Summer Strategies

It is NOT going to be those 'lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer' like the old song says. Well, maybe crazy! ;~) I have been focusing on the summer plan.

As I had said earlier this will be a Summer to Dye For! I have taken the Pledge to talk about the Process and this I shall do, not exactly my quilts but the process of turning a very ramshackle potting shed into a summer dye studio. Hopefully I'll be dyeing/painting/stamping and generally messing around by August 1st. And thankfully my dear hubby is talking about what needs doing first. He suggests raising the whole thing so it can be blocked higher as it sits in a low spot and all the water collects inside and the mosquitoes breed in the damp and dark. But speaking of water, we've had 4 inches already this weekend and as I type more is coming down.

As you can see the grass luvs this cool, wet environment. So I need to find the shed and trim all the grass that surrounds it. I also have paint and can be painting the chicken coop as we begin the preliminary stuff on the Puttering Shed. Hmm, perhaps I need a better name for this 'studio'. Any suggestions? It is backed by That Faerie Place although a whole herd of frogs have been sneaking in as well! lol

Summer also means yard work and the North bush needs some attention. Poplars clone themselves. One tree has dozens and dozens of trees all off of one root system. So when the main tree dies the rest succumb. I like the poplar bush, birch is better, but... The wood is light, not like birch, but not dark either. I'm kinda dismayed to see oak which is very black moving into the stand. This will eventually change the whole feel of the bush.

So I need to fell these dead trees and add some more of the newer hybrid poplars that we got with our tree order and then pretty up the edge. This rain has done some flooding in the basement so we need to make a dry creek at the edge of this bush and have the water go further from the house. So there is some summer landscaping planned for this area.

I had said I'd make do with the quilts I have for summer decor. I originally was going for whimsical with a bit of thirties styling for a summer cottage look. But focusing has made me see that I'm better to do 30's with a bit of whimsy thrown in. It works better for a cohesive flow throughout the whole house. So I do have the main fabrics in their allotted space on the shelf.

I have a WIP as well. I'd started an Irma Gail Hatcher Conway Quilt that has not ever been finished and I decided after seeing so many of them at shows that I wasn't going to add another to the pile. But I'll finish up the individual blocks I have and design a new simple setting for them. A quieter simpler version.

I have very much admired the Quiet Quilts that Malka Dubrawsky wrote about in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and that has got me very excited and ready to start fiddling. But I'm remembering Triple F so I'm whoa-ing! Focus, dye shed. Jot down the ideas for these quiet quilts but get out there and fiddle with the dye shed process. There'll be a few more rainy days to plan quiet quilts! oops, another whoa!

I also need to start to work through my Journal Spilling book. That will be part of getting ready for playing with the wet stuff in the dyeing shed. Isn't focusing great!

But I hope you'll join me as I process thru an exciting summer, a summer to dye for!

Fantastic Friday Finish

The closest fabric store is closing/moving and this week's sale was the modern section so my daughter, grand kids and I dashed thru the rain and in to get the items on our list. I stayed totally focused and wasn't over too very much. This buying spree was to finish up the spring decor.

I really luv this fabric. It is Robert Kaufman's Fusions. I have had it for a while and have tried it in the spring and summer options for our bedroom but I have not been able to get the right look. I also have a really great combo for summer so I was so happy to find this spring selection:

This is an Amy Butler fabric. Yahoo!

Then I added these few fabrics to hopefully go with the 4 solids I have, orange, turquoise, olive, and purple. I don't know for sure what the circular design will be, but I think I have finally got a good start. The top 3 aqua's are possibles. But they were actually meant for the downstairs hall.

I had some nice FQ's and was just looking for a compatible colour combo for the small lap quilt that I throw on the old cedar chest. Well, surprise! They go wonderfully. The large print is a Bryant Park for Exclusively Quilters. The lighter fabric, here and then above are Revive Collection from ArtGallery

The upstairs hall was a grouping that I had but you can see they can also share fabrics with the master bedroom. I only need a small wall hanging for this area. I had in my mind to go with a light peachy wall paint but this past week I learned that light colours are not great in rooms with minimal light conditions. I was going to use a yellow green in the 50's room but I'm rethinking that. Aqua may be better and I could use the green in the hall. The paint chip is a chameleon kind of green that goes real well with the four rooms that open into the up hall. There is a bit of the green in the rug as well. So now that I've narrowed the green down I'll be getting the sample jar to try. After the Sunshine room comes this hall.

Not on this years decor plan but perhaps next spring is a bathroom shower curtain. I serge the yellow brick road pattern pieces and the results are quite nice. So I got some FQ's.

The 4 fabrics on the right are leftovers but the 10 on the left are new. I'm not sure how many FQ's I need but I always tweak the pattern so I only need a rough guestimate.

The little bonus was a note on my list that I have only one fabric in the sitting room table runner. I could keep an eye out for something I could add to the room in a pillow or mini quilt for a side table. I found this interesting fabric and was glad I could justify the addition.

It doesn't quite go with the down hall fabrics but could certainly be a pillow in the sitting room. The yellow is a tad brighter but I'm learning to relax the matchy matchy tendencies. ;)

While I was checking out my purchases I turned on the computer and lo and behold; first time in cyberland- I won 2 meters of fabric from Lesly over at the Pickle Dish . The fabric works wonderfully with all this spring decorating. Her 100th blog post asked for a small worlds story. I have found the Internet to be a big world but finding good friends has made it much smaller. I am very appreciative.

So the spring decorating has wrapped up and summer is looming large on the horizon. I will be continuing with deco Fridays but I'll be showing what I have and what I have in mind for future quilt projects. Some are old WIPS and some have been in the "I need to do that" list for some time. Now that I'm making progress with focusing I'm feeling confident that their day will come.

I'm looking to be focusing on some other exciting projects for the summer. It is going to be a Summer to Dye For!

Still Stripping

When I first hit on the idea of seasonal decor I began at spring. And I kept beginning again every spring. It is a besetting sin! That is why I am a bit fixated on committing to a plan (i.e. blogging) so I can get moving along. This was one of the spring quilts. I had some peach. I was thinking peach or cherry blossoms and that spoke a slightly oriental/modern theme. My peaches were rather sparse, old, and dated. The amounts weren't huge and I decided that all together they could work. So I began to cut strips and I just sewed them end to end. Then I cut them into the quilt width I wanted. I did some preplanning as I adjusted them and added spare strips to move the more noticeable ones about the surface. I had a very large chunk of the border which is pinky/peach. I don't like those wide fabric borders so I inserted some leftover strips to break that up. That peachy/pink is also the backing. Quilting in the ditch is not real exciting. So I used my 3 step zig zag and did a wavy line down every second seam. Then I reversed direction and came from the opposite direction for the seams I'd missed. This kept the quilt from skewing or twisting off square. It does take a bit of patience as time is added by the zigging and zagging. But I was very pleased with the results. It is a handy quilt and sometimes shows up for a summer accessory.

I do have both sunshine room tops sewn. This second one is not trimmed as I wanted to show how the edges shift. I should have paid more attention to my alternate sewing directions but it is easy to get turned around. I also have one fabric that is definitely not as wide as the others. I'm deciding if I need to rip a few and re square. The fabrics on the left are the backing fabric options. I split the orange with the busy dots that I used as thin accents for the top so I'd have equal amounts for each backing. It is an April Cornel Polka Dot by Moda. It works very well in the sunshine room. I want to use the trim that is in the valence, that darker stripe, as well as any leftover cut strips. I have a Michael Miller Serengetti Patchwork fabric with animals on it that I think would add some fun. I'm really tempted to leave the dots as one piece, use the stripe as the dividing line and then use leftover strips of the orange as spacers for the animals. Binding I'll worry about later. Hmm, perhaps I should think about pillow cases as well. But I am so liking to actually stay with this project and not assign it a hanger like so many others. I will carry on with the choices for my summer fabrics as I'll have my ornaments and stuff out so I can see how my fabric choices would work, but I doubt I'll start any actual projects. I do have some things that need finishing as well as these 2 spring quilts. I also have a lot of quilts that work for summer and want their day in the sun! 8^)

Stay tuned for a regularly scheduled announcement!

I just checked my calendar and it is looking like Spring has sprung.

That means I'm going to have a summer to dye for.

I'll finish up this week tieing up a few loose ends in the deco department and I'll review my Focus.

I've dallied inside a bit too long and things outside are needing some serious attention. I can't afford the long hours at the sewing machine so I need to have a whole different set of goals. Renovating my Puttering Shed and painting the Coop are high on the list. So is fabric dyeing, stamping and just plain messing around!

I do find it very helpful to plan my seasonal decor all at one time. I've been fine tuning that a bit this afternoon and I'll be moving thru the rooms again on Fridays in the coming 12-13 weeks. Gee, I hope it doesn't happen as fast as the last 12 weeks.

The Process of Stripping

I am beginning to identify that I like strip quilts, what I call strippies. I posted these yellow quilts before.

I luv Karla Alexander's stack the deck technique. I need the stimulation of surprises in my work. With stack, slice, shuffle and sew, randomness is a given. This is her version of stacked coins. Her method is a good lead in for doing purely improvisational piecing which can be intimidating when you first set aside your ruler for free wheeling cuts. At least I have found it to be rather stressful. lol

So with the first flush of success I made this more traditional strippy but with the blocks being in a more improvisational style, square in a square, and separated by a pieced sashing. The border is a repeat of the first quilt's style. The sashing was just pieces of all the leftovers. There are lots of things I'd improve but as a first improvisational quilt, I quite like it.

I actually do not like traditional quilts with their inner and outer borders. A lot of my quilts do not have borders. When row quilts began to become popular I immediately liked them. They are strippys with a horizontal orientation. When the Common Threads Quilt Group spent a year on trying border techniques I knew I'd be making mine into a row quilt. I also knew that I needed a fabric plan if I was going to avoid having a group of blocks that would be in the same project so I grabbed white as my light, greys as my medium and black as my dark. Then I added a multicoloured checkerboard to stabilise all the piecing. The binding will be the checkerboard as well. This top is ready for some body's baby!

I have one more quilt to show but it seems I have not photographed it before and this post is actually a stalling technique. I can't post my progress on the orange strippys because of a lack of batteries for the camera. oops! I wanted a small quilt for a chair throw and sewed lots of strips using all my pinky peaches. It uses short and long strips. I learned that when you sew strip after strip the sewn strips begin to smile at you. The fabric curls or curves. To counteract that you need to sew in opposite directions every few rows.

I am just thrilled with the Process. I am sticking with a quilt to the end. I am usually hot on the trail of another idea and have begun to stack another bunch of fabrics on the cutting table and books are all over the place. Then the older project gets piled into a tub while the new kid on the block runs all over the design wall. Gee, I may actually be growing up!

I'm learning the balance of forward planning and present projects. (I will need to deal with all those unfinished bright ideas from the past though) The sunshine room is still my focus. I'm getting my bunk sketch ready for our appointment with the cabinet maker. I am sewing the second quilt top and I have the backing fabrics loosely gathered. Then I'll figure how to do the circles. I have the fabrics picked for the next room's seasonal decorating project. Those may just sit in their tub as I want to do our room first. I'll stick with the spring season planning but summer's deco plans may be less precise as I head into all my dyeing plans which include stripping the old potting shed of its pots and paraphernalia and setting it up for dyeing.

Okay, it is time to really strip, hit the shower, and seize the day!

So far sew good!

With the sunshine room still as the focus I have been considering the backings. There are some possibilities and I'll post those Monday. Keeping with the spring decor, the 3/4 guest room would be next. The bed is my parent's old 3/4 sized bed which is great in our smaller rooms. I am keeping any 50's stuff in here. I got 3 thrift shop pillows that are top drawer. I'll recover the smaller. I have gathered a few fabrics for the quilt with the main one being Daisy Chain by Amy Butler which has a gold that is pretty much the old gold in that chair. The circles aspect of the spring quilts just might be the dots in the daisy centres because I have a lovely rectangular square in a square style in mind. There is also an aqua with gold rings and some kind of soft, woven brown. Now I just had a thought that I could applique a few circles up an outer or inner border. I luv asymmetrical. I need to write that down! 8^)

My farmer is home and he is handing out today's list so I best get on the job because it is really all about my yard projects. YAY!!!

Processing Reality

Focus is THE word for the year, possibly for the rest of my life! And while I'm very excited about The Pledge, I need to remember it isn't all about quilting. Certainly not a quilt a day, nor even a week. I do have a stack of past work I can draw on for show and tell when I'm stalled in a process. But I also have a short attention span and way too many bright (and not so bright) ideas. Which brings me back to focus.

So, here at the Coop, visitors will find me up to my neck in Real Living.

As the minute hand swings past the number 12 regularly, so the word reality has past through my thoughts this past month. It has passed through before but time is ticking faster and louder. This past week in particular.

Have you ever noticed that there are no lamp cords in the decorator magazines? They are a reality but they are missing from the glossy pages. I notice because I live in an old house and especially up here in the playroom where I have a couple of tripping hazards. Reality should involve honesty.

I blog instead of doing the 'Dear Diary' thing. But unlike those old diaries with the little gold keys, I have visitors who click through my ramblings. So I wanna have nice pictures and witty words. But I need to be honest. You need to see the extension cords. I'd show the smudges and strike outs but I can't figure how to do that on the 'puter.

My blog header is a result of a dozen photos as I searched for perfect. But the reality is that The Coop has a broken window, a door that sticks, and the whole thing desperately needs painting. It also needs some landscaping and weeding. I removed the offending bricks, I bought some very bright paint last year, and well, ventilation is good! The nursery order is lined up by the shovel and water hose awaiting placement and the damdelion program is in effect. If I don't get some control over them they will choke out everything and the only colour in the hen yard will be green, yellow and white and not the cobalt blue and lime green I have in mind. Neither will you be able to see the Faeries (and some frogs) that live in That Faerie Place beside the coop. It is a WIP and I'll keep you up to date on the process.

The hens and roosters are doing their thing. But there is a shadow overhead. In fact there are two. Crows! They work in pairs, one on look out, while the second harasses the hen who can't watch all the chicks and the crows pick them off one by one. They will even enter the coop and carry away eggs. I have shadows that lurk as well- procrastination, distraction. But I look up, see the crow flying away with the egg in its mouth and I get onto high alert. Focus. Get on guard.

Some eggs are allowed to hatch. Some are collected for consumption. Processing of food is a big part of the focus here on the farm. Frankly I'd rather not process food. My farmer is way more interested in all that than I am and I'm happy to leave him to it. But sometimes he is busy with his own stuff, bringing in my allowance, and paying the bills. ;^) So to get motivated I bought this big whiz bang mixer and I need to start getting excited about how creative baking and cooking can be. Actually, I'm scared of the darn thing. I watched the CD that came with it and I thought, a sewing machine looks less scary! nnnggghhhh But I can't function productively on potato chips and I need some healthy non gluten snacks.

So I'm not always sewing. I have great plans and ambitions for all kinds of creative things. Visitors are always welcome at The Coop. Honestly, I don't really like clutter nor extension cords so often things do look nice but don't look in the drawers or open any closets. I'm not sure the last time the kitchen floor got washed and the windows have the grandkids finger prints and the peanut butter smears as well. The Playroom is another story. It usually is a mess. But that does speak of activity and hopefully creativity. 8^)

I also have to confess that yesterday was a potato chip day. I can't seem to leave town without them, nor a new magazine. vbsigh

Now I need to double time it. The transplants await. The damdelions are roaring. I hear a crow cawing! Now here is hoping I don't trip over the @#*&#~! extension cord as I rush off to wrestle with the processing of my to-do list.

I took the pledge

I LUV blogging! I have learned so much since I started. Mostly about myself; what makes me tick, what doesn't. Life is all about learning and the day is wasted if I haven't learned something. The best way to retain what you learn is to share it. I have lots to share and I have way more to learn. It is all part of the PROCESS. To learn about the pledge please click on the button on the side or here.

Pretty faces don't do much for me. I need to see the person's character behind the face. So watching a project evolve fascinates me and I learn lots just watching. Seems like others agree. Hence The Pledge. Interestingly enough this isn't just about quilting. I'm deciding whether I could make garments for myself and have them actually fit. So I have been following a couple of sewing blogs and yesterday one gal asked her readers if she was boring them with all the details of garment construction or should she just post finished clothes. The answer was a resounding, YES, we want all the details. 8^)

I also have novice sewers visit my blog and they wonder about the complexity, or what looks to them as complexity, of the projects. I guess easy peasy is in the eye of the beholder. lol

So I do pledge to share my process. It is a win/win situation because it helps others and it helps me identify what works and what doesn't and it is the best motivator in the world.

So plunge in, the water is fine!

I have one twin top sewn together. YES! I have a few chores and a few errands but hope to get the second twin top sewn today. Then I need to see whether I wait for the new improved olfa rotary circle cutter to arrive in my part of the country or plunge ahead with my scissors. I'm not sure I'll be able to wait much longer to see how they'll look sprinkled over the top. yum!

Processing the WIP

The sunshine room (gold) needs two kid's quilts. The criteria is modern, spring, circular and fairly quick. Inspiration came from Sue*Sewn.

The first palette options. I'm using the area rug in the hall as a colour link to the upstairs rooms.

The Amy Butler Midwest Modern was the starting fabric. I find things change when I get the cut fabric up on my design wall. The bottom right doesn't work. The darker stripe doesn't even get more than one cut. The gold is sewn in but I'll be ripping. There is an orange with small dots I like but it isn't adding to the modern look so I cut the strips in half, they'll finish at 3/4" and add some colour but won't take as much from the look. I have a red/orange that is in need of taming down and a dark orange/brown that gets 1 strips for an accent. I'm deciding whether to piece some of the yw/or/br mottled fabric and try it. The backside works better than the front which has silver dots on it. After cutting, I divide the fabric into 2 piles for the two tops to get even proportions of each fabric.

I have to see things up on the flannel. So I flap up some of the strips. That's where I see those mini dots. :( Amy will need to be spread around, the light orange ??? Whoa on that brown. I need to preplace the lights, brights and the darks.

Then I start to make some units. I pin the more noticeable fabrics all over to remind me to keep an eye on where they are going. I can join the sections with the cut strips in the medium range of colour. I need to tone down the red/orange so I won't put any high contrast light fabric beside them. The top on the left is coming along, ready to sew the loose strips to the sections. The top on the right has one section up and the high impact fabrics loosely in position.

When I get the base done I'll be looking at my options for the circles. I'm considering the colourful stripe on the top of the stack of fabrics for 2-3 inch circles. The next design consideration will be how to attach the circles but until then, I'm stripping! lol

Stepping forward into the sunshine

It was few steps back yesterday. He 'who knows' says I put the blue rapid rods in backwards. So if I take everything apart, pull those blue thingies, repair with glue the particle board mess I'll make, clamp and let dry, then he 'who knows' will see what he can do! :(

YES! I read the instructions! Whose to know that I needed better glasses to see the ends were different. awk! The good news is the damage is gonna be hidden. PHEW!!! ;)

Now the valence was redeemable. It was too long and I needed to lose the ruffle at the top. It was easy to do but would take a paragraph to tell. I just put the rod into the pocket from the back with the pocket and offending ruffle hidden and let the valence just hang from the flipped rod. It pleases me because there are no stitched lines showing and it looks very classy! Easy peasey!

I now realize that the focal point from the doorway is that bookcase. So I need it to be smashing. I'll have to give some thought to not jumbling the kid's books that it'll hold. I do have a decent lamp and shade. So far so good. I need to put the closet door back up but I'm reviewing that Cloud White trim colour which came highly recommended by two paint consultants. My gut says I need a creamier white. I'm not brave enough to have a variety of trim colours throughout the house so I need to decide right here at the start. But there is always a what if...

Then I've been slicing all my ironed fabric. I have the fabrics up on my new flannel design wall. I need to whoa those reddish tones and drag back those lights and maybe pitch that dark. I need to keep the flavor modern so no cutesy prints even if they are the right colour. I really hope to NOT go for more fabrics. I mean, how many oranges is this gonna take? Who'da thought I'd be doing orange! But I'm luving working with it. The fabric I seem to be dragging thru the spring palette is Amy Butler, Midwest Modern. Yellow/blue/green in the kitchen and possibly in the guest room, yellow/gold/pink in our room, and then a brown/orange/cream for this sunshine room as it struck me as more masculine.

This will be a good project to work on between landscape projects. I should take my mind off those yellow damdelions, the only yellow I don't like.

It's not right

I've been working on the sunshine room today. That bookcase was not as easy as my playroom one. 8>( And I can NOT get the top to stay attached so I'm waiting for 'he who knows'! The fit is perfect though.

I got all my oranges washed and ironed up. I hope there is enough variety and enough period.

I made the valence. I cut some of the width off as I thought it shouldn't be too ruffly. That may have been a mistake. But it still doesn't look like I have the proportions right. I need to sleep on it I think.

Then the camera wasn't making my pictures light enough. I got out the manual. Now they are not right as well. Need to read the manual before I go to sleep! lol

Last evening for the Common Threads Quilt Group. We need to talk about next year's hopes and dreams. That'll be better to sleep on!

The sunshine room

Yellow is my favorite colour. I had first tried my own thing with a baby quilt and then a lap quilt. Even the back is improvisational.

When we first began to refinish the house we began in the smallest bedroom. It was to be a folk arty guest room. All my blue painted wood folk art stuff would be here. We had bought a single metal bed frame to refinish and we began with gold walls and a golder ceiling which curves down and is therefore a feature wall. Then my hubby noticed that if I had a playroom, why couldn't he have his own room. ??? Threw me for a major loop, this did!!! In the end I have kinda graciously come around to reinventing the room. Folk art is gone! He received a very large painting when he retired and it works, a landscape. He will accept small bunk beds for overnight grandkids. lol An old cupboard, sans a door that was bought on one of his auction day trips, is the main storage unit and the closet will retain all my old quilt storage shelves for his paraphernalia. (I'm still looking for places to stuff the contents of those shelves.) I'll have new doors made and small wooden bunks. I have gotten a small bookcase that needs assembling. The room also needs a valence and bed quilts.

This is my palette for the spring look. The valance will pass through the seasons in plain gold with a multicoloured stripe.

I want fairly simple bed quilts. Modern is the look and circles the design shape for my spring decor. Sue, over at Sue*Sewn has just what I'm thinking of. here So I'm very anxious to get started.

Yellow is the colour of...

Daffy's and the less desirable dandelions.

It is also the colour of bad lighting.

The 8th Block of the Month is really nice. It has a nice shadow effect. I fussy cut my two theme fabrics and that took a while. Then I stood back and said, where is my shadow? hmmm. Not the right values so I took away the lighter yellow fabric and replaced it with a medium green. I should have took a picture of the 'not so good'. Sorry. I also finished the block late last night and the photo was ugly with the yellow light. So before I head off to tackle our reforestation project I wanted to post these great colours. There are some really great examples of this block over on 3CS that were more successful with this block. I also learned to press seams open and it worked wonderfully.

The sunshine room will post at coffee break!

Workshop in PROCESS- Rhythm

Workshop In Progress is Cheryl's brainchild over at Naptime Quilter and she is encouraging us to dig deeper, push further, and reach higher. I'm thinking she wants to hear about Workshop In PROCESS. And I'm excited. This can be such a great learning tool and a super motivater. I tend to dream, lose track of the what if's, procrastinate and then dive for the finish where it is too little, too late. SO-

So here is my Workshop in Process

3 Creative Studios has a 3rd challenge. The word is Rhythm.

Common Threads, my local quilt group has a new challenge which is 2 pieces of fabric.

The definitions of Rhythm that resonated with me were:

1. movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.

3. measured movement, as in dancing.

8. Physiology . the regular recurrence of an action or function, as of the beat of the heart, or the menstrual cycle.

9. procedure marked by the regular recurrence of particular elements, phases, etc.: the rhythm of the seasons.

So I want a repeating pattern (grid). I want a repeating shape (movement). I want repeating action (emotion). I want repeating phase (time).

I was captivated by a photo in a library book.

My constraints are time-due date 6/30/10, size- max. perimeter 160" fabric- recognizable amounts of 2 challenge fabrics.

This is the beginning of my process.

Out of the ashes???

Well, since I'm not burning anything except maybe some rubber off my sneakers, out of the dust shall rise a new beginning. From the ground up, so to speak!

Vacuuming puts me right into a ZONE! Good bye world, hello thoughts.

Can my muse, A Musing come out to play? I am so ready.

Great trip to the city. I stayed focused. I went back for the 2 pairs of C U T E shoes I left behind after I bought the gold ones. Actually, they're probably something A Musing would wear but I shall silence the inner critic that says, What if ya fall, get bunions, laughed at, etc. and STRUT! So I'll be looking cool from the ankles down and I'm trusting A Musing to come up with some serious creative solutions for the ankles and up. I am following some sewing blogs. I used to sew before quilting took over my life. hmm, I also used to quilt before art quilting and mixed media led me on a parallel path.

I forgot the BOM deadline so I need to get that next block done. I do enjoy making them. I'll be needing a creative setting for that set of blocks as we are approaching finish.

With a clean work surface I shall hug myself and pick up my biggest brush and turn to page 16, Plunge In! I'm using Diana Trout's book, Journal Spilling. It seems okay to spill so what else could I fear? I had also stuck to the list and got the recommended brushes, sorta on sale. 10% doesn't really impress me. I mean it hardly covers the tax! But forget the budget, I need to decide whether to use a journal or the recommended paper.

WIP for Wednesday will see me fiddling with these very cute Drunkard's Path blocks. 3 inches is as small as I'd go because they'd take more pinning in the smaller size and I try not to do pins. Three pins work and the trick is to have the arc on top of the lower corner when sewing. Seriously, not hard. So, that's all my what if's and if I want to actually get to them the dust needs to start flying.

AHHH Chooo!

VBSigh A Musing, that was not amusing.