So Good

Friday night, YM was finally able to open his birthday presents from the three of us.  He had asked his parents to put those shoes on his wishlist at the end of third grade, so now he has them for fourth grade.  

His comment after putting them on?  "I feel SO tall."

Saturday DeeDah helped him overcome his fear of slingshots.  The version with an arm brace does not come back and hit your arm, which YM had always hated.  The two of them spent an hour or so targeting different objects in the back yard.  

YM - "that was fun!"

His biggest goal for the weekend was that he and DeeDah "make something" in the shop.  After searching the items in the attic (rough cut pieces waiting to be finish turned), he pulled a 12" bowl blank (which was a too-big project for him in just one weekend).

DeeDah showed him a smaller bowl finished two weeks ago and there was an immediate "I want to make THAT!" 

After he and DeeDah turned the smaller blank, YM was in charge of sanding the exterior of his bowl on the lathe.  

By late afternoon, YM was meticulously applying the textured band's iridescent color (DH had to do the texturing - YM tried but he wasn't quite tall/strong enough).

(the white is tape to protect the underlying wood)

The bowl was then left overnight to dry and harden.

Another special request was to cook marshmallows in the fire pit after dinner.  

He must have spent an hour finding dry kindling and finally figured out why cardboard was not the best for building a hot steady fire.  

Six burned-to-a-crisp marshmallows later, he cooked several edible ones which we ate on cinnamon graham crackers.  

YM and his finished chameleon bowl Sunday morning.  So happy and proud.

(to see how a chameleon bowl is made and one in motion showing how the colors shift, click here (time stamp :17)- Emma Cook is the turner who visited DH's guild this month)

Much of Sunday afternoon was spent testing limits on the swing.  

(he has two - this one came from Aldi and the other one he's used forever made an appearance later in the day)

(Flashback - Day One with the rope swing, just four short years ago)

Late Sunday, we celebrated with a family birthday dinner - YM's a few weeks late due to schedules/travel and Daddy's a few days early (again due to schedules).    

So much gratitude and joy . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

Holus Bolus - the Quilt

In her comment on the previous post  Charlotta mentioned being disappointed that there was no photo of a finished quilt.  There was a good reason:  the quilting was done but the quilt wasn't finished, hence the absent reveal photos.

The quilt sandwich has been trimmed, binding applied, and NOW Holus Bolus is truly finished.

The story behind this one - after each of the Macnas series quilts were finished, I set aside any leftover rectangles for a bonus quilt that would have blocks representing each of the quilts.  

Hence this quilt's name - Holus Bolus - which means all at once or altogether.

When Yutori joined the party, the top for Holus Bolus was already designed and the blocks made.  So I used Yutori's leftover rectangles as an insert strip in the backing.  

After taking photos outdoors, I spread the quilt out on the living room floor.  

Here's a list if you want to click back and see each of the finished Macnas series quilt reveal posts:

Macnas (the inspiration quilt) 2024 

Reverie 2025

Tuxie-Tude 2025

Rubricate 2025

Vellichor 2025

Wallaroo 2025

Fandango 2026

Grandiose 2026

Enchanted 2026

Hanabi 2026

Morning Fog 2026

Paint Party 2026

Yutori 2026

Finally, here's a flat-on-the-floor view of the back and its insert.  

Quilted with my nested all over free motion nested spirals using Glide thread in Robin Egg

Backing - Petra from Satin Moon Designs for Blank Quilting

Binding - Michael Miller's Bellflower

* * *

There are three more bonus quilt tops to be quilted before year-end (sooner if I can manage it).

But there will be no sewing or quilting over the weekend as Young Man will be here for a two-night sleepover (the last one was before the previous school year ended).  

Looking forward to sorting Pokemon cards into his new binder, building Lego, catching up on his summer stories and tales from fourth grade, etc., etc. etc.

Quiltdivajulie

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"When the work has no soul it's an empty thing.  It needs the human smudge.  Fingerprints all over it that say, "This thing lives because there I am - in it."

Joel Uili  

It Was a Good Day

This is what the top tray of Max's rolling side cart looked like after I finished quilting Holus-Bolus Tuesday evening.  

And this (or the back side of this) is what shoppers could see from pretty much everywhere in our Costco store when we were there Tuesday afternoon.  Halloween, Autumn, and Pumpkin Spice items everywhere with Christmas decor filling several aisles (but no Christmas trees or wrapping paper yet).  

(Side note - When I stopped to get something last week, Hobby Lobby had all of their trees up; hanging and boxed ornaments displayed in multiple aisles; gift bags, ribbons, tags, and wrapping paper galore; and they were stocking even more aisles with bins full of "Christmas stuff" as fast as they could work.)

I'm perfectly happy switching our seasonal decor from August's 'back to school' to September's 'sunflowers and apples' later this week.   

(September's newly quilted placemat slabs were trimmed to size Tuesday after lunch and are now ready to bind)

* * *

My happiest success though was renewing my driver's license and upgrading it to Real ID Tuesday morning.  

I went to the same location DH used (20 minutes from home), was there 25 minutes before their 8:30 opening time, and was #6 through their door after we had been pre-screened in line to be sure each of us had the necessary documents.  

I was done and out the door at 8:45 and home by 9:15.  

Amazing!

Quiltdivajulie

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From a poem by Mary Oliver:

Instructions for living a life.  

Pay attention.  

Be astonished.  

Tell about it.

Monday Check In

By late Sunday, all six of the placemat sandwiches were quilted.

I also turned 14 WOF into binding.

Quilted with liberated wavy lines using Glide thread in  Dijon.

Having used that kind of quilting on previous sets of placemats, I know they will launder well.

The quilted texture shows up better in black and white.

Meanwhile, our visiting grand-dog Darcy kept a watchful eye on things . . .

* * *

My most pressing to-do item this week is to stand in line for a long time to renew my driver's license and get the Read ID certification on it; otherwise I would renew by mail.  DH managed to get his done in under 2 hours earlier this year.  I hope I'm as fortunate.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Your smile is a reason for many others to smile."

Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

So Far So Good

The first few days of this week were indeed chaotic but multiple non-sewing things did get handled and/or finished.

Unfortunately another huge to-do made itself known and it is one that needs to be dealt with sooner and not too much later (think paper tiger on steroids).

For the sake of sanity, I sewed the strips together for the backs of the six September placemats, pressed the tops and backs, cut batting rectangles, and pin basted the six quilt sandwiches.

Thread color remains to be decided but I'm guessing it will be some variation on "gold."

I ran across this image early in the week - I keep reminding myself of it when a task at hand seems more complicated than I feel like handling.  So far it has worked . . . 

* * *

There are only ten days left in August and I'm still hoping to get Holus Bolus and the placemats quilted and finished.  

I've also realized  that I'm woefully behind on responding to your comments . . . 

One thing at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

Crazy Week Ahead

Holus Bolus did get pin basted over the weekend.  

It measures in the 48" x 64" range and I was surprised how much easier it was to pin baste than the quilts in the 52" x 72" range.  I didn't think those few additional inches would make that much different, but it certainly did.

You can see how I used the extra rectangles from Yutori (no. 13) in the back.  

After only minimal pondering, I'm going to use Glide in Robin Egg to quilt Holus Bolus, the first of four bonus quilts from the Macnas series.  

(I've added a label in the sidebar for those bonus quilts)

Still considering how to do a recap for the Macnas quilts.  Hopefully by the time the fourth bonus quilt is finished I'll know what I want to do.

On the paper side of my creative life, the pink and green journal is done -- this is the cover (the back cover uses the other half of this page from an old calendar).

I added the journal's name cut from a magazine and a bit of woven trim to the title page.

I love how many little bits of this and that from so many different sources were used (meaning they're no longer in the stash).

I have hoarded this black and white asemic writing tissue and now I wish I had more of it after using it.  

I also left several pages with open space in case I find more unique bits along the way.

There's one more two-volume journal lurking in the background that involves threads, notions, sewing, and quilting.  All in good time.

* * *

Now about that crazy week - DH has a contentious board meeting for his woodturning guild, a day of setting up for the three-day visit to his guild by a woodturner from the UK (one day of demonstrations and two different all day workshops) plus an evening meet and greet event.  There always seems to be a lot of drama the week of his meetings . . . 

There will also be lots of driving to and from appointments, a celebration of life gathering for the office manager at Davies Manor (where I serve on the board and volunteer), a hair cut, back to school night at YM's school (I'll stay with him so the parents can attend), the evening meet and greet, and transporting younger son to and from his volunteer activities and a bonus class at the library.

Not sure how much time I'll have in the studio - maybe enough to get the bobbins wound for Holus Bolus and a bit of clean up between projects.  Time will tell.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Having a luck dragon with you is the only way to go on a quest."

Falcor (from The Never Ending Story)

The Squirrels Have Done It Again

The wide back on the left has been waiting in the closet for ages and the squirrels are on a rampage to USE what is lurking.  As usual, their one thing led to the next.

The fabrics above will be used to make two quilts - one using the wide back and the other backed with the black and gold paisleys.  When I thought there would be just one quilt, I had started calling it Color Burst - but when the second "sister" project developed, I needed another project name.

The wide back quilt shall be called HAPPIFY (verb - to make happy).  The current plan was inspired by Gerful (2021) and Vivacious (2016).  I'll use black on white prints as the alternate fabric.

The paisley backed quilt shall be called ENTHRALL (verb - to capture someone's attention or fascination; to charm or captivate).  At this point I'm thinking about making another version of Poppyseed's baby quilt (that baby is now nine years old).

All of this will happen next year, unless the squirrels keep making trouble in the studio.

Downstairs, I've switched our seasonal decor from July's "Red, White, and Moo" to August's "Back to School." 

With Young Man now in fourth grade (!!) our decorations continue to evolve from his ABC building blocks, crayons, and coloring books to classic black and white composition books, colorful pencils and erasers, a big bowl of scrabble tiles, and the like.  

And when I started to clean off my art table so I could drape the backing and top in order to roll them onto the pool noodles, I found myself drawn into the beginnings of a long-planned pink and green joy journal.  There is something deeply satisfying about cutting and gluing in order to turn paper scraps into a visually pleasing, cohesive something.

* * *

The good news is that the drafting table is now clear and Holus-Bolus WILL be pin basted over the weekend.  

It's time to move those four Macnas bonus quilts forward.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Be the attitude you want to be around."

Tim DeTellis

Three Finishes to Share

Like my fabrics, I've been working over the past month or so to USE a lot of the accumulated paper stash.  Finished journals take up much less space than their array of raw materials.

This first project involved a purchased accordion (concertina) journal, items harvested from two different magazines, a few postage stamps, and woodcut images from my favorite next-to-the-computer calendar.

This is the front cover.

You can see here how I used vintage rice paper book pages to cover each of the accordion's pages.

This is a sample of the way I finished out the interior.  

One set of "sides" feature winter images from the calendar and compatible magazine cut outs.  

The other "sides" feature non-winter calendar images and magazine cut outs.

Making this was quietly satisfying and the end result is very restful to flip through.

The next finish has been a long time in process.  A thrifted book had its pages removed so I could insert new pages using vintage ledger papers.

The first pages acknowledge the inspiration for the genesis of SQUIRREL!

The rest of the pages contain all manner of squirrely items.  Text from a North American animal handbook, greeting cards, stickers, drawings, comic strips, and so much more.

This spread shows the squirrel/nut-themed washi tape I found and some old squirrel postage stamps.

I used pages from a thrifted kid book for the front and back interior covers and facing pages.  I cut more images from that book and another to use throughout the altered book.

I deliberately left open spaces and lots of envelopes so I can tuck in additional items as they are found; but for now I'm calling it done.

The third small finish (literally) was to add my bits to a Bricolage Factory "tiny journal".

This photo shows the scale and one cover.

I worked my way through one set of pages before turning the journal over and working back through the pages with text, etc. facing the opposite direction; much like viewing an accordion journal.

A scrap of painted piano roll and a snippet from a larger design . . . it was fun to work on such a small scale.

This is the other cover featuring a bit of washi tape saved from an envelope that came in the mail.

* * *

I've decided that Nimiety and its scrappy pieced backing are going to Many Hands Many Hearts organized by Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  I had fun making Nimiety and used up a lot of strips and leftovers in the process, but I think it has a better life ahead as a comfort quilt (or two should they decide the back would make a good top).  

Holus Bolus and its back have been rolled on to pool noodles.  I'll get the batting cut and rolled onto the third noodle so pin basting can happen in this week.

One stitch, one scrap, one thing at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

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"You can do it like it's a great weight on you, or you can do it like it's part of the dance."

Ram Dass

Scrumdifferous - Bits of Progress

I spent much of Thursday prepping pieces and parts for a scrappy quilt to be named SCRUMDIFFEROUS (an adjective for something that is excellent or first-rate).

This is a photo of the un-prepped scrappy leftovers laying on top of yardage that will be used as backing.

This is what all of that was turned into.  

There are 65-70 rectangles (2.5" x 4.5") in each of the five color groups.  Some were left after making the four bonus Macnas quilt tops and others were cut from an array of abandoned 2.5" strips.

The roughly 350 2.5" squares were cut from light rectangles left after making the four bonus quilt tops plus several shorter pieces of yardage that were begging to be finished off.

The plan is to turn these into a quilt in the style of CAIM and COMFORTABLE and Githerments.

At the end of the day all of the rectangles and squares were sorted and paired, ready to be used as leader-ender or mindless evening sewing.  

(Scrumdifferous is the first of 3-4 projects sorted from my overflowing box of gathered leftovers)

* * *

This is what the 35 sewn WOF strip sets from the last post looked like after being pressed.  

This is what they look like now.  

The shorter lengths (18") will be used to piece top slabs and the longer lengths (20" plus) will be used to piece backing slabs for September's set of six placemats.  

(The extra strips on either side are to be used along a side edge if any of the strip sets aren't quite wide enough - I make my top slabs 17" x 24" and the backs 21-ish" x 28")  

Once quilted  the slab sandwiches will be trimmed to 14" x 20" before binding.

Onward . . . 

  

Quiltdivajulie

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining."

Shirley Chisholm