Nothing Much Happening!

Boy has the quilting activity dropped off! Not just around here but viewing new Flickr photo's and my favorite groups therein, seems everyone has slowed down. Must be that it is summer. I do spend time in my sewing room every day that I'm home. It may be that I'm cutting or organizing or sewing but I'm in there. Let me tell you tho' that there is not ANY quilts being completed.

I had set a goal of finishing four specific quilts this last quarter and I've finished none. One I've been machine quilting but then had a problem with tension and "eyelashing" on the back of the quilt so I need/want to unsew a bunch of it. A second quilt I wanted to do Baptist Fans as the quilting pattern but I decided this AFTER I had sandwiched the whole quilt and when I started marking it, with a template, found that the thickness of the quilt, combined with the thickness of the template makes marking very difficult. Now I've set that aside, trying to decide if I should unmark what I've goteen done and give up on Baptist Fans or what. I still may get one quilt finished before the end of the month. We'll see!

Otherwise, I've started another top...yes I love to do tops more than I like completing the quilts. I've been wanting to do a snails trail for years and I've been wanting to do a red and white quilt for years so I've combined two desires. I decided to do large blocks, 12", as I wanted to make a large grapic statement. Lucy (our 1959 beach single wide) has many ugly walls. This quilt will be hung on a wall in the small room destined to become my sewing area at the beach.

Here is where I am so far. Hope you like it!

Enjoy!
Toni

Missing! Two Blogs!

Sorry! I know the big time bloggers prepare their blogs in advance if they are going to be gone. Or they post from their laptops when they are gone. Obviously I didn't do either of those. But I'm back!

I had written about the Twister Template/Tool and quilt top that I made earlier this year. I included some negatives but the technique still interested me. I wanted to do a baby quilt and I wanted it pink, mostly. If you hate pink you might avert your eyes now.

I read recently that is is not "in" to make baby gifts that are "pink for girls" and "blue for boys". Sez who I ask? Anyway, I wanted pink and I wanted to try another twister. This time I wanted smaller pinwheels so made my own template. Cardboard. I was trying to use my ruler (I don't own a five inch square and that was what I was cutting the blades into) to protect the cardboard and having to move the ruler and reposition it so often, just seemed tedious.  So, instead, I drew around the template, and cut one at a time out with scissors. One by one. The old fashioned way. This was I way I did it in the seventies.

I found it very satisfying. Don't get me wrong! I'm not giving up my rotary cutters. Does the term "...from my cold, dead hands..." mean anything to you? But I enjoyed the slower process so I decided instead of doing handwork like these dishclothes.

I'm going to work on some applique. It's been years and my first attempt isn't that good but like anything else, I know it will improve as I go.

So, just a reminder, slower can be good.

Enjoy!
Toni