The Tale of Trouvaille - a Squirrel Story

Back in January I decided to make an all-pink quilt using fabrics in the stash - squirrel alert.

My initial plan was to use the Happy Strips pattern by Quilty Love like I used for Brumous.

A few weeks later, that plan changed to making another Maggie Pearl quilt (same design as I used for RUTH - which was donated as a top to Many Hands Many Hearts to become a comfort quilt).

And in mid-June Lynne decided to use green scraps and make another Deco quilt from the book Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers - see her post HERE.

Well - THAT got the squirrels in my studio all excited.  

The photo above shows my array of pink strips ready to be sub cut into rectangles to make a Deco quilt of my own.  

(Later on I pulled out the dark pink with black dots and substituted another fabric in its place - ditto for the strip with blue polka dots)

Thursday evening, after all of the segments were cut and prepped, I sorted them into groups of three and then stacks of ten blocks.  My layout will be 9 blocks wide by 12 blocks long - 56" x 72" ish.

It doesn't show well in the photos, but my accent square's fabric has just a touch of iridescence and dimensionality.  That fabric has been in the stash and I've resisted using it because so I don't run out - silly me.  There's always more fabric!

Why did I choose that fabric for my accent squares?

The photo above might help explain my reasoning.  The panel will be part of Trouvaille's pieced backing.

(Oh - and I forgot to add that Trouvaille is a French noun meaning something lovely discovered by chance)

As of Friday evening, here are the first five rows of pressed blocks on the design wall.

By Saturday noon-time, the rest of the blocks were sewn together and ready to be pressed.

Like so many other places, it is V-E-R-Y H-O-T here (heat indexes predicted to easily top 100 several days this week) so I need to use the iron early in the morning and not late in the day.

* * *

The squirrels and I are very happy about this design change.  The previously stalled project is now moving forward quickly and should become a top soon. 

I've even had a Eureka kind of idea for the backing - stay tuned for that.

(That's an older photo of Flash and Mischief - you can read more about my studio squirrels and the Ad Hoc Squirrel Club using the links below and in the blog's sidebar)

Quiltdivajulie

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"You are trying to understand madness with logic.  This is not unlike searching for darkness with a torch."

Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland

We Interrupt This Program to Introduce ...

Meet Lady Red Squirrel.  She goes by Scarlett with her family and friends.

The artist shares a backstory for each of his animal portraits and includes it on his Etsy site and on a lovely card that comes with the order - here is Scarlett's:

"Lady Red Squirrel - Fed up with being patronized by human park goers, this redhead founded the internationally renowned club: Never Underestimate Tree Squirrels [N.U.T.S.]. She now serves as the group's president and chief party planner."

And this is Gentleman Squirrel who goes by Douglas.

This is his backstory as told by the artist:

Gentleman Squirrel - Tragically this squirrel has a vicious peanut allergy. He is researching antidotes using rare wild mushrooms but in the meantime, he luckily lives in an area with an abundance of nutritious berries.

Douglas and Scarlett sitting on my pressing table . . . 

. . . and at home on the wall in my sewing studio where they can hang out with Hunter, Lady Violet, and Flash (Mischief's cousin) as members of the Ad-Hoc Squirrel Club.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men."

Roald Dahl

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day

As my regular readers know, I have a lot of fun with the squirrel concept including the Ad Hoc Squirrel Club.

First there was Chase.  

Then there was Hunter.  

Then there was Flash.

Then there was Mischief.

And more recently Violet joined the scurry.

(and it is all Dug's fault - you know, the dog in the movie UP who frequently stopped mid sentence to exclaim "Squirrel!")

This  photo was sent to me by Louise  who noticed this winter-season-dressed squirrel during her recent visit to Montreal.  

Thankfully I am not alone in my chasing of squirrels.

There are lots of you out there who are self-identified members of the Ad-Hoc Squirrel Club (linked above) and probably a lot more who haven't actually ID'd themselves yet. 

(remember, it is never too late to join the party)

Mari (on a blogging hiatus) sent me this fun photo a while back.

(Fair warning - squirrels can be very convincing!)

And here's a fun vintage graphic that Louise discovered while doing research on a completely different subject.

You can see lots of other posts featuring my studio squirrels by clicking on the different labels at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy! 

Quiltdivajulie

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Double click the image below to enjoy one of my all-time favorite Non Sequitur comic strips --

The Squirrels Are Back - Introducing Blossoms

Last week I chanced upon this post and Flash, one of my studio squirrels, took off like there was no tomorrow.

Instead of a baby quilt, I opted to create a larger throw (54" x 72" 'ish) which meant I needed to cut a lot more rectangles than shown in the tutorial.

Roughly 380 greens ones -- they filled two trays when sorted by fabric before the pairs shown here were pinned for chain piecing.

And roughly 200 pink rectangles, shown here sorted by fabric.

Happily all of the greens and about 1/3 of the pinks came from fabric pieces stashed in the resource boxes.  The other 2/3 of the pink was cut from yardage.

The first batch of finger-pressed pieced blocks.

Flash waiting with the entire group of pieced blocks "before" pressing.

All of the freshly-pressed blocks - with Flash lurking in the background.  

(blocks sorted by the 21 different pink fabrics)

Time to start piecing the eighteen rows!

Quiltdivajulie

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"I'm definitely not one of those focused people who can finish one piece before starting the next.  I have found, though, that I don't run out of inspiration this way."

Robyn Gold

100 Day Project 2023

Flash invited his cousin Mischief to visit.

Guess who has decided to take up residence? 

The two of them really are quite the pair . . . 

Here they're investigating the bin of skinny fabric cutoffs that I will use for one of the multiple mixed media projects I want to complete during the tenth annual 100 Days Challenge, namely a snippet roll.

Of course, they had to jump into the scrap bin . . . 

This is the second of the planned projects - commonly called a junk journal (there will actually be three junk journals if all goes as planned).

(Junk Journal: A book which is often made through found and recycled materials to be used as a way to collect and record memories, thoughts, ideas, and inspiration.)

I bought two inexpensive 3-ring photo albums and filled them with cut-in-half 5" x 7" blank Kraft greeting cards with a few envelopes added to the mix.

I have pulled out a stack of saved greeting cards and other flat bits along with a shoebox filled with vintage lace bits, sari yarn,  buttons, and more fabric crumbs to make one journal for papers, one involving fabrics and fibers, and a third I'll describe later on.

I went ahead and added these two stickers to the first blank page of the paper-themed book, just to get over my empty journal syndrome.  

I have no idea how this will evolve but my goal is to spend 15-20 minutes a day on each page.

Another project is this still-blank leather journal that was gifted to me nearly 20 years ago. 

For this one, I'll use the smash book approach and fill it with quotations, flat bits, and who knows what else.  

Last but not least I re-discovered this See Rock City journal (still blank) that Cherie (no blog) gifted to me.  I've gathered my AQS contestant ribbons, the name/number cards from the AQS shows where SRC was displayed before the book was published, and any notes from SSOBB members that survived.  I'll also add my own notes and some form of chronology to this journal (combination junk journal and smash book).

* * *

My overarching goal for this year's challenge is to indulge myself in the mixed-media rabbit hole while not falling in so deeply I cannot escape.  (I'm blaming my studio squirrels Chase, Hunter, Flash and Mischief for this short-term diversion.)

But never fear, I am a quilt maker at heart and I plan to continue working on my quilts during and well beyond the next 100 days!

Quiltdivajulie

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Advice from a Squirrel

1.  Plan ahead

2.  Stay active

3.  Spend time in the woods

4.  Go out on a limb

5.  It's okay to be a little nuts

Moving Forward

The top for Rident has been sewn together, borders added, pressed, and rolled onto a pool noodle for pin basting.   

53" x 67"

I changed the plan for Rident's backing.  Instead of the Seussical scrappy back, I chose a group of brights on black, some of which are shown here.  

The one fish-two fish strips will be used as binding.

These are the two WOF back panels (folded in half for now) with the center strip not yet sewn in place. 

Now, you may be wondering why I changed the backing plan for Rident.

It was entirely the fault of Flash, my newest studio squirrel.

(as in flash of inspiration)

Keep reading and you'll understand.

The first three panels of off cuts and leftovers sewn together measure roughly 44" wide x 55" long.  

When younger son spotted this on the design wall he exclaimed "that would be perfect as my chair quilt."

And just like that, another Dr. Seuss quilt was born.

The two long sections of strip set end cuts from Rident will make excellent full-length inserts for the back.

After a bit of pondering, the latest in what has become a series of three Seuss quilts has been named BON MOT ("a witty remark or comment; clever saying; witticism).

Moving ahead, one seam at a time. 

* * *

p.s. The birthday presents did get finished in time and were well received.  I'll share photos later this week.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

Oscar Wilde