The Longest Geese

 I think I like calling this block unit the Longest Geese. And isn't this an interesting arrangement of the twenty Longest Geese? 

Now to go cut some more blue/aqua strips to use in making the rest of these.

Long Geese & Lilacs

 

I'm working on the final clue for the mystery quilt, Old Town making these Long Geese. Just a rectangle with a Flying Geese situation at one end. They're going together pretty quickly, especially because they're meant to be scrappy. I'm using the Simple Folded Corners ruler instead of drawing a diagonal line and it's working out very well.

And just in time for Flower Friday, here are the lilacs all blooming. I contrived a reason to be out underneath them (weeding) just so I could spend more time smelling their heavenly fragrance. I don't know who to thank for planting these as they were already well-established when we bought this house way back in 1994. But they've been a garden reliable stalwart and I'm always so thankful for them every year.

Hourglass+Flying Geese

 

Before beginning the first joining-together of units for the Old Town mystery quilt, I decided to do some trimming. This is the result of trimming all of those hourglass units. Doesn't really add up to much! That means I did a pretty good and accurate job of making those hourglass blocks. (pats self on back and is thankful for good directions) 

So...was the time I took to do the trimming worth it? I think so, as you can see, some of these trimmed-off bits are a lot more than mere slivers. That means in the next steps of block making, I would have started out well on the way to inaccurate and wonky. After all the work of making the block ingredients, to me, that means it is worth it to trim before proceeding.

On to the next step, adding coral/melon and white/neutral Flying Geese units to two of the sides of the hourglass. They went together pretty easily.

I tried my hardest to not have any repeating fabrics in these units, and only messed up twice.

And there they all are together! And, that's one more of the clues completed.

Wandering Wednesday - SF MOMA

 Time for a Wandering Wednesday, this time to SFMOMA. I really enjoyed my visit, going to see art in person, especially when it is so much larger than on one's computer screen or in a book is always a big part of the excitement. 

I've always loved Yayoi Kusama's work, especially her love of pumpkins and polka dots. Getting to see her enormous, exciting, Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart    in person was so great. 

Couldn't get the whole piece in my picture, because it's rather wide and there were a lot of people.

Finally got to experience one of the infinity rooms by Yayoi Kusama.  Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love (2023)  All I can say is wow! And that the pictures truly do not do this justice.

You get let into the cube with a small group, and you have exactly two minutes. It's completely worth the wait in line.

Glad I remembered to "always look up".

The Alexander Calder exhibit with many of his mobiles is always so peaceful. I just love watching the movement of the shadows.

Ended my visit with a late lunch at the museum cafe, including this lovely mocktail with butterfly pea blossom powder.

Another Clue Completed

 

The last official clue for the Old Town mystery quilt is now done.

I took these in-process pictures as I assembled the last of the red and white/neutral four-patches.

They all went together very quickly and I was pleased to get this last of the clues done. There is the matter of the last sneaky clue that I missed. It was included in the reveal that we are to make a pieced sashing. Thankfully, friend Jaye pointed that out to me, because I really had missed that one in all the rush to see the final reveal of the quilt mystery. So...that's all I have left to do as far as making units goes, but that means getting my chosen blue/aquas back out again because I'd put them away!

 But hey, I'm so very much closer now to being able to start piecing the blocks and quilt together.

And here's a "group" picture of all of them in a big heap.

And a side-view of the big heap because it's fun to see just how many there are. I was surprised to see how all these four-squares are getting used in the final quilt. More on that later...

Retreat Shopping & Prizes

 

At the retreat, I went shopping with everyone at the Family Threads quilt shop. They generously gave our group a retreat discount. I got some blue thread for sewing on the facings of Running Out of Raincloud. A pack of chrome sewing machine needles because I wasn't sure I had some with me. And a pack of John James chenille needles, always good to have for hand stitching. There was a good selection of sale fabrics, those two on the left, the weird green plaid and the orange/yellow/pink text block fabric were a great deal. 

I then couldn't resist the good range of Marcia Derse fabrics.

Here's the Marcia Derse fat quarter pack un-packed.

After I laid the fat quarters out, I realized that a couple of them were not Marcia Derse, but Carrie Bloomston instead, that's okay they play well with each other.

We played some fun retreat games, and I scored a great ruler that I haven't tried out yet. Several people there said it was good and I do love the non-slip-i-ness of Creative Grids rulers. 

The ruler came all wrapped up in the cute holiday print FQ which exactly coordinates with the jelly roll strip that I got in another game. A nice coincidence.

The retreat had a little gift shop, so I checked it out and bought a stretchy Our Lady of Guadalupe bracelet, some Monastery Creamed Honey (yummy!), a nice bottle of goat milk body lotion from a local farm, Bell Hill Farm. I'd also bought some of the same company's goat milk soap at the quilt shop. 

The final shopping opportunity didn't work out as the store was closed on Monday's. Friend Jaye had spotted a Featherweight for a very good price and I was toying with the idea of getting it. Am I now a person who really really wants a Featherweight? Maybe so, several people use them at Sew Days and really like them. If they're in good shape they have a very good stitch. Some research is necessary, so I think I was lucky the shop was closed.

SF Stitching

 

I actually sat in the sunny window in our hotel room in SF and stitched on my go-to handwork project, Snake in the Garden. I used the newest color thread that I had at hand, thanks to the shopping I'd just done at Britex Fabrics. The green sashiko thread was used to fill in part of the dark blue leaf between the gold print. 

These are the two sashiko thread colors that I bought at Britex. I chose them because I hadn't seen colors like that on offer in other shops.

Final Day of the Retreat

Home again, home again, jiggityy-jig. I had to get all the way back home from SF to be able to post about what I did on the final day of the retreat. I hadn't unpacked and taken any pictures of what I sewed in those final hours. I guess I was working too hard at it to stop and take in-process pictures. 

Soooo....I worked on making the last possible four-patch blocks for the Old Town mystery quilt that I could assemble with the fabric strips that I had with me. These are assembled in groups of 10 so that it's easier for me to count them up. They're all made in such a way as to be fairly scrappy although there are many that match. 

There are only "some more" left to make, instead of "lots and lots". So it feels like overall, I made great progress on getting nearly all of the units done to start making blocks for this quilt...emphasis on almost. 

I was very inspired by watching friend Jaye’s progress on block assembly for the Old Town mystery quilt over the course of the retreat. She gave me lots of tips to keep in mind once I get to that stage which will no doubt be very helpful. 

Then for the last little bit of time I had left, I worked on the Y.E.S. Coat, cutting various widths of strips of the grey fabrics to then sew into strip sets. These will all be cut up and re-sewn again or used as is, to fill in the coat assembly between all the other Seminole piecing and paper pieced blocks.

Here's a great group picture of almost all of the attendees of the retreat. It sure was a great time, that extra day was almost too much for my stamina but I made it through and feel great about what I got done. Most of all I’m very pleased at the time I got to spend getting to know more of the guild members who were attending. I worked on 6 of the 7 projects that I brought along with me, so I feel like I packed just the right amount of stuff so that I had lots of choices and types of work to do. I did make a list for myself again of things to remember to bring to retreat next time (like a table lamp of some kind) so I'm already looking forward to that next time.

Britex Pilgrimage

I was really lucky to get to check out Britex Fabrics while in San Francisco with DH for his conference. I’m pretty sure this is my first time in their “new” shop on Post Street.

 You can see a delivery truck delivering bolts of fabric imported from Italy. I joked with them that I hoped it came in before the insane new tariffs. Who knows how much more fabric will be costing us now???

I bought 3 pieces off of the remnant rack. All in various weights of cotton or cotton blends to dye.

And in the ribbon/trim/button section I found two colors of sashiko thread and a super interesting cork “ribbon”. They had some really nice Cotton&Steel fabrics but they were pricey at $19 a yard.

And I scored a handy dandy carry bag too. 

Retreat-Third Day

 

On the third day of the retreat I pieced together the rest of the backing for the Bohemian Wife quilt. I’m happy with how it looks and that I got to use up so many of the extra blocks and scraps left over from making the quilt top. Thanks to friend Jaye for taking the picture.

It’s just as loud and wild as the front of the quilt, which is what I wanted.

I also made a lot more of the hourglass blocks for the Old Town mystery quilt.

I got a start on my entry for this year’s challenge quilt for BAMQ.

As you can see it’s made with a lot of the fabrics from the Bohemian Wife quilt.

Here’s what it looks like all at once, hanging up on the post in the workroom of the workshop.

I started out at this end, specifically with that big flower. The challenge is to make a quilt without any 90 degree angles on the corners. We will see where I end up with this…

April To-Do

 Here's what my design wall looks like at the beginning of the month. That’s one of my accomplishments from last month’s retreat, the pieced backing for my Bohemian Wife quilt. The sour grass piece I started in the Jane Sassaman class is still up, waiting to be made into a quilt top.

I'm continuing to use the new configuration of my to-do list below, as it more closely follows the database categories that I use to keep track of all my work-in-progress. Note: the use of 🥏👽  by a project name indicates that it's nearly classified as a UFO at this point by age so work on it!

QUILTS

Continue Assembly

Spring Talking to Summer- Finish and turn in for the BAMQ challenge 

Keep working on Sour Grass Grace from Jane Sassaman class.

Old Town Mystery Quilt - finish the last of the clues and assemble blocks.

AG Stamp Quilt - continue to make more blocks using the cut-out stamp block borders and centers from Tula Pink fabrics.

🥏👽 Trim to size and then sew the 12 columns of the 2023 Temperature Quilt together.

🥏👽 Bohemian Wife - sandwich and make the binding. Decide on whether I'm quilting this myself or not.

Pantone Project - work on a overall design, either in EQ8 or up on the design wall.

🥏👽City Sampler- finish putting together a backing, make the binding, take to a long-armer to be quilted.

Quilting

🥏👽 Trinket

🥏👽 Metro Twist - sandwich and quilt.

🥏👽 Slopes - quilt and finish.

Final Steps

 Running Out of Raincloud -  hand sew down the facings, add the sleeve and label.

HANDWORK/BAG/CLOTHING PROJECTS 

Make a Cotton Candy pouch for myself.

Oxbow Tote - cut out and begin the assembly.

Toned-Down Circle Sampler - arrange and appliqué the circles, start embroidering.

Y.E.S. Coat - continue making pieces/blocks. assemble on foundation, cut out lining pieces from the fabric that I dyed.

Snake In The Garden - Finish hand stitching

Kawandii - Finish hand stitching/assembly

Lots of progress in March, hoping to continue the momentum into April.