Saturday, November 2, 2019

sewing saturday


snowball blocks in different configurations

This week with it's snowstorms, was distracting for sewing. I have only three things to show...

I finished up some already cut snowball sections, and if you'll notice they are not all like the others!
Some have color in the corners, some have color in the center sections. I kind of like them together, especially in black and white. I might even have to do a little study of just black and white ones like this.

I got distracted by putting scraps away and sewed the smallest ones into this red piece... very soothing and meditative while listening to my book on disc.
it's about 10" square, maybe ones of different colors together?
 It was Halloween week,
"Mama! What's THAT?" barked Milo loudly
and despite the snow and extreme cold (the high today was under 30F) last night, we sat outside for a while remembering previous Halloweens where we dressed up and gave out candy from chairs out front of our MD house. We shared some red wine from Colorado, and Milo sat on DH's lap for a bit.
This year was the coldest, just after the 5th snow of October...
Mamas follow the kids sometimes driving them from house to house!
My favorite costume was the inflatable waving guy you see at car dealerships. My favorite comment was when I asked two little boys which candy was their favorite.
"this one, and this one,... ummmm and THIS one!" said the first
the second one needed encouragement to reach in and choose, and the first one said, 'I'm waiting for you derek!" (places to go, things to do...) I said, he'll be with you in a moment, he's making a decision! First boy looks around and says, "your house is not even a little bit scary!"
I don't know if that was good or bad but replied, " that's the way we like it"
plastic flamingo perished in the cold apparently
we sat and watched as kids went door to door, or sometimes, from the car to a door, then dashing back into the car. We looked at the changing sky as the moon came out
 and hoped those were not snow clouds again... OMG.

I pieced together a backing fabric (of martini's and pretzels... adult trick or treats) and found a batting stored in the closet. Unfortunately it's an annoying batting... mountain mist 100% cotton that falls apart when you breathe on it. It's snagging, wrinkling, puffing up, and getting fibers on the quilt.
I did all the straight line quilting with the walking foot, and am now filling in with free motion and metallic threads. the more I quilt the more it needs...
The quilting doesn't show up much, so I go around the motifs, and do some zig zags, some leaves around the owls after quilting around them. It could take a while.

I stopped and looked for a wild striped binding but nothing showed up well, so I settled on a mottled purple. It wants finishing.
I had to get out the big iron and thought I'd share how I control the chord... a fabric napkin holder!
so not much sewing, but the design wall was cleared of little threads with the lint roller (it took 4 sheets) and I feel a bit lost without a RSC color to look forward to. I counted on 11 colors when I added up how many blocks to make of each color so I must supplement them or make smaller quilts.

I have many tops to be quilted now, so that may be what takes up my sewing time, but the actual quilting has become a bit stressful physically, not as much fun as making blocks or designing a top.

linking to
Thursday art dates with Rain
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays  
Midweek makers wednesdays
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays
oh Scrap Sundays 
 scrap happy Saturdays

20 comments:

Carol R. said...

I had counted on 11 colors as well so when she said that for the last month, use a dark color like brown, black or gray, I used two of them and counted one as the 11th. And now they sit patiently waiting for me to stitch them together. I LOVE your owls :)

Julierose said...

I like how the snowballs come together--that b&w fabric is so neat abutting the off whites...nice work. Your little red piece came out so well--you are really good at making these...have a warm and happy weekend...hugs, Julierose (yay power is back on here!!;}}})

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

I love your snowball blocks, specially the ones with the tiny piece of color in the center!

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

Genius on the cord holder. I like the waving guy, too. The B & W blocks. Glad it wasn't snowing for the trick or treaters. Enjoy the weekend. mary

Tails Around the Ranch said...

Really love those black and white circles!

MissPat said...

I agree that an all black and white snowball piece would be interesting and the owl Halloween quilt is terrific. You have my permission to throw out the rest of that bad batting if there is any left (or use it to stuff ornaments or something. Left is too short to fight with substandard supplies. Guess the flamingo doesn't like snow. Maybe he'll revive if you put him in the garage until spring. I think Angela announced at the beginning that there would only be 10 color months this year. Throw in some multi-color blocks or fill in with some variations like peach or fuschia. You'll think of something. Hope your snow is done for a while. We had an inch of rain and high winds on Thurs/Fri. I like Milo's coat.
Pat

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Your snowball blocks make such a neat design! I think playing with all black and white ones could be a lot of fun! I love the little red piece you made with scraps - sometimes that kind of sewing is very appealing.

Molly the Airedale said...

Did your mom make your costume, Milo? It's beautiful and so are the snowball blocks!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Your new little Halloween quilt makes me SEW happy!! Lucky LeeAnna gets to choose her own RSC Color of the Month this month to finish out those block collections. What'll it be?!?!

Pinkadot Quilts said...

Your flowering snowballs look great!!!!
It was about 70* here in PA on Halloween!!!

gayle said...

I've been adoring those snowball blocks!
For my 11th RSC month, I've been planning multi-color prints and what-color-would-you-call-that-anyway type colors. I figure they'll fill in any visual gaps that I might have.

marebear said...

Love what you have done with the owls. Is this your pattern?

LA Paylor said...

google free owl applique blocks, that's how I found it and I did attribute it in my first post about them, in October.

Ann said...

I need to clean my design wall, too. I'll try your suggestion of a lint roller. Always love the owl quilt!! And I like the snowballs. How fun to work on different ways to choose colors.

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna,
That is quite a bit of sewing! along with all your other creative adventures and enjoying life the days fill themselves! Thanks for sharing Halloween !
hugs,
Joanne

Valerie-Jael said...

Hi Leeanna. Your sewing and quilting is wonderful! Love that blue piece with the owl. Sorry it was so cold for Halloween, sounds really chilly. Love that inflatable blue costume, fantastic. Great moon, too! Have a good week, keep warm, hugs, Valerie

Anne / Springleaf Studios said...

I really like the color blocking layout of the snowball blocks. Look forward to where this one goes. I thought I was following your blog only to realize I wasn't. I'm not always up on my blog reading but it will be nice to keep up with your work.

Rain said...

Milo is adorable. :) It looks very cold out there!

Christine said...

I love all this beautiful colour in your pieces!

Susan said...

I do love your sense of color arrangement, especially in the black/white red/yellow piece. Trick or treating has really declined around my neighborhood - I miss all the creative costumes.