Sunday Sundry 6-23-13

We went thrifting yesterday, more window shopping than anything, as I'm still trying to keep the inflow of stuff to a minimum.  I do keep an eye out for usable fabric, though.  Sometimes I find a bit of this or that, such as these pieces, which came home with me.

So I'm riffling through the remnants when Norm says, "Hey, you've got to come see this."

To which my first thought was, this better be good.  Because, you know, I'm looking at fabric, don't bug me with something dumb.

It was not dumb.  At all.

Looks like a ratty old chest, right?  But wait, there's more.  

Behold, the folding bar!

Isn't that cool?  Made by Rock-ola, which is famous for jukeboxes, but they made other things as well through the years, including the M1 carbine for the U.S. military during WWII.

At a hundred and a half, we left the bar behind, though we did hem and haw about it a little before walking away.

I spied these retro glasses, too.  Wouldn't they be awesome in the folding bar?  Loved 'em, but we left 'em. 

* * * * *

We live in the flight path of the medical helicopter that comes and goes from our local facility to transport critical patients to University Hospital in Madison.  I heard it land shortly before I went for a walk this evening.  My walk takes me right past the landing pad, and I got there just as they were loaded up and ready to lift off.

From an aeronautical standpoint, it is fun to watch.  But my thoughts were also on the family huddled outside the ER as it left with the precious cargo of their loved one.  

Nobody wants to have to ride in this bird, but it's good to know that when it's needed, it's there. 

* * * * *

If I don't paper piece the Flying Swallows block that I talked about in the last post (i.e., machine piece it instead), I may try English paper piecing some diamond shapes as a hand sewing project on vacation.  

I have been looking at vintage tumbling blocks quilts and others in one of my all-time favorite books, Quilts of Illusion by Laura Fisher.  I love optical illusion quilts!

Total quilt eye candy.  These are just a few sample pages.  Many of the photos are black and white, but that doesn't diminish their fascination, in my opinion.

It is mostly traditional quilts made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Amazing how these often scrappy quilts seem to come alive with movement and make me feel like doing a happy dance too.

Well, this was obviously another random brain dump, but that's the way it goes.  I'm dusting off the Sunday Sundry label for this entry.  It's been a while.

May your week be off to a great start!

Favorite Things Friday ~ Fab Quilts and a QAL!

I've seen so many beautiful quilty things on other people's blogs lately.  You know how inspiring you all are, right?  Well, you are.  Talented too, my goodness gracious.

Here are two recent favorites, the first of which is Liftoff by Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts.  

"Liftoff" by Sandi of Piecemeal Quilts (with permission)

This quilt just takes my breath away!  I get a feeling of awe and wonder, just like when I'm watching a huge flock of birds rise up to fly in formation.  Some of that awe and wonder is also in regard to the number of HSTs in this quilt, something like 672 of them, all perfectly pieced.  Sandi and her mother worked together on this.  You can read the touching story behind the quilt here.

The second quilt is Gong Show by Lesly at Stitch Literate.  Another stunner!  I love the positive/negative thing happening in this quilt, the use of the brown as the neutral solid, as well as the clever configuration of multiple sized drunkard's path pieces.  Anybody else oohing and aahing?

"Gong Show" by Lesly at Stitch Literate (with permission)

A drunkard's path quilt is on my bucket list, and "Throw Me a Curve" is one of the categories on my 2012 NewFO Challenge list.  I'm just sayin'...  ;)

Also on my NewFO list is a category called "Oddly Inspired," which is where the Hubcap Diamond Star Halo quilt is fitting in, inspired by song lyrics.  But I'm obviously not the only one who thinks "Quilts Are Everywhere."  Sandi (Piecemeal Quilts) was recently inspired by a drawing of iron window coverings from a 1930s building.  She transferred the drawing to EQ and came up with several colorways.  Now she's agreed to do an Ironwork Quilt Along based on that design.  I am excited about that! 

Ironwork* Quilt Along at Piecemeal Quilts

I have been wanting to do something in solids, and this lends itself well to that (though prints would be cute too).  She is offering instructions for two sizes, a bed-sized quilt and a 40-inch quilt.  I'm going to make the smaller version.  

I've ordered my fabrics from Connecting Threads.  Instead of black for the ironwork, I chose Rosewood, which is dark enough to appear almost black (I think), but it's, well, rosewood-y.  Think possibly rusty ironwork?  I dunno, just being a little different in that one detail, seeing as I'm totally copying one of her EQ colorways, otherwise.

Want to quilt along?  Visit Sandi's blog for the details, grab the button, pull together some fabric, and you'll be all set!

Today's fab favorites brought to you by:

Friday Flimsy

I managed to get the Hubcap Diamond Star Halo flimsy sewn together this week.  If you're scratching your head about the name of this little kaleidoscope quilt, it's based on a song lyric from "Bang A Gong."  I explained how it came about in the previous post (and also made a video of the trial-and-error design process).

We got a little snow yesterday, and it was still flurrying this morning when I set this 36-inch square jobber just outside the patio door and snapped some pictures.  

Snow (as in the cold and fluffy stuff this is laying on) isn't really bright white in color, is it?  Hunh.  I guess Kaufman did its research when they invented the fabric color Kona Snow.  I used Kona White in the quilt here.

It was really fun putting these colorful blocks together.  Individually, they reminded me of the tops of bright umbrellas.

And before you know it, I was mulling over how I could use the leftovers for my next quilt, based on a Led Zeppelin song lyric, entitled With a Purple Umbrella and a 50-cent Hat (from "Living Loving Maid").  Oh, go ahead and listen.  You want to know what in blazes I'm talking about, right?

Just kidding...maybe. (Could that be a "raspberry beret," that pink one? The kind you buy {for 50 cents} in a second-hand store?  Too much of a stretch?)

Not kidding about the leftovers, though.  I could make a whole 'nother quilt with the pieces I have left.  Maybe with a black background to make those brights really pop?  *Sigh*  So many quilts, so little time.

I hope you do have time to visit the Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? linky at Confessions of a Fabric Addict—P.S., she's having a giveaway—and thanks for stopping by here!

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!

Scrap Block Challenge

It's funny where inspiration can be found.  The tiles on the bathroom floor, a zigzag coffee mug—you name it, some quilter is bound to be inspired by it.

The day I decided to bounce down off the no-sweets wagon and bake something dense and chocolatey*, I wasn't really looking for inspiration.  But there it was, staring me in the face on a chocolate bar wrapper, of all places! 

I was admittedly giving in to some serious cravings that day, as well as trying to use what remained of the giant bar of dark chocolate I'd bought over the holidays before my husband could eat it all.  He'd already polished off half of it before I'd found out and hidden it deeper on the pantry shelves.  So let's say I was managing a security risk by deciding to bake with it that day.  Yeah, that works.

After rough chopping the chocolate, I set the wrapper aside.  Then while waiting for the chocolate to melt in the microwave, I happened to study the wrapper a little more closely.  Probably checked the carb count to see just how much dietary damage this baking venture was going to do.

That's when I saw it.  Take a look.

A quilt block, no?  And I was supposed to be creating a quilt block for Sarah's Scrap Block Challenge.  Could this be just the ticket, the inspiration I needed to get started?  I thought so!

The challenge was to use the sizes in the scrap management system described in the book Cut the Scraps!  Fabric scraps are cut to measure 2 inches, 3.5 inches, and 5 inches square.

So I scribbled something on paper that more closely resembled a primitive cave drawing than a quilt block.  Did some mental gymnastics on the math, trying to wrap my head around how to orient the center square in the way it was depicted on the wrapper.  On failing to come up with a solution, I modified the plan somewhat.  Close enough for rock and roll!  Then I chucked the cave drawing aside and went to play with fabric.

And voila!

Here's how it went together, using 5-inch and 3.5-inch squares.

For the string-pieced centers, you are going to sub-cut a variety of your 5-inch blocks into 4, 1.25-inch strips, and then sew four different strips together.  Cut the other 3.5 and 5-inch squares on the diagonal.  

I am using two different background fabrics, ash gray and a gray/white print, and two different corner fabrics, a black polka dot print and a wine colored print.  (I was literally just grabbing what was lying around on the table, so it is what it is—scrappy!)

Sew the diagonally cut 5-inch background squares to the string-pieced centers. Try to center the diagonally cut pieces; they will be about an inch longer on each end than the centers.

Sew the diagonally cut 3.5 inch pieces to the opposite ends, as shown above.  Press open and trim blocks to 6 inches square (actually, 5-7/8 inches square might give you a slightly better match of the corner squares, especially if you sew with a scant 1/4 inch seam, but that's sort of a fiddly measurement and it came out close enough when trimmed to 6 inches square).

Arrange four units into one block and sew them together.  The block will measure around 11.5 inches square at that point.  You can orient the corner triangles so that there is all one color in the center, or do like I did and alternate.  Same thing with the background fabrics; you can use two different ones like I did here, or all the same. You have options, is what I'm saying.

So there you have it!  I'm sure it's nothing original, although the way in which it came about for me was.  I mean, how many blocks have been inspired by a chocolate bar wrapper?  (Quilters, don't answer that!)

I can't wait to see what others have created for the Scrap Block Challenge.  Visit Confessions of a Fabric Addict today for the linky!

*I used this recipe, but substituted 1/2 c. honey for the sugar and ghee for the butter, and left off the glaze.  It was fabulous and totally worth it!

Sew Scraps Along

Jodi at Pleasant Home is hosting Sew Scraps Along this month, and I've decided to join in.  Since making something scrappy is on my list of "NewFOs" for 2012, I thought the Sew Scraps Along would dovetail nicely with that plan.

There will be tips, tutorials, and inspiration aplenty for the next few weeks, as well as many chances to win scrappy goodies and prizes.  Click the button for all the details!

Last night, I took some time to rummage through my own (disorganized) scrap drawers.  I wanted to try making a block I'd seen in one of the books I'd been paging through for inspiration this week, Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts.  This wasn't one of Gwen's patterns; it was a gallery photo of a 1930s string quilt.  The only information was in the caption. 

The Dresden ruler I picked up earlier in the week came into play in making my version of what I'm calling a scrappy string ring.  Basically, it's a Dresden plate (sans points) cut from a strata of strings.  I wasn't sure how this was going to work out, so I selected some pretty humble looking scrap strips to start with for my sample.  I did try to keep the colors limited to red, blue, green, cream, and gray.

In order to get good variation, I determined that I would make four different strata of strings, ending in a rectangle that I trimmed to measure 6-1/2 inches high and about 11 or 12 inches long.  I cut five wedges from each strata, alternating placement of the ruler for each wedge to add more variation, making a total of 20 wedges per ring.

Then it was just a matter of laying the wedges out in a pleasing way and sewing them together!  I made a circle for the center and hand appliqued it down.

Once the ring was assembled, I stitched about 1/8 inch from the outer edge for stabilization, then pressed under 1/4 inch.  Now it's ready to applique down onto a background (still experimenting with backgrounds at the moment).

Though it was a bit time consuming, I really like the way it turned out!  This little sample will become a wall hanging.

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!