Hemispheres

I've been working on the Hemispheres Quilt Along project(s) this past week.  There are two in the works.  One I have put aside until I know for certain how it's going to go together.  I think I have a pretty good idea but I'm waiting a bit longer before I actually commit the final assemblage to needle and thread.  That is the one which uses some of the pink, dye discharged fabrics from the last post.

The other Hemispheres project is this one, which is finally in the sewing it all together stage.  Here it is laid out on the cutting table.

[Aside:  I can't think Hemispheres without thinking of Rush's 1978 album by that name.  And here is where I admit that I have just spent the last 10 minutes watching a 2011 live version of the instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" on YouTube.  Want to be distracted by the shininess that is Neil Peart's drum set?  Go ahead, indulge your inner prog-rocker and check it out.  The real action begins at about 1:00 in.  No one will mind if you air drum along.]

It was a bit of a challenge to get those half circles to butt up against each other.  I switched to a zipper foot and that helped, but it's still not the close shave I might have hoped for.  Ah, well.

Need a reason to smile today?  These babies will fix that.  If not, look out; they might snap you with a rubber band.  Oh, to be so easily and joyfully entertained!

In the Pink

I tried something new the other day.  I'd bought some different pink fabrics online but they weren't exactly the pink I had in mind for a retro-mod type wall hanging. 

So I decided to try discharging some of the dye with a bleach and water bath.  I found this website to be very helpful in learning more about it.  I used 2 quarts of water mixed with 1/2 cup of chlorine bleach.  From what I had read, it wasn't going to take long, so I stirred it around and watched it for probably a total of 7 minutes.

In the neutralizer bath.

Then I rinsed them in clear water and put them in a second bath of 2 quarts of water and 2 capfuls of chlorine neutralizer for aquariums that we had left over from when we had a fish tank.  After that, I washed them in warm sudsy water and rinsed them thoroughly.

Here are the before/after results.  The original with the discharged version on top.  It's subtle, but there is a perceptible difference.  The lightest one is actually  more of a blush pink color, not tan as it appears in the photos.

These are Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen (a print, not true linen). 

They're still not exactly the shade I'd like, but close enough for rock 'n roll.  I am using the discharged watermelon pink and the discharged blush pink.

* * * * * * * *

Today is my daughter's 26th birthday ~ Happy birthday Shella-Bubba!  (I am notorious for inventing nicknames.  She got stuck with that one, among others, but I think she's okay with it...or maybe she was okay with it until I announced it to the whole internet.)

We celebrated on Sunday with her favorite dessert, mint chocolate bars.  I bounced completely off the no-sugar wagon while they lasted, but they were good.

Michelle and Nick

I hope you have a great day and a wonderful year ahead, sweetie!

Fan-o-rama

How's that for a silly title?  Well, I'm running on empty at this hour, what can I say.  I should be doing the final round of shoulder exercises before bed, but I just can't anymore tonight.  

Physical therapy wasn't bad on Wednesday, but the two things the therapist added to my existing regimen seem as much aggravating to the shoulder as they may be helpful.  Hoping the soreness will calm down soon.  Anyway, it's been a busy day, and then I had a brewski about an hour ago and that pretty much sapped my will to check anything else off the to-do list.

However, earlier today I finished a quilt top.  Ta-da!

I like how it turned out, all diagonally squiggly and such in this setting.  It's about 60 x 70 (-ish), which makes a nice throw or kid sized quilt.

This project started as a way to use an older fabric my sister had given me.  I used an EZ Dresden ruler to cut the pieces, then switched them up into grandmother's fan type blocks. 

I will not be naming this quilt Fan-o-rama.  Other suggestions are welcome, however.

Linking to:

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

From the local police beat in yesterday's newspaper:

"I'm here to rob your store."

"Sorry, Orange Goatee Dude.  I call bullshit."

"Okay, um, just give me a sub then...which I'll pay for with my Visa card."

When I'm not chuckling at the newspaper, I've been making blocks.  Got a nice pile of them ready to lay out on the floor later today.

Like my scribbled design?  I can't draw a proper square, but I can sew one, so who cares.  When I decided to make it a little longer, I scotch taped a second scrap onto the bottom to draw the rest.  'Cause that's how I roll.

I have a PT evaluation today for the shoulder.  I'm only a little scared.  

(Thrifted skull and treats; glass pumpkin Pier 1)

Happy Halloween! 

Progress Report

I'm happy with the progress that has been made on an impromptu quilt that's coming together.  It started with a challenge fabric (back one post) and the notion of incorporating that into a Dresden.

I sewed the pieces together in groups of five, or quarter Dresdens, then played around with them.  I liked the idea of doing diagonal squiggles instead of circles.

That morphed into a decision to transform them into grandmother's fan blocks.  First I had to to reverse engineer them to get the inner quarter circle and outer background piece (trace the curves and add seam allowances).

The little quarter circle turned out to be kind of a bugger to piece.  It became apparent that my usual method (involving pinning and sewing with the U-shaped piece on top) wasn't going to work in this tight space.  I recalled seeing a tutorial last year by someone demonstrating a no-pin method.  I tried that, and it worked well, but you have to sew vewey, vewey swowy (read that part in an Elmer Fudd voice), literally a stitch or two/three at a time, adjusting the layers as you go.  Like so:

Never mind the patina on my vintage machine.  She's got a lot of miles on her.  And a half century ago when she was new, Mom often parked an ashtray right there in the harp space while she sewed.  Miraculously, nothing went up in flames.

After piecing about a dozen or so blocks, I laid what I had out on the floor.  I'll need to trim them down along the white edges so they're a little smaller, since I want the red parts to tuck into the design a little more.

I tried setting them on point, too, just for kicks.  Not bad either.  Another time maybe.

After seeing them laid out, I decided to experiment with a different fabric in the small quarter circle for half of the blocks.  We'll see how that works out.  I've got another twenty-something to make.

I'll be linking up with the fun at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Have a great weekend!