I pause from watching a ton of motorcycle racing this weekend to update you on my goings on. I'm delighted that blooms have finally burst forth in my neighborhood. The first that I noticed were forsythia bushes - how could you NOT spot them with their bright yellow blooms.
Days later I spotted flowering trees along the next street over from me. (My street has maples and choke cherry trees that won't bloom until later.) These were taken on a cloudy day with my not very good cell phone camera so difficult to see some of the pink blooms.
My neighbor had set out a pot with bulbs pushing up which I'd been anxiously waiting to see just what they were. Finally they have opened up into beautiful daffodils.
I had reason to be downtown one day last week and was delighted to see white blossoms on some of the trees there. I was due for a haircut and my safari hunting stylist had two pieces of Kudu hide left over after mounting by her husband. The Kudu was actually taken by her dad after he'd shown interest in her first safari adventure. It was a special trip for this hunting father-daughter duo and I'm honored that she thought to offer these to me. I have yet to do anything with the first pelt she gifted me but the wheels never stop turning. It's mostly that I have no experience working with leather and continue to research.
In the meantime, back to the familiar. Time to layer up the Venetian Tiles top. I definitely considered skipping a few steps like pressing the major creases out of the backing, but decided I'd no doubt hate myself at some point if I didn't do it. The top had only a slight single fold line so yeah, may as well press that out too. I flipped it right side down and sighed a heavy sigh as I saw so many frays along the raw edges of seams. Very nearly skipped trimming those away too, but decided again that I'd be kicking myself if I could see any of those threads showing through to the front as I quilted. Not a quick process but cleaning up the wrong side is always a good idea. Look at the pile of threads!
All layered and safety-pin basted although I still need to hand-baste around the edge of the top and turn the backing/batting to the front to be pinned down for a nice neat package for machine quilting. So fascinating studying the variation of pattern in the blocks cut from the same fabric.
I also spent time digging through those bins and other piles around the studio for the missing Stack-n-Whack book, and also my Mariner Compass book that I wanted to reference before finishing up those class sample blocks and cannot put my finger on. You know you're in trouble when you look in the same places for the third time with the same result. Running out of places to look, although I did manage to unearth two books I don't remember buying plus two that I think I'd pulled off the shelf to reference quite awhile ago when I was working on stamping and linocutting - much piled on top of them. Those went back on the shelf as I'm not stamping or linocutting at the moment. The two I didn't remember got put away properly too. Is the dragon guard doing too good of a job, hiding things from me?
Suddenly I remembered a file box in the garage that holds info for the classes I taught while still in Wisconsin. I've tried several times to break down these files as I'm not planning on teaching any of these again, but as I look through it now hoping to find the lost books, I was reminded why I keep putting the lid back on and shoving it aside. Copies of class handouts and patterns easy enough to get rid of but there's also fabric from samples and partial blocks used to demo steps - as if I don't have enough leftovers and orphan blocks to deal with, I just can't face taking these things out and deciding what to do with them yet. They are from over 20 years ago; will they be helpful in making a quilt years from now as in the meme? However, I was right about finding a lost book out there. I vaguely remember teaching the basic Stack n Whack method and sure enough, that first book was filed with my class notes. But the Mariner Compass book was not there, even though there was a Mariner Compass class file. Sigh. It no doubt will show itself when I least expect it.
I'll soon have another finish to share, by the way. I've been much more diligent this last week putting in time on my sock knitting. I am literally 2 inches away on each sock from being done with them.
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