Hot Enough For Ya?

Welcome to August.  Feel free to giggle at the relative sizes of the coyote and the roadrunner.  Others have done so before you!

July 15, 2012

Please visit Bill's Photographs page (link is to your right) to read a travelogue of our recent visit to Big Springs Gardens.

Happy 4th of July!

THE ROCKETS' RED GLARE, THE BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR

Flower Pot

Our house at the courtyard entrance.

Building Materials, Finally

While I've been busy and distracted with a mortgage refinance, fabric has been arriving in the mail.  We've struck pay dirt for the fish hatchery building.  These fabrics are about as true to life as I'm likely to find, and I'm ready to start sewing.  I counted the rows of roof tiles in my photograph, then figured out the number of fabric roof tiles that would fit in the space available.  There is one less row in the fabric, so the scale is excellent.  I may not be getting rich at the local gaming tables or with the California Lottery, but I'm lucky in love and fabric.

This blog is forcing me to face the fact that I am a very slow worker.  I spend more time thinking than sewing.  My quilt output has gone from ten a year to just one.  That's OK - the newer ones tend to be larger and more complex, which gives me more pleasure.  Anyway, since I can go for long periods without apparent progress, I'll be cutting my posts down to two per month.  At mid-month, I'll post a picture of what's been accomplished on the hatchery quilt.  At the beginning of each month, I will post a picture of one of my House of the Month quilts.  It works out nicely starting with the July quilt since May and June are my least favorite of the twelve.

If you read the last two posts, you saw quilts I made using techniques called Stack 'n Whack and Strips and Curves.  I'm always looking for ways to make things harder, and thought these two techniques would look good combined.  I was right!  Here's what I came up with.  Maybe I'll call it Maraschino Cherries and Green Olives.  Until next time...

No News

I have no progress to report this week, but I continue to look for fabrics that can represent the stone fish hatchery building and it's tile roof.  You're invited to visit my new page, Bill's Photographs, for a travelogue of our trip to Markleeville, California.  The link is at the top of the right hand column.

Several years ago, Bethany Reynolds developed her technique, Stack 'n Whack, to achieve a kaleidoscopic design.  There are several designs and I've made quite a few including this quilt which is composed mostly with one Japanese print fabric.  Only the red triangles, two gray backgrounds and the borders are separate fabrics.  The idea is to stack four, six or eight identical lengths of fabric together and whack them into the desired shapes with a rotary cutter.  When you piece your square, hexagonal or octagonal block, the repeating design makes a nice pattern.  I don't remember what I named this quilt so let's call it Cats for the fabric I used on the back.  I think it's prettier in person.  Until next time...

Breakfast Is Served

This week I’m starting a new feature on the blog – Bill's Photographs.   He keeps getting better as his cameras become more expensive – that’s the desirable progression, I believe.  As nice photos come along, I’ll add them to a special page dedicated for that purpose.  If a picture is extra special, it’ll go to the top of Fiber Vibe.  We’re starting this week with a picture of one of our resident backyard quail.  We have several pairs, and soon this year’s chicks will be emerging from their nest beneath the tall junipers.

 

We had a four-day weekend for Memorial Day.  A long weekend usually means I don’t get much sewing done.  Nevertheless, I had expected to complete the four golden trout blocks for the bottom of the quilt.  But no; this technique is trickier than I thought.   There have also been senseless setbacks such as throwing away my freezer paper templates because they looked like little scraps.   Here is an example of what I did accomplish.  There are four fish in this incomplete condition.   For now, I’m calling them the “headless trout.”  They look good enough to eat.

I was lucky to find a piece of fabric that looks like it is meant to be a trout.  It was right in my own closet!   Choosing only the areas I want means turning the fabric into Swiss cheese.

Today’s quilt, Planetary Collision, was made using a technique by Louisa Smith called Strips and Curves.  First you sew a few dozen thin strips of fabric together, and then cut out curved shapes that fit together to make blocks.  Louisa suggests that the blocks can be put together without a plan.  Indeed, her books are filled with such quilts.  I was excited by the idea of letting go of my need for precision,   and letting the quilt happen on its own.  After my blocks were on the design wall, I stepped back to admire the results.  Instinct kicked in.  “I must move that piece.  It can be changed with that block.  Oh, look, that one seems odd there.”  And on it went, until I had a perfectly orderly quilt.  I guess you can’t fight your true nature.   I spiced up the design by adding some blocks I’d made previously… in an orderly fashion, of course.

Until next time…