Quilt Day

Hi! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
The beach has been so empty, so  pristine...which means no treasure.

But when I got home from my long fruitless walk---oh, my! The mailman left me treasure instead...my quilts are back! I just threw them over the sofa for a fast photo or two....

I was so excited!

The quilting is just gorgeous. I found Lori on eBay...and her work is amazing.

I can't wait to finish the Baskets. I repaired and reworked and remade that baby for years! Then I couldn't find anyone who understood my ideas for quilting it. Til now. I am so pleased. I guess it should have traditional turkey red binding? Or, blue?

 The baby quilt may go on etsy...it can have the baby's name added in the center section. Or maybe in my stash for gifts?

Other projects:

The little brown quilt from Cheri's blog is ready to be handquilted [on the summer beach]. And I made her next miniature quilt too...hers is of course much cuter. here  I may machine quilt this one. I'm a bit disappointed in my version because I so loved the little quilt that was the inspiration. So...I'll see.

 It will have the bright blue, rather crappy JoAnn's calico on the back. The JoAnn's calicoes fade terribly , in a streaky way.

Then, new projects: Lori [different Lori] at Humble Quilts is doing a quiltalong, or block of the month, here on this neat primitive quilt called "A Little Porch Time" by Lynda Hall at Primitive Pieces link is here.....

One of the great things about the internet is that we can write to these artists and hear right back, what a thrill. And Lynda gave me permission to show her quilt and my version as it is made. I hope I am up to this challenge. I have very few plaid homespuns! I'll have to tea dye and/ or use dark calico instead.

And the book is quite fun, as Lynda tells why she used each motif...but her world is so not my world, and here I am dithering: should my house be grey Cape Cod shingles? And be a lighthouse? Will my blueberry blue door look okay?

And...I don't have a porch! Or a cat!  

Just a deck and the seabirds and the beach!!! Should I make her world, or mine?

And, most important: Can I applique such a big project?

High anxiety here,lol.

But I decided to take it one block at a time, just as Lori will be doing on her blog.

I foresee a LOT of do-overs because doing the blocks one by one, to me, may be a disaster. (Fun. But well... the no porch thing?)

Yes the door is crooked. And the chimney thing is just to remind me it needs to go there...plus I have nothing whatsoever in my fabric stash for that star. It can, of course, wait awhile...

Then another idea! I've been loving this quilt, and yes it looks much more like "me"...I also heard from the nice folks at Glorious Color who gave me permission to show their photos.

That envelope came Friday! Lots of planning going on here at the beach. My friend Mel suggested, as I was oohing and aaahing about this design, that I get the pattern and start gathering the very extensive complex fabrics. And plan to begin it next January, when ski season means I have many weekends home alone.

Great idea, Mel! I'll shop in my fabric closet, mostly. I have plenty of brights. I think.

I'm finding it somewhat discomforting that I'm becoming involved in using other designers' plans. I was always taught to make my own designs and never use a pattern that I did not make myself. My dad taught me to sew and quilt and that was his...aesthetic?---even though in his own art he made exquisite museum quality   reproduction Chippendale and Shaker furniture. Not his own designs exactly, but he did make his own plans, usually on a paper napkin or old receipt. And alwayshis own secret drawer or niche....Yet the quilts his mother and my aunt made, that he treasured and used to teach me to quilt, were all "kit" quilts. But for me, he emphasized originality. So these projects will be a new direction for me.

We'll see if I can follow the directions, not my strong point.

Now, should this be a lighthouse or what?

And that heart shaped beard has GOT to go. (And odd hair/halo?]

and, um, the whale needs to look more, ah---whale-ish?

Flea market finds tomorrow, then a beach day! Busy week, stay tuned.

love

              lizzy

gone to the beach

Thanks again to:  Lori at Humble Quilts, Glorious Color, Cheri at Quilts by Cheri, and Lynda at Primitive Pieces! You are all my inspirations. Photos reprinted with their permission, links are in the text above. enjoy!