Playing Month End Catch Up

My studio squirrels finally got their way - I started a new journal project.  Using my postage stamp punch, I've been gathering these rectangles and adding them into a small blank journal.

So far I have created themed pages like the ones above plus low volume in both warm and cool tones, faces in black and white/sepia, faces in color, a page for scrappy ROYGBIV stamps, plus pages featuring words, buildings, packaging, etc.  

It's very okay if it takes a while to fill this small journal - the fun is in discovering stamp-able papers and seeing each page slowly evolve.

My April scrappy nine patches feature Chihuly's glass, faces, plaids, and warm low volume with text.  Believe it or not, there is thought given to placement of the squares - when you squint a little, can you tell?

Again, the fun of this project is in the discovery and arranging.

Over in the scrappy circles journal, I'm determined to branch out beyond creating more large clumps of semi-related circles.  This journal project has only 11-12 more pages to be filled, which is why I agreed with the squirrels to start the postage stamp punch project.

And this is an improved version of the test collage shared yesterday for weeks 15-18 of my Full Deck Challenge tags.  I wasn't at all happy about how the test collage looked, especially when "enlarged," so I tried again using another method.  This one is better but I do miss being able to create collages in Picasa.

(Your thoughts are welcome on the collages - whether you like them, don't like them, or prefer that I stay with single higher res photos,  please let me know in the comments below.  Thanks!)

* * *

Over at the sewing machine . . . 

Paint Party, Macnas no. 12,  has only a few more rows to be sewn.  Using the pairs for Yutori, Macnas no. 13, as leader enders during PP's row construction is also moving Yutori forward.

I need to seam up the backing for Morning Fog, Macnas no. 11, so I can take the top/back yardage off the design wall so it's ready for Paint Party's flimsy reveal photo shoot.

Enchanted, Macnas no. 10, is pin basted and I would really like to get it quilted yet this week.  We shall see how that plan works out.

I've added labels for each of these quilts at the bottom of the post so you can click over and see their related posts or you can visit the dedicated Macnas series blog page here.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Birds learn to fly by falling."

Rumi

Catching Up and Making Progress

I pin basted Fandango on the very last day of January.  Next step is time with Max and a lot of free motion quilting.

This is the very last of the amaryllis blooms - it's been a marvelous run of reds, pinks, and whites over the past two months.

The driveway continues to reappear a bit at a time.  The bottom third is still solidly frozen to the concrete but that will change in the coming days.

Temps are expected to rise into the 40s Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday with overnight lows staying above freezing.  Neighborhood streets are still very icy and I won't miss that going away.  I will miss the serenity of the snow itself and the way it quiets so much exterior noise. 

Last week's Full Deck Challenge 4 shipping tag is now done.

These are the prompts I used from ShanoukiArt's longer list.  You can find her on You Tube.

My weekly paper nine patch for last week is done.  I've figured out that I like spacing the squares apart instead of keeping them tight together.

And the weekly collage using circles for last week is also done.  

Looking ahead - this is the fabric pull for Ruska, a Camp Sefton quilt project destined to become a seasonal ottoman quilt at Young Man's house.  

The fabric in the center is a wilder option for binding (I'm going to let him choose when he's here), backing fabrics on the right, and top fabrics on the left.

This is the other more subdued binding option.  

Design wise, I'm going with the same approach I used for The Yellow Quilt (2016) but this time without borders.  

(The Yellow Quilt was inspired by the Rouge design in Kaffe Fassett's Quilts in Morocco book)

I'm planning to cut 5" squares for the top and let YM lay them out on the design wall so I can then sew them all together.

I'll do the same kind of thing but with larger squares/sections and let him design the pieced back as well.

And, unsurprisingly, another squirrel named NUTSIE has taken up residence in the sewing room . . . his arrival brings the headcount in my scurry of studio squirrels to nine (gasp).   

But honestly, the way things are going, it feels like we all need a little more whimsy (fanciful or playful humor) in our lives.

And last but not least, here is my February 1 monthly photo of the backyard.

Quiltdivajulie

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"We don't create fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay."

Lynda Barry

Sigh

I have finished the quilting on Trouvaille.  I haven't trimmed off the excess batting or worked on the binding because DH and I have developed miserable head colds thanks to the one younger son brought home from one of his volunteer sessions.  He's on the mend from his, aside from the deep cough.

So, handling a rotary cutter is not wise right now between the coughing and nose blowing, and my head is definitely up to doing any kind of mathematic calculations.  

I did manage to get my FDC4 collage tag done earlier in the week.  This is the front.

And the back shows the prompts that I used from the complete list.

I also played with the punched out circles to create my weekly collage.  

* * *

As you've no doubt heard, Winter Storm Fern is headed our way.  The early forecasts had us in the over 20" of snow range.  As is typical here, we are now being told to expect sleet, freezing rain, ice, snow of 4-6", and almost certainly extended power outages.  No matter the amounts, the entire area will stop aside from emergency responders and a few idiots who think they can drive in anything, schools will dismiss early, churches will cancel services, etc.  The grocery store shelves are already empty with no bread, milk, eggs, lunch meat, grab and go snacks in sight.

We have a small generator so should the power grid fail (meaning no heat in the house) we can power a few basics plus one furnace.  Our pantry stays pretty well stocked (we both grew up in snow country), water continues to flow even when the power goes off (unlike where we grew up), and we're well stocked on batteries for our portable lanterns.  

Our biggest concern is the effect of the freezing ran and sleet on our mature oak trees.  We lost the top out of one last time this happened and we anticipate more damage this time around.  Given that concern, we took the glass bottles off our bottle tree and stored them in DH's workshop for the duration.  No need to mix broken glass in with broken tree limbs.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This, That, and More

In the game of bobbin chicken, this has to be my "best finish" to date. 

I had literally just finished the seam. Whew!

A long time ago, I pulled this mix of grays to use as backing for Fandango (Macnas series no. 7) since the "light" rectangles featured a lot of grayed neutrals.

Once up on the design wall it was a quick NO WAY - this is too dull and heavy.

(Note:  later in the day I decided to make a second set of January placemats for 2027 using the large scale KF print; I've tried numerous times to work it into a quilt but it has never played well and it really needs to stop hanging around in the stash)

I wasn't sure this Rubin design from eQuilter would work but it was the largest piece of stash yardage that even came close to Fandango's palette.

Again, it was a NOPE.  

Hmmmmmmm

A quick review of the waiting-to-be-quilted closet yielded this wide back that had been set aside for a future project.

That is not going to happen since it "is just right" to back Fandango.

For the sake of accountability on my weekly challenges, here is my scrappy paper nine-patch.

And my scrappy paper circles featuring 2" punch outs from food packaging.  I may go back in later and add smaller circles in the open areas.

This is my shipping tag for Full Deck Challenge 4 (prompts used include cat, red, yellow, clock, flower, ticket, postage stamp)

And lastly, I put the sticker Lynne sent in a magnetic photo holder and added it to the inspiration board in front of my sewing machine. 

Oh, and I've started quilting Trouvaille!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder."

E.B. White

Friday Check-in

The take-a-chance-on-it planter has bloomed beyond anything I'd ever anticipated.  

There are even more blossoms that can be seen here nestled in between and behind with at least two bud stalks still growing.  

Amazing.

I've started and named the journal for my year-long weekly paper nine patches.  

This is the block for week one. 

I've also started and named the journal for my year-long weekly scrappy circles project.

Week one's collage.

This week's Full Deck Challenge 4 shipping tag - from the list of prompts, I chose to work with orange, gold, and butterfly.  

(FDC4 is the label I'm using for this project)

Two more rows have been added to Githerment's quilt top, bringing the total sewn to six.

Only six more rows to go . . . 

And after letting the empty book cover sit for over a year, I've finally decided what I want to do with it and these long-ago prepared signatures.  

I'm naming this journal Raindrops on Roses (Raindrops for short) and I think I have a pretty good idea on how to finish the cover before sewing the signatures inside.

* * *

Every year I put together a Shutterfly book with my finished quilts (and now photos of finished journals, etc.).  I'm happy to say I finished creating and ordering the 2025 book earlier this week.  A labor of love to be sure, I'm glad I started this ritual way back when.  Seeing the annual books lined up on the shelf and being able to flip through them at will reminds me of how far I've come since my first foray into a quilt shop in late 2003.

DH, YS, and I have successfully navigated the transition from our old phone carrier to the new one and from our older phones to our newer ones.  That journey included now-resolved issues with YS's SIM card and DH's paired hearing aids microphone dispute, both of which involved repeated trips back to Costco for sorting.  Here at home we also dealt with a host of no-longer-avoidable charging-related upgrades.

Funny how transferring data from the old phone to the new one is now the easiest part of the process.

Quiltdivajulie

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"I don't have a train of thought.  I have seven trains on four tracks that narrowly avoid each other when their paths cross while all seven conductors are screaming."

(seen recently on an art print by an unknown maker)

2026 Begins

One of the things I want to do this year is to take a photo like this one on the first of each month.  No particular reason, I just want to document the seasonal changes.

We had a light frost overnight but the afternoon temperature was 62 with a very light breeze, which meant I could sit on the back porch to regroup after spending most of the day packing Christmas away.

I'll get January's seasonal decor put out in the next day or so.

I had so much fun with last year's Full Deck Challenge 3 and, since there is going to be a Full Deck Challenge 4 (with a major twist), I'm going to participate once again using manila shipping tags instead of playing cards.

This is my first tag's front side.

And this is the reverse side.  This year, the back of each week's card will feature a strip of washi tape along with the prompts that I use (the video linked above explains more about the prompt approach for this year's challenge).

* * *

Our new phones were delivered late Tuesday.  Our representative was not scheduled to work on New Year's Eve day and Costco closes for New Year's Day.  So Friday will be our day to take the phones to the kiosk at Costco and get the transfer from our old carrier to the new one finalized and the phones activated.  

Eventually I WILL get back into the sewing/quilting studio - I promise!!

Quiltdivajulie

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"There are no wrong turns.  Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."

Guy Gavriel Kay