Week 21; Projects 9, 10 Cards; Project 11 Bags

I see I have not blogged for a month. Shame on me! But it is not that I haven't been stitching. In fact within an hour of writing that I wasn't being creative, I had realized that the offcuts from my quilt were perfect for small paper piecing projects, and that cards made with such projects might be a nice addition to our flea market table.

I've lost track of how many cards I made. I'll count the original cards as two projects - the first being pictures made by the piecing, the second a series of cards framing small images on the central bit of cloth. The piecework is nicely finished and sewn onto the card so that it can be easily taken off and used to decorate a shirt, or hung, or whatever. I also decided to make a few gift bags, both plain ones (I got some really cheap Christmas material from IKEA), and appliqued ones.

At the flea market itself, I sold one card. Three more were reserved, and I expect the buyers to ask me for them soon (but they may want to look at what I have made since, as several more are in the works). I have also sold one of the appliqued bags.

Anyway, between working like crazy to get a good selection of cards done, and sorting books for the rest of the table I was just too busy to blog. Or to get much more done on my quilt, for that matter. However I did go to the class, and I am at about the same place as everyone else. What's more, when the teacher saw the bit I had put together she exclaimed, 'Look! Someone got the borders right!' Now I need to find the discipline to work on the quilt, and not just the cards, even though they are more fun.

WIPs

The two quilts are the biggest open projects . Steven's quilt is fun: Each block is different, and each block we have designed together so that the quilt will reflect his taste (over a period of time), as well as mine. The quilt will be 6 x 4 30 cm. blocks, except that the central 4 blocks are one big chess board. (In flannel so the flannel pieces will stay put.) The left hand column will spell STEVEN. The other blocks are a big medley of things. There is a Harry Potter block quilted in 'glow in the dark' thread that makes the moon really shine. An appliqued tiger with machine-embroidered jungle around it. A fish tank where the biggest fish has eaten a cat. A Paper-pieced puffin. A crazy square that uses all sorts of bits that Steven liked but somehow didn't inspire full blocks... The S is a lovely snake. We started with a copyart picture, Jerry changed the image to come closer to a real S shape, then I appliqued and embroidered it. One of the Es is a Pakman out of a bubble material that Steven liked. It's really high time I finished the quilt. Luckily I'm quilting each block as I go along, and also sewing some of the blocks together. When the final block is made I'll be able to bind it and be done.

The 3D quilt is mostly to have a quilt, and for the fun of sewing with others once a month. I do like the pattern, though, and have made one big change to the quilt as planned for the class - It has sashing that matches the block background. Except mine won't. Karen and I found a marvelous match in Essex Junction that will enhance the quilt, and my blocks will 'pop' visually as they wouldn't otherwise.

Then there are several samplers going. Right now I'm actively working on a sampler of 30 cm wide linen band trying out some of the bands in Linn's reprint books. These will be alternated with various alphabets. The first one is Latin alphabet in back stitch. I intend alternating the latin alphabet with others that are meaningful to me. That means Hebrew and Greek, of course. Also Russian. I ought to also try to do the Hindi alphabet I (supposedly) learned as a child. After that I could use a cursive Hebrew alphabet and braille, if I am still working on the sampler. The piece of band is 1 meter long, so the final length is more up to how long I feel like working on it. I'm sticking to red and black on this one.

IThe Hebrew sampler is near the top of the heap.

I am also working on a kit of the rose window of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Dad gave it to me for my birthday, and it is proving to be quite a challenge. First I tried replacing the 16 count Aida with 32 count linen. Forget it. I can't see that well, and there is just too much thread counting becuase the bits of colour are so scattered. I think what I'm using now is 25 count. Much better. I bought new black for the background rather than risk running out and having the new not match, but decided to use the coloured threads. A risk, I know, but it's going to be fine. This kit had plenty of thread in it, even for a significantly larger embroidery. I do wish, however, that the pattern had overlap between the pages. I finally had to glue the sheets together, and the size is very difficult to deal with.

There is also most of a crocheted sweater lying around for me to work on. One of these ribbony yarns.

I'm also supposed to be working on Christmas stockings for Melissa and Cailan.

Is that ALL my WIPs? No, but it's the ones that I think have a chance of being worked on in the next few months. I'll try to report in once a month.

Week 8 Project 6 Steven's quilt

Actually not Steven's quilt yet, just another block for it. Nor does it really count yet, as I have to dig out the box of materials and quilt the block before it counts. The digging is what will take time.

I'm working on a 3D quilt with classes at my local quilt shop, and decided it was time to try and use the patterns I was learning in a different size. Steven and I went through my stash and decided to base this square on the chilli pepper cloth. The grey and orange were chosen to coordinate with that, and we decided to use the same background material as for the quilt.

I will quilt only a few lines in the flat bits. That means in the four corners, in the background triangles of the point squares, and the grey corners of the central square.

BTW the blocks for Steven's quilt are 30 cm (about 12 inches.)