True Confessions

As the weekend approached, I realized I was experiencing some "Olympic Fatigue". i.e. as much as I was enjoying watching the various competitions, my enthusiasm was beginning to wane (confession one). How many more short track speed skating heats do I have to watch until the final A & B races? Aren't the bobsledders done yet? I couldn't even bring myself to watch the figure skating gala yet, recording it for when I'm not tired of watching these same athletes strut their stuff. I was beginning to look forward to the start of motorcycle roadracing season at the end of the month. I hadn't caught on to the fact that the weekend would see the wrapping up of the Olympics AND the start of Superbike racing until Thursday when an e-mail alert arrived in my mailbox. Maybe it's a good thing the two overlapped, giving me the fresh excitement of a different kind of sports watching to get me through the last of the old.

At the same time, I'd been tracking an order from Denmark (!) that came quickly enough to New York, but sat for days before showing up in San Fransisco where it also sat for a bit (weather?). An order that originally was projected to arrive by February 13 blew past that date, not being delivered into my mail locker until last Thursday. I was amused at how on pins and needles I was about getting it, excited when the key to the package locker showed up in my box (along with delivery confirmation e-mail), then highly frustrated when I couldn't get the key to work. A note to the postperson produced the package at my door the next day . . . at last! And what was in that package?

3 yarn "cakes" plus a sweet treat

Yarn! I'm not supposed to be buying more yarn until I use up what I have on hand, or at least put a big dent in the stash. But as is often the case, I was lured into the purchase partly because of a sale (confession two). It all started with my downloading of free patterns that I hoped to pair up with that yarn on hand.

I'm discovering, though, that many of the new patterns aren't designed for use with the worsted weight yarn that was popular back when I was learning to knit. But they are beautiful so I download them anyway, and in the case of this pattern called Autumn Waves, I thought it possible to substitute my worsted wool for the cotton/acrylic blend called for. And of course, since I'd downloaded this pattern from the yarn company's site (Hobbii). I started getting e-mails from them. I'd look at what they were offering (always enticing) but blanch at the prices, and eventually question ordering from them at all when I discovered they were based in Denmark. Then came the sale e-mail with the yarn for this sweater 40% off. Ok fine, I'll give them a try. And I was able to use Thank You Points from my credit card to bring the price down even more. Sold!

And at least for now, I am not disappointed. This cotton yarn is so soft, unlike the 100 percent cotton yarn I knitted into sweaters years ago. Must be that addition of acrylic which should also give it more stability than that cotton I used that produced a sweater that was not only heavy but stretched under that weight. I still marvel at my excitement waiting for this yarn to arrive. It's not like it's something I will start right away. In fact, there are at least three smaller projects ahead of it on the knitting priority list once the current socks are done. Which, by the way, are progressing in spite of all the sports watching. Sock one is at the heel turning point, and I've switched to sock two to bring it up to the same point.

My conclusion: I'm insufferable when it comes to these things! But I can't deny how they excite me. 😊

Filing, Shredding, Organizing

Yes, I'm still wrapped up in watching the Olympics, but looking around, I see so many things I've set to one side, each that would take a few minutes, 15 minutes, certainly no more than 30 minutes to tend to, or could easily be broken up into small chunks of time. Take shredding. I'm determined to get my taxes done much sooner than I did last year so have started the collecting of papers for 2025 and shredding of unneeded documentation for the oldest tax file I keep. In the process, I came across more shreddable, or at least tossable, papers from as long ago as 2022 as I filed away the most current insurance policies information. Yes, I am quite bad at putting things in piles for later or keeping things longer than necessary. But I am making great progress, by working on these in short stints before landing in front of the computer.

The studio always needs tidying too, another task sometimes best done in short shifts. I spent several stints sorting and putting away everything from the Collage Breakthrough class, including storing the various square size templates in the back of the sketchbook I used. I do intend to work more collages in that book. Once that part of the table was clear, it revealed a corner of the table where fabric from that major dyeing project of last fall still sat (why I hadn't moved it the few feet from table to stash cubes is a mystery) and that I hadn't put all away from working on the Joy banner (which btw still needs threads buried). Pattern pieces, fabric left out to make a label and small fabric scraps to glue to a documentation file were scattered here and there. So out came the most recent documentation binder. Oh dear. In another pile of "must file one day", I found the pattern I developed and made notes on for the last baby quilt I made. Hmmm, when was that? Ahh, two years ago. But I only found a few small pieces of the pink fabrics that were used in it on the table (so far - piles exist). I may have a little trouble fully documenting this one but at least I can print off pictures and note who I made it for. I still have some catching up of adding some things to my gratitude book and putting back in its place a big stack of Christmas fabrics, but I am getting closer to being able to get out one of several quilting projects that are niggling at me to get going on.

Looking out back

In the meantime, we got some snow! This has been such a warm winter for us, only a couple of other snowfalls amounting to no more than nine or so inches total. This one was a good 4 or 5 inches followed the next night by an additional inch. While the east coast is getting slammed, our Pacific Northwest mountain snowpacks that recharge the aquifers and lakes that supplies our water desperately need this and more. 

From my front door

It probably won't stick around long on the ground down at my lower elevation; the weather report is for another warming trend with rain in the upcoming week, but I am enjoying its beauty while it lasts. 

Are You Getting Anything Done?

Besides Superbowl Sunday and the Olympics, I haven't gotten much done creatively. Every once in awhile I've stepped into the studio for a few minutes and arranged leftover magazine pieces from the Collage Breakthrough Bonus class. But even with my new-found set of rules and eye for value over image, this one has been a bit of a struggle. Primarily, I did not have a good range of values and textures to choose from. And today I had to give up on a piece that I really wanted to include but just wasn't working. Oh yeah, I've done that pretty much all my quilting life, that trying to make something work just because I liked it so much. Old habits die hard! Setting that one piece aside allowed me to move forward, and my main goal became to strike an overall balance of the dark pieces throughout the collage. That big one at the bottom was the first piece I laid down and it felt like it anchored the piece. But as I drew things to a close, I realized I needed to have more dark at the top and in a few other places. Not a masterpiece, but I'm relatively happy with this arrangement, and will also happily dispensed with the few pieces of magazine left, and clear off the table. I feel an itch to go back to a fabric project (as my resolution of "realign" alluded to), either piecing some split nine patch blocks for a wall quilt long on my mind or finally quilting a smaller Stack n Whack quilt top that would look good thrown over the big trunk in my living room.

I've made some progress on my knee-high socks. I'm a few inches away from turning the heel on this first one. When I get to that point, I'll go back to the second sock that I paused after completing the toe and start the ribbing to the heel. But with Olympic competition having my eyes glued to the tv while I watch the sliding and figure skating, it might be awhile before I can make the switch!

Finishing Up The Collage Class

I've just finished the bonus class included in the free Collage Breakthrough series taught by Catherine Rains. Essentially, it was a repeat of lesson 4 but using magazine pages rather than scrapbook papers and your own papers made with a variety of methods using paint. For me it was a lesson in not being drawn to images on the page, which is the way I usually decide to add a paper to the bin, but to the blocks of colors in it. A well chosen ad, perhaps even large enough to spread across facing pages, would already have colors that work well together, and include a variety of values and textures. Printed on heavier paper would be a bonus as magazine pages can be quite thin which would complicate the gluing process. I pulled several pages from articles in our local Sandpoint magazine (couldn't find ads that met the bill) and decided on this one, because it seems to have the most variety of values with both quiet and patterned places. 

Again, we were to randomly cut a variety of rectangular pieces or other shapes from the page to be sorted into values and then quiet or patterned. I realized I could quickly do this using this Fiskar cutter. True confession, there weren't enough pieces for me to feel it necessary to do the sorting, just spread them out on the table somewhat grouped. This particular page was a challenge in terms of delineating values as there really wasn't really light areas and some of the dark areas were very close to some pieces I deemed medium. But as I worked through placements, I could tell I was getting better at it, but had to constantly remind myself about the suggestion (rule) to group not only different values next to each other but place two patterned and a quiet together or two quiet with a pattern.

I liked leaving the spacing between pieces on this one with the different spacers, both narrow and blocky, across pieces. I also liked that some of the randomly cut pieces showed discernible parts of the mammoths. It didn't make any sense to me to just think of the pieces as swatches of color. This collage tells a bit of a story I think. One downside of working with magazine pages though is the glare from the overhead light, which is why this picture of the final product is taken on the slant. I had to keep looking from the side as I worked to see what the piece I was placing looked like.

So that's that, or so I thought. My intention was to whisk the leftover pieces of magazine into the trash and clear the table of all this collage stuff. I turned the page so I could glue in the bonus class directions and the picture of Kat's demo piece only to have that facing blank page and the few mammoth pieces calling out to be used to make one more. I think I want to dispense with the boundary of a square and do my collaging to fill the entire page. I laid a few pieces out and yes, it's just like quilting and you can never quit working with the scraps!

I do think these exercises in paper have really helped improve my eye for thinking value first, which is something I've always struggled with in my quilting. Too enticed by the pretty fabric. The work with the magazine pages in particular pointed out to me how quickly I fell into old habits of not even thinking about it. I think I also learned a lot about working with and arranging odd shapes. That lesson with the floating triads was my favorite and I'm planning on doing it some more using fabric scraps in this sketchbook. I do think I can use that knowledge now when designing art quilts. It's another place where I've struggled; I'm thinking of a particular piece I've never been able to resolve that I may be able to now. So, very happy to say this was not a waste of my time. 

Almost Done With Collage Class

I meant to finish this collage from the last lesson in this series over the weekend but I wasn't feeling it. As I sorted through the paper scraps I was to use, I felt myself losing interest, tired of working with these papers and not particularly liking that we were to leave narrow spacing between pieces and then "join" them with thin strips. Even not happy working in the bigger 5 inch space. I was relatively happy with the first layer arrangement so started gluing pieces down that I was sure of, then walked away.

By Tuesday I was ready to finish this up whether I liked it or not, but something had changed since the last time I'd worked on it. Better attitude with less negativity about the spacings. I finalized the last few pieces, then idly placed a narrow strip over one section that went edge to edge. Hmmm - I think I like that. I even found a place to use two slivers trimmed off another piece, saved only because Kat had said to save even the smallest pieces. Of course, I scoffed at that at the time as I watched the demo and her tiny pieces, but now these slivers were perfect to fill a gap. I chose more long strips and a few short ones to complete joinings of the base layer and I was done - happy to have found places for some of the envelop security papers and another dark green.

Since finishing, I remembered something Kat said during a Q & A. Unlike what so many tell us to do when we don't feel in the right frame of mind and everything seems an effort - just keep going anyway - she admitted to times when nothing seemed to work and she just had to walk away knowing that whatever she ended up with when in that frame of mind would not be good work, no matter how hard she worked at it. My experience appears to confirm that. Good vibes equal good work equals happy artist! 

I've started on the bonus class so will have one last collage to share with you soon. 

Slow But Steady Progress

I've worked on the next session of the Collage Breakthrough course (Lesson 3) over more than one day. We're still using 3 pieces of paper representing all three values and either two patterned and one quiet or two quiet and one patterned paper. This time though, we were encouraged to overlap the various shapes and not fill the 4" square totally, leaving blank areas to add "finishing touches". Still having a little trouble working in my green scraps on all so settled on the ones on the right side working together differently from the ones on the left.

So what are "finishing touches"? These are circles or Asemic writing done with gold, black, or white paint onto tissue paper so that their placement can be auditioned before gluing down. She shows how the excess tissue paper can be scraped away if you don't like the look of the shadowing effect. Well, I watched the video of the technique but had no desire to do pages of the three different colors and decided I'd deal with it later. In the meantime, I viewed how others in the class were doing this and could see how effective adding a gold accent that filled part of the blank areas and spilled over onto the collage was. Still didn't want to mess with making these. Then a lightbulb went on; I remembered a translucent plastic shopping bag with gold swirls and stars that I'd used on an art journal spread. Oh yeah! A quick answer to my problem. I quickly cut out a swirl to audition how it would work and it would work great.

I held off on finishing up this step as time was running out for watching the last of the videos before they disappear after tomorrow. Each lesson is a 30 minute recorded class followed the next day with a live one hour Q & A and demo session which is also recorded to watch later. You can guess which I do. So this week has been devoted to the two lesson 4 videos and the two bonus lesson videos plus one last video that was a cross between two lengthy "gallery" shows of student work and promoting her next step collage course which comes with a hefty price. (I'm good for now.) I had time after that last video to finish cutting and applying the finishing touches to my lesson 3 page and I'm pretty pleased with the result. I was pretty sure glue stick, which we've been using throughout this series, was not going to work on the plastic bag; a quick check proved me right. I'm pretty sure I used gel medium on that journal spread but didn't want to deal with the mess and cleanup that would generate. So I pulled out my trusty YES paste which worked nicely.

I've made a start on the blue knee high socks, finally mastering the tricky Eastern cast-on which makes a seamless join between the sole and the top of the sock. Normally when you knit in the round, it's like working back and forth on straight needles, except you go round and round without turning your work and have a hole in the middle. This cast-on eliminates the hole which would have to be closed up later. Since I discovered I had two sets of the required size of needles, I decided to work on both socks at the same time to more easily end up with soles and tops the same length.

Increasing stitches from 8 to 56 for the toe - ready to start ribbing

I'm working on being a little more balanced with how I spend my days. I'm so guilty of being all or nothing when it comes to things I want to do, which means I'll lose track of time when I get engrossed in something which then leaves no time in the day for anything else. And if I don't perceive that I have a big chunk of time to do something, I end up not doing anything at all. It would be easy to get to the end of the day, look over at my knitting and sigh, thinking there's no time left or I'm too tired. But I'm working on snatching small moments in between the big ones. The knitting on the socks is getting worked in this way: a few rows after breakfast before heading upstairs, a few more after lunch while watching one of my news shows. More in the evening if the shows I'm watching don't require my rapt attention while dealing with these increases. While some days I may be spending an hour or more on the collage class early in the afternoon, I also have found myself unexpectedly drawn into the studio for a few minutes to pull a few paper rectangles for one square on the page before continuing on to where I was originally off to. I'm also finding myself grabbing a small project like updating the blank book I'm using to record my yarns and care instructions in order to add one or two things while watching the tv.  I can get a lot done over the course of the day if I just become aware of these odd small moments and what I might fill them with. Very gratifying.

A part of me wants to knit all day sometimes - that all or nothing tendency I have. But I have other things to tend to as well, that need to balance my time throughout the day. As I think about my resolution word of realign, that need to find balance may be key. All or nothing just won't do.

A Broken Promise

Collection of papers including some from sample packs of Khadi papers

Not long ago, I made a promise to myself that I would quit being lured into spending a lot of time on free classes All those hours watching Sketchbook Revival videos over several years were the prime culprit - mostly enjoyable but not always useful to me personally, yet I felt obligated to watch them all. And then there have been the Laly Mille freebees, just couldn't stay away because collage and art journalling are things I'd like to master better. Most recently I think was the "year of light" taster on FB - not unlike the Sketchbook Revival series but an absolute slew of artists, but this time I was more prudent about which videos I watched and did not actually do any of the lessons, just took notes and printed off info. That's it, I thought, no more falling into the trap of signing up for classes just because they were free. However, in a weak moment in December, I followed a recommendation that came via e-mail to sign up for Catherine Rains Collage Breakthrough FREE multi-session class running for a couple of weeks in January. The thought was I could always opt out if I got into January and felt too short on time or stressed to do it, but it did sound like a good opportunity to learn more about collage which I still struggles with. 

I print out instructions to add to sketchbook

This is not exactly quilt-related as my previous post might have implied I'd be realigning to, but perhaps quilt-adjacent. After watching the welcome video, I could see Kat was presenting a different more structured approach, incorporating design principles a step at a time and in small formats with the emphasis of ending up with individual collages that were also cohesive with each other. Pick two colors from a cool palette or two colors from a warm palette to work with on all collages throughout the series. Separate your piles of papers into patterned and quiet papers, then each one of those stacks into light medium dark values. Just that exercise alone was instructional. Then start small with 2 inch penciled in squares to fill with just two pieces of chosen paper - one "quiet", one patterned - of different values, using a glue stick.

auditioning placements, temporarily taped in place

I'm working in a Mixed Media Sketchbook a made back in July of 2023. That's one of the problems with being in the book club - so many of those projects produce blank books that sit on the shelf waiting for a purpose. So it is pretty delightful to finally put it to use. It's designed with spacers between the signatures to allow it to expand as layers of collage are added to the pages. As the squares increase in size to 3 inches, I had to work over the center of the signature but it wasn't too bad. And now we are picking three papers that go together, one dark, one medium, one light, either two quiets and one patterned or two patterned and one quiet. All the while, you consider how each trio works with what's in the squares beside and above/below, and trying not to put the same orientation of the pieces as are in adjacent squares. Kat suggested maybe wait to glue down pieces in a square until all squares are composed in order to give the option of changing your mind as you go. These little pieces do scatter quite easily so I found it very helpful to use removable scotch tape to hold them together and to the spot they may reside in.

Compare to in-progress pic to note changes I made

Although Kat kept correcting herself whenever she said "rules" rather than "suggestions" or "recommendations" (heaven forbid anyone feel constrained . . .), I'm a strong proponent of learning rules first, and I am grateful for these simple ones she put forth that provide some structure. I so often let all that fabric I get out to work with overwhelm me and I do not always make the best choices when putting together a quilt be it traditional or art. I think I can use what I've learned here to make better fabric choices. I also like filling the squares in a sketchbook. With fresh eyes the next day, I could study what I'd done and what perhaps didn't work so well, While choosing pairings, I noticed how easy it would be to go monochromatic even though I had two colors (blue and green) in my piles - had to keep reminding myself to grab some green now and then which I could see made the grid groupings more interesting. When I moved on to choosing three papers, I sometimes caught myself choosing all patterns or a value too similar to another as I gravitated towards ones I really liked. Making a switch did make for a better coupling, one where I could instantly say, Yes, I really love that - which Kat encouraged, that intuitive instinctive knowledge over too much brain thinking.

Two more sessions to go as we move up to four inch squares and make a final single collage at five inches as we continue to work with the papers originally chosen and learning how to use even the smallest scraps that we've been encouraged to save. This has been fun and educational and can be done with fabric scraps as well which I would like to try. But just like when I'm surrounded by fabrics and cutoff pieces when constructing a quilt, my table is a mess of piles of paper that I will be glad to clear away soon, making room for a "real" project.

Wrapping Up, On To 2026

I made one last push of completing something before December was over and finished knitting the replacement sleeve for the eyelet cardigan. However, I couldn't quite make myself actually remove the offending sleeve and stitch in the new one before New Year's day. When I did get around to it, it was much more difficult to remove the whip stitching than I anticipated and a lot of picking and tugging managed to make my thumb joints cry out in rebellion. I had to take several days off to rest them before adding on the new sleeve, and then another few days before I fixed the places along the side seam where I hadn't caught enough of the knitted edge in to hide a run of knit stitches. But that's all done now, the sweater soaked, blocked and drying. I'd tried it on before wetting it and was a little disappointed in how it looked on me - not as long in the sleeves or body as I'd anticipated, not the slouchy casual sweater I saw hanging behind the counter at the yarn store. But as I was laying it out to dry and taking some measurements, I realized it had grown quite a bit, measurements in all directions more like I was expecting. The blocking is suppose to relax things, soften them up and this really needed that. Hoping it will be more the sweater I envisioned once dry.

Pushing me along to finish the cardigan was my antsy-ness to start on another pair of socks. I bought this yarn the same day as I saw that cardigan and got the pattern for it, and have worked on the cardigan for the better part of the year, even though I'd wanted to dive into this luscious blue yarn with hints of purple and teal. But while I'm ok with having more than one quilting project going at a time, I've always worked on just one knitting project at a time, so there was much incentive to finish the cardigan so I could start these. I'm using the same pattern as I used for the grey wool socks and hoping there is enough yarn that I can make these knee high. I've rolled it into two balls so I can knit on each sock until its ball runs out, and checked the gauge last evening. It's a thinner yarn than the grey of the other socks and I'm experimenting with increasing the size of the needles so as to match the gauge. Gotta tell ya, going from heavy worsted yarn worked on average size 8 needles to fine fingering yarn on needles the size of bamboo skewers is quite the transition. But at least, off and running in the new year!

Speaking of things knitted, I've had a lovely warm lambswool cardigan bought a very long time ago that I pull out to wear around the house with a turtleneck or flannel shirt once the weather gets wintry. And the last time I went to put it on, sometime before Christmas, I noticed to my surprise and dismay, that I'd worn some holes in the elbow regions. But I can mend that fairly seamlessly I think, and have searched my yarns and crewel threads for one that is a close match to the deep cranberry of the sweater. I believe I was wearing this when I was still working at a paying job, which would make it at least 35 years old, so I guess it has actually held up pretty well. No way I am going to ditch it now - mending on the way!

So here it is, the new year, so I was surprised by a late Christmas package arriving on Saturday and delighted by its contents: a "bento box" of specialty teas and these Amy Tan books. Oh my goodness, the Chronicles has such beautiful drawings on every spread, and Amy's writing about her nature excursions and observations in her backyard strike a chord. The journal is just blank pages with room to note day, time, location, weather so that you can draw your own bird observations, and is prefaced with Amy's suggestions for supplies and procedures. Not sure how much I'll use that as in MY backyard, the birds flit so fast among the trees I often can't figure out what they are and I'm not interested in putting up feeders. I do have the occasional humming bird dip into my deck flowers but they too are so swift that I can't even get a photo of one. We'll see . . . 

And now it's time to announce my yearly Resolution Word, one that came to me as I worked on the Joy Banner: Realign. Day after day, I was surprised at how smoothly that project went because I'd been away from that kind of sewing for so long and my memory reminded me of how rusty and fumble fingered I'd been on the last few. Not so now, no hesitation as I moved through the process from one step and skill to the next. At some point I felt a subtle shift inside, hard to explain but basically a feeling that if this was going so well, I should keep going, get back to doing this kind of work. Thus the idea of "realign", and upon checking the definition, I found this one that captures my feeling: To put back into proper order. I have no lack of sewing projects waiting in the wings but they partially wait because I've expanded my interests to include so many other types of crafts and art. I enjoy them all but I can't shake that feeling that the proper order of my time spent needs to move the sewing/quilting up the ranks. And after a year of feeling so low on energy, so many draggy days and a real effort to get things done in spite of my good and helpful resolution word(s) of last year (see below), I'm experiencing a drive and energy going into January that's been missing for awhile. I surely hope it lasts. Happy New Year!

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Previous Resolution Word Posts:

• 2008 - Freedom
  2009 - Calm
  2010 - Focus
  2011 - Refocus
  2012 - Balance & Harmony
  2013 - Perseverance
  2014 - Explore
  2015 - Fearless
  2016 - Light
  2017 - Endure 
  2018 - Refresh
  
  2019 - Wing It!  
  2020 - Go! 
  2021 - Finish 
  2022 - More 
  2023 - Continue
  2024 - Organize  
  2025 - Resist Less/Fear Less 

 

Did I Make It?

Click on picture for a larger view of the stitching

Yes, I did! At about 5:00 p.m. Christmas, I put the finishing touches on the Joy Banner and hung it in the living room, followed by getting out the Christmas trump topper and a few decorations - instant Christmas! If memory serves, there is a tradition somewhere of waiting until Christmas Eve to put up decorations which to be honest I've never tried until this year. But I kind of like it! However, I listened to so much Christmas music while working on the Banner that I got Christmas song-ed out. Wouldn't have thought possible! So let me walk you through the finishing touches starting with decisions about where else to put quilting after stitching in the ditch along most seams (I just quilted up the middle of the checkerboard and not along all the horizontal seams). There were those almost triangular areas above the arch at the top, and to carry out the holly theme I decided to quilt around the holly template used to do the applique below. Note how I also quilted close to the edge of the holly and bow appliques - a really nice touch.

I'd been puzzling over the outer border, whether to add any quilting in it or just let it go since it wasn't very wide. But I had holly leaves on the brain and decided to quilt a string of them around the border, no marking and with the same gold thread - yes, getting daring because indeed I'd wondered if I should do it in a less visible green thread. Really hard to photograph metallic thread and the thread didn't really pop off the border - I used the YLI thread this time since I'd be doing free motion quilting and I didn't trust that old Coats metallic thread to hold up to that. The Coats metallic was a bit flatter which I think catches the light better. The leaves are wonky, the only non-precision thing about this quilt but I'm fine with that. Be sure to click for the larger view.

Time to bind. I'd mentioned in a comment on the last post that I didn't think I had even a small sleeve in me for hanging this quilt. I'd been thinking tabs and decided to see how much binding I had leftover. Believe it or not, I had exactly enough left to make three tabs (two pieces right sides together, sew up each side to make a tube and turn). I've perfected this method of cutting binding slightly wider than 2 inches so that when turned to the wrong side it overlaps the stitching line enough to be caught when I sew it down from the front by stitching in the binding's ditch. All I needed to do was fold each tube in half and position the raw edges even with the edge of the quilt edge, then turn the binding over, pin and stitch. It worked very well. If you click on the photo for a larger view, you should be able to see the nest of metallic threads that have been pulled to the back for burying.

17" x 32"

And here we are - a joyful, joyfully made, Joy Banner to enjoy now and for years to come!

It's nearly New Year's Eve so I also wish you a Happy New Year full of wonderful projects and surprises. 

Merry Christmas

 

The Quilting Has Begun

I was daft to start the Joy banner in December. Here I am, well into week three of working on it with much left to do. The completed top looks rather good though, don't you think?

I know there are some who are into adding lots of quilting to every piece, but I want to keep this one simple. All three prints do have metallic gold accents so I'm using gold metallic thread. That's a very old spool of Coats metallic thread on the left that I'd really like to use up, now that I have a more reliable YLI gold metallic thread on hand. Wondering what I should use as a bobbin thread, I discovered I had multiple spools of Sulky 60 wt PolyLite thread which I must have gotten in a grab bag special on Superior Threads website, and which I'm not sure I've actually used. But there was the perfect color (matches more closely than the photo implies) and the description that came with it does say it is perfect to use with metallic threads.

This combination is working well as I do a slow crawl stitching in the ditch around the borders and sashing. Slow because these stitches really show and I need to stay right in the ditch and because I don't want to put stress on the metallic thread such that it will suddenly fray and break on me. So far, so good.

Tried to video the way that thread really does sparkle, even in the ditch but it didn't capture very well. Click for a larger view. But if you listen closely, you can hear the Christmas music I'm listening to while stitching, compliments of The Jazz Groove. I think I may have to pause work on this for a few days to work on Christmas cards, but I am determined it will be done. at least enough, to hang on the wall by Christmas Eve.

Going With My Heart's Desire

I'm getting there - down to adding a final border and then quilting the holiday banner. But I'm nearly out of bobbin thread and late posting this week so thought I'd pause to show you my progress. Above you see all the small and odd shaped pieces ready to go (strips for borders are pinned to the design wall), the small pieces of paper on each one labels so I know which piece is which when I start following directions to join everything. There were enough different pieces to use up every letter in the alphabet! You may note two things here: first, wasn't I contemplating ditching the pieced letters for appliqued ones? Yes, yes I was. And as I cut the final little piece and stood back, it dawned on me I'd just cut all the pieces for those letters, so I guess they were going to get pieced!

The other thing you may note is, in spite of encouragement from Jan in the comments on my last post to just go with the lighter sprigged fabric for the background, I instead used that warm tan, the fabric that I was first drawn to. Sometimes your first instinct is the right one, and believe it or not, when I did one final audition with sashing strips laid out on each fabric to form the size of the letter blocks and the pieces of a letter placed within, I was very surprised to find that the pattern in the lighter fabric fought for dominance over the dark green shifting it back while the darker fabric let the letter shine. It gave the whole thing a much warmer look, more my heart's desire, that rustic country or antique look that I am so drawn to. I've struggled a bit with my camera to capture it accurately but the picture at the top does a good job. 

I proceeded with piecing those letters, which I feared would be a pain, but they really were not. Everything matched up really well, and except that there were lots of short seams, they came out well. I added sashing on each side and sashing with cornerstones on the other sides, and when I spread it all open on my work table, it was instant joy! Honestly, I was filled with such happiness - loving the fabrics and how they worked together and loving how well this was going. This section now has a tan border and the checkerboard borders on three sides.

Next up would be fusing applique to the curved section that would be at the top of the "joy" section. The pattern called for a heart with "commas" on either side, but I'm not one much for hearts on my quilts (although there have been exceptions). When I looked at the picture of the Christmas quilt I'd made for my mil, I was reminded that it used bows and holly leaves appliques. I wondered if they were sized to fit in this new space, and got out the binder with its documentation file to see if I had saved templates. Yes I did, and yes they were the perfect size. Ah yes, these are the moments that justify to me my penchant for documenting and saving!

And here they are, fused in place and waiting for some stitching. Sylvia had encouraged me to use some glitzy thread around the letters, and I had indeed been thinking to do that. Two of the fabrics do have gold highlights on them, and a little gold thread holding down the edges of  the leaves and bow would be a perfect accent.

Ok, that wasn't so bad, once I stopped procrastinating . . . but I was heaving sighs of wishing I didn't have to tackle the next step - curved seams! Not one, not two, but three of them. You'd think I'd never sewn a curved seam in my life but in fact, I've sewn more than I can count and some so tight they should have been appliqued. Kind of a master at it in fact. I think I was sighing because to do these seams well, it takes a lot of pinning. But even that went fairly easily and soon they were all done. And once again, the finished look filled me with so much satisfaction and, yes, joy. And I think part of that joy is because of how well designed this pattern is, with good instructions and no errors to complicate things. I could just go on autopilot and get pleasing and precise results. That surely hasn't been the case with that knitted cardigan; the contrast couldn't be more obvious. 

I want to thank my "coaches" and "cheerleaders" who commented on my last post. Your insights and encouragement really do help me soldier on! Now. back to the studio to fill that bobbin and get the last border sewn on. :-) 

New Project

 

On the left you can just see a picture of the banner 17" x 32"

I must be daft . . .

It might have been the after effects of the turkey dinner, that full and contented feeling letting one's mind wander. And it was wandering as I sat on the sofa contemplating how I would decorate the livingroom this year for Christmas. I have a Christmas topper I throw over the big trunk, but as I did a mental inventory of quilts for the wall, I could think of nothing with a holiday theme to replace what now hangs in the space where I rotate my art quilts. For no reason I can fathom, the idea suddenly popped into my head that I could make something to hang there. I knew just the thing, a "JOY" quilt pattern I'd been saving for years - the pattern torn from a 1991 issue of Quiltworks magazine. Sure, I could probably finish it this week, if I put my mind to it. And my mind was definitely on board. By Sunday I'd found the pattern and dug out fabric - I have quite a bit of Christmas fabric I rarely find reasons to use - and started cutting strips. Monday I cut more strips and worked out how to copy an odd shape in the pattern. 

Yesterday it was sewing time, getting those strips sewn together and subcut into pieces for the checkerboard inner border. As long as I've been away from traditional piecing like this, I hadn't forgotten a few tricks of the trade. The strips were cut 1-1/2 inches wide and those subcuts would also be that wide, 53 of them. To keep from making errors lining up my ruler, I placed a stickie note on the underside along the 1-1/2 inch mark. Oh, that really helps to speed things up.

Forty of the subcuts then got sewn together to make checkerboard strips - twenty for each side. The remaining thirteen subcuts were sewn together to run across the bottom connecting the two sides. 

Then today, I ground to a halt. You see, the pattern called for muslin for the light areas and I definitely was not going to do that. Instead, I was seduced by the tan fabric on the left, rich and mottled and looking so good with the red and green fabrics I'd chosen. But as I looked at the picture in the pattern, I wondered if it was too dark rather than just rich and warm. I revisited the stack of Christmas fabrics and pulled the one on the right with its off-white background with its own sightly mottled surface and those sprigs with red berries. It's one that came from my mother-in-law when she gave up on quilting and sent everything she had to me. She'd wanted to make a Christmas wallhanging with that one, had a pattern from a book picked out but eventually lost interest. So I made it for her with the fabric she'd sent. It's closer to what the pattern calls for and I know that is clouding my judgment on which to pick. Once made up, will I be disappointed with the rich tan because it reads too dark, or disappointed in the lighter sprigged one because it reads too bright? My auditioning isn't getting me anywhere.

As if that weren't enough to put the skids on, the next step is actually making the letter blocks. I can get to cutting some of the pieces that are from the red fabric, but can go no further until I make that background fabric choice. But boy, is that going to be a lot of fuss, all those piece with angled ends. I do know a method to make it easier, but I'm not looking forward to it. Instead, in my weaker moments, I've been wondering about just cutting out the letters whole and fusing them to the squares of fabric. Well, I have to do something today . . . What do you think about all this? 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I DO have squirrels racing about in the trees behind my place but none have shown up at my back door looking like this! If they did, I'd surely toss them some nuts. Are you ready for turkey day tomorrow? I did my shopping on Friday for the things I generally fix for my little feast and was thinking to skip the turkey again this year, opting instead for ham which my store always puts on sale. To my surprise, I stumbled upon an in-store special of smaller turkeys for 99 cents a pound! I snagged one of a little over 8 pounds which is perfect for me - I do love my turkey leftovers.

However, on Monday it occurred to me that, while I'd picked up some black olives that were on sale to be used in something later, I'd totally forgotten to pick up green olives, something I definitely like with my turkey. I seldom buy groceries at the Walmart that is within walking distance, but it made no sense to get out the car and drive to my usual grocery store for a single item. Besides, it was a nice day and the slightly longer walk would do me good. I was totally caught off guard to see this beautiful mural in the entryway I don't usually use.

Say what you will about Walmart (and I often do say negative things), this sounds like a wonderful program they support and this mural does indeed encapsulate the best of our immediate area.

We've had an exceptionally mild November, with all but 3 days so far clocking in above normal temps. But the air has felt nippier lately with a freeze surely soon to come, and I'd been enjoying the begonias in particular still blooming on my back deck. They were doing so well that I decided I needed to dig them up and put them in pots that I could bring inside. I have a bench under a window in my dining area where I hope they will do well. I don't remember the name of the larger plant but it is still bearing purple flowers so it came inside as well. You can see in the background that the geraniums are still blooming too but that tub is too big and heavy to move inside, even if I had room for it, and I've not had luck in the past wintering over geraniums inside. I just replace them each year.

Two more begonias ended up in my office upstairs. That copper pot had two begonias in it that were doing well last fall so got brought inside. They were doing ok until a few weeks ago when one of them just up and died. So I dug it out and replaced it with one from this year. The other one was in a small pot on the deck so was easy to bring inside. Yeah, I kind of went overboard on the begonias this year. Anyway, it's nice to have these blooms inside to enjoy and I hope they survive to go back out on the deck next spring. And I may have rescued them from winter just in time. We got our first bit of snow overnight - about an inch which is quickly melting off the lawns.

Knitting continues as does work on the 2024 Be Well zentangle series, which must have heard my disparaging remarks about the tangles so far. Because suddenly, here are four days in a row of some of my favorite tangles - what a joy to work on them.

Enjoy the holidays, be they full of family gatherings or restfully quiet.