I set up the sewing machine about 1 p.m. and resolved to get a few unfinished projects ready to be quilted. The first was a backing for Christmas Lights variant number one. I knew I didn't have enough gold fabric to make a solid backing so I searched through my fabrics for a coordinating snowman print to intersperse in a stripe down the back of the quilt. A little red (same as in the blocks) and green (not identical, but very close) and I had my design. One project done.
Before I could make the backing for the quilt created from the Morris Garden fat quarter collection, I had to decide - borders or no borders? The block design I used was taken from a quilt kit I saw online that didn't use borders, but I felt it needed something. I had a red print fabric for the backing that would be good as a narrow inner border against a pieced outer border of 4" x 8" rectangles of leftover fabric. But, if I borrowed some of the red backing, it wouldn't be wide enough. More of the leftovers to rescue. I pieced a strip of 8" x 8" squares to inset in the backing. Rob Peter to pay Paul!
It didn't take long to assemble the backing but the borders consumed the rest of the day. Binding was cut from a piece of the same fabric I'm using for binding on my husband's half a quilt, taking every last scrap.
Of course during all of this I cooked dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. Finally I picked up my fabric mess and put away the ironing board at 9:30. No pictures today, I'm too tired!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Christmas Lights times 2
Finally done - not as planned! After staring at the blocks a while, I determined that a) they needed to be separated into two quilts, and b) I needed more green with the red to make it Christmas-y. Starting with the star blocks, I designed these X blocks to go with them, which are based on a disappearing nine patch. To me, they look like little boxes with bows on top. I put black corners on them so they made a secondary pattern with the gold corners on the star blocks. And I had just enough snowman fabric for the border. (Sorry the quilts look so weird in the picture. They were too long so I hung them horizontally across two closet doors and the framing made a lump in the middle.) 
Now, I had the red pointy blocks left. I rummaged through my closet and found two Christmas fabrics. The first is a scattered pattern of ball ornaments, and the second is a Thimbleberries fabric with bows, stars and holly. I'm still not crazy about the blocks, but I like how there are lines of small squares running down the quilt through the blocks.
I like the first one enough to keep it. The second one will probably be a gift. Next problem is finding enough matching fabric in my stash to make backings because I am determined I will not buy any fabric for these. They did come out much larger than I was thinking. The top one is 66 x 78 and the bottom one is 70 x 82. The original quilt was described as a lap quilt, but these are a lot bigger than that, nearly bed size, in my opinion.
(Oops, better watch it. I've already expressed opinions about these blocks and look where THAT got me!)
So, that's what I sewed this week. How about you?
Now, I had the red pointy blocks left. I rummaged through my closet and found two Christmas fabrics. The first is a scattered pattern of ball ornaments, and the second is a Thimbleberries fabric with bows, stars and holly. I'm still not crazy about the blocks, but I like how there are lines of small squares running down the quilt through the blocks.
I like the first one enough to keep it. The second one will probably be a gift. Next problem is finding enough matching fabric in my stash to make backings because I am determined I will not buy any fabric for these. They did come out much larger than I was thinking. The top one is 66 x 78 and the bottom one is 70 x 82. The original quilt was described as a lap quilt, but these are a lot bigger than that, nearly bed size, in my opinion.(Oops, better watch it. I've already expressed opinions about these blocks and look where THAT got me!)
So, that's what I sewed this week. How about you?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
One of these things is not like the other...
Yesterday I made a quick grocery stop and picked up a few of the staples and paper products that I keep stockpiled on a shelf in the garage. I hate to run out of stuff like paper towels so I buy at least two large packages at a time and keep them on my "pantry overflow" shelves just inside the garage door. One of the things I bought was toilet paper. Because I was in a hurry, I grabbed the first two packages on the shelf of the brand I buy and stuffed them in my cart. Only when I got home and put them away did I notice this difference. This is the brand and size I always buy, so when I placed them side by side I was startled to see the difference in height of the packages:
Hmmm, let's see. They're both nine rolls, same label and same brand. The left one has the Komen breast cancer supporter symbol on the package and October is breast cancer awareness month, so I can tell than it's the latest one the store received. So the new rolls must be narrower, I figure at least 1/2" narrower because the right package is about 1 1/2" taller. Let's look at the front label:
Old package: 9 rolls, 450 sq. ft., 400 sheets per roll.
New package: 9 rolls, 385 sq. ft., 385 sheets per roll.
Same price both packages.
Grumble.
Hmmm, let's see. They're both nine rolls, same label and same brand. The left one has the Komen breast cancer supporter symbol on the package and October is breast cancer awareness month, so I can tell than it's the latest one the store received. So the new rolls must be narrower, I figure at least 1/2" narrower because the right package is about 1 1/2" taller. Let's look at the front label:
Old package: 9 rolls, 450 sq. ft., 400 sheets per roll.
New package: 9 rolls, 385 sq. ft., 385 sheets per roll.Same price both packages.
Grumble.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
What price "coolest"?
This is a story on Yahoo! Travel today that has me scratching my head:
America's Coolest Small Towns
Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.
Now, I'm as much a sucker for ambiance as the next person, and these towns might be interesting to visit, but I'm wondering how the residents feel about the places - especially now that Yahoo has outed them and they will perhaps be inundated with visitors (that it sounds like they don't have the infrastructure to handle).
OK, so they've got cute coffee shops and bookstores and bed-and-breakfasts, but do they have a decent school system? A well staffed police and fire department? Social services and public works? How about a library? What does it cost the residents for water and waste disposal? These kinds of services can be exorbitantly expensive for small towns, and a yearly influx of tourists may make shopkeepers happy but doesn't put much into the government's coffers.
And it's all very well if you can find a great latte, but how about buying daily essentials like groceries without being gouged. I grew up in a small town; I know about the greed that ensues when there's no competition. And are there doctors and dentists and a hospital, or do residents have to drive into the closest city for health care? Consider that when you kid's sick in the middle of the night.
All that ambiance stuff that brings in the tourism quixotically could make the places more crowded and difficult for the locals, and I would bet doesn't add a lot to their day-to-day life.
America's Coolest Small Towns
Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.
Now, I'm as much a sucker for ambiance as the next person, and these towns might be interesting to visit, but I'm wondering how the residents feel about the places - especially now that Yahoo has outed them and they will perhaps be inundated with visitors (that it sounds like they don't have the infrastructure to handle).
OK, so they've got cute coffee shops and bookstores and bed-and-breakfasts, but do they have a decent school system? A well staffed police and fire department? Social services and public works? How about a library? What does it cost the residents for water and waste disposal? These kinds of services can be exorbitantly expensive for small towns, and a yearly influx of tourists may make shopkeepers happy but doesn't put much into the government's coffers.
And it's all very well if you can find a great latte, but how about buying daily essentials like groceries without being gouged. I grew up in a small town; I know about the greed that ensues when there's no competition. And are there doctors and dentists and a hospital, or do residents have to drive into the closest city for health care? Consider that when you kid's sick in the middle of the night.
All that ambiance stuff that brings in the tourism quixotically could make the places more crowded and difficult for the locals, and I would bet doesn't add a lot to their day-to-day life.
Friday, October 2, 2009
And even more variations...
Ooh, I had another idea. This ties into the green and black points on the star.
I tried to put this in the previous post, but the "Add Image" tool makes it hard to add a picture after you have saved the post. The new picture is added at the front and then I have trouble moving it to the place where I want it. It seemed that you used to be able to drag it and scroll downward. I can't make it do that anymore. Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?
I tried to put this in the previous post, but the "Add Image" tool makes it hard to add a picture after you have saved the post. The new picture is added at the front and then I have trouble moving it to the place where I want it. It seemed that you used to be able to drag it and scroll downward. I can't make it do that anymore. Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?
Everybody's welcome to their opinion, and I'd like to hear them
Now that I'm faced with a pile of blocks I don't know what to do with, I'm trying new ideas for completing the Christmas Lights quilt. I pulled out all the best options from EQ and I'm going to include them here. If you have an opinion, please tell me. I'd love some feedback - and I promise I won't call you "mean spirited" if you disagree with me!
This is the quilt as designed:
I think the reason this design didn't grab me is all the red. It seems to hijack the whole quilt. So I rearranged the star blocks in a center cluster radiating out to the corners to give them more emphasis, and liked it better:
Still, there's a lot of red. I thought about re-making the blocks with green, kind of like the green boughs of a Christmas tree, surrounding the bright squares representing the lights. I also just put them on the outer edge, and added plain gold setting squares in the center:
Or, since the red blocks are a reworking of a disappearing nine patch, I tried changing them so there were more four patch squares at the corners for more "lights":
Then, I thought about making all four corners of the disappearing nine patch blocks as half square triangle blocks, keeping the red for contrast, and using a lighter green in those blocks and in the setting squares:
Where these new blocks come together with the star blocks it makes divided half square triangle blocks and a sashing effect around the stars.
I think a lot of these changes have possibilities, it's just whether I want to make more blocks or not. What do you think?
This is the quilt as designed:
I think the reason this design didn't grab me is all the red. It seems to hijack the whole quilt. So I rearranged the star blocks in a center cluster radiating out to the corners to give them more emphasis, and liked it better:
Still, there's a lot of red. I thought about re-making the blocks with green, kind of like the green boughs of a Christmas tree, surrounding the bright squares representing the lights. I also just put them on the outer edge, and added plain gold setting squares in the center:
Or, since the red blocks are a reworking of a disappearing nine patch, I tried changing them so there were more four patch squares at the corners for more "lights":
Then, I thought about making all four corners of the disappearing nine patch blocks as half square triangle blocks, keeping the red for contrast, and using a lighter green in those blocks and in the setting squares:
Where these new blocks come together with the star blocks it makes divided half square triangle blocks and a sashing effect around the stars. I think a lot of these changes have possibilities, it's just whether I want to make more blocks or not. What do you think?
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