Three More Rows of Boxes & an Amaryllis Update

 

I'm working on the fifth row of boxes. I sewed the blocks of rows three and four into rows yesterday. Sewing the birds into the rows is a little bit fussy because if I want them to stand in for boxes, they have to be positioned properly (meaning they have to be centered),

Here I am sewing row five to the bottom of rows three and four.

Here are rows three, four and five sewn together. For those who missed it, you can find the pattern here.

Here is an Amaryllis update. Magnum, at left, has had ten blooms. One stalk had four, the other, six. There are three left. In the middle is Bogota, which took it's sweet time to grow and bloom, but both stalks had four blooms each and all eight are open right now. At the far right is Double Delicous. It had two stalks, one had four blooms, which have now passed, and the second had six, which are all open. But there is a third stalk growing. Color me big time surprised.

Here are a couple of closeups of Bogota,

It has been a good year for the Amaryllis's.

Fine Tuning

 

I really, really, really did not like that pink box of peppermint candies. It stuck out like a sore thumb, so after finding another surprise in my stash, I made yet another box.

I liked it a lot better. But then I noticed the busy box in the bottom row. (Actually there are two busy ones down there.) ANYTHING close to the edge of a piece of artwork that draws your eye there (usually it is something with strong contrast) is not a good thing. Because your eye will then be drawn OUT of the artwork, and that's bad. It's a Design Rule and it's based on how your brain sees things, so don't bother disagreeing with me. You won't win that argument. If you are making a piece of art (a quilt is a piece of art) your point is to get your viewer to look at it, not away. So YES you want to control the movement of your viewer's eye.

It's kinda funny. When I talk to quilt guilds or students I tell them I want my quilts to shout, "Look at me, look at me, LOOK. AT. ME."

"ME! ME! ME!"

"NOW LOOK AT ME SOME MORE!"

"Don't look at that other quilt, LOOK AT ME! LOOKATME LOOKATME LOOKATME!"

I pause. They shift in their seats uncomfortably. They look askance. "SO are you going to tell me I'm an egocentric crazy lady?" I ask them. "IF YOU HAVE A QUILT in a show, what do YOU think?" I ask them. "You think the same thing, right? Because if you don't, YOU ARE LYING!" Now they laugh.

"You want your quilt to be the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE! You want EVERYONE to look at it, and look at it, and then look some more. TO DO THAT, you have to follow some basic design rules to keep your viewer's attention..."

That's WHY I take so much time fine tuning the layout of my quilts. Because I don't just want them to just look nice. I want them to be DROP DEAD KNOCKOUTS.

(True story. The Selvage Fairy once commented to me, "It's interesting that you think the worst something can be is nice." Now she'll correct me because I'm pretty sure I have the quote wrong, but you get the idea.)

So I moved about a dozen of the boxes. I rearranged them so I didn't have too may busy ones together. I moved them so there weren't too many quiet ones together. I moved them so the greens and the reds didn't sit next to each other. I moved some so the REALLY busy ones weren't too close to an edge. I moved them so prints with similar shapes were not sitting next to each other. Given the fact that I don't have an infinite number of blocks it's rather tricky, but I did my best.

The Second Bird

 

I made a Red Christmas bird. If you look closely you will see part of an amaryllis flower, which was made into a box and is shown in yesterday's post. Also check out the legs, they are mini Christmas packages. The beak is as big as it is because I wanted that swoop.

Before I figure out how I want to arrange the blocks, I have to decide where the birds go. Once I know whey they (or one of them) will go, I will rearrange the boxes. So for the next few pictures, ignore the boxes and the prints and just look at the birds. This one, above, is way too symmetrical for me.

I like this better, where the birds aren't in the same row.

Trying to get the birds closer to each other, I stuck in a really tall narrow box. I had originally made this box for my HAPPY HOLIDAYS quilt, but here it just looks like a wall separating the two birds.

Getting rid of that box doesn't make this better. There is too much space surrounding the birds.

When I arrange the birds like this, they look like they are getting ready to duel. Not exactly Holiday-friendly.

I will figure out where I want to place the birds, and then I will rearrange the boxes. Stay tuned. I might just turn this thing on it's head!!!

I heard from my friend SewGirl.  This is her quilt, above. Hers is big enough for a king sized bed - 7 rows of 10 blocks each! And she quilted it herself on her Bernina 830. Yowsa!

If you want to make your own birds, like mine, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. 

If you want to make free pieced letters like in my Happy Holidays quilt, I have a tutorial for making letters without paper piecing. You can get that here.

What Do You Want For Christmas?

About a week or so ago I got an email from my pal Steve who lives in Alaska and who quilts. His significant other wanted to get him a quilting present for Christmas. Steve was almost out of his grey thread for piecing and he couldn't remember where he ordered it from before. Could I help him? What did I use?

Well I was only too happy to tell Steve that I use is Presencia 60 wt cotton thread, color # 352. It is a 3 ply 100% mercerized Egyptian cotton. I buy a cone of 4882 yards. One cone lasts me about a year.

It got me to thinking.

About a thousand years ago I worked in retail and at Christmastime I would ask my customers what they wanted for Christmas. What was interesting was the sheer normalcy of the things people wanted. Now I said they couldn't say a winning lottery ticket, or a person real or imagined. It had to be a THING.

After I sent the email to Steve I thought, well hell. Why stop there? So I have put together a list of things I have in my studio that make my life easier. There's nothing wrong in making a wish list. There's not a whole lot of excitement when you open a present on Christmas and think, "oh, what the hell am I going to do with THIS? There are so many other things I would rather have..." So here goes.

1. Pins. I am very fussy about my pins. About 7 years ago I found these. They are fine, long, SHARP and most importantly, STEEL, so I can pick them up with a magnet. Thing is these pins cost five or six bucks a pack. So when I order them (from Amazon, where else) I order five or six packs at a time, and keep them in a drawer in my studio. Because nothing sucks more than running out of something and having to GO SOMEPLACE and get more. Have plenty on hand. I hate going shopping. Look, if somebody gave me six packages of my favorite pins, I'd be thrilled!

2. Bobbins. I understand now that you can buy PRE WOUND BOBBINS! Oh holy hell, how cool is that? Happiness for me is twenty bobbins wound with my favorite grey thread.

3. Rotary cutter blades. Have you checked the price for a pack of 10 lately?  Me too. Hell, that would make a terrific Christmas present as far as I am concerned. Just be sure to specify which ones!

4. I love my Gingher shears, but damn the older I get the heavier they are to use. Did you know that they now have some lightweight ones? Oh gee darn they are terrific.

5. Let me see, my 16 foot long measuring tape just got all kinky and now won't work properly. It was the perfect size, and since it was ONLY 16 feet long, it didn't weigh a ton. Betcha you can pick up a bright colorful one at the big box hardware store for short money.

6. Needles! I practically died and went to heaven when Kathy told me I could get a box of 100 sewing machine needles for half the price I had been paying! So they were $50? I haven't had to buy needles for about six years now, and I have at least another four year supply. Stuff like that really floats my boat! And when I break a needle, all I have to do is open a drawer and I know I have another one!!!

7. So, you get the drift. Think about it. A spare iron, a step stool, a BIG, fresh cutting mat. A drafting table so you don't have to break your back when you cut fabric. Maybe a new 6-1/2" x 24-1/2" cutting ruler because maybe yours is nicked. A cart to lug your stuff around when you take a class somewhere. One of those nifty needle threaders with a little light on it so you can actually SEE the eye of the needle, because your eyes aren't getting any younger... A good light (preferably an Ott light.)... One of those cushy mats that make it easier to stand when you're ironing that five yard piece of fabric for the back of the quilt you are making. Or HEY, how about an ironing TABLE instead of the stupid useless things they sell as ironing boards...

Look, the list of things is long. Don't feel guilty asking for the little (or not so little) things that you really USE and make your life better. Because if you're reading this you know PERFECTLY WELL that quiltmaking is THE best thing in life. I do NOT have room in my house for an air fryer or an instant pot, but I would be THRILLED with a pack of Martingale rotary cutter blades...

Yeah, I know I'm weird. What can I say?

the Oven Mitt

I love to do anything that's creative, and for me Cooking is another creative act. I am pretty good at it, and I laughed many years ago when a friend of mine told a group of ladies "If ever Lynne invites you to her house for dinner... Go.  Whatever she puts in front of you... Eat!"  My son put it more succinctly: "Nobody turns down a dinner invitation to my Mom's house." My Father made me laugh when he heard that. "Anybody who does that is just STUPID!" He said it while shaking his head and reaching for yet another helping of whatever I had cooked for him that night.

So it should not have been a surprise when I unwrapped this gift from my nephew yesterday:

"Auntie," he told me as I laughed and laughed, "In case [your son] or I am not around when you cook, this should remind you that everything you cook is really good."

I told him that I may never actually USE this mitt. I might just hang it in my kitchen and laugh every time I look at it.

"Well, that's the other reason I bought it for you," he said as I hugged him, "Every time you look at it you'll think of me and smile."

Now THAT'S a terrific gift.

And you can be damn sure I'll laugh every time I see it!

A Present for Me

I bought myself a Christmas present, and I gave it to myself early.

 It's a robotic vacuum cleaner. I know that this isn't going to replace a heavy-duty deep cleaning vacuuming job, but I'm so busy I could use help keeping house looking neat. If this can keep the house looking good from day to day, I'll be happy.

I had to see what it could do, so I set it up, let it charge, then told it to get going. Millie does not like it. I hope she'll get used to it, because I have set it to vacuum every morning at 9 AM.

It seemed to go around haphazardly, but when it headed back to the charging station after about half an hour, I figured it was full. (Since I knew it was coming, I had deliberately let the house get a bit messy.) When I took the little canister out I was surprised at how full it was. I think this little sucker (pun most definitely intended) has found a permanent home.

After Holiday Presents

I got home late New Year's Eve to find a package from Kathy on my doorstep. She and I became blog pals and she visited me last August.

Inside the package was a note,

and a package wrapped in fabric!

Inside were two charming pot holders / hot pads.

I love them!  Who can every have too many pot holders? I may have a hard time actually USING these, however.

Thanks Kathy!

5 Kindle Family

I gave my son a Kindle for Christmas, and my Mom gave my sister one too.  So we're a five Kindle family! Here we are all sitting together on Christmas, reading!