After discovering a former Quiltbuddy named Bonnie Hunter and her Quiltville website, I saw her Zig Zag 9 patch and knew that's what I wanted to make with my swapped blocks. These are totally scrappy 9 inch blocks unfinished, which are a lot larger than those Bonnie used (she made hers from 2" scrap squares), so I drew out my own pattern. I'll use that very neutral tan for the setting squares and triangles. Bonnie included the Zig Zag 9 Patch in her previous book, Adventures with Leaders and Enders; it is even on the cover. My fabric is washed and I'm ready to get cutting those setting squares and triangles. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.
Ort: Noun, meaning a scrap; a bit. Usually plural. Words about quilting, fabric, family and life in a Southern California beach town.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Design Wall Monday--August 6, 2012
On my design table today is the UFO pick for August, which on my list is another 9 patch swap block quilt project, this one from an online Yahoo group I belong to called Quiltbuddies, but haven't been active in for the past several years (since I started blogging, actually!). So these blocks have aged for a bit.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
And the Option is...
Thanks to everyone who weighed in--or simply lended support--I appreciate all your words! Initially my favorite was Option 4, but after looking more closely at the quad of options all together, I went with Option 2:
Separating the two lighter colors seemed the most balanced approach. I like the dark brown complementing the mustard, the red complementing the olive, and the two organics of grass and leaves sharing the center. The rows have been picked up and are ready to be sewn.
Meanwhile Saturday's sewing focused on the Quilts for Kids quilt. I had previously set aside with the kit a nice piece of batting which turned out to be plenty long--but not wide enough. Grr. So that led to a flurry of hunting through leftover pieces of batting to find the same type, then zig zagging them together, followed by pinning, quilting, making and applying binding late last night. Today I finished up the binding and sewed on the label.
Purple is a hard color to photograph. It is now washed and ready to send back. Cleaning up the cutting table, I was distracted by rearranging the the design elements again on paper. At times like this I wish I EQ'd!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Shoo Fly Switcheroo
I had to clean my dining room floor in order to do this layout task--are you with me in wondering how one medium-sized dog can generate so much hair? I also found a "love letter" from our little Russian guest, Alica: some drawing in red marker on the floor under the table. It came up with some regular spray cleaner and a bit of scrubbing; I love my new wood laminate floor!
Okay, back to the task at hand, deciding on the final layout of the giant Shoo Fly blocks, with four options:
Okay, back to the task at hand, deciding on the final layout of the giant Shoo Fly blocks, with four options:
I won't say yet which I prefer of these options. Left to right, that's 1 and 2 in the top row, 3 and 4 in the bottom row. Opinions wanted, please!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Other Winners
I've been watching some of the Olympics and cheering on our local County players--Troy Dumais of Ventura and his 19 year old diving partner Kristian Ipsen won bronze in springboard synchronized diving; it was Troy's fourth Olympics and first medal. All the Dumais siblings were divers and the two youngest were in school/graduated with our kids.
Our other proud Venturan is Phil Dalhausser, beach volleyball player, who unfortunately got knocked out of the games.
The Bryan brothers Mike and Bob play tennis and are twins from Camarillo. They are extremely high level players and also funny guys. Hoping to see them get a medal--they have reached the finals! We also have an equestrian competitor who is riding a horse partly owned by Ann Romney, the presidential candidate's wife. He's at 13th place, the last time I looked.
The Paralympics will see a competitor who was a former CHP officer struck by a truck veering off the road into him as he stood by a car he had pulled over. The truck driver was DUI and lived, the driver of the pulled over vehicle was killed, and the officer was knocked over the embankment and paralyzed with no use of his legs. He was a triathlete before the accident and found a way to return to his love of the competition.
At the County Fair, I took a few shots of some other crafters' works:
Our other proud Venturan is Phil Dalhausser, beach volleyball player, who unfortunately got knocked out of the games.
The Bryan brothers Mike and Bob play tennis and are twins from Camarillo. They are extremely high level players and also funny guys. Hoping to see them get a medal--they have reached the finals! We also have an equestrian competitor who is riding a horse partly owned by Ann Romney, the presidential candidate's wife. He's at 13th place, the last time I looked.
The Paralympics will see a competitor who was a former CHP officer struck by a truck veering off the road into him as he stood by a car he had pulled over. The truck driver was DUI and lived, the driver of the pulled over vehicle was killed, and the officer was knocked over the embankment and paralyzed with no use of his legs. He was a triathlete before the accident and found a way to return to his love of the competition.
At the County Fair, I took a few shots of some other crafters' works:
Simple snowballs and 16 patches--love the scrappy look. Each snowball has a different quilting motif in the center.
Pretty colors and very effective use of stripes for the sashing.
Embroidered Irish blessing and flowers in the center and wonderful creative machine quilting of a Celtic bent. The lighting is making this brighter green than it was in person.
Representation of my hometown with the beach, hills, mission, Two Trees, planted fields/orchards, mountains, palm trees and poppies. Yep, that's what it is like here!
I have to believe these cats are all original designs--each one was so different and creative. Look at the one with the eye patch at the top! I liked the blue pieced border as well.
I loved this orange kitty with a fun checkerboard in 1" or smaller squares, and look at the colorful narrow framing. The little pieced cornerstone blocks are no more than 3" square. Tons of work in this piece and it won a special recognition award.
This throw sized quilt was really sweet too, with the little Japanese dolls.
Nine patches, four patches, and flying geese all in flannels combine to make a warm and cozy quilt.
This wall hanging was probably about three feet square. The lighting is making the colors much brighter than they were in person.
Just look at that miniature smocking, embroidery, and orange peel quilting in the background. Exquisite!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Fair Days
Today was the opening day of the Ventura County Fair and I planned to sneak away from work to see how my four entries did. My mom ended up coming with me and shared my anticipation as we wandered about the Home Arts building to find my quilts. We found the Baby Boxes tablerunner first:
A blue ribbon! So excited.
A few spots away I spied my Patriotic Fields quilt (turned sideways)--and another blue ribbon! Yay!
The Micro Mini HST was displayed in the same area, and also tagged with a blue ribbon. Wow!
Just next to Patriotic Fields, the Bear's Paw kit was also awarded a ribbon, third place. How thrilling to have all four pieces receive awards! Though I must mention, I sought out one of the Home Arts mavens, another quilter I know from our local quilt store, to turn the micro mini quilt right side up. She was happy to oblige, noting jokingly that it didn't have a label so they didn't know. I told her that that was because I barely finished it moments before turning in my entries! (Note: the photo was taken before the Micro Mini quilt was turned). Very happy quilter here!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday's Orts--July 31, 2012
Tuesday's Orts--bits and scraps of thoughts and events that land here semi-regularly.
- A Sunday family dinner at Mom and Dad's included a wonderful visit by some long-ago neighbors who were teenagers when we kids were little. The brother and sister used to babysit us and we have great memories of Easter Egg hunts in their huge backyard. The brother, Jerry, recalled that he drove my mom to the hospital when she went into labor with her fifth child, our little brother Ted. Jerry was a bit dismayed, I think, to learn that little brother is now 46.
- The Marrieds, Elaine and Chris, are just starting on the exciting and nerve-wracking journey to home ownership--she texted last night that they signed escrow papers. Her dad and I are pleased they will be moving to our end of town--and I'm sure Chris' mom is too.
- Traffic Rant: Summer Tourists in motorhomes who pay no attention to the marked lanes on the narrower streets of downtown while gawking and cruising slowly down the middle, blocking anyone from passing.
- I filed for unemployment on Saturday. That was quite a chore. The online version of the application form required a breakdown of gross earnings by quarter, for the last six quarters, for each employer. Since I had three employers in the last 18 months it was complex, to say the least. Curiously, the printed version of the same application form didn't request listing earnings at all.
- Sometimes you just gotta wonder "Why?" when you see landscaping efforts like this one next to a business' parking lot:
Looks a bit like the state of Nebraska in artificial grass. That one lonely Kangaroo Paw just isn't helping much, is it!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Design Wall Monday--July 29, 2012
I've given up all pretense of working on this month's UFO--just isn't gonna happen, unfortunately. So on my design surface is the Quilts For Kids project that I showed yesterday with my altered design layout.
I got the borders on last night and am pondering what to do about binding. The shipping list with the kit from my local chapter listed a cut of fabric for binding, but there was none in the kit. Of course, I didn't realize that until yesterday. Perhaps I will give another go at bringing the backing to the front for the binding. I've only done this one time before, badly, on one of my very first quilts, so I hope I can do a much better job now.
Also on my design surface are two additional fabrics I picked up at JoAnn's for the Giant Shoo Fly Wedding Gift Quilt (needs a new title!). I liked the Alexander Henry print that looked kind of bamboo-ish to go with my sort of Asian theme, though the label says "Everglades". And I wanted an almost black print to complete the sextet of blocks so this scroll print worked pretty well. Almost black is a hard color to find, isn't it? See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.
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