No Clue

The Cliff's Notes version of this post:  

• I don't exactly know what I'm doing.
• Not that it matters.
• Whatever I am doing is interestingly uncomfortable.
• That is probably a good thing.

Ever get an idea (maybe even a bad one) that you just can't leave alone?  It starts out a seemingly simple thing, but when that doesn't pan out, before you know it, it has morphed into something unrecognizable.  And yet you still feel compelled to keep at it.

Kind of like a bad poem.  (Been there, done that.)

Let me explain.

Last summer, I bought a bagful of fabric at the thrift store.  There was a little bit of everything in that bag, some modern, some vintage.  There were a few true "dogs" as well, which went back to the pound during my decluttering phase.

This piece I kept, however.  A vintage, I'm going to say early '70s, navy and yellow-gold, paisley-tulip thingamabob.  Yards of it.  Some would call it ugly, and they may have a point, but to me it was...interesting...and I was determined to use it somehow, some way, some day.

The other day, I saw it in the stash and pulled it out and started thinking about what might work.  How about a Lemoyne Star, something simple, maybe use up some other odds and ends while I'm at it.  Here was my little stack.  

Here is how it looked cut and laid out on the table.  Yuck.

I tried this and that, but no matter what, I didn't like that fabric in the mix.

Same fabric, different day.  I played with the HSTs of the navy print and the yellow brick road type fabric.  Maybe I'll just make a simple block.

Bo-ring.  

How about I cut it up and sew parts of it back together again?  

I made three strips.  That was fun.  Now what?

Let's put some other colors around the strips and then cut those strips in half.

Rearrange them on the cutting table a bunch of times, and finally sew them together again.

It looks like butterflies chasing each other.  Can you see them?  Kind of cool how that happened.

But wait, there's more.  Cut a 12-inch square on a wonky angle.  

Lay it on a dark background to see how it might look framed.

Put some other triangles, trimmed and saved from a recent project, around the square just for kicks.

That's where it is so far.  

It continues to pester me like a sliver.  I have no idea where it will end up (possibly the trashcan), but I do know that feeling my way along like this without a map is well outside my comfort zone.  

And maybe that's the whole point?

Number Three It Is

You guys are awesome with the feedback on the border!  Thanks so much.  I appreciate your taking the time to chime in with your pick.

Number three was the overwhelming majority.  I liked that, but I did like number one as well, with the gray/purple borders.  I was hoping hubby would feel strongly about one or the other, but he liked both and didn't really care which way it went.  Coming off a 12-hour shift, the most important thing for him was to park himself in the Lazy Boy, not stand around mooning at fabric for long.  Can't say I blame him.

So I cut the blue and purple borders, and as I sewed them on last night, I thought, wow, this is great!  It didn't seem like there could have been a more ideal choice.

The breeze didn't cooperate with the photo sesh of the flimsy on the clothesline this morning, so we have an "action shot." 

Look at that...the ash tree is starting to lose its leaves already.  September first, and welcome fall!

Linking to Sarah's Whoop-Whoop party today.  Go have a look around, there are always great things to see!

P.S. - It needs a name other than Number Three.  I was thinking maybe Bright Pathways.  Other ideas?

A Patch of Sun

I had guests yesterday, my dad and my daughter and her boyfriend, who came over for dinner.  We had good food and conversation, as always, and laughed a lot.  After the turkey kicked in and some became sleepy, my daughter and I moved to the living room where I still had the leftover kaleidoscope quilt pieces stacked in piles by color on the floor.

So we played and talked, and played some more, like when we used to put puzzles together except more randomly.  M. has a good eye and is very creative, and in no time flat, she had put the yellow and gold and white half square triangle pieces together into this configuration.  She said it reminded her of sunshine, like the patch of sun coming in the window of her apartment in which she and her cat had curled up and napped recently.

I needed to clear the floor today, but I snapped a photo so I could remember this arrangement.  Then I figured I may as well just sew it together.

My sewing room is in the basement, which is usually devoid of natural light, but at this particular time of year, the sun has moved a bit and peaks in through a small, southern facing window for a few minutes in the afternoon.  It happened to catch the squares as I had them laid out on my table.

A patch of sun, indeed.  That will be the name of this mini.  And it will remind me of the light my daughter brings whenever I see her.

Later, after everyone had gone home, my husband and I ran to Goodwill for a quick poke around.  There were a few small Pyrex pieces looking for a new home.  The smaller bowl was the perfect size for some berries at lunch today.

 Talk about sunshine, that orange piece does the trick, doesn't it?

The Frustration of Creation

I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday and the morning today crawling around on the floor, trying to get the look I wanted for kaleidoscope quilt v.2.0.  Then I'd ask my husband's opinion, and he had some.  But by the end of it, his opinion was that he just didn't care anymore. 

It was exasperating and it gave me a headache.  But I think I finally have a plan, and if I change my mind again, I deserve to be hit over said aching head.

This is a quilt I started last summer, shortly after my first kaleidoscope quilt was done.  That one turned out beautifully, but it wasn't quite what I had envisioned, so I started a second one.  This one might not be exactly it either, but it seems closer.

See, it all started as my husband and I were driving one day when the '70s classic T. Rex song, "Bang a Gong" came on the radio.  There are some strange lyrics in that song.  I wondered what the "teeth of the Hydra" or a "cloak full of eagles" had to do with anything, but more importantly, what a "hubcap diamond star halo" would look like.  My imagination went into overdrive.

"I want to make a quilt and call it Hubcap Diamond Star Halo," I told Norm while the song played on.  Talk about working backwards.  The name came first.

I knew it would have to have elements of '70s psycha-funka-delic style, and I probably just made that word up.  I was envisioning those bold, bright colors like Peter Max and H.R. Pufnstuf cartoons, and glam rocker and T. Rex front man himself, the late Marc Bolan.

Soon enough, I found the fabric for it (different than what I'd used in the first kaleidoscope quilt).  I cut out last August but just got back around to playing with the layout the other day.  This is going to be a wall hanging size quilt, I've determined.  A medallion type thing will get the point across just as well and for a lot less investment in Extra-Strength Tylenol.

Speaking of frustrating...my first ever video documenting the process.  Oy, what a time suck that was, but I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered.  I am grateful to my brother Russ for helping me out at the end when Picasa decided to muck up the audio.  You're my hero, bro.

View it in full screen so you can read the text panes between (in the future, I'll use a more legible font).  Here we go.  Bang a Gong!

Glove Love

Duuuuuuuude...

Check this out!

I was thinking about those skeleton gloves Norm was wearing yesterday, thinking about how the first time I grabbed his hand to hold it as we were walking, the palms of the gloves felt tacky.  He said that's because they were football receiver gloves, so they had this grip surface on the palms.  Whatever dude, I thought.
  
So tonight I'm getting ready to practice some free-motion quilting when all of a sudden—

"Can I see your gloves?" I asked.

"Sure."
 

I tried them on.  They were a perfect fit.  I felt the tacky surface again.  It was like the underside of a Supreme Slider, the part that sticks to your machine.

"Mind if I borrow these for a bit?"  He didn't mind. I took them down to my sewing room.

Duuuu-huuu-huuude!!  Those gloves are awesome for quilting!

I feel like I have even more control and dexterity than when I wear my Machingers.  They're very lightweight, and I like the Velcro wristband a lot more than an elastic cuff.

And check this out:  They even come in pink!

He got his at Walmart a couple weeks ago (and yes, he still had the package tag).  Said there were several styles and colors.  I hope they still have some left!