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







Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Miscellany ~ Mostly Quilts



Good evening, friends! Hope your week is good so far? Here the rain has briefly cleared but the wind is howling again---I'm not sure which is worse. The high winds off the water make it feel cold as January, brrrr. I was sadly under-dressed when Mo and I tried to walk earlier. Gotta dig out my snow/ wind pants and parka before his bedtime stroll.

Quilts I rec'd from Katy! love!

I promised to give you the Linky info so you can see all the amazing little quilts in Lori's swap, so here ya go: Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap 
For those of you arriving via the Linky party, this post tells more about designing and making my quilt to send to Lila, my swap partner: HERE


Remember my contribution and how I struggled to make it authentic and rule-abiding? [above] Well there seems to be more to its story. As you know I prefer to design my own little quilts, inspired by books or photos, or quilts I own [ed]. The final pink/ brown/ purple quilt was based on a blue/ red quilt, but the colors were so odd, such a stretch for me. Then the other day I was sorting through old photos trying to clear out hard drive space and I came across old pics of a little tiny quilt I bought a few years ago on eBay.



It is desperately in need of repair, but somehow I either have the quilt in hand or the fabrics, but never both.







Right now the tiny quilt is missing! It's not where it belongs, so I am baffled. I haven't seen it in at least a year. But what interests me is how similar it is, sight unseen, to my swap quilt. I reproduced it without remembering it, strange.





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Back from the quilter!

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Always a thrill. I am working so hard to wrap up some of winter's projects.


Little Red is done, I do love it. Leftover blocks from TQC 1880 Sampler. 4" blocks; Penny reminded me that TQC is doing 3" blocks now instead, so fun.






It is bound and washed, dried and crinkled. I soaked it in Retayne before washing it, no hint of red fade, for which I am so glad.



We had one sunny and warm day, maybe a week or so ago. My deck is not fixed up or pretty for the coming summer but Mo and I enjoyed an hour while I did Little Red's green binding.







Mo is looking for human intruders!



Good times ahead! I have ordered three new swimsuits. Did NOT try them on though.


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Recently Lori mentioned that our next little quilt sewalong, in the Fall, may be an Amish inspired project. Fun and different! I knew I have absolutely no colorful solids, so in the spirit of Be Prepared, I was trawling the internet for small precut bundles of potential solids. I remembered years ago, Keepsake quilting always had wonderful small bundles. Instead of regular Amish solids I picked up this on-sale pack of my fave Grunge . Grunge is a solid cotton with wonderful colors, overprinted with scrapes and splotches, very subtle but there. I do hate a plain solid [why I own none] and the Grunge seems perhaps a way to bring a modern vibe to the Amish aesthetic of very dark with sparks of bright. 5.99.








On Amish Mafia [trainwreck-type faux-reality show on TV? here  and HERE ] Levi, the Amish godfather, always wore bright turquoise or bright peach shirts with his black suits and black brimmed hat.



If it doesn't work for that, it will be a HST small quilt; the 5 1/2" squares will make forty blocks [or 80?], set into this beautiful almost-black solid called Indigo.

Keepsake also had these wonderful bundles of Civil War repro squares, 5.99 for 40 squares. All new to me.



I'd love to get yardage on these!


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Back in the little quilt room, I am laboring over La Grande Sajou still!
Hopefully an update on her soon; then three more projects to final prep for the quilter. And that t-shirt quilt project! Have any of you made a tee shirt quilt? Any advice? The size of the tee designs varies immensely. I just sit and look at them: it's not like I can replace any if mistakes are made.

Back soon! PS The buoy is still there on the beach!

love 

 lizzy

gone to the beach.....