Which Quilt Block Are You?

This was too much fun not to share: Which Quilt Block Are You?
According to this quiz, I am the Dutch Puzzle quilt block. Maybe I'll make one today and see if it's true.

ICAD Week 1

Even though I was looking forward to participating in ICAD again this year, it was hard getting back into doing these.

 As small as they are, I'm just out of practice I guess.

These first few felt (and look) like doodles and warmups which is fine.

Then the doodle-ly-ness starts to be more intentional.

Maybe even more organized or rhythmic.

Then some collage-ing started happening. Somehow, I just couldn't help going there.

This combination of pen markings and watercolor pencil painting/markings is one of my favorites. I'll definitely do more of this.

This was a try at a faux-collage.

Different pen, this time colored, then painted/drawn over with the watercolor pencil.

My daily tea-bag fortune inspired this one. 

The words read: 

"You can't reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday's junk." ~ Louise Smith

A favorite quote from my Grandma. It was always a nice thing when you'd hear this quick triple repetition of the word good from her, it was high approval indeed. And always three times, never twice or four times. Two wouldn't be quite enough, and four would be ostentatiously overdoing it...or something. Collaged over cut up origami paper and colored pencil.

Slurpee Squared

 As part of my second quarter FAL goal, I'm working on getting the Slurpee quilt finished. I actually have it squared it up!

 It's been in an un-squared form for so many years (12 now!) that it's mind-boggling to see it with these square perfect (almost) edges.

The stitching got a little wonky so I had to add some little slivers of fabric on the edges to have enough to square up and then add the planned facing. Basically I didn't want to cut through any of the hand-stitching getting it squared because it'd probably come undone. Hopefully the bits of new fabric will blend in enough on the edges, if not I'll add a few hand stitches. Hopefully that won't take another 12 years.

ATC Innovation

At the SAQA conference back in April, I received the coolest business card from a CQFA friend, Maureen Lardie. Go check her awesome collage work in both fabric and paper!

 It's an ATC stitched to her business card, which is just such a greatest idea.

And it's a little work of art displaying on the mini-easel.

Product Review: Chaco Liner

The Triangle Study required a lot of line marking, so I tried a new tool, the Clover Chaco Liner. The chalk lead pencil I was using previously kept breaking when I'd go over a seam line. This was the perfect solution and I wished I'd had it back on the first day of marking all these lines.

 It has a removable cover that fits nicely on the end to make the tool just a bit longer, which gives you a better grip on it as you use it against a ruler. I like the curve of the barrel, it feels great in your hand, smooth sturdy, well-made plastic.

The Clover Chaco Liner uses powdered chalk dispensed with a teeny little wheel that has tiny teeth. It makes the most adorable zzzzziiipppp noise when you use it, that was unexpectedly delightful when I marked my first line.

It lays down a pretty fine line, and it seems to brush off easier than the other chalk pencil I was using. That means you need to not mark too much at once as the marks will disappear as you manipulate your piece through the machine.

 I'm not sure how long the chalk cartridge will last, it's replaceable which I think is a good thing as long as the little wheel dispenser still works.

And now I'm all done with the quilting!

Repairing A Jacket

 Now that it's starting to be warm and summer-is, my mom is letting me repair her sweatshirt jacket.

Here's the back of it after many many years of wear (at least ten I think). This was an image from a vintage Vera Neuman calendar kitchen towel. So it was already old fabric, from 1968, and it was a towel, so a different sort of fiber and weave compared to the tightly woven smooth batiks. So it wore away over the years and washings. I think it looks kind of cool, but I can see why she'd want it fixed up since the rest of the jacket is in great shape. Turns out those batiks can stand up to a lot of wash and wear.

The solution is to replace the central image on the back of the jacket with this beautiful handkerchief she bought on her trip to Australia a few years ago. It's the perfect colors and goes really well with the batik patterns. It's a bit thin so i'm going to put a fusible stabilizer of some kind underneath it and then stitch it down right over the deteriorated strawberry image.

Wandering Wednesday - Club Fugazi

 We finally got to see Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco, it's been playing for 45 years (and is in its final year!). This was our holiday present from my parents, it was really fun to go with them to laugh and enjoy this show. I'm enjoying our new tradition of giving experiences instead of things. That way we get to spend time with them and go see and do things we normally wouldn't!

 The show is located in North Beach, which means there's a Bank of America building holding down one of the main street corners. I thought this ornamental design was beautiful.

 I always forget that North Beach is right next door to Chinatown, and thus our parking space in the garage had a "fortune".

This is the outside of Club Fugazi, I wonder what it's like living in the house right next door, 17,000 performances of BBB, lines of people on the street, the noise of the performance, etc. I suppose you'd get used to it, because it looks like a really nice neighborhood to live in.

Decisions Decisions

I bought this lovely Jennifer Paganelli citrine floral to use in making a summer top. I bought two new patterns from Indygo Junction, the Slight Sleeve top/tunic and the Urban Tunic.  because they had MeMadeMay sale. So now I have to choose between those two and the Ethel top.
So do I go sleeveless, long or short? Decisions decisions. And hey if I get one of them done, then next May, I'll have something to wear and post about if they still have MeMadeMay going.

Happy June

Happy June!
To me that means it's time for fruit fruit fruit.
We celebrated by getting a new fruit bowl for the table.

ICAD Again

It's that time again, ICAD (Index Card A Day) and I'm going for it this year, making some art every day on an index card starting on June 1st. I had so much fun doing it in 2017, so I'm excited to try it again this year. I hope you'll give it a try also!

I haven't come up with a theme, and last time I got away from mine.

Here's a video I made of all 61 cards that I made in 2017:

Social Justice Stitching

I was lucky enough to receive another block to stitch on from the Social Justice Sewing Academy. After hearing their fabulous and very moving presentation at the SAQA conference last month, I was inspired to try doing it once again. This time I asked for just one block at a time, so hopefully I can get it done in a more timely manner. This one is going to take a lot of stitching. All those edges of all those letters. But it's about a subject that couldn't be bigger or more important right now.

As I started in on stitching, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and news reports about this topic and have found them very enlightening. Reports on NPR,  CNN, The Atlantic, a new podcast called White Lies,  It's so far outside my personal experience, it almost seems like it's happening on another world, but it's not. It's something my fellow humans are experiencing every day, so as a person with a whole lot of unearned privilege, I need to know about it, and support people and organizations that are working to change it for the better. Over the course of my (white person's) life, I've seen a lot of change happen in American society, and even I can tell, it hasn't been nearly enough yet. Some things have gotten better, but a whole lot still remains to be worked on and changed. I believe that the more we learn and listen about both history and current events, the better our common future is going to be.

Wandering Wednesday - Maui Sunset

 All of these pictures are from our trip to Maui a couple of years ago. All from just one sunset.

 A vivid reminder that "working in a series" is probably a good idea to try at some point.

 Also a reminder that vertical vs. horizontal in image design and presentation is more important than we may want to admit.

 A reminder that changing your color palette is probably a good idea too.

 I think if I lived in Hawaii, I'd never get much done around sunset time.

 “Never waste any amount of time doing anything important when there is a sunset outside that you should be sitting under!” 
― C. JoyBell C.

 “There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don't miss so many of them.” 
― Jo Walton

• “Her heart was made of liquid sunsets.” – Virginia Woolf

Adding to the To-Do

Some recent additions, a few fabrics with maps, ye-olde writing, book-keeping and then a Jennifer Paganelli citrine floral for a summer top.  I haven't decided on which pattern to use with it yet, probably will go with my first try at the Ethel top .

Also there in the picture is a new tool, I'm finally trying out a Chaco Liner for marking the lines for the last color on the Triangle Study. Since I'm drawing the lines on the pieced top, the chalk pencil lead keeps breaking when I go over the bumps of the seams. This is a chalk dust dispenser, so hopefully it'll work a bit better. I considered a really fine-tip chalk mechanical pencil from Sewline but that seemed like the wrong solution. That looks like it'd be awesome for drawing sewing lines on un-pieced fabric.

Triangle Study Stitching

 I started stitching on the Triangle Study this week. My plan is to stitch the each edge of each triangle with a matching color and extend those lines all the way off the edges of the quilt. It's gonna be a net!

I actually marked my quilting lines with chalk (I never do this!) because I wanted them as straight as I can get them. I also used my walking foot, which I now like quite a lot. The good ol' Steady Betty hand wraps work great even for straight line quilting.

The first lines I did were the red-orange color.

Each day I stitched a different color thread. 

It's looking more and more net-ish as planned.

 I have just one thread color left to go, and I love how the net effect is happening so far.

It's so complicated and reminds me of a map or criss-crossing power lines.