Therapeutic cushion or sack with wheat seeds and lavender flowers is a h...

Shadow Quilt, Etc.

 My first quilt finish for 2021.

Started in 2017 and put away as a completed quilt top, my first. Lesson learned: I could actually piece an entire quilt top.

Taken out in early 2020 and hacked up. Added black applique figures and quilted each piece. Then put away. Lesson learned: How to do raw-edge applique with fusible medium.

Taken out this month and bound all the pieces and put it together by zig-zag stitching the bindings of each piece. The edges are all different, as in there isn't a straight edge on any of the four sides of the quilt. I like this very much, actually. I don't think quilts need to be squared up. At all. 

It is a twin-sized quilt, as completed thus far. I ran out of the black fabric I was using with three pieces remaining that could be added at a later date. I am waiting for Moda Bella black fabric from Missouri Star Quilt Co. to arrive to finish them. (I ordered 3 yards of the black and one yard of the "very black," a yard of lime and one of shocking pink (I think) from the same Moda Bella line. I also ordered some clip on magnifiers for my glasses, extra machine needles, and a couple of new kinds of thimbles to try, as the adjustable Clover thimbles I ordered from WAWAK don't sit in the right place on the middle finger of my right hand.)

Other pandemic sewing projects completed so far in 2021: 

-Two potholders from orphan blocks and Insulbrite.

-Two unlined crumb quilt curtains in solid colors, one for each front room window in the casita. 

-Two very small placemats from the leftover bits from making the curtains, done with big-stitch hand-quilting. 

 -A coaster for my desk from some very small, ugly half-square triangles. 

-Two masks for Grace's very extra-extra-large friend (7" x 13"). 

-Small talisman made of shell--fabric from Japan, embroidery thread, beads from my collection--and a drawstring rabbit-patterned bag for Kelly's 70th birthday. (She says she keeps her new cell phone in the bag.)

-Two elastic sheet holders to keep the fitted sheets on the upper corners of my bed. 

Next Project: Lime Green Crumb Quilt UFO. 

 Why I stopped working on it: It's too small to be a twin-sized quilt and The Brain couldn't figure out a way to make it bigger that would make sense. So I put away the pieces.

Why I decided to work on it again: I'm going to try this new technique of binding each panel and then sewing the bound panels together.

Quilt Blogs etc.

Quilting blogs that I've been reading:

quilterie.blogspot.com
reproquiltlover.com
nostalgiccafe.blogspot.com
quiltyfolk.blogspot.com
bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com
quiltville.blogspot.com
diaryofaquilter.com
pinkdoxies.com
maryquilts.com
saneandcrazy.blogspot.com
withstringsattached.blogspot.com
treadlestitches.blogspot.com
funwithbarbandmary.blogspot.com
myquiltodyssey.blogspot.com
canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com
happyquiltingmelissa.com
quilterscache.com
cluckclucksew.com

Some of the bloggers stopped updating their blogs years ago, but I like to go back through their archives and read about their quilting. (I sometimes wonder--but not too hard--what happened to them.)

I think I may start writing about my quilting--the little of it that gets done. I haven't finished too many quilts--four, I think--no, five (not including the two I made for Gray Kitty, and the few wall hangings that I've done)--but that's five more than I thought I ever would.

I never thought I'd be a quilter.

http://www.afewscraps.com/2017/11/little-quilted-buckets-free-pattern.html

http://kristinshieldsart.com/

http://willywonkyquilts.blogspot.com/

12/29 and 12/30

Sunday (12/29)

1. Studio time; the joy of new work, new ideas. Wanting to get to the studio to work. Feeling engaged and quietly happy.

2. Dinner with Dave and my brother. Spending time with people I love.

3. Finding out that hibiscus tea might help with my blood pressure. Finding out that I like hibiscus tea!

Monday 12/30

1. Studio time and the joy of new work.

2. Spending the day with David, having lunch and dinner together. Chatting about interesting things.

3. Rebel donuts cake donuts and a decaf latte. YUM

Tuesday

1. Therapy Thursday was Therapy Tuesday this week. Finishing up the first EMDR.

2. Studio time and new work.

3. Beets! Beets! Beets! Beet salad for dinner. YUM