Learning From Mistakes

I have been making quilts for a long time. I found that I especially liked making applique quilts over the three decades of work. So the applique itself in this quilt isn't much of a problem but the complexity of the designs can cause some fits and starts. I haven't had to take anything apart yet, but sometimes I have to pause and check the pattern.

The pattern designer recommends cutting out all the pieces for each segment before beginning on the segment. She writes that she keeps each color in a pile on a plastic plate. This doesn't make sense to me nor does it suit a house with three cats. I haven't counted the number of pieces in the first border but there are hundreds if not thousands and some are smaller than my pinky fingernail. A pile on a plastic plate would just beg for play time with my cats.

Anyway, I am making progress. I have come within two roses of finishing the center section of the border. There is a central vase on each side and corner vases on all four corners. The flower stems move gracefully in all directions from those eight stationary spots.

A Shameful Episode

Trump's executive orders appear without thought or planning. That isn't simply the executive order that blocks immigration and entry from seven countries but every one of the signed orders. The entry and immigration order is particularly poorly thought out. Trump barred entry to green card holders who had already been deemed by the government to be good fits in this country. He separated families from their spouses and their children. He left airport personnel without any clue about where these people were to be held. He left federal agents without direction. This happened all over the US including where I live. It even barred a young woman coming to the USA to work in cancer diagnosis from entering.

This assault on the essential core values of my country should be opposed by every means. Lady Liberty must be weeping.   

Fourth Block, the Heart and Lyre

Well this clearly needs trimming and treatment to get rid of the blue ink but I just finished the fourth block. I have put together the pattern pieces for the first border--very involved and loaded with flowers and twisting stems and vines.

Although we have about a foot of snow on the ground, I already have my spring bouquet.

Duck And Cover

I am making good progress on this long project. I finished the Harp and Heart block today. When I write that I finished it, I mean I finished the applique. I have gotten through about half of the embroidery accents so I expect to finish that tomorrow. The original plan calls for a switch to the outside borders just as she calls for making the sashing a little at a time.

In the meantime, the moron in charge has signed a series of executive orders and made a series of statements that not only raise alarm but don't even make sense. Today he posited a 20% tariff on Mexican imports to the United States. Of course the folks who voted for him would be those hardest hit.

The best we can hope for is that utter chaos will ensue.   

Self-Explanatory

Third Block, The Woven Basket

The quilt designer, Sue Garman, wisely advised to work on the sashing in batches rather than all at once. So this week I finished the third block, started the fourth block, and began the process of making the yards and yards of sashing that the quilt requires. She uses paper piecing so that is what I did as well. I have made many paper pieced block patterns, most of my quilt labels are paper pieced designs, but each time I start one I make dumb mistakes just because working on something that looks backward always makes my brain skip.

Anyway, here is the woven basket block.

 

So Much Fun

I am close to finishing the third block, The Woven Basket. I haven't made a Baltimore Album quilt in several years which makes this outrageous attempt even more fun. I am nearly 70 years old now and have had two surgeries on my left thumb. But picking the colors, choosing the fabrics is one of my favorite parts of the process. And I am definitely a process person.

I want to point out that I deliberately started two sentences with conjunctions to show that the rules for formal writing and the rules for informal writing are different.

When I finish the block, finish the embroidery, I will post pictures again.

Clipper Ship Done, Third Block Coming Along

I finished the second block, the clipper ship, two days ago but my husband didn't take a picture until today. I made a couple of changes to the original design, both involving the sails and rigging. The original block has the masts in front of the sails which struck me as being odd and unlikely so I moved them behind the sails. That allowed me to move the sails slightly and then to stuff them when the block was complete, making them look like sails that are full of wind.

The block looks crooked right now because it isn't trimmed to its final 15.5 inch size and square it up.

Say What?

The fellow who is in charge of Trump's inauguration said that instead of a bunch of A-list celebrities, the inauguration would feature a soft sensuality. I am trying to figure out just what that means.

Close To Block Two

I don't usually buy and follow a pattern and I think, down the line, that I will make more substantial changes to the quilt pattern I purchased. I have made a number of Baltimore Album quilts, but I only have one in my possession. I don't really plan to have this one in my possession, I just want to make it. But I have been having a good time with the first two blocks even though there are elements that I would or have changed. I am close to finishing the second block, "The Glorious Clipper", and I have made some changes, including moving the masts from in front of the sails to behind the sails. I made that change because I want to add some stuffing to the sails, to give them some lift.

The changes I expect to make include shifting the blocks around in the center of the quilt. Sue Garman's arrangement are too asymmetrical for me. There isn't a plan or flow which is close to what the original quilts often showed but modern quilters have more freedom to put quilts together. I have also added more contrast within each block, simply because I have such a variety of fabrics. 

My Daughter-in-Law's New Hobby (Must See!)

My middle son's wife has always enjoyed drawing and has done some nice watercolors  that focus on her main passion--show horse activities. But she recently started teaching herself to oil paint as well. Her first attempts were pet portraits of her three dogs and then when she felt more confident she painted some small portraits of our dogs, both the dead ones from old photos and the current pair. Below are the paintings and one of the photos from which she worked. They hang in our kitchen next to my cookbook shelf. We think they are just terrific.

Comparison

Several entries ago I showed the photos of my most recently completed quilt, Summer Stars. Even longer ago I wrote that I had been inspired by a decades old quilt by Rita Ptacek. I finally got my husband to scan the original photo so viewers can compare the two. Hers is bigger, a true twin size from what I can tell though the photo does not have dimensions. The upper photo is the original and the lower one is my version with more vegetables, birds, bugs, etc.

Travel Plans

Although we had a fabulous time in Italy this October, there are still so many places we have never been. We have been thinking of going to Portugal for our next trip. A friend went a few years ago and had a marvelous time, though I have to comment that our tastes in virtually everything are poles apart.  So I need to do some homework on Portugal before I make up my mind. I don't speak Portuguese but  I do have some background in the Romance languages. When I was first learning to read more than sixty years ago I was fascinated by the early explorers and their patrons, including Prince Henry.  If anyone has comments or suggestions about Portugal, or anywhere else in Europe. please feel free to comment.

On a different subject, I wrote earlier that I was starting one of Susan Garman's Baltimore Album quilts and I have more or less finished one block, the eagle. It still needs some embroidery touches, and I cut it large so it has to be trimmed, but here is my attempt. I made the yellow feathers on the eagle in reverse applique rather than applique but everything else is as suggested by Garman's extensive instructions.