The bindings are ready for the three small projects I mentioned yesterday. I'm hoping to get them all quilted in the next few days.
Do you like working on small stuff, or do you prefer larger quilts? I like both, but small things have a special appeal to me, creatively. I like working with scraps and experimenting with putting different fabrics together in a fun way, but not necessarily in a bed-sized quilt. I don't usually save selvages, but as I work with some recently thrifted Christmas fabrics (more on that below), I thought I'd save a few selvages to use in another fun small project in the future. The pheasant—who needs a name; let's call him Phrank—seemed to be a good temporary parking spot for selvage number one.
I won't burden him with too many more, though. He's kind of a delicate old thing, poor Phrank. We set up our little four-foot Christmas tree on a wrought iron pedestal table last weekend, but it seemed like it needed something underneath it. Not exactly a tree skirt but something for the potted base of the tree to sit on. (Okay, so maybe that IS a tree skirt.) Since the table is circular, I thought I might make a string ring table mat in Christmas fabrics, following my tutorial for it HERE. It needs to be a little larger than the ones I've made before, so I'm cutting 7.5-inch Dresden wedges instead. I've given away all the string ring mats I made back then, so it's fun to be making another one again.
My string strata is 7.5 x 13 inches or so. I cut five wedges from each strata. I try to make each strata with different fabrics, and I usually make four different strata sets. The more variety in fabrics, the more interesting the final ring looks, I think.
Here I started to put just two different strata's worth of wedges together.
With the third batch of wedges added, you can see it developing a little more with the variety.
This is where it stands as of now, below. The lighting in the sewing room makes the colors read darker and flatter than they actually are. There are a couple metallic prints that make it sparkle a bit, too.
I may move a couple of wedges around before I sew it together, but I don't want to overthink it too much.
Like most people, I enjoy the holidays, the joy and cheer and good tidings. All the good things that come from this festive season. But just because it's December doesn't mean there is a reprieve from bad times and suffering. That's a constant. Against the backdrop of the holidays, though, things can sometimes feel all the more intense, even surreal.
I am aware of many people who are hurting this time of year, and that's been on my heart and mind lately. Two friends have lost important family members in the past couple of days, and I am so sorry for their losses and grief. Knowing they will have a hole in their hearts and a gap at their tables for the parent or grandparent who is no longer there.
Others are dealing with relationship losses, physical challenges, mental health and addiction issues. It's hard when you know others are suffering. One can feel pretty helpless as well. So what do you do?
While you can't take away someone's pain, maybe you can lighten the load somehow. Be present. Offer a box of tissues and a shoulder to cry on. If appropriate, crack a well-timed joke. Go for a ride. Or just call. Take dinner over. Or a quilt. I came upon this article recently, "Why We Need the Softness of Craft During Hard Times," and this quote:
It's during these hard times that we really need the softness of craft.
To be wrapped in the embrace of grandmother’s quilt, to feel protected
from the elements in a hand knit sweater, to caress a mug thrown by
someone else's hand on a potter's wheel. These simple things reconnect
us to our humanity and remind us of the goodness and potential of
people.
I'd like to believe that's true, but in reality I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all approach. I think you have to be sensitive to someone's cues and wishes. People process things in all manner of ways. When my mom passed away, for the most part I just wanted to walk by myself in the evenings and look at the setting sun in the summer sky. And talk, as if to her.
So maybe you talk about things with your friend directly, but maybe the better thing to do is go bowling, distract. I don't know. I think it all depends on the circumstances. Maybe you take a seat next to her on the couch and watch something on Netflix. Or rip on Donald Trump's hair.
Maybe you just ask what she really needs. And then really listen.
It's been better than three weeks since I last posted, so some of this will be a bit of a catch-up. I've let my blogging muscles go a little slack of late, so this challenge will be good practice in at least showing up and making a consistent effort again. And hopefully we'll discover some new friends, get reacquainted with others, and have some fun along the way! Now you may have noticed I've gotten a late start, since the challenge officially began on December 1. But I just stumbled upon the link late last night, so for me to be here ready to go within 12 hours of that time seems "close enough for rock and roll" to me. So what's new? Well, this is one of three little projects I've got going on in the sewing room at the moment. A couple of them are gifts, so I can't show those just yet.
A little string star table topper made with part of a charm pack of Blitzen that I've had for a couple years. Love those aquas and grays together!
I didn't set out to make the star from strings, but I just couldn't seem to get the right combination of squares to work, so I just sliced them into strips and re-made 5-inch squares from the assortment, and then made the half-square triangles from there. I also finished quilting and binding this wall hanging recently.
It's kind of hard to see the quilting in the green parts—it's holly leaves.
You can see them better from the back, maybe.
I hit the mother lode of Christmas fabric at a thrift store a couple weeks ago. Most of those bundles was at least a yard. Total price for this entire lot was about $12.00!
"Sleigh Ride" is one of my favorite Christmas songs (the Harry Connick, Jr. version being my all-time favorite), but I hadn't seen this version in 7/8 time until a couple days ago. Pretty cool!
We went thrift store shopping yesterday and saw some awesome things. Things I did not buy, but captured in pictures for us all to enjoy. This was a beautiful old Dresden of what looked like feed sack fabrics,
hand pieced and quilted, nicely matted and framed, for only $2.00. Two
dollars! And yet I picked it up and set it back down. What is wrong
with me?! (Don't answer that.)
I always check out the framed art in hopes of spotting a vintage paint-by-number. Although no PBN was to be found, there was an impressive black velvet Indian painting!
I call him Chief Blue Eyes, a/k/a the "Chieftain of the Board" (or Bored?). Ain't he purdy?
He had a fairly hefty price tag of $30, commensurate with his larger-than-life size, I suppose. Alas, I left him there on lookout...though I'm not quite sure where he's looking. Northeast? Mind those Pilgrims, buddy, and keep an eye on that strabismus, too. Moving on to the Christmas displays, this cute little vintage blow mold reindeer was hanging out. All lit up and nowhere to go. We debated giving him a home on our porch for the season, but ultimately passed. Only ten "bucks" and it came with two allen head wrenches, for reasons intriguingly unknown.
The "ugly Christmas sweaters" and other holiday garb were in good supply. This vest was so blingy bad, it was good! I tried it on, but it was a bit too big.
This one was interesting. A fuzzy sweater featuring cute teddies wearing...fuzzy sweaters? It made me laugh, and that's always a good thing.
Coming out of the store, we spotted this car in the parking lot.
Holy Cheesehead! This guy is obviously a Fan, with a capital F, for the GBP! Gotta admire the creativity, dedication, and attention to detail that "Dan the Packer Man" put into his sweet ride.
And pretty soon, here came Dan! Who, unlike us, had actually bought something at the thrift store, and happily chatted about his car for a bit and posed for a pic.
* * * * *
In my own creative space, I am getting ready to quilt this piece, which will be a holiday wall hanging.
We have had a beautiful fall here. I've enjoyed watching all the trees in the neighborhood change colors and shed their leaves. The silver maple in the backyard is always the last of ours to drop. I lay on my back on the deck today to capture a picture, looking up. I kind of like the upside-down perspective, but it's pretty either way.
The light has a wonderful intensity this time of year. That's some consolation for the shorter days, I suppose.
Hoo boy, this has been a long time coming. I finally finished the Tea Towel Challenge 2014 quilt!
I had the flimsy sewn together way back in May 2014. Nevertheless, at long last, here is the whole enchilada. Quilted, bound, and hung on the wall last evening, right before the trick-or-treaters started ringing the doorbell.
I was a little stumped as to how to quilt it (it waited a year and a half...ya think?), but once I decided to finally put my nose to the grindstone, I knew it would require a bit of quilting in the ditch for starters. So that's where I began.
As things proceeded, I started to get a better inkling about the quilting. I'd scribble down ideas as they occurred to me. Funny how that usually happened while I was in the middle of something less than creative, namely my day job.
Some doodles worked, others not so much. It's why they make seam rippers. Thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of stitch-picking, just here and there.
In the end, I determined that, overall, less was more with the quilting. I didn't want to cover up those chickens in the center of the tea towel with anything that would detract, so I followed a lot of the black outlines around the chickens and then filled in with quilted scallops, squiggles, lines, and loops to approximate feathers, etc.
I sewed some tiny yellow beads in the chicken breast areas, for lack of a better idea how to quilt that particular space. And just for kicks, I put a bead in the center of each eye as well. The beads make me smile!
For the quilting in the eight orange and green blocks in the outer border, I used a few different shapes characteristic of George Briard designs: Spirals, leaves, diamonds, and an orange peel kind of thing (click to enlarge).
The feathers/leaves were loopy quilted. A close meander filled in the yellow background around them.
I'm definitely doing the happy dance about this finish—with Sarah and the gang at Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!
