love with your idea. You may need to beat it up to get it where it should go.

2. An idea is only an idea until you make it real. And good ideas change as you work.

3. If it isn't working, or if it's stuck in a rut, "Change partners and Dance," as my prof John Hatch once said to me. Don't be afraid to "Break It, and Break It Good." What the hell, if the blocks aren't sewn together yet you can do whatever you want without any consequences.

4. Just because your friends tell you it's gorgeous doesn't mean you have to listen. If it doesn't sing FOR YOU then who cares? I remember the Selvage Fairy said to me once, "It's interesting to me that the worst thing your quilt can be is 'Nice.'" Nice is nice, but for me, it very often isn't good enough.

5. Conversely, if they tell you they don't like it, you don't have to listen to that either. Just because somebody doesn't LIKE something doesn't mean it is any good. (Read the Value of Meh; link above.)

Well that's it for me today. Time for bed.

One and One and One is Three

 

I did some more cutting and sewing. (Rebecca! NO TEASE!!!)

originally this had a yellow center,  but it didn't really work, so I replaced the center with green, but I didn't like where the green hit the yellow ring.

So I made a block with one yellow corner and one green one and stuck it in there.

This might work. So now I have to cut a lot of green squares, and make more blocks! 

You all know how much I hate measuring when I cut fabrics. I used two of my nifty templates that combined, end up the width I need. Cherie, this picture is for you!!!

Green & Yellow & Flowers

 

I spent a lot of time Saturday cutting the creams into squares. You can see my notes above the squares. I cut 120 of them. In retrospect I think cut too many.

Then I cut some of the yellows.

Earlier in the day I bought myself some flowers. The local florist has a walk in area where customers can choose their own, and I chose these. When one of the owners stepped in to ask if I needed help, he took one look at what I held in my hand and said, "Those are spectacular!"

You know I have been dieting on the Noom diet, and after a long struggle with a plateau, I finally broke through. The flowers are a reward to myself, and a reminder that my journey is important and my success is real. They also help me to stay motivated to continue.

More Fabric

 Rebecca left a comment on my last blog post: "... you do that lead in thing very well..." which is a kind way of saying I left you all dangling and waiting for more. That is part of it, but the other thing is that I have friends from various parts of the country who will email me if I don't post regularly. "Are you OK?" they will ask, "You haven't posted on your blog in a couple of days and I was worried about you." So, sometimes, Rebecca, I just post something quick to let everybody know I'm still around.

I really do have something pretty cool in mind for those greens and yellows I showed the other day, but I couldn't quite get started because I had a small logjam in the shape of fabric that I had bought that needed to be ironed. (Which is only partly true. You all know I will throw fabric on the floor if I need space on my worktable...)

While I was buying some of the other fabrics, I also bought these. I love the black and whites on the far right, I love the top two in the middle (the topmost one is a rainbow of colors on black) and I loved the blue teal leaves. The pink one was on sale and I liked it when it wasn't on sale, so I bought some.

I like blenders, especially pale ones, because I like to fool the eye with them. They are not always easy to find, and since usually only shop when I need something, if I see something I can use, I'll buy it. The two on the top right are WOWs, so that's a no-brainer for me, and the one on the lower right is a slightly busier blender, so that came with me.

Anybody who knows me at all won't have any trouble understanding why I bought these two. LOTS of potential here, and I am a sucker for brights on a black background. I considered the white one at the bottom as the backing for the Gardens of Our Imaginations (Asterisk) quilt, but the shop only had 3/4 yard of it, so I bought it all.

I chose this quilt backing as the backing of the asterisk quilt, but now that it is here in person I am less than thrilled. Instead I will probably use it for one of the Bananas quilts, which will be a utility quilt.

I've put my hand here so you can see the scale of this print. It really would be perfect for the Asterisk quilt, but it is a digital print, and thus more expensive than most yardage. I believe the backing and binding of a quilt is as important as the frame around a painting, so it is important to me the find just the right backing for a quilt. I'd need six yards for the backing of the asterisk quilt, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt it really WAS the right fabric, so I searched online and found it. It is on order.

By the time my readers in the US are reading this, I'll be in the studio cutting up those yellows and greens I showed you the other day, but I must warn you, I will have a knockout quilt to show you (not made by me) and I will interrupt my posts about the green and yellow quilt when the story is ready.

I PROMISE it will blow you away. I love it when my students take what I teach them and make something of their own with it. Ronda made a bird quilt, quite unlike any bird quilt I have ever seen. YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!!

 

Oh Rebeca, THAT was a tease (aka lead in...)

Green & Yellow

 

A few weeks ago I bought these greens, and creams. I really liked the one at the top left, the cream with the green leaves and the yellow flowers. It got me thinking.

I bought some more greens and then pulled some creamish things out of my stash that would coordinate with the greens. My yellows were ok, but nothing to make noise about.

I ordered some yellows. I love these. I think they will go great with the greens I have. I have a plan for these, and I'm rather excited about it.

Second Banana

 

Once the Going Bananas flimsy was sewn together, I turned my attention to the remaining blocks. I had a lot of blocks with a strong light/dark contrast, so I decided to start with those.

I filled the blanks with the other blocks, trying to balance the colors.

I did a bit of tinkering, and had this. I liked it, so I pulled the blocks off the wall and started sewing them together. 

I just kept going.

Here it is all sewn together. The name was obvious. This is The Second Banana. Two flimsies in two days. W00t!

Going Bananas

 

Lap quilts just don't do it for me. If I am chilly in the winter, I want more than just my feet to be warm. I want a quilt that can cover my shoulders, so a quilt 45" x 60" isn't big enough. For me 54" x 72" begins to be the right size.There simply weren't enough yellow blocks to make a quilt that size, so I tinkered.

I decided to arrange the blue blocks diagonally and then put the green ones on either side, then the yellow ones. But I didn't have enough, so I used the ones that were left over. I kept thinking I had made more blocks, but I couldn't see them anywhere. (Turned out they were underneath something, but I didn't know that until I had I had sewn the top almost all together.)

Because the orientation of the blocks was fussy, I decided to web the quilt together. 

This is when I found the other blocks - when I cleared off my ironing table to iron the flimsy. Oops. Too late now!

So here is the finished flimsy, which will be called "Going Bananas." As usual, it is prettier in real life. It will make a good car quilt. I'll make the back out of scraps too.

Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with the other blocks... LOL!

Sixteen Bananas

 

Thank Cherie and Julie for the name of this blog post. My stack of strips yesterday reminded them both of bananas! I paired up my yellow strips and sewed them all up. 

Later I matched up the pairs and found mates for the pieces that didn't match. It was fun putting things together. This is ALL the yellow blocks I have. I think I have 65 or 66 sixteen patch blocks in all. Next up is to play with them and see what happens.

It was really warm yesterday. Millie spent a lot of the day out on the front porch.

The Last Stack

I've finally cut the last four patch strips from the leftover Zebra triangles. I think all the yellow sixteen patch blocks will end up together in one quilt.

The Re-entry

 I had to go to the office yesterday for supplies. I chatted with a few of my coworkers and then had a conversation with the CEO and our HR person. The topic "re-entry" came up. I've had both my shots. I knew this was coming. I don't know when it will take place but I got the distinct sense it was in the planning stages. I have mixed feelings about it, so, like everything else, we will see.

I'm sewing the binding on the All Together Now quilt.

 

Update: I've been working from home for over a year now. It's going to be VERY interesting going back.

More Sweet Sixteens

 

I've sewed up another batch of four patch strips, then I sewed the pairs into 16 patch blocks. Unlike the last batch, there aren't enough strips to make 16 patch blocks that were consistent, so in this batch I tried to pair up strip sets that would be similar to each other. 

At first glance these are consistent blocks, but when you look closer you can see the differences. I think they are kind of fun. I don't know if I will use these with the other blocks yet. I have some more blocks to break down into 4 block strips, but the ones I have left are all yellow. More "harvesting" to come!