Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Sundry 1-29-12

"We Can Rebuild It...We Have the Technology"
I could not throw it away, that little courthouse steps block I'd cut a hole in to make the sewing machine cover last week.  So I started thinking and then turning circles in my sewing room, pondering the stash at hand.

Then I saw it:  A bit of Heather Baily Pop Garden fabric, bought on a whim during an online shopping spree last year. The daisies were huge...and perfect!

A bit of fusible interfacing and inconspicuous zigzagging closed the incision I'd made to extract the circle the week before.  (Hint:  The "scar" is at about the 3 o'clock position, but I hope you can't find it.)

I love how it turned out!  Some things are worth salvaging.  Like vintage Pyrex fridgies at the thrift store.


If you'd have told me 30 years ago that I'd have a soft spot for chartreuse, I'd have laughed myself silly.  Same thing about liking Tom Petty's music, or cilantro.  Weird things happen, is what I'm saying.

What shall I call this little mini?  The Six Million Minute block?  Because that's about how long the process took.  (For those of you too young to remember, that's a nod to The Six Million Dollar Man TV series of the 1970s, as is the quote above.)  Or something about flowers on the courthouse steps?  

Bunny trail:  I've got a wedding picture of hubs and me, with my little bridal bouquet, on the courthouse steps.  They were not big daisies I was holding then, but they were about as real as that fabric.  Hey, it was the '80s, lots of things were fake.  And here is where I could say something mushy like, "except our love for each other," which would be true and all, but I don't want you gagging on your breakfast this early in the day.

So here, in collage form, is the life cycle of the courthouse steps block.  Quite the metamorphosis, huh?

The Commitments
That is the sum total of the sewing that has happened around these parts lately, but I have committed to two other things this week, namely:


The String Thing Along, the mighty good idea of Brenda of Scraps and Strings.  The plan is to play with our strings and make a project by June 30.  A new blog has been set up so we all can post our progress along the way.  Care to play along?  Visit one of the aforementioned links and let Brenda know!

The second is a Scrappy Block Challenge, sponsored by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Create a block using the three sizes of cut scraps described in the book Cut the Scraps!  Sarah gives all the details HERE.  I am going to give it a try and then donate whatever catastrophe block I come up with to her, for use however she sees fit.  I will admit to being a little anxious about this challenge, as I don't think of design as one of my strong points, but you never know, I may get a brain rave like I did with the courthouse steps block.  

Weird things happen, is what I'm saying.

9 comments:

Miri said...

Love this quilt! Great collage too-thanks for putting a smile on my face-its been so dark and rainy here for days I need all the help I can get!

Shay said...

I cant believe the evolution of your courthouse block. Thats pretty darn amazing. I love how it ended up too!

Im going to wander over and look at that first quiltalong...

Richard Healey said...

I love that quote. And the six million block is a great name. Looks wonderful the way you did it.

http://richardquilts.blogspot.com

BendingPins.com said...

I love, love, LOVE what you did with your courthouse steps, AWESOME!!! The fabrics you chose were brilliant!
<3

Elizabeth said...

Squee! I love, love, love it! That block was too fabulous to throw away! Adding the glower on tip gives it a little more depth -- the stairs almost look 3-D.

Those colors are so beautiful together. I remember looking at my mom's wedding photos and thinking that she'd chosen some really "interesting" colors. They were very close to the colors in your mini, although perhaps not so bright, and minus the yellow. But now I think she was right on the money. That is a great combination.

I totally got the six-million dollar man reference. Did you ever see the re-make of the bionic woman a couple of years ago? So not as cool. No wonder it didn't last.

I know what you mean about cliantro. When I lived in Brasil we ate lunch (the main meal of the day) with members of the church nearly every day. I always hated it when they put cilantro in the beans (you eat beans and rice every day). Now, I don't mind it so much. I don't go out of my way to use it, but I don't mind it.

LOVED your music spot today! So much so that I watched it twice. It is almost "Lady Gaga does the 60's".

Hope you've had a lovely day! Great post!

xo -E

MomWaldsPlace said...

Now you have a terrific machine cover and a fabulous mat. Kudos to you for taking on those challenges. I've only committed to one, because I am a big chicken. It will be wonderful to see what you come up with!

By the way, I am the Bionic Mom, because I have bolts in my elbow. The kids said so, so we made them watch the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.

Michelle said...

That Courthouse Steps block is getting a lot of mileage, and I really love the big daisy fix you put on it. Perfect!

Your Pyrex looks great on it too.

Sounds like some interesting challenges. I so want to join. But I'm on a deadline for a baby quilt. :-)

(Will listen to your You tube when I'm at my desktop. The Netbook speakers are rather inadequate.)

Vicki @ DottyJane said...

You nailed it! Brilliant little quilt.

Kay Lynne said...

Love how your courthouse steps block turned out.