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April's block for the Scrappy Challenge was Contrary Wife. i made 10.
The orange and leaf print were the same on all of them.
But the pinks and purples differed.
Not sure that's a great color scheme, but it is what it is.
Waiting for next month.
I got my blocks made for this month. we made 2 of them.
They were pretty easy once i figured out which pieces to use to get all those stripes to go in the same direction.
Bring on the next month.
Well, now that i am through with customer quilting...it is time to dig into that to-be-quilted cabinet in the studio and finish those babies up.
The first one i did was this one.....brown scrappy rectangles alternated with red. i think it came out about 68x88" i didn't photograph the back...don't know why....just didn't even think about it. it is a yellow floral print. and for the binding i used different brown strips all sewn together to make a long strip.
I just love those little dogs. there are several blocks with them in there. they make me smile. you can see a couple different pieces of the binding here.
The brown blocks have a base onto which i sewed the brown scraps. they are about 3x10" i find it so much easier to piece these type of blocks when i use a base fabric. that helps to keep the piece the size that you want. and i use up a lot of ugly fabrics for the base....stuff that won't ever find its way into a quilt any other way. hahaha check out those peanuts....and the popcorn.
And gingerbread boys. you could make an I Spy quilt with this pattern.
So, 1 quilt down and over 100 to go. wonder how many i'll have quilted by the end of the year. i already have 3 tops that don't fit into the cabinet. or will i just keep piecing tops till i run out of fabric and be no further along at the end of the year than i am now.....except there will 100 DIFFERENT tops in the to-be-quilted cabinet.
I need a 12 step program. sigh!!
I use the term 'circle' loosely here. been trying to come up with new ways to use those selvages.
I sewed green selvage strings onto a foundation base.....7" wide and about 27" long. that size...after being tirmmed down to 6.5" wide gave me 6 triangles...cut with my Tri Recs template. and those 6 Tris make one circle. i realize it is not a real circle....but just go with it, ok?
I used feed sacks for the background piece. 1 feed sack gave me 4 background pieces. i believe this came to 83" square. it is rather hefty since the circles have fabric bases and the borders do, too.
Once i sewed the triangles together, i stitched it onto the feed sack background and then added a trim around it.
There are various ribbon trims, rick rack, etc.
The border that you see above and below here is 3"...selvages sewn onto a base. that used up a lot of the small pieces that were cut off when i made the triangles.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how to put those 6 pieces together. i thought i could put all the points together in the middle and it would make a circle but that didn't happen. i had to sew 1/2 at a time......the middle piece with the point toward the center and the 2 outer pieces with the point toward the outside. then sew the 2 halves together.
I really, really thought this would deplete my green selvages. sigh!! i don't know WHY i always think it will take a mountain of selvages to make a quilt. it seems i have more now than when i started. i couldn't even stuff them all back in the bin that they came out of. so, now i have 2 boxes of green selvages. i contemplated throwing them away.....for about half a minute....couldn't do it.
Next selvage quilt is a yellow one. hint....baskets....and hummingbirds. that's all i can say. if i told you i would have to kill you...it's a secret. hahaha
Vicki Welsh had give aways every day last week for Spring Break. she had a piece of glass as one day's prize. although i signed up most, if not all, of the days.....i really, really wanted the glass piece.
And....i won it. isn't fate wonderful? i love you, Vicki
Check this out.
The white spots are from light shining. couldn't seem to get rid of it.
I love this piece. I know it will go to live at the Duck....but not it's specific location yet. i might have to decorate a whole room around this piece. don't know if i should show it to my sister....she might want it.
Thank you, Vicki.
I went to the Duck for a few days......accepted delivery of 7 more windows. as many windows as this house has.....and the dining room is still dark as a cave. it only has 1 window and is on the north side.
These 5 go in the dressing room/closet for the master bedroom. there are 4 of that smaller size and 1 larger one behind them.
And these 2 go in the kitchen...over the sink. that room is a bit dark, too. windows face south.
And i STILL need more windows....3 on the enclosed front porch and 6 on the enclosed back porch. there are 31 windows all together in this house. and then 2 more in the office in the garage. i would have swore there were 100. it would take a week to wash them all.
It was still kind of chilly during the day so i didn't do much. kind of cleaned up things and moved some stuff around. then i got a wild hair and decided to pull off the aluminum siding that is INSIDE the garage. i have hated that from day 1. why would someone do that? it looked stupid.
That job was harder than i thought. .... haha...aren't they all? i tried to take it off from the top down....but there are lights attached and pipes and the garage door opener was in the way. so i just ripped a piece off in the middle and went from there.
I got this whole wall done as far up as i could reach without a ladder. there are sheets of plywood behind it. plus...vines were growing between the plywood and the siding. i keep pulling them away from the house on the outside....but they keep coming in. that tells me there is no type of foundation or footing under this garage. or it is rotted.
And started on this side. it was tougher. when the previous owner got to the window....he wrapped a piece of metal around it and caulked it really, really well. this was a car wash in this bay.....he had a car repair business in this garage....so i guess that is why he caulked so well...keep the water from coming in that window and into the office. i got tired of that real quick. but there is just plywood under all this crap...so eventually i will get it all down and maybe just slap a coat of paint on it. anything will be better than that crappy siding.
After fooling with the siding for a few hours, i decided to pull more ceiling tiles out in the garage....in the office.... i got all that i could reach. i had to leave one side....there are baseboards all against that wall and i couldn't get the ladder over there.
And in the storage room behind the office in the garage. would you look at that mess of wiring and pipes and crap up there? some of those wires up there are just sort of put together....no tape...no metal box....no nothing. this is going to be a nightmare to figure out. i am sorely tempted to just tear it all out and just start again to hook up lights.
My other little adventure occurred before i even got to the Duck. i got off the highway to go to my sister's....stopped at a red light......started to go when the light turned green and heard a loud THUNK. OMG...what was that? i'm picturing in my mind something falling off the bottom of my truck. hahahaha
But the truck kept moving...no more noises. i'm looking around.....the guy on the right side of me is looking at me all funny....he looks weird and guilty. he turns right at the first opportunity and disappears. it's about 4 more blocks to my sister's so i just go on....expecting something dire to happen to the truck...but i make it ok.
I pull in her driveway and look under my truck...expecting to see....i don't know what.....the spare tire missing? ..... the muffler hanging down? .... i don't know. nothing seems amiss under there.
Then.....i spot this. busted light and a dent under the light about 2".
Well, hell....that's why that guy was looking all weird at me. he apparently hit me when he went around me. i guess he didn't judge his distance well. i guess he thought i was going to move quicker. i never felt a bump from it.....i guess because we were both moving in the same direction so all i heard was the thump. i noticed his left front bumper was crunched in. i don't know if that happened when he hit me....doesn't seem too likely.....or if he hit me WITH the bumper that was hanging out.
Anyway....all that doesn't work is the turn signal. i figured i would replace that bulb and get a new plastic cover and i'm good to go. well, no...you have to replace the whole damn piece.....$100 at the car parts place. I don't think so......found a part on eBay....brand new in the box....for $20. hubby can fix it for me when the part comes....4 little screws to replace it. one little piece at a time....soon i will have a new truck. hahahaha
I need some warm days so i can go and do some real work at the Duck. come on Spring!
These butterflies are winging their way back to California...that's where the customer lives. she made this top for her daughter. it's been on my frame for a couple months. but half that time we were in frozen tundra conditions with ice and snow and i didn't go over to the studio....to conserve on propane usage.
But i finally thawed out and got it finished. it is 88 x 88". she appliqued those butterflies.
Glide thread on top...light gray and chestnut. bottom line in the bobbin
Last border was a partial panto that was flowers and leaves
Curved cross-hatching in setting triangles
All butterflies had different backgrounds...and had veins in their wings. this one above looks like it is sitting on a large flower.
This one has a spiderweb and a sun shining down. in the grass at the bottom is a catterpillar.
Some simply got swirls
This one sort of looks like a flower, too...although that wasn't the intention.
I managed to get an oval around this one.
Not sure what this was supposed to be...it was different in my head. hahahaha
This one has the circle designs in the wings and the background. i was almost done at this point but was thinking it would have been cool if all the wings echoed the background fills.
Beautiful butterfly on this one.
The lines in the fabric made the squares easy to stitch.
Just a meander in this one.
Lots of pebbles here
And some radiating lines.
And a bit of McTavishing.
There were more butterflies but you get the idea.
The back was the same white with blue dots as the border. and the light gray did not show much on the back.
First customer quilt of the new year....and last customer quilt to be done. now i'm all about me. LOL
