AND THUNDER STORMS!

I woke up to both butds blooming!  Such a pretty sight in my bedroom window!

I got right to work and finished off the second table runner in no time.  Lena is watching the sky-there is thunder rumbling out there!

Sadly, the design wall and the frame are empty!  I need to get piecing and to shop for some backing fabrics for the tops already made.

I did go out and play with the newest bowl on the lathe.  I learned this new way for getting the bowls thinner by leaving the weight remaining in the center of the piece--using it to stablize the bowl.  Letting centrifugal force work for me!  

 This mess is just from the inside of the bowl!  I cleaned up from the work turning the back!

When the storms hit, I went inside, of course, and the power promptly went out.  I sat listening to a book while knitting on a sock--I'm glad I got the 'machine' work done early!

LEARNING TO PLAY AGAIN

I decided to try a simple  hat with very little manipulation required so I could go easy on my left hand!  In no time, 

I had the hat made 

and only had to slap my right hand down to my lap a few times!

I sewed up the back seam and added a puff ball later in the day.  I found that if I apply my Aunt's technique of holding the needle or hook anchored in my right hand, I can make the left hand dance around it to accomplish the job!  In this way, I can play with yarn and still be mindful of the broken radius!

I also pieced another placemat

 in the red/white/blue fabric combination.

And finished placing the squares up on the design wall 

for a lap-sized quilt. 

 It was fun to play around with the limited color palette!

 

Squares on a Wall

I worked outside until the heat chased me indoors-yes, heat! 

 A very warm 87* today!  

The sun was too much for me 

but I did get halfway up the higher section of the chimney 

so I am on the home stretch now!

After a nice glass of iced tea, I played with fabric squares! 

 This is just for placement right now, 

once sewn together this section will be a 26" square

-two will make my table runner for the month! 

 In the big white square will be the appliqued stem 

for the shamrock.

Goodbye, February!

 

What? She Still Sews?!

 I pulled out the bin with all of the scraps from the Starry Splendor quilt.

The pinwheel blocks are from the flying geese blocks 

and the four patches are from the left over fat quarters.  

The layout on the left are what I laid out first 

(the color arrangement isn't as important in this step as the kind of setting I find that works)

 but I found that they all kind of muddied out and didn't show their shapes!

I added the brown squares to see how that would work-I liked it, so I rearranged a bit-

 and liked the difference in the arrangement but it was too long and narrow!

 Oh, yes, I was feeling like I found what I needed 

and there were no blocks left over or lacking with this layout!!!  

Perfect, I think.

And then I added the borders and sure enough, I have the quilt top

 ready to stitch together another day! 

First I will rearrange the blocks so there are not clumps of colors and then sew the rows.

 (The other border goes on top but I couldn't reach up there!)

I tried something new on the knitting machine!
I only had a few glitches but I am getting quicker on the solution now!

And by the end of the day, I had a pair!
(100% wool DK yarn worked on the LK150)

In the kitchen, I used 10 persimmons

 and 1 fresh pineapple

to make 9 ars of jam.
Bill asks me to make some every year-
and since I am on a roll this year, I gave it a go.
I'm not sure of the outcome but he is happy with the results
and that is all that matters!

99% Done!

 The matching boys' size 4 cardigan is 99% finished! 

(it needs buttons which I do not have on hand right now!)

The skein repeated the last three colors almost evenly for the sleeves!

I used size 4 needles, Lion Brand Mandala yarn 

(with several knots!) 

which is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

The pattern I used is  Felix's Cardigan  by Jacki Kelly of The Complete Fabrication.         .

Very easy to read and follow and the best part is the sizing

which is from infant to 6 year old.

 Our bird feeder has a blooming sunflower underneath!  

It is very pretty but without seeds yet!

 It only stand 2' tall at this point but is a very healthy specimen.

I hope it survives a young toddler's attention!

I rearranged the quilt top again this morning!

I decided the thing I really didn't like was all the black patterning being so prominent visually, 

so I switched its placement in the 9 patch blocks and that gave the whole quilt a very different appeal!

I'm not thrilled with it, but I am sewing it together (top row is all so far) so I am committed!

It is a much more traditional layout now

but still contemporary in the use of solids.

I'm 99% happy with it!

Studio Thoughts

 I had an hour to work in the studio today 

so I cut out some pieces to make another Flowering Snowball with 9 patches quilt.

When I finished cutting all the pieces I needed, 

I placed them up on the design wall.

I was very disappointed with the colors.

They seem flat.A 

A few hours later when I could return,

I changed out several of the arrangements

and now I like the interaction.

It's tricky working with all solids-they don't play as nicely as the prints!

Winding Ways Wonder

 I finally got around to cutting out a pile of pieces from the Accuquilt Die, Winding Ways. 

Can you get lost in the designing of this quilt or what?!

I laid out a bunch of the black pieces 

and then filled in with the colors to make as complete

 or incomplete circles as  I wanted!

 Some of the blocks will be many colors....

 ...you can see how it will be easy to get lost!  

The blocks will have to go from the design wall right to the machine 

and right back to the design wall!

 Some of the blocks are simpler and

Some are the simplest with only two colors!

I pieced one to see how to do it!  

The curves are pretty gentle so there wasn't a lot of pinning required!

  I think this will keep me (and the design wall!) busy for a long time!