ONLY 7 TO GO!
and I will have finished 143 blocks for my Chuck, Susan, and me quilt.  I had a week with lots of interfering businessy stuff but that is over now.  I made three blocks and here they are:



This is a Chuck block.  Since I work on a small 6" scale, I had to adapt this block so I could work with bigger applique pieces.  You can see it is still basically the same.  I enlarged the star and changed the flowers over to broderie perse.  The star somehow makes me think of Scandinavian handwork. The colors are soft and pretty.  This one took quite a bit of time.

 
Here is another of Chuck's bold and fluid designs.  Naturally fabrics of yellow were used as the yellows in these fabric lines really speak to me.

And finally, two fabrics which were in my little baskets of "must use in this quilt" fabrics.  A pretty aqua toile and a pretty bird to sit in the tree. The fabric was about 5 inches wide so I added the aqua frame.

So, only seven more blocks to make.  I have a house, a cat, some more flowers and some abstract block designs.  Less than 2 more weeks work. 

To prevent a total mental meltdown from missing Chuck too much, I have worked some this week on my next project.  While in Kansas City this week, I visited my favorite quilt shop Quilter's Station in Lees Summit.  She has bolts and bolts of the most wonderful fabric-so much it won't all fit on the shelves.  She has fabrics of all kinds and store helpers who are so pleasant and knowledgeable.  You must visit if you are in the area.  Rita has everything you might need.

Anyway, my new project.....I bought this background fabric at Quilter's Station.  A white with a black print which reminds me of music to go along with Kate Spain's Curzon and Day Dreams.  The black and white fabric will completment the geometry of the quilt and form a perfect ground for the colorful fabric. What do you think?

Below is the pattern.  I think these colors will be perfect for this quilt.  I love the twisty stems and all the flowers.  I will have to add a bird there somewhere and some honeybees and I will do a different border but I just love this triangular quilt concept.  I already have all the paper pieces needed to form the triangles and different flowers. The quilt is Sweet Surrender by Sue Cody.

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Applique Paintbox blog has had two new countries visit this week:  Austria and Hungary. Flags have been added!

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I will be dong some free motion quilting this week.  I plan on setting up a pattern to work on and get playing.  I learned from my last expedition into fmq not to use so thick a batting.  This thick batting caused the elements which were supposed to stand out to crinkle up and lose definition.  Well, that is what these learning sessions are all about.  I am going to keep practicing with different motifs until I work up the courage to quilt Caswell.

I admire the quilting of Krista Withers, Sue Heinz, and Margaret Solomon Gunn. Sue Heinz has written a book called Fill Harmonics which looks interesting.  Margaret Gunn has a book coming out in October.  Krista's quilting is so different and modern.  I like the modern look rather than the traditional.

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Well, I am going to start on the fmq-I have a whole afternoon to spend on this today and will have something to show next week.  Before I go. let me show you progress on Chuck, Susan, and Me:

I have run out of room on my design wall and have to tape 8 blocks to the wall.  You can see in the photo a little of how I set up my work area-sewing machine to the left, then I can swing around and iron to my right.  The ironing board is a 18"x5ft piece of nice plywood which I covered and placed on top of two bookcases.  My work area is small but very convenient.  Attractive to cats also!

Have a good week-it is odd to see photos by Australian bloggers who are happy with signs of the coming spring.  We in the north can't wait for the turning of the leaves. Happy Quilting!

Linking with the lovely ladies listed left!

UP, UP, AND AWAY!

I don't have much of a bucket list-either do it or don't do it.  However, there are some hard to reach goals like living in a treehouse or flying in a hot air balloon. I feel like the hot air balloon is doable and so here is me practicing and  maneuvering  in what I hope is not a ship of fools.  You can see me in the cockpit in my favorite green jacket flying with the birds above the tree tops amongst the clouds.  This block has been evolving for a while now-I wanted to work out how to portray tree tops so they were understandable to the viewer.

My other blocks this week are thanks to Chuck.  This quilt has been going on forever it seems but now I have only about 13 more blocks to make and I am sad.  i do not know if ever I will share a path again with the fun and creative Chuck Nohara and feel there is so much more here that I have left unexplored.  

I bought this pretty teal print hoping I would be able to use it somewhere and finally found a place for it.  This trellis fabric makes a nice basket and I went with broderie perse roses, leaves and a little bird to complete the picture.

I changed the dimensions on this block to take advantage of the fabric I wanted to use.  The yellow stripes on either side of the pink floral band is very effective complemented with the yellow French General fabric.  This is another fabric I had been wanting to use.  Matter of fact, I have a little basket of fabric which I love that must be used before the quilt is finished.  

Pretty flowers growing in someone's garden.

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Here is what has really excited me this week:

I told you last week I was going to become a wild and crazy free motion quilter and here is the result.  This little quilt is about 12x18 white Kona cotton with poly hi loft batting.  I used 100 wt white invisafil thread top and bottom.  I have been learning more FMQ with the facebook group Sit Down Free Motion Quilters sampler.  Most of the stitches are those used in the sampler they teach but used in different ways and combinations.

Now before you start thinking "WOW, she is an awesome doodler"  I must tell you that this pattern is in no way original.  I copied it from the world's greatest doodler, LuAnn Kessi.  Here is her doodle which I cloned:

https://luannkessi.blogspot.com/

In comparing the two, you can see that mine lost some definition here and there when I quilted accidentally over a feather etc.  But overall, I am very pleased and excited.  The whole project took no more than about 10 hours from cloning to completion. Not that time matters but I say this to point out it was not impossible to accomplish.

I could not do anything creative without my printer.  A reader asked how I translated the 2x2 inch patterns in Chuck's book into 6" blocks. Simply put the small 2" block in your printer and change the setting to enlarge 265% and presto-out comes a 6" block.  Just play with this setting to get the size you want.  To get the enlargement I wanted for the doodle quilting, I printed a full page of the doodle, cut it in 4ths, and enlarged each 4th 200% which, when taped together, yielded the 12x18 pattern for me to trace. 

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This blog has had international visitors from 5 new countries in listed here in order of appearance:  Iceland, Norway, Belarus, Egypt, and Moldavia.  Lucky me!  My husband plays internet chess with opponents from all around the world.  We have a friendly competition going over who is the most international.  He will say Dubai and I will say Moldavia-so there, I win.

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Here is a photo of Peter Rabbit who lives in our backyard.  The corn which the squirrels kick to the ground is making him very plump and healthy. 

My husband saw a family of otters the other day during his walk in the woods and swamps.  The family was a mother and three playful, unruly children.  The children where going in all directions, paying no attention to the possible threat posed by a human. My husband said mother was scolding and harassed trying to regroup her young into some kind of order and marshall them back to the woods and creek.  She managed this and my husband heard 4 plops! as they jumped back into the water.

HAPPY QUILTING TO YOU

 THIS WEEK!  

I will be linking up with these fabulous linkies:

Slow Stitching Sunday

Monday with Bambi

Patchwork Times

Em's Scrapbag

Free Motion by the River

Esther's WOW

Let's Be Social

NTT

Whoop, Whoop

Off the Wall Friday

Thanks for providing this sharing forums!

MAKING PROGRESS IN THE LAST LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

Four blocks and the quilting sampler are finished. All four of the blocks are based on Chuck Nohara's but on one I really riffed.

Fuchsias have always been a favorite of mine.  My mother grew them when I was a child in California.  I was drawn to this block and the idea of fruit hanging from a limb.  I was not sure about the pears and from there the block gradually morphed into the fuchsias after a bit of playing around with fruit and flowers. I think this one is my all time favorite.

The other Chuck blocks are more straightforward reproductions.

You can see this is a close copy-the only change I made was in making the center circle small to exaggerate the mirror image look.  Chuck's block looks very Oriental-I keep thinking "I Ching" probably due to the fabrics she choose to make her block and the design symmetry.

I love yellow and this block combines that with another favorite-twisty stems.  I like the way this one came together.  More definition will be added to the leaves during machine quilting. Chuck makes some bold and fluid designs.

And lastly another leafy sort of wreath:

I used a leaf from each of the aqua flowered prints from the different collections used in the quilt and then used rose as an accent.  

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I finished the sampler from the Sit Down Free Motion Quilters facebook group.  This sampler was fun to do with some squares being hard and some easier.  I felt like I learned a lot.  The SDFMQ's did a very professional job in designing and teaching this learner's sampler.  I have gained confidence and am ready to do more. It is not to late to sign up if you want to make this sampler.

You can see the quilting is far from perfect but if you wait for perfect, nothing will happen!  I think I will do some wild and crazy doodle stuff next.

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Applique Paintbox has three new international visitors this past week:  Serbia, South Korea, and the Isle of Man.  Admittedly, I had to look up this last knowing only its association with England.  The Isle of Man is a small island in the Irish sea between England and Northern Ireland.  It is not a part of the United Kingdom but is self governing and crown dependent (like the Channel Islands? New Zealand?).  All three of the flags of these countries have proudly added to the list of international visitors.

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With these three photos, we have come to the end of the Caswell quilt demonstration. 

These two blocks I adapted from the Caswell carpet itself. You can see my favorite twisty stems and leaves.  Snails, ladybugs. a butterfly, and a hungry hummer all add to the garden.  I find more and more that embroidery is creeping into my applique. You can see it in the stems, the flower details, and the snail shells.

These two blocks I also designed directly from the Caswell carpet though you can see Threadbear's influence in the blue flower block.  The bird block was made then remade about 6 times until I got it right.

I don't know where this block came from except I wanted more dragonflies and you have to have a water source to have dragonflies.  Ergo-a bird bath complete with bird, flowers and berries.

There are other blocks that I have not shown but I am ready to move on to display another quilt.  Since I have completed about 20 appliqued quilts before I began blogging, there is lots to show. 

HAPPY QUILTING!

 I will be linking up this week with the lovely linkies listed left!

BEEN A LAZY WEEK HERE AS SUMMER DRAWS CLOSER TO AN END.
I don't have a lot to show for myself.  I made only 3 blocks this week and just puttered the week away. I did go to the city and visited my two favorite fabric stores.  I had been looking for some fabric with little houses on it and finally found a suitable fat quarter with which to make a little town.

This fabric is very cute with its little shops and houses.  I found the cobble stone fabric in my stash and its works okay as a cobbled pathway through the town.

My other blocks are from Chuck's book.  

In this pretty wreath, I used my four main colors: peach, aqua, yellow, and green.  I use Karen Buckley's perfect circles to form the shapes of the flowers.

This block is simple but very nice in the combination of angular shapes and curved shapes. 


Well, that is it for this week-not too much to show for myself-I did not even do my free motion quilting homework.  Do you find that this lack of focus happens as a project nears its end?  I have been going over my beautiful Kona solds fabric chart and choosing colors for the sashing for Chuck, Susan, and me.  It is wonderful to have so much to choose from. I have narrowed it down to 16 different colors-4 of each main color in the quilt.

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My husband was caught up in the Delta Airline shutdown.  He spent 24 hours going from Roanoke to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Minneapolis to Kansas City.   He felt he was trapped in some alternate universe composed of airports and all humanity crowded into a tiny capsule. He was looking and feeling so frazzled towards the end of this odyssey that Delta upgraded him to first class which allowed him to catch up on some sleep. 

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Look what I captured with my fabulous camera:

Is this a perfect shot of a hummer or what?  I took several shots most of which were blurry.  But the nexus of focus and cooperation on birdie's part created this great photo.  She is a female ruby throated hummingbird-our most common hummer in these parts.

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I have told you of my terrible piecing skills-no matter how hard I try either the block is (usually) too small or is too big so corners have to be cut off.  In a blog post I saw a quarter inch foot with a wonderful guide on it that would ensure that the seam was was correct size.  I thought that's what I need.  So I go online to find one for my Juki, search around without much luck until I happened upon http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/. When I saw her blog photos, it was like an epiphany:

The Juki Manual calls this a compensating foot and not knowing what it could possibly be, I tossed it into a drawer.  Fool! It is obvious now that I know! Now I can sew perfect 1/4 seams and to think I had this little miracle in my possession all along.  This is very freeing and broadens my horizons in quilting. This happens at a opportune time because the sashing for Chuck, Susan, and Me will be made up of one inch squares.  The quilt will finish at about 100x108 so we are talking lots of little squares and a lot of 1/4 seams.  I guess this was not such a wasted week after all.

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Here are two more blocks from my version of the Caswell quilt:

This block has the leaves and berries of the A-3 block but I changed them around to add the pond, the dragonflies, and the butterflies.  The birds are based on birds in the A-1 block except I gave them the turned up tails of wrens.

This was my favorite Caswell Block which I left unaltered except my pattern called for a block 14 inches wide instead of 11 so I lengthened the birds and added some more flowers.  The color is off on both these blocks.

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My blog has had a visitor from Argentina.  I am so glad you stopped by and have added the Argentine flag to the list of international visitors.

I receive wonderful comments on my posts and answer all of them and check out those blogs as I am very interested in what you are doing.  However, it is impossible to respond to some comments as they are no-reply bloggers.  It is very easy to change this status.  If you are interested, here is a link which will help you: http://morefromyourblog.com/no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix-this/ 

Not exactly helping:

Though Blossom did teach me to use the ~~~~ which she entered on her own.  Actually this cat can do things with her fanny and petty paws that hackers can only can only dream of. 

That's all for now.  I hope you have a good week.  Lots of kids go back to school this week which is both a relief for mothers and a feeling of missed opportunities. 

I am linking up with the very fun and informative linkies listed on the right.  Stop by for some great quilts.

HAPPY QUILTING!

We begin August with 3 inches of rain!
I have been staying cool and working away.  I finished another column of Chuck, Susan, and Me:

I am getting there-about 2 1/2 columns remaining to be done.  I have gotten to the point where I am thinking of layout.  My latest thought is to make a one inch border between each row and column.  I am thinking of using one inch squares (finished size) of variously colored Kona cotton.  The main colors of Chuck, Susan, and Me are minty green, peachy pinks, aquas, and butters.  

I am mostly an online shopper.  As I am sure you know, what the photo of a fabric looks like and what the color actually is can be 2 very different things.  So I ordered a Kona color chart which is great because the swatches are the actual fabric.  Now I can order my 16 to 18 half yards knowing they will be right.  Here is what the card looks like which is really a piece of eye candy for quilters.

I want all the colors-there are 303. 

Next: blocks for this week.  3 are Chucks, one is of unknown derivation, and one is mine.This block is very different from the others having a more traditional applique look to it.  This block was very time consuming with all the little pieces-remember we are talking 6 inch squares here.

Here is another nice wreath block of unusual design. This pattern was followed closely except I centered the wreath in the center as the other is more appropriate for a modern look in modern fabrics.

I gave a new mood to third block from Chuck's book.  Chuck's block is obviously pansies which would not work for me as, much as I love it, purple has no place in this quilt.  I also joined the stems together to make one plant.

   

This is the block of whose derivation I am not sure.  I know I have seen it somewhere and I am not claiming it an original (I think??)  If anyone knows where the design comes from, please let us know.  A few weeks ago, I made a block which, to me, seemed really obvious design.  A reader wrote in to say the block came from the Dear Jane quilt.  She was right-the quilt had that block.  So much is done at a subliminal level and, if you are a person who does lots of research (technical term for spending hours looking at quilts on line),  it is easy to be influenced.  

The last block for this week.

You can see this block is broderie perse with the fabric taken from a piece of French General Bouquet Francais.  I loved the look of the basket of flowers and the birds.

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The Petra Prins fabric for Quiltmania's Discovery quilt was delayed because the fabric was slow to come out of The Netherlands.  They had some problem but I have it now. There are 2 more months of the mystery quilt-September and November.  Here it is in all its glory:

I captured the colors pretty well.  Is this lovely or what?  I have not yet decided  how I will use it-the Discovery quilt is not exactly right for me. Anyway-this is not the quilt next in line.  Next in line and coming up soon is Sweet Surrender form the Aussie pattern maker Susanne Cody-she associates with Material Obsession. There are 2 more months of the mystery quilt-September and November.

One new country visited me this past week-Ukraine.  I will add the flag to the growing list.

Lastly, I wanted to show off two more blocks from Caswell:

This block has two of my favorite things: honeybees and Yoshi, my outdoor cat.  I just love the spider web.  The black and yellow spider is one we used to see in our garden (acres and acres it seemed if you had to weed the garden) on our zen farm.  You can see how the spider is dropped and the bees don't stay on the own block which helps the illusion that the quilt is not composed of blocks.

After I decided to join these 2 blocks, I knew something had to be placed the the wide space between the bottom of the vase and the blue buds.  After much thought (and research) I came up with this bird who is very busy eating birdseed.  You can also see a pink butterfly and a dragon fly which is going after the water in the birdbath of the block below. The blue, vaguely oriental vase is a reference to one of my other quilts-the Blue Collection by Maggie Walker.

That's all for right now.  Happy quilting and thanks for visiting my blog.  I love your comments so please leave one for me to read and enjoy!

This week I am linking to the blogs you can see listed on the left.  Good blogs, all.  I am also linking up with Bambi's show and tell monday @http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/