First Clue Cut

 

I got a little time in the sewing room and cut out the remaining hourglass block units for the first clue of the Lupine Mystery quilt

Yes, indeed, our power is out (as of Wednesday 2 AM), so it's a Merry Merry Mountain Christmas! We're having crazy wind, and lots of rain, and today a short-lived Tornado Warning! Thankfully that wasn't an actuality, but there was a super intense burst of hail and then diagonal rain. We postponed having my mom come over for Christmas dinner today and are instead hoping for a Boxing Day dinner tomorrow.

Cut On Dotted Line?

 

Oh the joys of fabric panels. I decided to cut the new one up so I could mix it up with the previously purchased panel and see how it went together. Before I got to that point, I realized there might be a problem. Can you can see my issue already? The little dotted lines between the image blocks are placed right on the bottom of the image. If you cut on the dotted line line, as I did with the snow man, then when you sew, you'll lose 1/4" of the image. 

So is it better for these to cut out with a 1/4" around the dotted lines and use those lines as the sewing line? The chances of me actually sewing right on that dotted line are slim. Which would leave little printed black dashes which would really show on that white background.

I had already cut out the previous panel images, all on the dotted lines. But none of those images are running into the same issue, they're all very centered compared to the new panel's images. It's good to see they're really close to the same size, which would make them easier to use together in one quilt design.

I'd forgotten how great these animals on the first panel are, they're really cute aren't they? And peaceful too, somehow.

This is the other fabric I bought to go with the original panel.  A jelly roll of Moda Christmas prints, and a matching red, green and brown. The grey was stored along with it, but I can't remember if that was my plan or not. Probably.

These animals really make me happy. They're stylized in a way that is so simple, almost elegant, but to me they're not too cutesy. 

 Yes, they match pretty well, and I think the background fabric is even close enough for my eye in color. This new panel is also offered on a decidedly off-white background but these are both white (phew). 

It's quite a lot of cuteness but of slightly different types. Instead of mixing them up, I may have the animal panel featured on one side and the snowman/santa/reindeer/polar bear over on the other. I think I'll have to put them all up on the wall together to decide. And then it's time to design a quilt to use them well. EQ8 here I come.

More Magenta

 

It all started with a post on Instagram from Blue Nickel Studios. My very favorite ergonomic Olfa rotary cutter has been released in two brand new colors, magenta and blue. I got the magenta one as you can see. I never really liked that bright yellow orange of the original. The non-ergonomic Olfa cutter is my go-bag and I really do not like it much, having to click it open and closed each time is annoying and so I don't do it 100%, which is of course dangerous and a big no-no. I always hear Rosalie Dace in my mind reminding me that it's only important for the fingers I want to keep.

While I was shopping for the rotary cutter I picked up some very on sale fabrics as well.

Plans for this rather odd assortment of fabrics are as follows: 

The Christmas panel is by the same designer of another Christmas panel that I bought and started up a quilt design for a while ago. I think I'll figure out how to use them both together in one. 

The blue fabric with Christmas tree lights is for making new gift bags. 

The two colors of cool beans fabric is to make another one of those mini drawstring bags that I made for friend Jaye's birthday. 

The two scissors fabrics are also going to be paired up for mini drawstring bags, maybe for BAMQG? 

And the two bark cloth mod prints? Heck if I know. I honestly am struggling with that one.  I like the fabric design, and I do like bark cloth, but what did I have in mind for these two? Not enough yardage for clothes, or a quilt really, maybe a reversible bag or something like that? Or I was just in a mood because I was in the sale section. That's probably closer to the truth.

I  also picked up some really cute quilt block illustration washi tape, and some new glass head pins. You can tell this is an order from Sewtopia because of the Hi-Chew candy they always include, and that I always immediately enjoy, yum.

More Merriment

 I cut out the pieces from the Merriment panel, and was surprised by how cute the ghostly antlers look on this fox.

There are pairs of the animals facing left and right, and in two sizes also, so I'm playing with a design that will feature that left right thing. In my mind it would look a bit like the animals are talking to one another. But we'll see what I come up with. I'm also considering making the animal the center of a snowflake/star with some contrasting fabrics instead of just sashing them.

So much for sticking to my to-do list, but I'm enjoying with these images so far, I find them peaceful for some reason.