IN WHICH WE CELEBRATE CLIMATE CHANGE!
Our area is experiencing several days of record breaking above 75 deg days. This is so different from the Missouri I moved to in 1973. Winters then were very cold and snowy. Nights fell to 20 below F at night and the earth was always covered in snow. We are slightly dryer now but the corn and wheat seems to grown very well. Summers are cooler also now.
Maybe we are some of the lucky ones-for certain others are no so. Mexico City is sinking as the water table diminishes. Australia is dry, dry, dry, and hot with wild fires. California is either feast or famine-either torrential rains and floods or extreme droughts.
Is this state of affairs to late to adjust? Don't know! But the days here are nice!
END OF WEATHER REPORT
ON TO MY FAVORITE:
FREE MOTION QUILTING
This is my graduation project for Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting class on Craftsy. I incorporated all the lessons and techniques she demonstrated but in my own style. I love movement and I think this piece captures ebb and flow. I know now I will always have a wild, graffiti piece at my side to think about and work on. I began this blog 9 months ago expressing my terror at FMQ and, by practicing, doing some on-line samplers, and taking a couple Craftsy classes, now have what my be my true love. The wilder and freer the better!
But let us not forget our nemesis: Sweet Surrender which is slowly becoming the "undread". Four rows assembled on schedule (this is one time when goal setting is useful: for getting something done which would rather be ignored). These rows are reasonably flat tho not perfect-that is okay. This will come our in the wash-that is in the quilting process as these waffles are small. I think it is looking really pretty and I am pleased with it.
This week, I will assemble the final row and then all five rows together in one piece. I have a nice idea for the border (which again involves triangles-will I ever learn!??!) and some pretty applique. Maybe I will be able to begin that. I will be very happy to applique again as this is my true love (whoops, I guess I have 2 true loves, no make that three as my best true love is my sweet husband-we live in each others pockets).
WELL-TIME TO THINK ABOUT THE NEXT PROJECT
The Village wall hanging will be next in line. I began this about 4 years ago and got irretrievably lost in the making of it. The pattern was from my favorite Quiltmania and is by Yoko Saito. Here is a photo of her pattern:
I began with this format and soon diverged as my idea was to made a coherent village. The fabric is subdued Japanese taupes in a variety of colors. In this photo you can see the various houses, bridges, rockwall, etc that are ideas for the wall hanging.
The upper right hand section is Yoko's block which is just delightful to me. I kept that in place and will use it except I have to remove the houses from this fabric as I need to dye the background. Info on how to do this is from another craftsy class from several years ago Linear Landscape Quilts by Gloria Loughman. This class is mostly about using Setacolor paints for hand dyeing fabrics to use for landscapes.
I was never happy with the layout. I played with it some always keeping that one block of Yoko's which I felt would define how the village would work. I gradually realized that I want sky, stream, grassy areas, flagstones, and rock walls. Gloria's method for painting fabric to use as landscapes will be perfect for this. You lay the fabric out and use plenty of water to create a wash effect.
More progress on the layout but still not what I want. And still the background needs to be painted.
This is where I ended. Progress made but still no cigar!
I am going to start with the background dyeing. Blue sky with some sunny clouds, a stream for some goldfish and lily pods. Gray with speckles of dye for the paving stones and flecked ecru, tan, gold etc for the rock walls and bridge. My idea is to take the paving stone and rock wall fabric and embroider the stones with sashiko embroidery.
Anyway that is next after the undread sweet surrender. Its good to have the next project in your mind for your unconscious to work on for you and come up with some neat ideas.
AND NOW.....
YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN
This endless, continuously spiraling whirl pool is the creation of artist Anish Kapoor. Named Descension, it is located on pier 1 of Brooklyn. It is 26 feet in diameter made with black dye and invites the viewer to loose themselves in another world. Kapoor's artistic leaning is to destabilize the physical world so we can see the world from another view. For more info and other photos, see......
http://www.designboom.com/art/anish-kapoor-descension-public-art-fund-brooklyn-bridge-park-new-york-02-17-2017/
That's all for this week-so long and happy quilting!
I am linking up with:
Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog,
Patchwork Times, Em's Scrapbag,
Esther's Wow, Let's Bee Social,
Free Motion by the River, Whoop Whoop,
and Off the Wall Friday.
