Coming Up

I was cleaning up in my studio and came across a stack of squares I cut but did not use in the orange Carnelian quilt. So I cut them into Macnas-sized rectangles.  Once I had those, I had to figure out what to match them with. 

As it happened, I was watching Project Runway, and one of the guest judges (I missed her name), was wearing an orange and pink sweater.  Can you say … INSPIRATION?

So now I will cut some pink Macnas pieces.

Then, when I had a lot of time to fill, I worked up this design on my iPad. It isn’t perfect, but it gives me a place to start. I’ll use oranges, pinks and creams. 

Yakkety Yak, Finished!

The Yakkety Yak quilt is all finished. Here it is, hanging over the top edge of my cubicle at work, but more on that in a bit.

I've been binge watching all the past seasons of Top Chef. I watched them all while they were happening, and it's amazing what I forgot. I'm up to Season 11 now. And yes, I am watching the new episodes of Season 21 as they are shown. So while I have been sewing the binding of the last few quilts, it's been Top Chef all the time.

And Cherie, I am sorry! Your brain wasn't sleep addled. In yesterday's post, I did indeed refer to the binding mistakenly as "backing." It's fixed now, but you were not wrong. That's what I get when I try to post too close to my bedtime.

I brought the quilt to work to show my colleagues and the CEO suggested I display it for everyone to see. 

Not going to refuse that. I wrote a note and taped it up so folks could read, since I was on the other side of that wall and couldn't tell if anybody was there.

It's a good sized quilt, and it will surely live on my bed, at least for a bit.

You too can make birds! Get my tutorial here. It's an instant download so you can get started right away!

 

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

 

Yeah, you weren't expecting this, I know, but bear with me. Last summer when I wallpapered my kitchen, I did not move the refrigerator to wallpaper behind it. But it bugged me, so a couple of weeks ago I ordered a roll of wallpaper, and yesterday I emptied the refrigerator, pulled it forward, and got to work. I removed the old wallpaper, and then installed the new stuff.

I screwed up a bit at the very bottom, but you did hear me say "behind the refrigerator?"

After I finished, I washed the floor, moved the fridge back into place and then sorted through the contents of the fridge and freezer, cleaning the inside as I went. Then I picked up all the mess, brought it all to the trash and came back inside to have lunch and watch the tennis on TV.

I've been sewing this together too. Should have the top finished soon. I plan to add a pink border.

Breaking Up

 

This may look OK, but I don't like the way the pink stripes carry across the lighter blocks. You almost can't tell that they are different fabrics. The whole point of this arrangement is to focus on the swaying of the darker triangles but those horizontal stripes hold them back.

So I thought, what the hell, why am I worried about trying to making those secondary triangles do something when what I really want them to disappear?

And then I thought, what at the hell, it's already broken, so why don't I just keep going and break it some more?

So instead of making the secondary triangles pink, I made them white-ish.

In fact, I made the light triangles all the same. I'll look at it for a day or so before I sew it all together.

Back In The Studio

 

I'm wrestling with this beast again. I set it aside to work on the green version. I thought I had ordered more fabrics for it, but I was wrong. I had to go fabric shopping yesterday (oh gee darn). But It just wasn't enough I usually buy fabrics with punch, snap and pizzaz, and to finish this quilt, I need some fabrics that are more, shall we say, subservient. While I had fabric like that in my stash I didn't have ENOUGH of them. Sigh.

Sometimes I'm smart enough to notice things that don't work right away, and sometimes it takes me a bit longer. See that middle lozenge? It's more red at the bottom, and then in the top triangle it is more pink. It bothered me because the top part of that shape made me think it was something else, and I need that shape to be unified.

This is when I am glad I cut my strips bigger than I will really need. I cut another big triangle. It isn't 100% perfect, but I think it's better than it was.

In this quilt I want you to see the "ribbons" twisting and sa-shaying. I want the other shapes (those big long triangles on the sides) to fall a bit into the background. Yeah, I know they aren't there yet.

So yet again this sucker is going to wait. But fear not, I do have work in the studio that will keep me excited for a few days!

Yakkety Yak - the flimsy!

 Putting this quilt together has been really challenging. Every seam requires a lot of thought, and sometimes it changes that I thought I was going to do. Like this bird with the really long legs, above. I -thought- I knew just what I was going to do, but it didn't seem to work.

I ended up chopping them off and adding two tiny birds in their place.

There are only three set in squares in the quilt, but there where I lot of places where there were "T" seams  where things got added to something else.

I have to straighten out the sides, but I worked all day on this on Sunday and I was just wiped out. It's about 66" x 80".

Naturally, things got moved around in order to sew it up. I didn't take any birds apart, but I did remove a lot of the strips above the bird heads several times. Several birds got shorter (legs got trimmed) and one bird got a smaller beak. The littlest birds are 3" tall (excuse me, short).

You too can make birds like these using my tutorial available at my Etsy shop, here. They are a lot of fun.

Friday's Bird and an Excuse

 

Sometimes I walk into the studio and look down at the fabrics scattered all over my worktable and the idea for a bird just jumps up at me. So it was with this tiny bird. I don't know anything about this kid. Yet.

You all know I read. I mean, I do a lot of reading. I suck down at least one book a week, if not more. I always have a book with me. 

True story:

Years and years ago (over 20) I was sitting in the company's cafeteria, eating my lunch, while reading a book. It's what I did every day. This was back when eating at your desk was forbidden. At one end of the table was the Mark, the CEO, who read the Wall Street Journal every day. It was normally the quiet table. 

So anyway, I'm reading whatever mystery or detective novel I was into and one of the mechanics sits down and starts eating and chatting. Finally he says, "Hey Lynne, when are you ever going to finish that book?"

I looked up, but before I could even formulate a thought, Mark says, "What are you talking about Norm? That's her third one this week."

My head practically exploded. I didn't know what was more astounding, the fact that the CEO noticed I was reading a different book, or that he had COUNTED them.

I still read a book at lunchtime.

Anyway, occasionally I get so sucked into a book I come home from work, have dinner, and then lie on the couch and read until I finish the book or it's time for me to go to bed.

Such it was the last couple of nights while I read "The Writing Retreat" by Julia Bartz. It was not quite the thing I usually read except I couldn't put it down.

Feeling Better!

 

It’s hard to believe it’s December already. I’ve put the Christmas table quilt on the table, and got out my other Holiday quilts for display as well.

I’ve made a few more little birds and this one is the littlest. Compared to a normal sized bird, this guy is really little. I think he’s cute.

I have just stuffed the little birds in spaces where they fit, but before I’m done I’ll move them all around. You can get an idea of what’s going on here.

I’m feeling quite a bit better. I’m not taking any more cold medicine and that’s a big plus, but I’m still getting to bed about 9 PM, so I’m not really doing a whole heck of a lot. My Mom’s got it though. She’s been for X-rays and she’s on antibiotics. She’s 89 and told me this morning she’s pissed. She said she isn’t ready to be “Saint Mom” any time soon. Any positive vibes you can send her way would be most appreciated.

Hey, if you want to make birds, you can! It’s a lot of fun and my tutorial tells you everything you need to know. Click on the blue bird in the sidebar, and it will take you to my Etsy shop!

More on That

 It is always nice to know how my readers think of me. Several offered their opinions, which are always good to consider. 

However, I already have an iPhone, and do not want an Android anything. Moreover, I do not want a 15" anything. If I want to watch a movie, I'll do it on my TV using a streaming service. I'm spoiled like that.

What I want is everything on one platform, that's interchangeable, and all draws from my data which is in ONE place.

I have pulled the trigger and decided to move all my devices to Apple. They can share the same data and talk between each other nicely.

Today Dot told me : "Later this month, Apple will release a new model of the iPad Pro, so you might want to wait a bit to see what it’s like. The other iPads will likely be reduced in price at that time."

Oops. too late. However, shortly afterward I received an email from Apple:

 

So I will be getting a newer version of the one I ordered. Lucky me.

Well.

The other day when I was working on the hanging sleeve for the pink barn quilt, I decided to cut the binding for it at the same time. So I did that. And then I put it next to the quilt and OOPS! I goofed.

Fortunately I found the correct fabric, waiting somewhere safe. I'll be working on that this weekend. 

And now, a Public Service Announcement:

Two weekends ago a colleague of mine celebrated the wedding of one of his daughters. Relatives and friends traveled from near and far for the event. It went off without a hitch. But four days later one of the guests called him. He and his wife tested positive for Covid. My colleague reached out to all in attendance, as well as the vendors.

Fully one third of the folks who attended tested positive. My friend has spent the last two weeks self isolating and checking in on his friends and relatives far and wide.

Just today I heard from another friend who was exposed recently. She's angry and I don't blame her.

This thing isn't going away, folks. Please get the newest vaccine, which is available to everyone older than 5. Your drugstore should have it. (I got mine that same weekend. No, I did not attend the wedding.) Protect yourself and those around you.

Another Flamingo

 

I made another flamingo. This one isn't as successful as the other two, in my opinion. The beak is too big and he (she?) leans forward a bit. I don't think this one has the grace of the other two, but, hey, I'm still working it out.

I'm definitely going to make more. I might have Flamingo Fever.

This and That

 

A couple of weeks ago I was at one of the mark-down home stuff stores and I saw these round orange pillows that looked like flowers. They were for outside, but I thought they were cute as hell, and besides I have a chair in my living room the same color. So they came home with me.

 I arranged the Whirlygig quilt on the back of my couch, and put the two flowered pillows on either side. Looks good! Whirlygig is a Scap Slab quilt. You can see a picture of the full thing here. (scroll down a bit.) 

I like the blue in the quilt and wanted to carry the color idea over to the red-orange chair, so I poked around in my stash, found some fabric that shared the colors of the quilt and whipped up this pillow cover. Now the room looks fresh for the summer and Julie's visit.
 

I rearranged the birds so they are all right side up. I don't know how I am going to arrange them, but at least this way they look like birds and we can see they are individuals. The other way the legs grabbed the viewer's attention, and that didn't make any sense. They stopped looking like birds, which is NOT what I want. I will figure it out.

You don't always know what you need until you need something. I've got an overstuffed freezer, and I'm trying to work my way through all the stuff I've got in there. I thought I'd made some pulled chicken tacos for dinner. It was 90F and I certainly didn't want to be cooking. I pulled one chicken breast out of the freezer. Perfect. I could easily make the pulled chicken in the crock pot. Only problem is the crock pot I have is one of those enormous six quart ones. Great if you are feeding a crowd. Not me. It's also good if you like leftovers (not me either, I already have too much stuff in my freezer.) I knew cooking ONE chicken breast in that big crock pot would not work. So I wondered if I could get a TINY crock pot. Sure enough, on Amazon (where else?) I could get an one quart crock pot for less than 12 bucks. And if I ordered it "in the next 57 minutes" I could have it at my house the next day. Oh glory be. Worked like a charm. The big crock pot will very likely be going in the yard sale at the end of the month.

My granddaughter and I made some Caramel Delight Energy Balls via FaceTime. She got to use her new mixer. My son had specifically asked for these. My DIL said she'd need to go to the grocery store as she didn't have all the ingredients. We'd made them once before, but they hadn't had the coconut, so they substituted chopped pistashios. This time I suggested she get some mini M&Ms to use in addition to the mini chocolate chips the recipe asks for. "They look cute and I think DGD will like them." Ok, mission accomplished.

DS helped DGD toast the coconut, then left her to shape the balls and roll them in the toasted coconut. After she'd done about half of them, my son came by and asked if he could try one. DGD proudly handed him the biggest one. "OH HOLY HELL," I heard my son proclaim, "these are GOOD!" My DGD grinned. "These won't last."

How good were they? Two thumbs, and toes, up! 

Many years ago my son's pediatrician commented about him, "There's a lotta ham in this kid." Well, I think it rubbed off.

 

Round and Round

 

I thought I'd have the birds going around in circles- sort of like concentric circles, with birds in each "row" facing away from the other.

Then I rearranged them so they were all standing up. This didn't sing for me either.

What I'm trying to do is two interlocking coils where one set of birds faces one way and the other set of birds face the other way. This isn't working either.

I finally had to get out my sketchbook. Each square represents one bird block. If I did this, I'd need 70 blocks - a lot more than I have right now, so no matter what happens, I need to make more blocks.

I've laid out the bird like the plan above, but you can hardly tell the birds are arranged in any particular way at all. 

Here when a bird turned a corner, I rotated him. It's mildly interesting, but doesn't really convey the idea.

So I will make more blocks. If you want to join me you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

 

You may be wondering where I was all last week. I was home. I've been busy. I've been making decisions; choosing lighting fixtures (I've decided to replace them in both bathrooms), searching and getting quotes for a mirror for the new bathroom, and making other decisions for what's going in there. I also chose a new ceiling fan for my living room. The guy that has been doing the work on my guest bathroom injured his back, throwing my schedule right to hell. 

I've been reading. I just finished A Gentleman in Moscow, which I enjoyed very much. I've also been watching Top Chef (Season 19!!).

I've been continuing to go through drawers and cabinets and closets going through my excess "stuff" so I can sell it at the community yard sale at the end of June. I've also made the annual trip to the garden center for the herb garden I grow each year. I have Parsley, Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Chives, Mint and Sage.

Anyway.

The Wallflower

 

This is the Wallflower. We who were wallflowers know exactly why I named her so. We all have a set of rules we carry around in our heads that we use when we make quilts. Sometimes we are aware of them, sometimes not. 

I've been making birds for a long time. I always take advantage of the prints and try to make the wings look "wing-y." When I started teaching birds I tried to explain this to my students. Fortunately for me (and them) they ignored me. So now I tell students, "Do whatever you want with the wing, because it will probably turn out fine." I have learned that stripes work well, and in any direction. (I'm telling you! ANY direction.) I've seen plaids and all kinds of stuff. It's been a real education (for me.)

So with this bird, I wanted to try NOT to make the wing so blatantly wing-y. For this bird, I really wanted to avoid the large white flowers that dotted the fabric. 

Big reason why: If you have a motif (a shape of something, a flower, for example) that is the same color as your background, your eye will connect it to your background and your "thing" (in this case, the bird's wing) will "read" to the viewer as having a hole in it.

This was not as successful as I had hoped. There is too much blah, and not enough of something interesting to hold the viewer's attention. It's okay. (Now I hear The Selvage Fairy telling me once: "It's interesting to me that for you the worst something can be is 'nice.'")

But I also have to remember that we do things (we follow those "rules") because they reflect ourselves.  I love the prints and patterns in the fabric I use. I like to use them to move your eye around. Yes, I am manipulating you. But I also just happen to really like birds with really "wing-y" wings.

And then there's the fabric that screams BUY ME! USE ME! I'M WING-Y!!!!

Yes dear.

(And did I fussy cut that wing so I would have every bit of those leaves in there? Damn right I did.)

If you want to make birds, you can get my tutorial here.)

Pink Birds

 

I am having a lot of fun making Pink birds. This bird's wing is from fabric I bought when Julie sent me to QT a few weeks ago to get out of my funk.

Same thing with this bird's wing. I made this bird with the umbrella fabric background. I don't want all the birds to have WOWs backgrounds. 

Pretty sure I'm gonna have a pair of snub-nosed birds here. 

Oh well!

Happy Anniversary to Julie & Larry, and my DS and DIL share the anniversary as well!

If you want to make birds, you can get my tutorial here!