A Puzzle _ Winter Marsh Quilt

 

Hello, hello. How is everyone? We had a couple warm spring days here at the beach! Far too early, let's hope we don't follow up with snow, or worse---extreme heat this summer. The spring days made me all the more determined to get Winter Marsh's central panel put together before outdoor hand sewing time arrives. [mid-May?]

Winter Marsh , based on Jan Patek's Morning has Broken, has been this winter's project. I made Crows [starlings?], big and medium Stars, many Flying Geese over the past few years, and especially this winter. Now it's time to get this thing together.

JP's quilts are always a challenge to fit together, but with my changes, I admit I was rather stuck, stumped, bewildered. Lots of sketches, diagrams, doodles.

I decided that the left hand section would be three vertical panels and to my amazement they fit together. In the rough, taped haphazardly on the sewing room cupboards, I got very worried: This is soooo ugly so umkapotschka, so awful. An unsightly mess.

Surprisingly once sewed together and hung for evaluation, the left section of blocks seems better, more attractive and cohesive.

I left them to rest and went to work on the right hand side. Yes two more long strips, but interrupted by the Setting Sun block, so essentially two large blocks of blocks, with the Sun smack dad in the middle. Ugh.

Now about the sun...on the original pattern the sun is an elaborately pieced Compass Rose style of sun. It strikes me as too perfect, too la-di-dah 1840s. Instead I am planning a raw edge half sun, folkier and in keeping with the rest of the design.

However: where I left off earlier this week, the bottom rectangles' two strips do not fit together. I tried spacers and Geese strips--but no, lazy design. Another medium star must be made and added. 

The top is also proving long and narrow, a pet peeve of mine. Taking an idea from When the Wild Geese Fly, I inserted random 4" partial sashings to widen the design. It was oddly hard to figure out, but again, I think it works in a folky, prim sort of way.

This week I hope to applique the Star and the Sun and maybe complete the top's center.  My plan currently is wide-ish borders w my song lyric quilt machine appliqued.

 That's a daunting task, the border words, and may get postponed [quite severe back pain and difficulty walking Mo properly, so I limit sewing to 45 minutes a day. Discouraging.] But wouldn't it be great to have this ready when next winter's cold winds begin to blow.

                                 ***

A bit of spring cleaning and foofing ---the white slipcovers desperately need a wash. I have my forsythia out and I always leave the eggs through May, to celebrate spring and the birds nesting time.

Have a great week!

love 

lizzy

gone to  the beach...

Mo has been loving the longer evenings. 

Despite my back pain, I make sure I can give him the fun of a long dinner walk. We've been going to the beach bench most days. We sit and watch the birds nesting in the scrub pines and hawthorns on the dune. They remind me of the birds on Winter Marsh, though the area is a vernal swale not a marsh most years. We actually do not have many crows here, just solitary fish crows, so secretly the blackbirds depicted on Winter Marsh are to me mundane starlings, or blackbirds--even mockingbirds or sparrows. Have to celebrate what I have and see, the Crows are a symbol if not a reality. They bring me joy.

Note the white hawthorn flowers, so pretty, I think. And a mockingbird. They nest n that bush.

***the word is actually this: '' ungapatchka. a Yiddish word that describes the overly ornate, busy, ridiculously over-decorated, and garnished to the point of distaste.''

PS This was a jaw dropping shock. You may recall I collect these German Easter eggs.

 always look after Easter for bargain finds on sale. Note the price here on eBay! That is the SOLD price. Bunnies and flowers are my faves, and gold or odd backgrounds.