Sewing Saturday

about 14" X 44"

I finished my "Table Scraps" entry for this month, in red because I wanted to use the color of the month at RSC too. 

I've been hanging some of my previous quilts on the bannister, pattern from Bonnie Hunter

 

why don't you come on up to the studio to see how it was made? (Milo will greet you and lead you in)
 

yea for improve piecing!

It started because I sorted some leftovers in the studio and put random blocks in with their color bin if possible. There were about 6 improv diamonds, plus two 4-patch diamonds in the bunch so I thought it was a fine time to make them into something!

To use them, I made a couple more improv blocks, and cut some diamonds and half diamonds with seam allowance, from my red scrap bin. ( success! I can now close the bin!) In this pic you can see that I couched a thick metallic cord down the two long sides. I only had scraps of that too, j-u-s-t- enough for the two long sides! I also used a "petting stash" black with red dots piece for the border. 

I decided this tine to pull the backing to the front, turning it under and measuring carefully, and sewing it all on machine to create an edge treatment. It can distort a bit so I blocked the final quilt by spraying with water and letting it dry in place flat. 

I quilted each diamond slightly differently

Continuing the improv feel, I quilted each diamond differently. 

I still want to add some beads but hurt my back trying to sew over the cutting table last night

I hope to hang it in studio 2 where I keep the bulk of creative supplies. Thank you to Joy at https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/

for the impetus for making this! 

I did not quilt this one yet...

but I have been sewing the blocks together into sections on this one

 

I love how they change and intensify when sewn together! The pic looks weird because they are temporarily on the portable design board that folds in half, and it's bent on the floor!!

see how large the sections have gotten? Won't be long now! Then the decisions have to be made about how to quilt it and how to finish the edges. I love the ins and outs of a hexie/tumbling block so I expect I'll ladder stitch the finished block edge to the turned under backing when the time comes.

I have found while stitching these EPP blocks that sometimes the fabric is too tight folded around the paper that is too thin, and I have to remove the paper to whip stitch them.

Thanks for coming over, wish I could meet all of you. Maybe one day it will be possible for me to leave the house, if everyone who can get vaccinated does... then it will be safer for me. 

I have immune issues like many people do. We who cannot be fully vaccinated will not ever be able to return to a full life unless the people who are able to get the shots do. For those of you who have political reasons not to do it, consider that it's okay to do it for the common good of your country. 

and me.

Linking to

myquiltinfatuation Thursdays

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays 

 

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

patchwork Sunday                    
oh Scrap Sundays
 slow stitching Sundays 

https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-2021-table-scraps-runnertopper.html 

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

I Like Thursday #246

 

What?! It's Thursday already?  Welcome to this week's list of likes! 

Big surprise... I like Flamingo's and flamingo things. I have a flamingo collection, including this whirligig we got just before we left Maryland but just put together this week. Whee! Then it broke... 

oy. You can rest assured I'll be doing something to fix it somehow.

I like soup... make a big portion and have it all week as appetizer. This time I traveled back to the 70's into my high school diet years and made cabbage soup! I added a few things and am not eating it exclusively like I did back then, but it is delish!

In soup pot saute 1/4 olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves, a large knob of fresh ginger minced... add a chopped onion and cook a bit. Add 2 chopped celery stalks, three chopped carrots, half a chopped red bell pepper and 1/8 cup cooking sherry and simmer. 

Next add in half a sliced head of cabbage, 1 can tomatoes, 2 quarts of chicken broth, and spices. 

I do about tbsp parsley, and half tsps of basil, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper and simmer til carrots are tender.

simple but good. 

I finished Til Death do us Tart, the novel that includes some great recipes, and almost finished with the Baby Ganesh 3rd book in series on audio. Waiting for the next in Jude Devereaux new series due in one week. 

I liked watching a lot of finale's this week, but sad they're going. We saw the last Brokenwood this season but that's okay as we have the new season of Midsomer Murders to watch this week along with the best British bakery, a million little things, Firefly lane, and Virgin River. 

I am reading my night time e-books outside on the porch some now... maybe I can finish more books that way. Listening is my pleasure though, while I sew. 

Sewing... how I love my little creative space. I've been hand sewing my tumbling blocks, but am machine quilting my latest for Joy's table scraps linky this weekend. Red of course! Scraps of course. More on Saturday. 

coloring while I enjoy Home worthy videos on youtube... really fun home tours...

this is how this week's page started...

calendar of the week by Joanna Basford

and how I finished it. I am enjoying seeing the colors blend and shadow

Short one this week... 

Milo's Moments

I was chillin' with my best toy on the porch this week til I heard Mama call... Milo!

Wha?? I get my own pancake and scrambled eggs with cheese??? With almond butter? 

Could you cut it up for me?

Mama: of course... this isn't my first time feeding you my baby!

Milo: I'm gonna have to say bye bye for now as I've got something to eat...

please visit mama's friends: 

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

   http://littlepenguinquilts

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/ 

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/
  http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  

 

 http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

 craftscaviescontras

 https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/    

 the knitty quilter

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/    

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/

LINKING WITH

https://brianshomeblog.com/

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

 

sewing saturday

 

for this week's sewing round up I present wine bottles made from red scraps for the RSC.

these seem a bit pink but in person they are definitely red! And the labels are silly!

One from a valentine fabric and one from my alcohol fabric collection! Seeing pink elephants???

Mostly this week I have worked on my tumbling block quilt, fine tuning colors and arrangements.

I pin them in place and carry it down to the family room to stitch in front of the tv. I made a felt covered cardboard tray to use, the pin cushion was from a youtube cathedral window free pattern.
 

 I made a few more blocks to bring more color into the predominantly black and white ones, and added a row on the left side. I am sewing the blocks together in pinned sections at night while listening to tv. 

I also spent some time on my red scrap wall quilt, or table runner, or banner. (time will tell which)

 

I added in a purple scrap on one side, and the beloved red with gold circles vintage scrap next to it and chose a binding fabric of gold with red circles.I almost put a black strip on the right but last minute I decided to keep it somewhat symetrical, thinking if I did that your eye would be drawn to the center to see the fun piecing instead of looking at all the different borders. 

I'm not sure I like it but figure red thread quilted in the purple scrap strip, or beads will mitigate the color pop. 

here's a video I found this week:

 some interesting ideas in this video, free  and useful in quilt making

Linking to

off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays 

finished or not

http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com/  

 myquiltinfatuation Thursdays

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays 

 design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

lovelaughquilt.mondays

scrap happy Saturdays

oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays
 

I Like Thursday # 245

learning about shading using Basford coloring calendar

 Here it is, Thursday again! How time flies when you're looking for things you like! I continue to enjoy learning about blending color and shading using my calendar pages and prismacolor watercolor pencils

 

Let's get this party started with:

I'm on book three of the Baby Ganesh Agency series and LOVE it

 I finished the audio book  What we Find by Robyn Carr... I admit I almost stopped halfway through but glad I didn't as it picked up momentum and I enjoyed it enough to want to read book two in the series

 Joy and I managed to piece together zoom for video and phones for audio in order to visit this week. Just like quilting! We made it work and had fun! 

Last week I zoomed with Cindy in SC on my birthday and that was so so so much fun.

We caught several episodes of Aberdeen Curl, international curling competition on the Olympics Channel, and we both love curling. Don't judge. 

I got extra points this week because I used up the vege about to go bad! Yea! I made fajitas with onions and peppers that were on their last... the old cleaned carrots and celery went into lentil soup,  I made Greek potato salad with potatoes who watched me as I peeled them (lots of eyes)  we finished off some desserts, some yogurt drinks, and one cheese dip that was dated the day we noticed it in the fridge!  

speaking of food, I so can't wait to try this recipe... and all his recipes!  from Spain on a fork!

one pan spanish garlic pasta

I found this cool youtube channel called homeworthy that takes you on tours of real people's homes that would be great to see in person! Not to mention I watched three and would like to be friends with all of them!

here's one ( link here)

 

 I couldn't love this dance more...

 Milo's Moments

I going to bed now Mama!

Mama: well leave space for me!

 Milo: oh don't worry mama, you won't wake me just snuggle into the big bed... but don't rush up, I plan to spread out and enjoy falling deep asleep and having poodle dreams right away!

Mama: er, that's what I'm afraid of Milo... you take up most of the bed and sleep so soundly I can't push you over!

Milo: yep! You'll never be cold with me around!

Mama: oh yes, and let's talk about the peepee you got on your legs , and your ring toy this week. 

Milo: Silly Mama! those are not bedtime stories ! come pet me a story then go back downstairs for a while, okay?

please visit these fine people keeping lists of their own, and let me know if you write a list for this week, small or large we will come visit!

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

   http://littlepenguinquilts

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/ 

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/
  http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  

 

 http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

 craftscaviescontras

 https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/    

 the knitty quilter

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/    

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/    

http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/

LINKING WITH

Thankful Thursdays pet parade 

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/ 

Sewing Saturday from blocks to birds to abstract

 

see the sun peeking out at top right?

This is Saturday's weekly sewing round-up for the week, welcome!

I have been obsessed with the tumbling blocks. I found this project after I'd done about half the blocks that you see here

it was an english paper piecing project I could do in front of the tv, in colors of the month at RSC. I added in some red blocks for this month and thought I have quite a few, what would they look like laid out? Since I couldn't place them on the vertical design wall (paper makes 'em slippery) I pulled out my portable design board and started to organize them.

As you can imagine, I've been moving them around all week, and when a section seemed right to put together, I pinned them to each other so they could be done in front of the tv. That's why you see small sections missing now and then.

what did I learn? 

group colors for focus else it will look like confetti

colors will blend, like the cool section that is really made of green, turquoise, blues and purple

I automatically set the size because of the size of my design board. 

that is big, y'all. I limited myself to this size, then wondered where to put the few excess blocks. Now understand I never had a size in mind, nor how many blocks I'd need, so why do I feel the need to use all the blocks? 

Should I ignore the size of the design space when laying out a design?  

So this may actually gain another row going up and down on the left. 

Anyway it has kept me busy and off the streets this week. 

This is the finished bird spring piece I finished last week, hanging in the family room! That means it has a sleeve sewn on the back too!

I am photo impaired for some reason this week... something about the changing light here lately

but this pic shows how I add branches then sew them in with texturing threads, how I painted the birds right onto a finished top of watercolor squares that finish at 1.5", and some quilting.

This shows two birds, and the binding choice I made to use my precious Caryl Bryer Fallert hand dye print on top and bottom, and my precious no long made pointillist gradation fabric on the sides.

leaves and sun rays quilted in add texture

what I learned...

first there are all the decisions about placement of squares, then piecing them in order

then where to paint the birds, and what colors to use on them (I used gelato sticks to paint with)

next the border decisions, then quilting decisions including thread, then binding... I learned to use my good fabrics even on small binding strips because small details matter.

such as the hand embroidery added to the trunk, years ago when this was started. Those tiny white flowers and thin green vines are not the first thing you see but I know they are there. 

You can see a bit of how the tiny squares come together to give a spring flower garden feel. 

I learned that some projects need resting time, and come out better than if you pushed to finish them all at once.

The color of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red, and I like red in all it's variations. Last week I showed you a red scrap project started a year ago

and how I added to it with strips of tiny triangles sewn into flying geese. I am making a video of that for later... stay tuned. Anyway... I wanted to keep this in the red zone even though I like it on gray for the joining section area... it's a decision. 

I learned you just have to make a choice and move on, it can always be done many ways but it I let myself dither too long it will go back in the UFO pile. 

so I got busy and inserted that pinkish red fabric to join the sections...

see on the bottom of this picture. Then I just needed that precious hoarded striped fabric to go in it somewhere, so free form curves were used to stitch it on too. 

The pics do not do it justice, but trust me it's really pretty in person and the geese stand out.

as one does, I auditioned many fabrics, and decided this is a good layout, with the vintage hoffman red with wild metallic circles for the outside strips... then....

I wondered if it needed an accent of DARK red before that strip, or maybe an accent...

maybe not this shade of purple but a jolt of purple might make all the reds stand up and pay attention!

so it's all excitement and color in studio 1 this week. I have not neglected my watercolors just used my coloring calendar to play with blended colors this week. I realized I often put every color in!!

which led me to pull out my inktense pencils and color on fabric again. Once you dab on water and heat press it fades, boo!!! But this will become something betcha! Maybe a small machine side pin cushion to give away.

Linking with

http://frombolttobeauty.blogspot.com/

off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays 
tgiffridayfinished or not 

myquiltinfatuation Thursdays

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays 

 

smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

 scrap happy Saturdays

patchwork Sunday                    
oh Scrap Sundays 
 slow stitching Sundays

I Like Thursday # 244

 

Welcome to this week's list of likes! 

I liked coloring in this week's calendar  with bright colors!

I used my faber castel markers that are VERY colorful and juicy. They are color limited however and don't blend as well as I am used to with water soluble pencil and markers like the Turbow on the bottom right. Still markers have their place. 

I like color and lots of it! I loved drawing a line down the limb with avocado green, hitting it with a water brush and the shadow that happened. Plus I am enjoying adding a shadow with gray markers. Here are a couple of last week's coloring pages

link to the calendar

they are all from Joanna Basford's weekly calendar for 2021, sometimes I use marker and sometimes watercolor pencil. Speaking of which I ordered staedtler watercolor pencils to see how they compare to prismacolor,  along with Joanna's new coloring book.

 

I got some pinch bowls this week so I can do Mise en place when I cook, all ready for mixing

here on amazon

aren't they pretty? with a cute package to use when wrapping a gift.

speaking of cooking, I sectioned citrus this week and thought about adding pineapple... so I looked for a cake recipe to use the left overs and found this...

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/easiest-ever-pineapple-cake/

recipe with only 5 ingredients! Done and iced with cream cheese icing in no time! Wonderful robust cake, which all of us love and we'll make again and again.k

it's my birthday week so we are eating cake... I hope to make a caramel cake recipe I found this week today!

I found a show on Prime that is equally wonderful, called "Patterson" a character driven movie with likeable realistic characters, a bus driver who writes poetry and his wife who longs to express her artistic side, with the cutest english bulldog pup.

This is Us was back this week, finally new. Only two episodes left in season. Still enjoying Schitts Creek, and Firefly Lane episodes. 

Oh I'm in love with the audio book series I'm listening to... I wish I could meet a little elephant like baby Ganesh. A retired detective in Mumbai keeps busy with mysteries. Love the reader too.

reading by Ebook

My favorite baker is embroiled in yet another mystery while planning her mom's wedding

On youtube...

 I enjoyed watching some bead tutorials this week, and found this woman who has VERY clear videos and a soothing voice while she shows how to do some filler stitches in embroidery.

 I have learned  what I like in a tutorial... clear view of stitches, prepared teacher who doesn't fiddle with supplies, and one who stays on task with their words. I do not like the stream of consciousness some presenters use with every stray word that comes through their mind just to fill the time while they fiddle around with supplies. I like this woman's style of presentation and although I've done a lot of embroidery and beading, I learned  a lot. I saw a couple of her videos and they were all well done!

this one is gonna come in handy!!!  5 easy outline stitches that really stand out

Milo's Moments

I spent some time this week exercising the daddy. First he works out his arm muscles trying to get my ring toy

then the wind picked up and nearly blew my ears off!!!

so I acted like I didn't care if he got it.... but I really want him to WANT it not take it!

He gives up so easily!
 

 Now please visit these people to read their lists and let me know if you do one, we'll add you in!

 

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/  

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

   http://littlepenguinquilts

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com/ 

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/
  http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  

 

 http://www.piecefulthoughts.com

 craftscaviescontras

 https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/  
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/   

http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/

https://100sweets.blogspot.com/

 

the knitty quilter

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/    

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/   

 

 LINKING TO

https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Thankful Thursdays pet parade 

https://www.knitbygodshand.com/
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/