Here’s a shout out to Catherine Beemer’s quilt “Tropic of Capricorn,” which hung at the very recent QuiltCon show in Raleigh, NC.
Catherine is a member of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild, which I recently found and joined.
I can’t wait to see what she makes this year.
I spent Saturday morning with some of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild members at their monthly Sit and Sew at the very fun fabric store Five-Eighth Seams (quilt fabrics and much more) over in North Charleston.
Cathy Beemer started teaching us how to make an incredible scrappy block that she is also making. Cathy is a MASTER piecer and quilter. This block is 30 inches square, and she will be making a quilt that is 90 by 90 with her scrappy blocks. Each block quarter piece will be scrappy and different.
Here’s an alternative center she showed us.
And a purple “lollipop” pattern.
More strip pattern ideas here–I could have taken more and more pics as Cathy showed us how to start off.
Cathy loves quilter Maria Shell’s work, of course. But she very much does her “own thing” too.
This quilt hung at Houston–I think she told me. And she has at least one quilt in this year’s QuiltCon, going on right now in Raleigh, NC.
I came home to the rest of my seafood chowder–cooked in the oven and made the day before.
And I keep meaning to show this picture of roasted veggies, just because they are so pretty. And, were delicious.
I’ve already color sorted my solid fabric strips and have cut out pieces for my first center. I’m going for the pinwheel!
But first, first…the last 1920-30’s reproduction quilt in the series of 3. It’s coming along.
I’ve been having so much fun playing with the 5th of 6 block studies in my online class with Tara Faughnan.
This month Tara taught us a foundation piecing method where one does not sew INTO one’s paper pattern. I learned this method from Tara some years back, but then she used freezer paper. However, today’s freezer paper does not hold its “stickiness” for repeated use past 5 or 6 uses–so Tara figured out how to print a pattern onto regular printer paper and to get the needed “stick” with some glue.
I could not make my Sewline pen’s glue stick strongly enough–so I’m using the washable Elmer’s glue that is purple, but dries clear. I use the SMALL stick, not one of the larger ones. And it does not take much glue at all to get the result I need. Too much glue makes the paper stick to the fabric so that it’s hard to get the paper separated from the fabric–which results in the destruction of your paper patter.
Anyway, here’s my design wall now–after I spent days playing with three different sizes of triangles. I made big ones, medium ones, and smaller fat ones. And I put some around two sides of the “Lines” 9-patch block, which was fun.
The blocks won’t stay this way on the design wall of course. And the final, 6th block coming March 1 will alter things again. But I’m seeing that I do have three big pieces that can anchor a possible improv quilt.
Time will tell.
I’ve been busy…sewing.
The Tara Faughnan online block class released the 5th of 6 blocks February 1st, and I’ve been having such fun playing with this “triangles” method Tara teaches. But more on that in a few days when I make myself…stop.
When I visited the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild a few weeks ago, I was entranced by a guild challenge that many had finished and showed that night. They each made a series of quilts: fabric and units from the primary quilt then were used to make the second quilt, followed by the first and second quilts being used to make something creative for the third quilt.
Ah, I had finished this as yet unnamed and unquilted quilt top using reproduction 1920-1930 fabrics I had in my stash (for 20 years). And I still had a lot of fabric left.
So, this smaller top happened. It’s a good baby size, 48 by 48. I’m calling it “Bubbles.”
What to do for the third quilt in my series?
This, I think.
I’ll likely keep it to a baby quilt size, but you never can tell. There is still a fair amount of fabric left.
I can’t wait to show you my design wall whenI finish up with the “triangle” project in a few days. Then I will return to the above quilt project until I can “call it a day” for using up these fabrics.
DIL Corinne took a picture of this beautiful hawk recently. There was a pair, but one flew off before she could get a picture. I think it might be a red-shouldered hawk, but I could be wrong. Corinne thinks it is a broad-winged hawk. There is a link below if you want to explore further. Two hawks seen together could also be a parent and an offspring? Who knows?
When I walk, I pass two water retention ponds, and they team with birds. I have often seen a pair of hawks here too, and on my last walk, one circled above me and cried as it…hunted? The call is distinctive–a shrill kind of “whee.”
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id
This pond is on school property, is fenced, and is full of Canadian geese. But along the side you can see a big heron ( a Great Blue?) and a Snowy Egret. In the water, a cormorant swims. Often, outside the fence, a flock of White Ibis, with their distinctive long curved beaks, gather to fleece the grass for bugs.
The woods to the right are both firm and wet lands–and are the buffer between these two schools and my neighborhood. A buffer for now anyway–this land could get developed.
I’ve begun to wonder if, when the geese mate and raise babies, how they will “walk their broods to water,” given the fence.
Budgies, as created by a pattern by Bethanne Nemesh and shared on one of the Aurifil thread posts–see link below. These posts are always inspiring and fun to see. I like seeing them each week.
And you all know I love that “Love” fabric and use it a lot–Carrie Bloomston, “Newsprint.” These budgies are made by @ladydisews, or Diana Z on Instagram.
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I am admiring from a distance as I already have enough projects going and planned.
Good morning all!
Tomorrow Block 5 in Tara Faughnan’s “Block” class will arrive. It’s “triangles.” How fun is that?
I’ve walked 5 miles in the past three days–2, 1, and, yesterday, 2. What will today bring? It’s rainy, so whatever will happen will happen when things dry out a bit. But it is cool and that makes for wonderful walking. I play music and sing along some of the time.
I finished this top yesterday, and I love the secondary patterns. There is a feeling of, I don’t know, lace, in this top. I’ll back and bind with the neutral–so next I have to put together the backing and put her on the longarm to be basted so she stays straight while being quilted–and so I don’t have to worry about the needle apparatus catching wrong in a loose edge. I have no idea what pantograph to use on this quilt.
I would not choose to buy these 1920-30 reproduction fabrics today–but as you know, I’m on a mission to use up fabrics in my stash. And I do think these fabrics have worked well in this quilt.
I have a fair amount of fabric left over in all the colors I have–so, I’m playing with blocks on the design wall. When I attended my first Charleston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week, five or six members showed their 3 quilts each in a challenge to “riff” on fabrics and layout choices in a series. Is that what is playing in my head? Maybe… Those series of 3 quilts were really fun and inspiring.
BTW, the talent in this modern group is fabulous. One member has two quilts accepted into the big modern QuiltCon meeting in late February, held this year in Raleigh, NC. And, she had quilts in last year’s show as well. This member is a MASTER quilter–and it was so, so fun to see her work. Plus, she is so generous with her time with fellow members–and has a suggested project for our next Sit and Sew for an upcoming Saturday morning. I can’t wait.
I never get tired of seeing bright vegetable colors combined in a pan and ready to be roasted.
Here’s my main meal yesterday–which I didn’t get to until about 2 pm.
The potatoes with dill, salt, and drizzled with the nuevo olive oil from Organic Roots were leftovers and are now gone. So today I have to cook something starchy to go with the roasted veggies and chicken. Maybe French Fries in the Air Fryer. Now, there’s a treat! But maybe only if I walk 2 miles.
And, later, I’ll play more upstairs with those developing blocks. And still later, I’ll finish season 5 of Fargo and hand quilt on “Happy.” I’m assuming most of you know Fargo is funny, funky, and can be violent. It’s the Coen brothers and Noah Hawley, so be warned.
Here’s a quilt from Cecilia Koppmann, a quilter from Argentina. Her work was featured in Simply Moderne magazine, one of two quilty magazines I get each year. (See citation info below the picture.)
I’m especially interested in this quilt, which is 60+ inches big, as I think she may have used the inset method I just learned from Tara Faughnan in the online “block” class I’m taking. That method is Dale Fleming’s “6-minute circle.”
“Eclipse”
Simply Moderne magazine, Issue Number 35, pages 40-47
I think it’s ok maybe to use this pic from the magazine since this quilt image is available to see on both Pinterest and Koppmann’s web site.
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/166773992423906364/
http://patchworkycia.blogspot.com/2014/05/
What I like about Simply Moderne is that it covers the quilting of people from all over the world. There are, also, projects included, and I’ve made quite a few of the over the years. This magazine’s issues are quarterly–so 4 a year.
My other favorite magazine is American Patchwork and Quilting.
For those of you who have contacted me seeking information about Giovanna’s Shawl patterns and yarns, here you go:
Pattern: WRAP IT REAL GOOD by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn : Sunshine yarns FEELING GROOVY advent set
Pattern: Sherbert Fizz by Ambah O’Brien. This one I made two and joined them together.
Yarn: SUNSHINE YARNS, Fade into you advent set
Giovanna added the following:
“Just in case people ask. Advent sets a.k.a Festive sets come in twenty-four or twenty-five mini skeins and could be fingering or DK weight. Every year designers come up with new patterns that many people will knit during the first 24 days of December.”
And:
Enjoy!
Many of my blog readers liked seeing master knitter Giovanna’s recent work. She just sent me pics of two shawls she just finished and that are now blocked and ready to wear. Giovanna is one of my Camden, Maine, friends.
Giovanna is very generous with her work–so these two pieces will likely be gifts for lucky people.
This one below may be the piece I last sent to you–all blocked now.
I can’t even…
…imagine trying a knitting project like these.
I do ok with fairly plain knitting and have a whole drawer of wool socks I made, but I decided long ago that to get better I had to knit a lot and that that would limit my sewing time. Also, I left all the hats and scarves I made in Maine as they would be way too warm for South Carolina. I also left my really heavy coats.
So, I leave this knitting to Giovanna and admire from a distance.
She is awesome.
