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







Sunday, September 1, 2019

Lori's Stringalong ~ Month 8



Hello! Welcome September, whose motto is: "It's still summer!" Popping in on this holiday evening to add my string project to Lori's linky, which caught me unprepared on Friday.


Month Eight? My post should be month 5, as I walked away from my sewing machine in early June and didn't really return until we had that nice rain day last week.


I did do some work on my Blue Baskets that day. And made some mistakes, since diagonal settings aren't the best ]thing to set aside, I know I forget what I am doing. Also the corner triangles I had cut went lost.The second row of five Baskets got make anyway. Hard to photograph.


You're looking, above, diagonally across the quilt. The Baskets will be upright when complete. This is the final orientation, below.


Then I did some border planning. I found a white shirting print, so here is my original plan, very traditional. A narrow white float* border, a narrow cheddar border; then a wider white border. Not sure what binding, either narrow cheddar, or scrappy blue plaid, or just one blue print. Cheddar binding is the most traditional .       
* non-quilter friends, a float border separates the pieced blocks from the main border, so the block points "float".



Then since trad isn't usually very lizzy, I have been considering this wild and lovely Kaffee Fassett toile for the cheddar inner board. I do love this idea! Solid cheddar binding,










OR, played with this idea on that rain day:
I had pretty much given up on finding a white shirting av as yardage for my borders. And a few months ago I was hounding blog friend Julierose to use a piano key border on her string project. She politely refused, but I had the idea, if you want a piano key border so bad, maybe do it on y our own project and butt out of Julie's. LOL. So I made some piano key blocks that would form a border.






They make up fast and are fun. When I laid the pieces out at first I was disappointed; thought they overwhelmed the rather delicate Baskets, But today in the photos, I kind of like them again.




This top is almost done. I need a few rain days is all. Not a hurricane, though, please. I am praying for folks further south, that slow moving Dorian is a fizzle. Then I'll decide on the borders, but opinions so far are welcome.

...



I've been sewing hard on Bitty, in my own slow way. I am seeing some bad stitching but I have promised myself I won't stop for finicky repairs until it is entirely done. If this baby quilt survives the dumpster purge which will happen when I have passed on, and Bitty lives into the future, I can see someone on whatever exists for FB in a hundred years: an expert saying, "Densely quilted but very poor workmanship." I am not trying for a tiny fine hand quilt look but a folky boro or kantha type of texture.



I do love how it looks, bumps and squinchy spots and all.







Oh speaking of spots, I discovered this spot on Blue Baskets!



Someone spilled soda/ Coke. My tiny sewing space doubles as a guest room in the summer. I know it was a guest because the same person spilled Coke on my counters and --ugh, so sticky!--dribbled on my kitchen floor. I can see not admitting you got Coke on the quilt block but who doesn't clean up a floor spill, geeze. I can't decide if I should replace the triangle or  spot clean with a Tide stick? [All that aside, I sure hope it's not mouse pee!]



Our weather today was odd. I live far north of Dorian's expected path but the air and clouds had, to me, a hint of hurricane to them, as did the long slow waves rolling in, not rough yet but heaving sullenly. I enjoy a good storm---but not a cataclysm. I hope everyone stays safe. And please, please evacuate if you are asked to do so and be sure to take your pets.



Lots of ships, 16 at one point.


Happy holiday! Happy September.


love

lizzy

gone to the beach....





























BORO : ''the Japanese art of mending, called boro, is experiencing a resurgence. Originally, the quilting technique was applied to extend the life of ragged and tattered clothes and household items by sewing patches in place with sashiko, a simple running stitch.''  here

KANTHA: ''Kantha is a form of embroidery often practised by rural women. The traditional form of Kantha embroidery was done with soft dhotis and saris, with a simple running stitch along the edges.''
here   This is not a great definition of kantha, in Wiki. You may also google kantha images for a better idea. 
f[or my non-quilter friends]

8 comments:

  1. Wow! I love your progress and had to LOL on your butting out comment! I do like the piano key border!
    The little bitty is darling.

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  2. I like the cheddar binding but the border strips are dark. Do you have any lighter strips for it. Your baskets are looking great.
    When I found out there’s 16 teasp. of sugar in a small bottle of Coke they are definitely a no no.

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  3. I love your baskets so much. NIce idea on the piano key border - your very own piano key border;). Weird about the Coke.

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  4. Hi! I liked the toile with the cheddar color, but I love the piano keys. It looks nicely balanced to me, but maybe it was growing up in the country - light colors on often-handled edges showed too much dirt, lol!

    I'd use the tide stick on the Coke spot, then dab 'rinse' it with clear water. That way it'll be gone and won't set if you happen to forget and iron that block.

    I've been watching Dorian on Weather Channel. Only good thing about it being slow is there has been plenty of time to get ready and/or evacuate. I hope it doesn't cause too much damage up the East Coast! It looks like it could make a mess as far north as Virginia... Only bad thing about living on the coast, I guess. Hard to hide from hurricanes!

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  5. Love your latest shirting find with the baskets. I also enjoy the piano key border but am undecided whether it detracts from the baskets. A difficult decision. The cheddar binding is so good in linking all the handles to the edge.
    The Coke incident is maddening. Maybe soak the affected part in cold water and gently use some stain remover or your equivalent of our Handy Andy (white household surface cleaner).
    Keep safe. Penny

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  6. Sounds like you had a wonderful "beachy" summer this year; it is good to walk away now and then. I love your piano keys border with those baskets...[turn around is fair play and all;)))].
    Love how bitty is looking--I like the squinchy look of that boro/kantha stitchery a lot..i think it gives a piece an "aged" look--like it's been used and cherished...
    As for the stain--maybe some salt overnight? again that "aged" look, right? (I hear the song "Let it be, let it be.." whirling through my head ),,
    Hope the rest of your day goes sewingly...hugs, Julierose

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  7. lovely work, as always. i think that Kaffe print would be awesome on the back of the basket quilt.

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  8. Loving the cheddar. I love that word! The baskets look great. :) Kit

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