Sunday, February 25, 2018

"Box Kites" -- close to finished!

Funny how sometimes a project seems kinda blah, but you MAKE yourself work on it, and by the time it's finished, it's looking pretty GOOD!  DH teases me how frequently I say, "Hmmmmm, it turned out much better than I thought ."  Is this because it's finished (or in this case, almost finished)?

This was my planned border, and it made up nicely but it just didn't "do"!  Tooooo overwhelming.  So, now I have a border with no quilt! 

I MQ with my domestic machine, a Janome MC6500.  It's a treasure!

So then I decided on an almost plain border.  White with little squiggles in it - much better.  Had to purchase this piece.  That last border is not quilted yet, but I DO have the binding made up, a stripe to match that inner border, only the stripe is on the bias - looks great!

I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's quilt of the same name.  I wonder if she plans to include this project in her coming book?  I think this would look wonderful if the maker would gather similar colors in the diagonal rows.  Note that the kites are all light while background is color. 

 I included a couple of "cutesies".  This would be a great little girl's quilt.  Measures 72 x 88. 


This backing is wonderful - on sale when a quilt vendor wanted to go back home!  The stripes run vertical.  I quilted it all with Essential Pro creamy white on top and bobbin - this stuff is thin and quilts like buttah!

Monday, February 19, 2018

"Box Kites", WIP, and Boats on the Other Side of the Studio

I've been sloppering with envy over Bonnie Hunter's "Box Kite" quilt for a while, and finally got mine together!  Colors  are purple, green, turquoise, a few pinks and yellows.   All is stash.   Backgrounds are white, no beige or creams.  The design shows up as light strips diagonally across the quilt.  The diagonal pattern is not very apparent in these 2 photos, but I wanted to get something fresh on my blog - so here's a start!  I'm machine quilting on my DSM, my trusty Janome MC6500.  We are under a storm warning today, Presidents Day, and while bad weather doesn't seem to have actually happened, I planned time to make progress with the MQ'ing. 

Mine is 130 blocks - once again, larger than originally planned - I can't seem to stop at "nap size"!   It is finishing approx. 72" x 92".   Most of the fabrics are kinda sweet, clear, a lot of polka dots, and a few "cutsies".  The little stripe is one border.  This is an easy, 6 in. block.  If I had a design wall, I would have clustered like colors together but ... no design wall.



Other side of the studio:  

While I work on my quilts, DH works on his boats.  While it starts as a kit, he is building an entire boat, only on a smaller scale.  The wood is included, and instructions, but nothing is cut out, the instructions are frequently in several foreign languages with the expected problems of language errors, measurement conversions, pieces get broken under the stress of making straight wood curve, clamps won't stay clamped on curved surfaces.  We both use a small studio - he is in one corner and I am in the other corner.  He gets threads in his boats, I have sawdust in my quilt - we got over it. 

This morning at 3:45am one of those clamps went flying off, noisily clunking to the chair then the floor -- waking us in a panic - we were sure someone had broken into the house!    


Friday, February 02, 2018

Inedible "food"!


I am not too particular about what I cook, or eat, but I do prefer that my meals contain something called "FOOD".   DH is also not particular and he was just hungry for pizza so I tried something new.  

How can such a horrible product end up at the grocery store?  On a scale of 1-10, DH and I both gave it a minus.  The "rising crust" was odd tasting - I can't even compare it to a "crust" or "bread"  -- it was even strange feeling to the palette, there was NO taste to the crust, beyond overly salty, and the topping was uhhhh, -- I couldn't eat it at all - again so  comprised with salt and who knows what else.  DH scraped off the topping from the crust and tried a few bites, but stopped at the second bite.   My action was just the same as his - into the trash it went.    No, I didn't read the label, but it was not out of date.  It did smell good while cooking.  I returned to the grocery store and requested my money be returned.  It scares me that such awful product is considered to be "food" and people actually purchase it.  

We all need to speak up more loudly and return such awful "food" to the grocery store.