| Grapevine Pattern |
[Feb. 8th, 2010|08:21 am] |
Click on the photo for a larger (easier to see) version.
The wreath is almost done. The poor birdies still need their beaks and feet, which are waiting for a sunny day (for good light) and some poring over the pattern (for confidence) to make sure they come out just right.
In the meantime, I worked up a mock-up of the finished piece, and developed the grapevine wreath which will adorn a strip of black fabric. It's going to need to be 23.5 inches long, so I used the technique set forth in an excellent tutorial on Design*Sponge to make a repeating pattern. Very interesting; basically, you take a piece of paper the size of the repeat you want to make, draw in the center but not at the edges, then cut it apart down the middle. Tape it back together with the blank paper in the middle and draw your design on that portion, and voila!
I found I needed reference marks at the quarters to keep the design regular, but that grapevine pattern repeats every 11.75 inches. This would be a good technique for applique borders, if you didn't need them to be unique all the way along.
This project progresses thanks to Design Wall Monday, on Judy Laquidara's blog. Thanks for the inspiration! Visit the link for more.
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| Almost Done |
[Feb. 1st, 2010|09:24 am] |
Aww, phooey. I was hoping to have this finished to show today. It still needs that last leaf (basted) the bow on the oak wreath, and the embroidery. With luck, it will be in the next stage by next Monday!
This entry is inspired by Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Monday, without which this project would languish in a box somewhere. Check it out to see what everyone is working on this week! |
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| On Sanibel Island |
[Jan. 28th, 2010|10:12 pm] |
Our destination on Sanibel Island was a small private campground: Periwinkle Park. It’s located at one end of the island, and it is mostly manufactured homes and permanent residents/snowbirds. But unlike some of the other long-term resident campgrounds we’ve stayed at, Periwinkle Park makes short-timers feel welcome. The staff was very helpful and friendly and the short term stay area was lovely. Our site backed onto a small canal, and it was easy to get into.
( Birds and shelling and more birds and bocce.. ) |
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| Progress |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|08:47 am] |
Last week was nice and quiet, we hung out with my other aunt and uncle in Florida and I was able to get a lot done on the wreath. It's turning out just as I'd hoped, which is a pleasant surprise. Was hoping to finish it on Saturday after we left their place, but we went touring instead, about which I am not a bit sorry. It was a fun day and this week ahead is another quiet one, which should allow for plenty of applique time.
The block needs more oak leaves (obviously) and a ribbon bow at the base of the wreath in applique. Then the birds need embroidered bits, and I have to figure out if the unattached acorns need embroidered stems. I am undecided about that, though I am pretty sure about leaving off the extra 'moss' embroidery on the flower buds. Thoughts?
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| Glimpsing the Everglades |
[Jan. 21st, 2010|10:02 pm] |
We had a great week in the Florida Keys, despite the cold weather. My aunt and uncle were with us for a few very nice days, and they and MIL took off for their respective homes at the beginning of the weekend. J and I spent the remainder of our time in the Keys hanging out at the RV (Saturday was a marathon laundry session in Marathon, and it rained all day) and doing some light touring.
( two days in the Keys, then driving through the Everglades ) |
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| Leaves reprise |
[Jan. 11th, 2010|08:36 am] |
Now that we’re back in the RV, my design wall is whatever flat surface I can find. In this case, the back of one of the recliners in the ‘living room’ section of the RV. While J and MIL were on their fishing trip, I took advantage of the gorgeous light to test and retest the greens for the oak leaves in the outer wreath. I thought that I had made all those decisions already, but the one leaf that had been attached for sewing was making me unhappy. So it came off and out came all the fabrics again and the snippers went snicker-snak and here is the result.
The problem seems to have been that there are two color families of dark green in the stash, one tending blue, the other yellow. I thought that I’d have to use one or the other, and was not satisfied with either. The bluish greens made the acorns stand out nicely, but just weren’t quite right. The yellowish greens were righter, as it were, but the acorns faded in a little. The solution appears to be to use both colors, eliminating even the medium greens and sticking strictly to darker colors. I like what’s there and though I am waffling about one of the fabrics (the one with the beige dots, lower right outside) the rest of them will probably stay, more or less as placed here.
The acorns are mostly done. All of the caps have been basted down by now and they’re getting sewn on between doing touristy stuff (ref. earlier entries) and blogging and chores. Next, oak leaves galore!
This post is made possible by Judy Laquidara’s Design Wall Monday, without which this project would be languishing. Thanks again, Judy! Visit Design Wall Monday to see what a bunch of talented quilters have been working on this week.
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| The Florida Keys |
[Jan. 9th, 2010|10:13 pm] |
The week before we left for Florida, I was talking with my Aunt about our upcoming trip, and she suggested that our theme song should be “On the Road Again.” Last year sometime I had heard another song for us, and all I could remember was that the chorus was something like “Beep beep, yeah!” Well that afternoon it popped into my head, so now you can all use “Going Mobile” or “On the Road Again” as the theme music for our posts.
( Good times in the Keys ) |
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| Fussy Cutting Acorns |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|05:49 pm] |
Posting weekly has really helped with making progress on this block. The inner motif is finished but for embroidery: the birds’ beaks, eyes and legs will be embroidered, and perhaps the “moss” on the moss rose buds. I’m of two minds on that; I like the way it looks plain, and I don’t know if the embroidered moss would be additive. On the other hand it would be a way to hide the overlarge stitches (ok, perhaps only large to an appliqué-er) on the one bud. The acorns are all attached, and they are getting their caps. I am still pondering the green of the oak leaves for the outer wreath; it may come down to cutting mock-ups and laying them out all around the wreath before making the final decision. Part of the problem is that acorns are Fall, which leans to making the oak leaves brown/gold, but the center branch is Spring or at latest Summer, which means the oak leaves ought to be green. Plus the earlier thinking that the oak wreath should be the dark frame to the light center branch… Clearly more pondering is needed.
In the meantime I can sew on acorn caps, using the perfect fabric from a color/pattern perspective. Unfortunately it’s also somewhat thick, at least when working at this scale, and prone to fraying, so the seam allowances are actually stuffing the caps somewhat. It’s a neat effect but a PITA to stitch.
The acorn fabrics worked out just right; the ginko leaf pattern works splendidly for the glossy nut and the dark brown tapestry fabric adds texture to the cap. I fussy-cut both; pretty much everything I do any more is fussy-cut, sometimes even pieced blocks The moth-eaten fabric that results always makes me laugh. Our quilt guild had a speaker who was a piecer, and she was talking about using fabric wisely with minimal waste. She said: “Applique-ers! Now they’re just crazy! They’ll take a perfectly good piece of fabric and cut a hole right in the middle!” I laughed so hard at that, it’s so true! |
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| Post Christmas post |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|02:03 pm] |
We’ve heard from the body shop, and given good (ie, warm) weather, the truck may be ready to go as early as Thursday. If it is too cold for the paint to cure properly overnight, the mechanic is willing to come in on Saturday so we can get the truck then. Either way, it looks like we are a go for the Keys, whether on time for our reservation or just for the fishing trip. This is very good news; there for a while it looked like we’d be scrubbing the Keys trip altogether. That said, I was not prepared to see that this leaves us three days to get ready to go (where did the time go?!?)
Today is dedicated to doing stuff around the house; I am taking down the tree and finishing up kitchen cleaning, looking at our route to the Keys and making tentative hotel plans. With the tighter schedule, MIL and I will drive down together in her van and make our overnight stops at hotels. J will take the trailer and the cats and overnight at rest stops. MIL and I may arrive at the Keys a day before the trailer, so that she can have a non-driving day to rest up before the fishing trip.
Tomorrow and Wednesday will be schlepping stuff out to the trailer and packing, checking everything out so that we’re all set to go whenever we get the green light. I will be very happy once we’re actually in Florida. Sometime in all this I need to look at places to stay after the stay on Kings Key, but we should have 8 to 10 days down there and that can be done once we are on site if need be.
Christmas was actually very nice indeed; we exchanged small gifts, talked to relatives on the phone, and generally relaxed. I let the mail pile up at the forwarding service so we got nearly all our cards at once, and spent a pleasant lunchtime going through them. It was like opening presents. A lot of people commented on our change of address, so clearly I owe some followup correspondence.
Now we start ramping up; the lists have come out and been revised. It will all work out! |
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| Merry Christmas! |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|07:44 pm] |
Merry Christmas everyone!
The tree is up, the presents wrapped, the last shopping foray complete. We’re expecting rain all day tomorrow but we shouldn’t have to go out in it.
It took about half of the ornament collection to decorate the tree. This is good, the ornaments have been divided into two bins for use in the RV, and we’ll trade off each year. The little artificial tree is lovely but it won’t stand the strain of any of the tree-toppers I own, so some of them and the heaviest ornaments are set up on the table. The cats were vigilant in their inspections of the ornament wrappings, before everything was gathered up and put away..
We're looking forward to a quiet peaceful holiday, and wishing the same for you and yours. |
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| Progress |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|11:23 am] |
The photo is the top of the lightbox, with fabric for appliquéing, the original and revised patterns, and the block on top. To give you an idea of scale, those scissors are embroidery scissors. On the one hand, small pieces mean less stitching to get around them, on the other, when you’re trying to stitch a quarter inch circle down, finicky doesn’t begin to describe it. This week saw the pattern revised the way I wanted it, with acorns instead of the grapes. It echoes the antique pattern, but isn’t a straight lift. While I was at it I redid the bow and a couple of the rose buds to be more to my liking.
The light was crappy during the week, but fortunately yesterday was beautiful and bright, illuminating all that lovely snow out there (we got 14 out of a predicted 6 inches.) J insisted that I stay inside where it was warm, and I happily complied and cut little thumb-shaped scraps out of every piece of green that I thought would work for oak leaves, and not a few I thought wouldn’t. As is usually the case, some of the ones I thought wouldn’t work were the ones that did. They’re all set aside and ready to go; they’ll go into a zip-lock bag with the block when travelling.
Still mulling over the concept of the box; I borrowed Linda Johansen’s Fast Fun & Easy Fabric Boxes from the library, and that helped with some ideas, though I don’t want to do it precisely the way she does. Posting to JudyL's Design Wall Monday really helps with incentive to work on the project through the week. Plus it's good for inspiration with all the lovely things everyone else is working on. |
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| Plans Made |
[Dec. 14th, 2009|12:56 pm] |
I totted up the projects that I have in progress or really want to start in the coming year, and there are 14 of them (that's a lot, I am really slow.) I’ve promised to finish the compass quilt top by December for next year’s Applique by the Bay (actually a friend and I made a mutual pact to each finish our clipper ship block projects, in order to be able to show them off next year.) The craft project for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ginevra007 is due in February, and I finally got what I hope is a good idea for it. In addition to these two projects, there are five tops ready to quilt or partially quilted, there’s a sewing project that just needs a little work to finish, two quilts cut and ready to piece, and four projects in the concept stages.
Accordingly, I am starting to post on Judy Laquidaria’s Design Wall Monday blog with works in progress, in the hopes that regular posts about working on these projects will translate into actual progress! Today’s photo is this year’s class block for Elly Sienkiewicz’s multi-day class at Applique by the Bay. It’s a wreath with birds in the center; it finishes at 8 inches. The wreath she teaches has oak leaves, grapes and what I call BITS, or Baltimore indeterminate teardrop shapes (you see them a lot in the antique blocks, they variously seem to represent acorns or flower buds or who knows what, depending on color) of which I am not a fan. She showed us an antique block of a very similar pattern which had oak leaves and acorns so that’s what I will be doing. The appliqué work is teensy but fun; I am using a much darker and busier background than normal, which should work really well with the finished concept for the block. It’s so nice to have an idea of what to do with these class blocks! So often you make them in class and then they languish, because you have no idea how to make use of them.
The white basting lines on the partially appliqued wreath stem are for back basting, which is a technique in which the design is drawn in reverse on the back of the background fabric, then the applique fabric is basted along the drawn lines. To sew it down, you clip the basting a little at a time and stitch along the holes left in the fabrics. The method doesn't leave any permanent marks on the front of the block and it's very portable, because you don't pre-cut any applique shapes, just bring along the block and the fabric scraps for appliquing. |
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| I saw three ships come sailing in.. |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|01:23 pm] |
Well, actually, way more than three. Last week was the first time in a while that we were able to get out in the RV; we went down to Delaware and camped near Bethany Beach for a week so that I could go to Applique by the Bay, a Baltimore Applique weekend seminar sponsored by Mare’s Bears quilt shop and held every December in Lewes, DE.
( We camped at Delaware Seashore State Park.. ) |
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| Happy Thanksgiving, all! |
[Nov. 26th, 2009|06:06 am] |
Borrowed from Cranky Epistles
George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789. |
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| Save the Dragons |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|07:56 am] |
If you are interested in Science Fiction, and you read David Freer's books (military SF with a comic bent, IIRC) you might be interested to know that he and his family are emigrating from South Africa to Australia. The reason I am posting that info here is that they want to be able to take their pets with them, which requires a 7 month (!) quarantine at the cost of many thousands of dollars. They have about half of the funds they need. Mr Freer has put a modern twist on the storyteller's bowl and is publishing a novel online, one chapter at a time, supported by donations to a fund to help them move their beloved animals.
If you've read his stuff before or think you might enjoy it, please consider going by the website and dropping a few dollars in the bowl. I've seen before in online appeals how we can give just a small amount, money that's easy for us, and it adds up to a big difference for the people who need it.
There's a recent post about the situation on D Freer's blog about the move, and the Save the Dragons site has the novel to date (free to read) and a FAQ about the whole thing.
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| Gratitudes |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|03:06 pm] |
I am grateful for my snuggly cat, who doesn't mind when I hold him for a peaceful moment and breath into his fur.
I am grateful I fixed the iron.
But mostly.. I am grateful no one (I hope!) SAW me fix the iron. :P
How so, say you? Well. You know how you get good ideas and about midway through the execution it occurs to you that maybe you should have thought it through a little more? I was working on cutting pieces for a quilt, ironing the fabric I am using as I go, when I noticed something dark in the iron's water reservoir. On closer examination, it turned out to be a drowned BUG! (All together now, EeewWW!) I turned off the iron and left it to cool. DH wanted to take the base apart, but that needed special star wrenches that we don't have, and I wasn't sure it would help, anyway, based on where the reservoir was. I tried filling and emptying several times, with no luck. The water hole is small, and the bug was big! Eventually I figured out I could pry off the front part of the plastic housing. Initially I was worried about damaging my expensive iron, until I realized that there was no way I was going to use it as an iron with a bug inside, so it really had zero value as it was.
A little prying, and it came free with a POP! Nothing looked broken, and the water opening, where the spout from the plastic housing had snugged into the base, was considerably bigger than it had been. Plenty of room for ex-bugs to exit. However some more experimentation with filling and emptying left the bug merely washing around near the surface, hanging up on the protrusions inside the reservoir. With gentle shaking, I was able to swirl it close to the opening but not out, and not close enough to pick out with a wire (tried fishing with some fine wire, no luck.)
But the best movement of the bug in the water was when I whipped the iron around in a short arc; centrifugal force moved it from one end of the reservoir to the other. "Aha!" thought I, having my semi-brilliant moment, "I bet if I take it outside and swing it around, centrifugal force will wash that bug right past those obstructions and right up next to the opening of the reservoir, from whence I can easily pluck it out."
I trotted outside, iron in hand, and commenced whirling around, holding the iron out sideways. About the time I accidentally stepped off the path, I began to wonder if this was really such a good idea, and how many twirls did it take until you were too dizzy to stand. The answer was: fewer twirls than I had done. I stopped whirling (I tried to stop whirling) and with a few extra involuntary rotations settled gently onto the grass. Laughing and waiting for things to stop going round and round, I held out the iron and upended it, draining it one more time before shakily getting up and going inside.
It worked like a charm; the bug (a spider as it turned out) was right in the tip of the reservoir, easily reached with a small forceps from the opening. I ran some dilute bleach into the reservoir and washed it out with clean water, then reassembled and tested the now pest-free iron. Works like a champ. |
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| In Upstate New York |
[Sep. 21st, 2009|10:51 am] |
We’re all set up in a nice rural (semi; this is New York state after all) campground not far from Schenectady NY in a little town called Howe’s Cave, or Old Central Bridge, or Carlisle, depending on whether you ask Google Maps, or the campground’s website, or the GPS in my MIL’s car. The site is grass; the campground is close to the freeway so there’s some road noise, but much less than we had at Harrisburg East campground last week.
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| On the Road again (whee!) |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|10:53 pm] |
We’re back out in our fiver, settled into a pleasant wooded campground right next to the highway in Harrisburg, PA. I was a little nervous setting out and setting up (what if we forget something!) The smooth routines of the spring and summer were noticeably rusty, but eventually we got all settled in a site that is unlevel enough front to back that the trailer is so low on the front legs it looks like it’s kneeling. We’re using all the chocks, that’s for sure. We’ve come out early for the Hershey RV Show, America’s Largest, say the promoters (there are three shows that claim the title, but who’s counting.) This week J will have to go back to near-Philly for a day or two to finish up with a customer. I’ll spend that time putting stuff away in the trailer; when we ‘packed’, we just stacked boxes and bags on every available surface. It’s surprising how much stuff moves in and out of the camper as we do. One of the things that I want to look at is stemming that tide, reducing the ebb and flow of things that see more use in the fifthwheel than in the house.
We’ll be out for three weeks this time: this first week will be in Harrisburg/Hershey, going to the RV show and relaxing. My MIL will join us this coming weekend, we’ll all go see the show with some of J’s coworkers who are interested in RVing, and then on Sunday we’ll head to upstate New York near Cooperstown for a week. MIL’s really gung-ho to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, so we’ll do that and other museums in the area, then head over to the Hudson Valley to tour Hyde Park and its environs. If all goes to plan we’ll be back in PA at the beginning of October.
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