I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Thursday, September 17, 2015

Summer Quilt Projects - Update



Hi guys! One more week of official ''astronomical'' summer left to go. Temps here are hovering in the hot humid eighties, and the sky is a brilliant hard plastic blue. Some days now I just stay in. I'm tired of slathering sunscreen and feeling my skin sizzle. I'm pretty pleased with the amount of quilt work I got done this summer. Nothing like working at the beach---no housewife-y distractions, just sun, sand, sewing.

I don't think I ever showed you the finished [substitute] robin's nest block for Pokeberry. It is the final applique block, all the rest of the blocks are pieced. I simplified the wreath and added the bird and nest with eggs. See how she is holding a pokeberry in her beak?
She needs her feet embroidered, I just noticed! That's why seeing pics online is useful.


robin is, of course, my etsy and eBay seller name. The wreath represents apple and peach blossoms from the orchards of my Ohio childhood. We had an ancient apple orchard in our back woods. My mom always told us it had been planted by Johnny Appleseed. [And that the paths in the woods were Indian trails!]I was fascinated. Beyond that woods was cornfields and a peach orchard. The grumpy farmer would chase us away from his valuable [?] peach crop if we snuck in. He'd fire his shotgun at us, maybe in the air but still! I was so scared I wet my pants once.

One winter my big grey striped tomcat Pixie [I know! groan] disappeared, much to my distress. I cried and cried. Come spring, the mean farmer contacted us, he'd seen the lost cat fliers at the local barber shop. Seems Pixie spent the winter in the guy's barn, making kitty love to the girl barn cats. Pixie got sent home to me, along with one of his babies, a brown tabby more appropriately named Charlie.

Those are the  memories in this block. I think it came out okay---if I hate it later in the entirety of the top I can always change it out. [Ideally it would rotate about 8 degrees to the left, so the nest is horizontal. But, okay.]


I finished hand quilting Winter Blues, from winter of 2014. One of Lori's / Humble Quilts/ quiltalongs. I promised myself I'd get it quilted this summer, soooooo glad the quilting is done and binding attached. Now just needs the binding finished, a going over with a Dryel pen to remove the lines; wash and fluff. All done.






For some reason I couldn't get a good photo of this pretty little quilt. Below is a daylight photo of just the top, showing accurate colors.


And here's an update on Summertime.



I attached the first set of borders this past week. I spent a lot of time obsessing about the central section and first calico border not having enough contrast. I do wish pattern designers would give us little hints, like, be sure the value of that solid section is different enough from the center that it doesn't appear  be  one big boring blob. But no, nothing else looked better so I went with what I had. And I don't hate it. Even though Kitty is crooked. Her feet are even but she tilts! Would you redo?


I got the piece up on the corner cabinet to get a good look.


OMG. BIG mistake.



See?


I'll leave it for now and fix it one day when I'm feeling very patient. Lots of seam ripper time involved. I have a whole 'nother border and cornerstones to finish this coming week. The final part of the quiltalong, in Primitive Quilts & Projects, comes out October 3rd.

Last, for the non-quilters...a visit to the candle shop yesterday after the farmers market. Walls of beautifully scented candles for Autumn. The variety of scents is amazing, how to choose.






I got just one, for now.


And three littles to try out in my sea glass lantern.



I think Flannel will be a winter winner. Also, not shown, London with the scent of tea and lemon. Truly smelled just like tea, though not Earl Grey /bergamot, too bad. Delightful anyway.


Sadly the reisling-pear one has very little pear aroma. I love pear scent almost as much as peach scent, so that was a bit disappointing. Glad I didn't buy a big one though. Really, any --or all -- are lovely. It was fun to do a little Fall shopping despite the summery heat of the day.

Have a good rest of the week

love 

lizzy

gone to the beach

PS What IS this ship? Pilings? A crane? A sailboat? Missle parts? Huge.




12 comments:

  1. Beautiful quilting. One of my grandmothers quilted beautifully. I didn't get the opportunity to learn how to from her <3

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    Replies
    1. You can still learn, and remember her! My grandmother passed away when my dad was a small boy--but he learned enough ''helping'' her quilt that he was able to teach me the rudiments, tho he did not applique and his mother did lovely applique.

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  2. It's an oil platform being towed to it's destination. I love that the bottom basket faces the same way as the house. I hope you aren't going to turn it around.

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    Replies
    1. The bottom basket is correct, but the side ones should also turn out.

      Oil rig! Amazing, where could it be going?

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  3. You accomplished a lot over the summer - Great quilt projects all!

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  4. I like the kitty that way, it looks like she's looking at or headed to the house and the pug!

    Unless it really bothers YOU, I wouldn't change the block oops! It just makes it unique!

    Nice candles, and yes! What a strange-looking ship! I suspect Dorothy is right - wonder if it's headed for the Gulf?

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    Replies
    1. I think the kitty is crooked. Too crooked. She was hard to sew tho so I m waffling.

      The mistake is the two side basket panels. They should face out. It has to be changed because the big final border kind of echoes the design. One basket, the top one is supposed to turn in, and be wrong. But not all three. Gotta fix it.

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  5. Just flying by. I love your quilts. What does a flannel smell like? My brain imagines the scent when you open a plastic bag when you've ordered flannel material. The smell of dye and that cottony smell. Or is it more like a flannel coat when you get inside after a winter walk?

    Miss you. Are you NaNoing this year?

    Hunter

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  6. I wouldn't change the kitty but I hear you on the basket borders, especially if future borders require a certain presentation. Ughh. Hate ripping out! The colors look wonderful though! It's a great quilt.:)

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  7. I cannot see any mistake in your top. I'd leave the kitty alone. :) Can you see I'm still getting caught up on blog posts?

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Hi! I'm allowing comments from everyone, even anonymous for awhile, to see what happens. With comments moderation. Hopefully the awful porn spammer has gone elsewhere. Or you can always email me! I love to hear from everyone.