Wow - what a week! Time for a breather, and a change of direction for me. No, I'm not giving up on quilting. I just need to switch gears and work on a couple upcoming projects.
Yep, that's three projects that need attention, after Ladybug Dance stole all of it over the last week.
Now, I know everyone is eager to see the Mediterranean Rose quilt, as it has gotten a ton of love so far.
Though it is off the frame, having had to make room for Ladybug Dance, it's just hanging around, begging for trimming and binding. It's waited almost 7 years to get to this stage, so what's a few more days, right? Just as long as it doesn't turn into weeks - that would really be sad. I'll try very hard to get it done soon. Then there's a guild challenge for our show in May. We paid $5 to participate, receiving a fat quarter and a half of a fat quarter of these fabrics.
I'm usually pretty nice, and don't express strong opinions, but these fabrics are UGLY. Period. No doubt about it. I could say more, but then it would just start being rude. Or it come across as whining, which isn't a good thing either. Anyway, since this is what I have to work with, the theme is 'how do you celebrate'. We can do just about anything except use white, black, or grey. Ugh. REALLY making this hard. A few years ago, the guild did this type of challenge, which had some nice fabrics (the background, the green, and a white with grey dots). All I did was paint the white to make sand, and then added lots of fun extras.
It ended up getting a ribbon for best use of theme, which had to do with stars - we had to have 5 of them. Fortunately, I do have an idea for this new challenge, which should be quick and satisfy the theme. Hopefully, I can get this done to turn into the meeting on Monday. Then I don't have to think about this fabric any more!! When that's finished, I'll start in on the Going In Circles quilt for the Modern Art Quilt blog hop starting February 25 thru March 5. Good thing I know what I'm doing - just need to pull fabric and get sewing. Phew. So, there you have it. My busy schedule for the next week or so - see you at the sewing machine!
Welcome to my day of the Show Your Wings Blog Hop, hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. I have to admit, the theme of this hop puzzled me for a few weeks - birds? airplanes? butterflies? ladybugs? bees? What would I create with any of those 'winged' subjects? And the answer is, a very sweet, adorable applique ladybug quilt called Ladybug Dance.
The red from Valentine's Day had a heavy influence in my subject choice - who can resist ladybugs dancing among the flowers???
This quilt is also bursting with playful quilting: curlicues in the background,
and a bit of petal shape repetition, done with rulers, in the border,
and the black binding to tie it all together. In case you missed it, here's a video of the curlicue quilting:
Besides the backtracking, the secret to this design is to change the direction of the curl from the previous one, and to also change the size of the curls for added variety. Along with the video, there's also a pattern for this cute quilt! Made with very easy applique and piecing, the quilt measures approximately 39" x 39" - perfect as a baby quilt for that special girl, or as a wall hanging for the spring and summer. From now till February 27, 2019, the pattern is available in my Etsy shop for only $5 - almost half price! And if you make Ladybug Dance, send me a picture - I'd love to show it! Ah, sadly, this is the last day of the Show Your Wings Blog Hop, but there's still plenty to see! Today's list includes: February 21
Welcome to Midweek Makers - time to share! I'll go first, if that's ok with you, with a quilting video to share. This one shows how to stitch an adorable curlicue background fill.
Curlicue Quilt Fill The secret to this design is to curl in the opposite direction of the last curl, otherwise the design looks odd when all the curls go in the same direction. Try practicing on paper first, to get the flow of the curls, varying their size and amount of curl to the inside. Don't stress too much about the backtracking - that will come with practice. Just have fun with it! There will be more to see on Thursday. As for last week, there were several pretties that were quite striking. Check out these: from The Madd Quilter, from For the Love of Geese,
and from Twiggy and Opal. I also would like to let you know that as I suspected, this linky party format is going to be retired, and probably soon. We tried the new format back in January, with mixed results. So first, I'd like to hear from others who have Inlinkz linky parties what their experience is with the new format, and then I'd like to hear from participants. I'll try to keep the old format as long as I can, but just know, the change is coming. Now on to the party!
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I've participated in many hops like these over the past few years, and this one has by far been my toughest. I attribute it to churning out all the quilts for Paradise, CA, thus creating a design slump when that was all done. But I've worked through it, and have a very cute project which I've been sharing snippets of for the last week.
Hmm. Looks like a ladybug fulfills the 'wings' theme, doesn't it? The full share is on Thursday, February 21! Until then, enjoy all of the other projects from the following very creative bloggers: February 18
