Ups and Downs, Starts and Stops

Gretchen Rubin once said, "The days are long, but the years are short."  As we move toward the Winter Soltice up here in the Northern Hemisphere,  it seems to me that both the years and the days are short right now!  November is slipping away -- albeit with lovelier-than-usual weather -- and according to All Things Consumerist, the Holiday Gift Giving Season is on our doorstep.

For those of us who make gifts -- whether to give to loved ones or for others to give to loved ones (or both!) have been gradually ramping up since late summer (or maybe earlier!)  Certainly, my days are full of fabric, fibre and floss at the moment, and I'm hard-pressed to want to go anywhere but the Sewdio.

I'm working on "birds" again and will soon have three pieces ready, one of which is a commission for Christmas.  All have been stitched and one has been beaded.  Next up: "snow" and a mat.  I'd not done any mono-printing for a few months when I got the request, so I wasn't entirely happy with my initial results:

See how 'smudgy' they look?
 

The good thing about them, though, is that the printing was visible through the fabric, so...I simply turned them over and stitched on that side!

The three white pieces have become "bird" pieces, but the long, narrow blue one (upper left corner, above) turned into this:

Autumn Skies (C) 2017
12" W x 4" L
hand-dyed and batik fabric, free-motion quilting
wrapped around stretched canvas

Autumn Skies - detail

It's being put in a floater frame, and I hope to pick it up tomorrow.  I love this 12" x 4" canvas, and made another one that's only paint and stitch, directly on the canvas:

November Evening (C) 2017
free-motion stitching on painted canvas

November Evening - detail

The painting is done with watercolour, and I found I had to do 4 coats -- 1 before stitching and 3 after -- to get it to really show up.  This piece, too, is at the framer's, but will be picked up soon.

Speaking of the framer...Andrea Hatch at Cabinet of Curiosities in Stettler, Alberta -- the gal who also cuts my mats -- is an award-winning framer and a real authority on preservation framing etc.  I always enjoy stopping by her shop.  She's put these into floaters for me now:

Highland Hills (C) 2017
5" x 7" framed to about 6" x 8"
Paint and needle-felting on stretched canvas

Fifty Shades of Green (C) 2017
5" x 7" framed to about 6" x 8"
Paint, quilted hand-dyed fabric, sari silk
 on stretched canvas

On the piecing front...About a month ago I posted about a pair of pillow shams I was making for a client to give as a gift (to match a quilt made a couple of years ago).  The post was about figuring out how to convert a quilt/block pattern into shams, and the math involved.

Well.

I got the first sham top pieced, and most of the second...

First sham top pieced

(Here's where the "down" in this post's title makes sense)

I had a limited amount of fabric from the earlier quilt project; I was careful to pre-cut all the pieces for each sham before I started.

Or, at least, I thought I had.  😡

BUT...I got to the outer 'Labyrinth' border...and was dismayed to find I'd not cut the four dark brown rectangles (each 3 1/2" x 6 1/2") for the flying geese therein.  What had I done with the last of that fabric?  Sliced it up for the narrow borders, that's what!!  AAAAAARGH!!

There followed almost 2 weeks of hunting...and a generous donation of two completely ineligible pieces of fabric by a sweet soul on the Quiltville community FB page.  But...blessedly...the fabric was found in a shop in Calgary, bought, shipped, received...and both tops were finished!

Side by each on my design wall

As of this afternoon, Sham #1 has been quilted -- but not without it's "downs"! 

What happened?  Well...my machine -- taken in for its annual spa treatment in September while I was away -- spit an oily substance of some sort out the back (when the presser foot lever was raised) that landed on (you guessed it) the lighter fabric in the piece -- in four spots!!  Thanks to Grandma's Secret Spot Remover followed by the application of some mild detergent (Sunlight) with a soft old toothbrush...disaster averted -- only to be nearly thwarted by a thread with "just the right colour" that refused to play nicely with the bobbin thread...but that was taken care of too...by replacing it with something that would! 

It also wouldn't be the latter part of November without the temptation of Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt.  It comes at a time when I am ready for some cutting of fabric, clearing of stash, a new project to distract from all the other STUFF I have to do, and definitely from all the STUFF going on around the world.

If you tap into the link above, you'll see that though it's a pieced bed quilt, it's inspired by a landscape beloved by Bonnie...and not too far off the landscape around where I live.  I shopped my stash and discovered I have fabric in appropriate colours that would work.

HOWEVER (there's always a 'however', isn't there?!) before I could entertain the thought of a new mystery quilt project, I realized (to my chagrin) that...erm...the last one I'd attempted (in 2014) lay in pieces in trays under the ironing board in my Sewdio, where I could trip over them more often than not.

Sigh.

The good news was that when I sorted that out, I discovered I was only 2 clues shy of a finished mystery that would fit my twin bed (sorely in need of a new quilt)...so I got to work -- et voila!  The top is finished and will be taken to my friendly long-armer for quilting in the new year.

Not-so-Grand Illusion!

I may have trouble sleeping under it, but I sure love those cheery colours!!

And now for On Ringo Lake...with a lovely nature-inspired colour palate...and (so far) all from my stash!

Sunrise/sunset skies, the earth, water...
and for me, the neutrals signify the inevitable snow

I've saved and printed the Intro and Clue #1, and will turn to them over the course of the next few weeks, even as I finish the Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts, some Christmas knits, those pesky shams, the 'birds' in their bushes...and welcome in the holiday season.

Blessings, Gentle Readers...have a lovely rest of the weekend!

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, for which I too am very thankful!

Into the Mystery

I'm out of sorts, "tetchy", at loose ends.  The weather, unlike yesterday when it was clearly miserable, is uncertain.  It's by turns snowy and less snowy, and the roads are unpredictable.  The wind rises and falls.  There are ice patches on the highway at the edge of town.  I had some errands I wanted to run (because I couldn't, yesterday) and just when I think I might risk the highway, the snow and the wind both pick up.  😣  Sigh.

I've worked on some knitting (gifts-in-the-making); I've stitched on the third SJSA block; I've sorted some more of my Scotland photos.

I shovelled (including my driveway), commiserating with my neighbours and Miss Pookie, who pranced delicately about in the footsteps dented in the snow, rather than risk an all-out gambol.  I went to the Post Office (no mail).  I ate some lunch, and caught up on blog reading.

Bless Bonnie Hunter!  As I was reading her latest post -- and commiserating about her late night at the Emergency Vet's with her beloved pooch (all shall be well now but it was a long evening!)...I remembered.

The annual Mystery.

It's that time of year again -- and she's recently posted the introduction to this latest quilt-along.  Why not take a look at it?

Who am I kidding?!  I didn't participate last year (the use of templates is just not my idea of a good time), but maybe this year...?  My current commission is stalled -- temporarily.  I need more of one particular fabric, and while my LQS is holding some for me pending inspection, I can't get there because of the questionable road conditions.  A Quiltville (Facebook) Community colleague in the U.S. is putting some in the mail today with the hopes that it's a match...so between those two sources, I am hopeful. 

But while I wait...I'm antsy.  I finished another small canvas yesterday...but I don't want to do another today.  Yes, I'm an art quilter, but my hands want to piece -- so I printed off the 2017 Mystery intro and took it into the sewdio.  Cutting and piecing is rhythmic for me; it might just relieve the tension of waiting for the weather to clear.  Why not at least audition the fabric?

It didn't take me long to notice, though, that there in a series of Styrofoam trays on the floor under my ironing board was...um...an Unfinished Mystery: "Grand Illusion" from 2015.

Well, then!  I could hardly start a new one when that one was in pieces on the floor, could I? (rhetorical question! 😉 

"Grand Illusion"
Clue #2 units finished

Clue #3 units finished

I did a quick check of where I was -- counting out finished units -- and realized that I'd finished up through Part III of five "clues".  Two more, and I could put together full blocks.  I can do this! 

And I've just enough time to work on it today and to pick it up over the coming weeks, even as I (finally) finish that commission, and those knitted gifts, and perhaps a few more canvases.

The realization was just enough to reignite my Quilting Mojo -- and that, Gentle Readers, is the blessing, the miracle and the mystery of the creative process.  Onward and upward!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network, and gettin' back into the sewdio.  I've fabric to cut!

A Snowy Start to January

I couldn't resist "sharing" this Bitstrip I made for this morning's Facebook post!  

You guessed it: I'm not in Calgary; I didn't even begin to try to get there...and I was unsuccessful in my attempt to get to the Purolator depot in Alix to arrange to ship the Trunk to Manitoba.  I'll try again tomorrow to drop it off but it won't get picked up till Monday a.m....and so mayn't make it to its destination in time for its first booking.  Blessedly, the good quilters in Dauphin, MB get their share of wintry weather so undoubtedly they will understand!

Meanwhile, I have an EBMC assignment to work on, some Clues to solve in a quilt mystery and some slippers to finish... See ya!

36 of 50 Units - Grand Illusion, Clue #3!

NOTE: Even though this is a rather "art-less" post, I'm linkin' up with Nina Marie and the others over at Off the Wall Friday....Have a great weekend!

And Sew It Goes

It's a challenge to post even weekly these days, as I am in the thick of Christmas prep.  I have lots to share.

First up, speaking of sharing... My husband's cousin Larry and his family own a wholesale drapery and upholstery business, supplying fabrics for interior design.  When I was in Vancouver in October for the needle-felting workshop, I stayed with Larry and his wife, Miri, at their lovely home, and we got to talking about my work.  Larry offered to send me a box of remnants from their Vancouver warehouse.  Last week they arrived.  What treasures!  I've only had a quick look through them, but they are mainly drapery materials in a variety of prints and patterns.  I'm thinking of passing along Larry's generosity when I have my Blog Anniversary in February...so stay tuned!

The box, just opened.  Wow!

Yummy!

Look at that great reversible pattern!

Chanelling Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Luscious for landscapes!

I'm not too sure about these...

I didn't have time to dwell on the fabric treats, though; I had to get back to the sewdio!

I'm making headway on Bonnie Hunter's current mystery, Grand Illusion, and will finish the last stack of Clue #2 units today.   

THESE (below)

have become these...

That tub (above photo) is now almost full, with the goal being five stacks of ten pair of rectangles, each pair making a 4 1/2"-square unit.  Only 5 units left to piece and I can move on to Clue #3.

In other quilting...some years ago I made a top from a Thimbleberries block of the month project designed to create two throw quilts -- "Sunrise" (6 months of blocks) and "Sunset" (another 6 months of blocks).  "Some" years ago?  I just checked the pattern and the set was published in 2005!  

Anyway, I put the "Sunrise" top together at a quilt retreat in December 2008...and did nothing with it.  A few years later I sandwiched it, the idea being I would try to quilt it by hand.  I tried doing so in a small frame I had at the time -- didn't like it.  Sold the frame.  Tried a hoop.  Didn't like it.  

You see, I'm a long-time embroiderer, and find the rocking motion of hand quilting very difficult.  I also don't like to wear thimbles.  I put up with gloves when I am free-motion quilting but get them off as quickly as I can.  I seem to need to feel the fabric, and to control the piece on which I'm working by having it close to me.

This year, because my neighbours J & E are so kind to me, I dug out the top and decided to machine quilt it for them for Christmas (it was already heavily pin-basted from my earlier attempts).  I procrastinated, finding even it's relatively small size hard to manipulate (62" x 76" is BIG for me!)  

Trying my hand...

This past week, inspired once again by the hand-quilting practice of Joe Cunningham, I decided to try again to hand quilt it.  I am doing it in my lap, no hoop, no frame.  I've managed to develop a quasi-rocking movement and can put up to 5 small (but not infinitesimally tiny) stitches on the needle at a time.  I have either Craft in America or my Craftsy class with Joe or classical music on in the background, and away I go.  I likely won't be finished it for Christmas but there will be enough of it done to show them, and as E doesn't do this sort of handwork (I don't think she does any handwork to speak of), I'm not worried about criticism!  ;-)

The Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts are almost finished...

And the knitting, too...the latest being a slouchy hat and button-up "scarflet" for my sister, in the mail today:

Yarn: Diamond Luxury Gemstone in 'Onyx'
Pattern: "Veronica Slouch" by Brenda K.B. Anderson
Buttons: a thrift store find!

Still a pair of socks on the needles, and a cowl...and another scarf to sew up ends etc....so what am I doing still sitting at the computer?

Time to link up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday (okay; so I'm a bit late!) and the Monday Linky Party for Part 3 of the Grand Illusion Mystery...and get back into that sewdio!

Have a great week, everyone -- and a special Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish readers...their Festival of Lights begins tomorrow evening.  Blessings, all!

Off My Wall...and a Bit Outside My Box

I've been lovin' my sewdio these days.  Sometimes I even knit in there!  My laptop has practically taken up permanent residence on the end of my sewing table, as I've been watching online programs as I stitch.

While working on Grand Illusion, I've caught up with several missed Quilt Cam episodes (I subscribe on You Tube)...and I cut out the latest pieces for Clue #2 while I watched my newest Craftsy class ("Pattern-free Quilt-making" with Joe Cunningham, aka, Joe the Quilter.)

Yep; I succumbed to "Cyber-Monday Madness".  This one has been on my wish list since I saw the teacher on The Quilt Show (Episode #1)...watched over and over, and on an installment of Craft in America (Episode 12: "Industry").

This weekend I got all the pieces cut out for Clue #2.  I'm making this quilt 1/2-size, so I need to make 100 units.  I don't own the special ruler (yet) and don't like working with templates, so I am using Bonnie's suggested method #3 -- using rectangles and squares.  I know there will be lots of miscellaneous triangle bits left over from trimming up the units but I have a sack for those and someday they will have their own time in the quilting spotlight.  :-)

Ten sets of ten pieces of three fabrics :-)

Once that cutting was done, I got going on a Christmas stocking.  I've only ever made two quilted stockings in my life -- the one I just finished, and one made a few years ago.  The latest one is for a newborn, the second son of friends of my daughter.  The first one was for his big brother!

I took the ideas for the stocking from these sources:

• Pattern: traced from my son's commercially made stocking;
• Fabric: inspired by Bonnie and by Joe Cunningham, I worked with what I had.
• In this case, it was a batch of orphan blocks already made in to "3 Sisters" or "Rail Fence" units, and abandoned a good 20 years ago.

• Inspired by Joe, I put them together "in a way that pleased me" rather than worrying about whether or not they were in the classic rail fence setting.
• Then I quilted it, once again, "in a way that pleased me".  :-)
• The backing and batting were left over from the Magic Tiles quilt I made this fall for another new baby.
• I didn't have enough blocks to make the back of the stocking, so I dug out some red fabric that would work, added a strip of green to make sure it was long enough, and quilted it up:

Quilting Detail 1

At first I tried stitching parallel lines, different widths apart.  I hadn't marked the fabric or anything.  But this was still a bit boring, so I played with the quilting (photo below):

Quilting Detail 2

Then I added a cuff.  I am most grateful to both the book, Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do by Roberta Horton (C&T Publishing, 1998) for the lettering, and the You Tube video from Missouri Star Quilt Company for the instructions on the cuff.  Otherwise I'd have gotten it upside-down and backwards, to be sure! 

First I drew out the letters per Roberta's suggestion, and cut them out to make templates:

 Then I traced them -- reversed, of course -- onto fusible web (Wonder Under in this case):

Once I'd cut them out and fused them to some red cotton fabric, I auditioned their placement on the stocking cuff.  This wee boy has a long name -- it had to go right around the cuff!

Et Voila!

Sometimes I have to leap outside the box and off the design wall altogether...but they say a change is as good as a rest, eh?!

Linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday...Have a great week!

P.S. On the knitting front, the Wild Socks are finished, washed and ready to wrap.  A slouchy hat is finished except for the decorative buttons, and a "scarflet" is under construction.  Wild Socks #2 will be cast on before the day is out!

Pattern: "Veronica Slouch" by Brenda K.B. Anderson
from "Make It! Knits" 2014
Yarn: Diamond Luxury Gemstones in "Onyx"

December Already? How'd That Happen?!

I seem to have asked that question twelve times this year, as one month slid into another.  How'd that happen?!  My mother told me almost 50 years ago that once I turned 21, time would speed up and the years would fly by.  She was right!

I do know how I've filled some of my time -- at least, since Friday...

• Rinsing, drying and pressing the first snow-dye of this season:

Yes, the colours are more muted than many of my previous efforts, and the dye is more evenly distributed.  First, I attribute this to my layering these small bits and bobs of fabric rather than scrunching them up under the snow.  Second, I may have let the process go on a bit too long -- there was a lot of melted snow when I finally got to rinsing it.  Note the two really pale pieces; those are a remnants from a white sheet that was a poly-cotton blend.  The 'poly' part just doesn't absorb MX dye the way the 'cotton' does.  

Am I disappointed with these results?  Not a whit!  Remember, my 'go to' pieces are miniature rural landscapes, and these will make wonderful fields and skies.

• Knitting on the Wild Socks.  The heel on Sock #2 is turned and I'm moving down the foot;

• Serving tea. coffee and goodies at the second annual Mirror & District Museum Open House.

Above is a portion of the main room of the Museum, taken just before the doors opened for yesterday's event.  The quilt in the centre cabinet was done in honour of the hamlet's centennial in 2012 and donated to the museum by yours truly (blush).  

• Assembling 25 'Broken Dishes' units for Clue #1 of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt:

Aren't they pretty?  I stumbled on a 2 1/2" strip of yellow in my stash, and it's taking me through most of the blocks.  Twenty-five is 1/4 the required number; I'm debating assembling 25 more (to bring it to half)...concerned about the amount of yellow I have left.  (Remember: I'm determined not to buy fabric for this one!).  You can see too (just barely) that I have a mix of pinks and "turquoises" (and blacks, though you can't tell that in the photo).  Going for as-close-as-I-can-with-my-scraps! And...

• Piecing the final block of the second Block-of-the-Month I have from old, stashed kits. (The blocks from the third, "Zen", will be made in 2015).  Dating from 2003, "Four by Four" consists of eleven 12 1/2" blocks -- and one 'stray from who-knows-where, that came in at 10 1/2") assembled with Christmas-themed fabric.  

"Army Star"

This is not my usual cup of tea but the fabric was so pretty I had to collect it.  Here's Block #12 - "Army Star" (I didn't make up that name and don't know it's origin.  If one of you can enlighten, Gentle Readers, I'd appreciate it!)  All I know is, this one is my favourite of the bunch because it's so festive!

While all this piecing's been going on, I've rested my brain from the last 15 x 15 Group Challenge.   It wasn't long till I was pondering a couple of new art pieces...

I'm linking this up with BKH's Mystery Monday Link Up Part 1...and settling in for an evening of reading and embroidery...just for a change.

Have a good one!  :-)

Snow Days

Yesterday was my usual day to work at The Shop.  Today I was supposed to fill in there for the other part-time gal.

Both days, I stayed home instead...because of the snow, blowing snow, drifting snow...and today the temps dropped into the mid-minus thirties Celsius.  Brrrrr!

With an hour "off" here and there to shovel the walks and driveway, I spent the past couple of days on these projects:

Baking for the Second Annual Open House & Tea
at the Mirror & District Museum, Sunday, Novembeer 30

Turning 'strings' into blocks for a quilt top

Prepping more strips and strings for quilt tops
Left & centre: for a string quilt; right: for the Postage Stamp Quilt

Working on Wild Sock #2 -- I'm on the heel flap now -- and adding inches to the "Martyn" infinity scarf.

And what's several feet of fresh powder snow without a bit of snow dyeing?

I quickly soaked a batch of miscellaneous pieces -- one large piece of silk and several bits and bobs of cotton muslin -- in soda ash.  Then I laid the pieces out in a criss-cross fashion on a rack in the bottom of a plastic tub:

I covered the lot to the brim with fresh snow, and sprinkled it with MX dye powder:

Half covered with turquoise; half, with Sky Blue;
then centre third sprinkled with Golden Yellow.
All dyes from Dharma.

The resulting pieces have been washed and are drying.  Photos to follow in another post...

The highlight of today, though, was the release of Clue #1 in Bonnie K. Hunter's 2014 Mystery Quilt, "Grand Illusion".  I'm aiming for half the size (so...44" square vs. 88" square) and am starting cautiously.

For example, the first clue calls for 280 half-square triangles (HSTs); I'm planning on 140 and have, to date, assembled 60. Of the 280, 200 are to be used to make 100 small blocks along with squares in two other colours.  I'm planning on 50 small blocks, which will take 100 HSTs...but will begin with 25 small blocks and 50 HSTs to see how far my fabric will take me.  Capisce?  ;-)

Here's the start of my HST construction.  I'm using fairly deep colour values for the 'geranium' and 'turquoise' -- all from stash.  I'm determined not to buy any fabric for this project!

And here's the first 60 of my HSTs in stacks of 20.  Don't they look pretty?  Order out of chaos!

At 2 1/2" square, they'll finish at 2" in the quilt

I found a stash of "Thangles" triangle paper that is speeding up the construction process; here's my bag of discarded foundation paper from the "Thangles" and from the string blocks, waiting to be recycled:

Don't you recycle your foundation paper?  ;-)

All in all it's been a rewarding couple of days.  On tap for this weekend: start on Christmas cards, sing at church, "pour out" at the Museum's Open House & Tea...

And MOB's First Anniversary is tomorrow.  There will be a special post on the MOB blog for the occasion.  Stay tuned!

Linking this up now with Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Friday...and will follow that with a cuppa and a good book.  G'night all!