Snowflake Advancing Twill Runner

Here is a pattern I have been fond of for some time.  I made it in 10/2 perle cotton as a table runner.

Weaving Random Stripes

Here is a nifty Website for generating random stripes.  Of course, it can be used for other handwork applications such as knitting and crocheting.  I'm not much of a stripe person but napkins and tea towels can look nice.

I have been seeing on the FB 4-shaft weaving group a new idea, at least to me.  Weavers are warping a variegated warp then weaving a pattern over it.  The look keeps the eye moving around the cloth.  I haven't tried this yet, but soon.

So, look at www.biscuitsandjam.com for their stripe generator.  Good tool!

Orphan block . . .

II used to think there was no reason to have an orphan block.  Actually the term startled me when I first heard it.  But since that time I have made an orphan block or two myself.  Like this one.  

The day started out harmless enough. I finished a quilt on deadline and took the day to tidy up my workspace.    That's what I do when I have absolutely no more space to work at my cutting table and cannot walk around my room without tripping.  While sorting and tossing (not much of this) I came across these components and the instruction sheet.  I rewarded myself for a morning well spent and sat down at the sewing machine.   I may unearth others in the near future but this was today's surprise.

There is a wonderful quilt shop in Tucson, The Quilt Basket, on Tanque Verde.  They had a program, might still have one, called First Saturday.  They had a quilt block, like this one, available in two different color ways.  You bought the block, for a nominal fee, and the next month, if you brought back the previous month's block assembled you would get the current month's block to make for free.  Neat promotion, yes?  I didn't get to participate in many of the months but I think there may be more in my inventory.  I was taking the Arizona Centennial Baltimore Blocks class simultaneously and had enough homework to accomplish in a month so I didn't get many made, as I recall.

Anyway, this colorway was somewhat Oriental in theme.  The gold fabric is glitzy.  The green and purple are normal.  The center block is floral and has gold and glitzy parts.  The white is little gold squigglys on a white background.  

I will put this away with a couple other homeless blocks and concentrate on my 1790 Love Entwined quilt.  I am already 3 months behind on that one.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Kona Cloth and coordinating Aurifil Thread

Stumbled across this Kona/Aurifil .pdf somewhere.  Great chart!

Eleven pages of wonderfulness.

http://siterepository.s3.amazonaws.com/531/kona_aurifil.pdf

I noticed Red Rock Threads in NV has a blog post that describes the suggested use of each weight.

http://www.redrockthreads.com/aurifil-thread/?gclid=CPPq5K_HiLkCFa9cQgod50EAQw

Deciding on Fabric Colors, my approach

Here is how I solved the color problem.  It worked with another quilt I did and it worked out in pleasing colors.  

I have a color wheel called "The Color Star" by Johannes Itten.  ISBN: 0-471-28931-0

Inside the package are a bunch of cutouts.  

I choose a color I really want to use, teal and purple are the main colors I want in my quilt.   Now the choice is what colors will look good with these two colors. I place one of these wheels over the color star and it revels only the colors that go with it.  The color theory is used to determine these cutouts.  The star points are graded from light light through dark dark in each star point. I try each of these cutouts and see what combinations I like.  I was surprised to see that i could safely add green (for leaves) and gold and some other blues.  Then I go to my inventory and select fabric candidates. 

Then I sort the fabrics from light to dark using my value thing.  Then I stack them on my shelf with notes about the colors e.g., light, medium, dark, etc.  I put the rest away and now I know to select my quilt's fabrics from these groupings only.  When I am not sure about what will show up on another color, like the circles on the compass ring I am currently working on, I look through the value finder and see how the two fabrics look together.  

The choices are reflected in my compass in the previous post.  Hope this helps someone!

Love Enduring (LE) Applique Block of the Month

While trolling the Web looking for a Dear Jane quilt-a-long (QAL), I stumbled upon Esther's applique QAL.  I read it a few times and decided to give it a try.  A few parameters I set for myself.  I want to keep up the best I can, and I want to primarily use my 'fabric inventory'.
So first I tried to hand piece the center compass. Not a success. I couldn't make my stitches invisible. So I decided to English Paper Piece (EPP). This went better. Here are my compasses.


I can see my stitching, yikes!



But the EPP turned out better, to me.






The next step is the compass ring. See if I can get to that tomorrow.
Thanks to Esther and everyone who so selflessly gives expert advice.

Location: Mesa, Arizona, USA

"Below Stairs"

The subtitle on this book reads "The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired  Upstairs, Downstairs and  Downton Abbey".  Margaret Powell's account of entering service at 13 because there were too many children in the house begins this adventure.  Her Mom had been in service herself.  Similar to last week's book review, I was surprised to find how differently the houses, the rules, the expectations and the work was.  I also thought about how many times certain staff were promised something but ended up with nothing.
How different this world of the early 1900s was from the world of the early 2000s.  Attitudes and expectations along with technology brought change whether wanted or not.

A very enjoyable read.
ISBN: 978-1-250-00544-1
1968