March Recap and Looking Ahead

During March, I quilted and finished Incandescent - a soon to be gifted quilt.

I also finished Daydreams (formerly known as Tropical Canyon) - another soon to be gifted quilt.

There was one completed quilt top - Morning Fog, Macnas series no. 11.

I also made two new pillowcases for Young Man reflecting his love of Lego, math, and science.

* * *

Looking ahead, Razzle Dazzle is next up for quilting.

Grandiose, Macnas series no. 8, will then become next in line for quilting.

And at the sewing machine, the rows are being assembled for Paint Party, Macnas series no. 12.

* * *

Charlotta asked a question that I want to answer here.  

"Am I right that you have been speeding up your work on them [the Macnas quilts] lately? If so, is there a reason for that? And one additional question: how many of them do you still have? It would be fantastic, I think, to do a show of all of them together when you’re finished!"

Yes, I have been more focused on the remaining Macnas series quilts - because I'm determined to get the series finished before year end (I want to use the twelve quilts for my 2027 annual wall calendar).  

As to the finished quilts - I have all of them and plan to keep them here until the series, including the bonus quilts, is completed; just in case I need to take additional photos.  Down the road there are a few that I plan to set aside for different gifting opportunities but the rest I plan to keep.  

Once the finish line is crossed, I do plan to do a retrospective post (or two) for the entire series; but in the meantime you are welcome to visit My Macnas Quilts page here on the blog.  

Finally, this is the April first photo of our backyard.  The above-ground pots that are not home to hostas have been planted with annuals, and the first few blossoms have started to appear on the azalea despite the many yellowed leaves from the late freeze of a week or so ago.

You can see the earlier monthly photos by clicking on the monthly recap label below.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Where flowers bloom so does hope."

Lady Bird Johnson

Incandescent - the Quilt

The seeds for this quilt arrived in September 2023 when Wanda and I shared a fabric swap.   

I got serious about the project in January 2025 when I cut lots of additional 2" strips from my stash.

Inspired by my Hoppipolla quilt, I adjusted the math from 1.5" strips to 2" and started with my original plan - light outer strips and a warm-toned color in the center - you can see the test blocks HERE.

Even though we initially liked those test blocks, by April I realized I was avoiding the project because that "like" had disappeared.  

I unpinned all of the sets and re-did them into the blocks you see in the finished quilt.

By August I was stitching the blocks as leader-enders while I pieced the rows and top for Grandiose.

The flimsy (quilt top) was finished in October 2025, as were the backing and binding.

And then other things took priority and the quilting had to wait.  

The quilt sandwich was pin basted at the very end of February 2026 . 

And now, at last, Incandescent is finished.

It measures 51" x 70" and was quilted using Glide thread in Coral and my liberated all-over free motion spiral fans.

Backing - Benartex Fabrics Flower Festival - Pansy Display - in Crocus

Binding - Kaffe Fassett's Shiraz PWGP194

Gifting will take place in mid-April but I can enjoy it until then.

* * *

Next up for pin basting and quilting will be Daydreams (formerly known as Tropical Canyon), the second of the three gift quilts. 

A while ago, Lynne bought yardage to back one of her quilts and wasn't entirely thrilled with how it "fit" upon its arrival.  

She offered it to me and I knew it was perfect for this quilt top but the original name no longer fit, hence the change.

Quiltdivajulie

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Thought for today:  Why the push for quilters to use up their stash?  No one asks stamp collectors to mail letters . . . 

Incandescent - the Flimsy

Incandescent (adj. - literally or figuratively glowing) is finally a flimsy.

Approximately 53" wide x 71" long.

(you can see the initial post for this quilt HERE - you can see all of the posts for this quilt by using the label below or in the sidebar)

I've made the binding using Kaffe's Shiraz stripe.

I love how well the binding works with the backing, too.  

(Benartex Fabrics Flower Festival – Pansy Display – Crocus; purchased using a 2024 birthday eQuilter gift certificate from the kids)

Incandescent will be gifted next spring, so it can wait in the to-be-quilted closet until after the holidays.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gazing at beautiful things acts on my soul."

Michelangelo

So Many Odds and Ends (and Beginnings)

I'll start this run down with the backing for Kefi (link below). 

Earlier this year, I kept a basket of leftover strata after making Young Man's quilt named Dragon Fyre.  

Now I have found the perfect way to use them - I sewed the segments end to end and created a long insert strip for the back seam in Kefi's backing.  

I posted Kefi's flimsy finish HERE along with a bit of the quilt's back story. (July 2022)

(Note - for any of the quilts shown here, you can click on their label at the bottom of the post to see all posts for the projects)

Incandescent is now two horizontal seams shy of becoming a finished quilt top.

Stay tuned . . . 

All the leftover trimmings and such from Esperance, Haru, and several other projects have been sewn together into a piece that measures 14" wide x 115" long.

I plan to use part of it to make an Easter/Spring runner for the buffet in our dining room.  Once I know how much is left, I can decide how I want to use the remaining section.

(no rush on this one)

I have pin basted and chosen quilting thread for Thankful, the new November wall quilt for our dining room.

This will be the next project under Max's needle, to be followed by Vellichor and Coddiwomple.

My goal is to have all three finished by month end.  

Time will tell.

The box of rectangles leftover from the 12 Macnas-inspired quilts has been staring at me from the closet shelf.

This batch will become Rastro (although the segments will have 6 rectangles and not 8 as shown above).

I chose to leave out the dark browns and aboriginals (of which there weren't very many of either one).

Here are Rastro's 78 6-block segments sorted out for eventual piecing - not until next year.

Once Rastro was sorted and put away, I still had a pretty large pile of rectangles along with 20 pairs from Grandiose.

I decided it was time to make 20 seemingly-everywhere-online potato chip blocks using the Grandiose pairs as the consistent (but scrappy) centers.  Since taking this photo, I've also sorted the light rectangles onto these plates. 

I found the KF yardage (top of photo) that was set aside for a someday backing that will work perfectly for this 48" x 60" ish quilt that I've named MOTLEY (adjective - a mixture of often incongruous elements). 

Only a few rectangles left now - not sure what I'll use them for but I'll figure that out next year.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Getting organized is a sign of self-respect."

Gabrielle Bernstein

I'm Still Making

The second large section of Incandescent has been sewn together.  There is one more section with five rows and then the three sections can be turned into a quilt top.

When I pulled the October decor out of the attic closet that runs alongside my studio, I was delighted at how well the autumn oranges play with the colors on the design wall.  

Now I know the gift recipient of this someday-finished quilt is going to love it even more.

Earlier this month I mentioned a stalled altered book I'm working on that started with an aging Nancy Drew mystery that YS found in a nearby Little Free Library.

I've painted the front cover, leaving only Nancy's face and added some cut out words to break up the negative space.  The words below her neckline are 'remembering what matters.'

I've named this journal AN UNFOLDING STORY.

Inside the front cover - I kept the title page of the book and will keep it tucked in the pocket along with a card that includes the project's pertinent facts.

Each page has been collaged with a thin book page (most all in a mix of foreign languages) and I've started adding quotes and random passages I'd saved for 'someday' here and there within the book.

The addition of additional ephemera and text will be a longer term effort - I'll add bits and pieces as I come across things I want to preserve.

The idea for this journal came from a recent series of posts and videos from Meg of megjournals sharing the evolution of her 'creative commonplace' journal (a blend that includes elements from the traditional commonplace book as well as junque journaling).   

The part that makes me the happiest is that I am finally getting over my personal hangup about using my own handwriting/printing and adding it directly onto the book's pages instead of prepping it first and then gluing it into the book.  That's huge progress for me.

I also created my shipping tag for the Full Deck Challenge's week 39 prompt - stars.

I love this washi tape and it couldn't be more perfect for the prompt.  I added some additional sparkly stars using nail decals I picked up at one of the local 'dollar' type stores.

On the reverse I added five more sparkly stars and one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes quotes - "If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they'd live a lot differently.  When you look into infinity, you realize there are more important things than what people do all day."

* * *

With the imminent arrival of October, I've realized I need to get Esperance quilted.  I want to get Coddiwomple quilted/finished along with Macnas-inspired No. 5 Vellichor so they can be used during the next couple of months before it's time to unpack the Christmas decor.  

Looks like I need to cut back on my daytime reading and spend a bit more time in the studio . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

Incandescent Moves Forward

As I finished up the top for Grandiose, I also finished the rest of the blocks for Incandescent.

(one row missing here - I ran out of design wall at the bottom)

First three rows assembled . . . 

As of last night, six rows had been sewn and joined.

Only 12 more to go.

The top so far is finger pressed - I plan to properly press each of the six row sections before they are joined together.

And as I'm sewing the blocks together for Incandescent, I'm using HSTs for Xanadu as my leader enders.  

* * *

And Esperance is still waiting patiently on Max's table . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy."

Marie Curie

Moving Forward Again

My energy is returning -- and while this post might look like I was crazy productive since my last post, it actually shows the results of a week's worth of "a little here and a little there."

Our September decor is out - sunflowers and apples with a few black and white touches like these ceramic acorns.

Every year after school started, my mom would take us to the apple orchard where she would buy a whole bushel of apples to make applesauce for the winter months.  The owner always gave each of us girls an apple and one year, I lost my first tooth when I bit into mine.

I've added another few rows to Grandiose (Macnas-inspired no. 8) so now there just a very few more to go.

I had hoped to have all 12 quilts in the series finished by year end - I now realize I'll be happy if I have all 12 quilt TOPS finished in 2025. The remaining four are ready for layout and assembly so I'm pretty sure I can meet this revised goal; and if 2-3 of them get quilted as well, then hooray.

The leader-ender block progress for Incandescent is moving this one forward on the design wall.  Once all the blocks are sewn and pressed, I'll do a bit of rearranging (maybe) before sewing the top together.

I finally decided on the alternate fabric for these 3" HSTs and got everything die cut so I can prep Xanadu (not previously blogged about) to become another leader-ender project as I continue my way through the series of Macnas-inspired quilt tops.  Each of the color stacks contains at least 4-5 or more different fabrics/prints/textures.

Once all the HSTs are made, I'll decide on the final layout - for now I'm happy to have this part of the prep work done.

Finally, after thinking about it for several days, I created my week 36 shipping tag for Shana's Full Deck Challenge 3.  

This is the tag's reverse side - as you might have guessed, the prompt was Flowers.

I also worked in many short sessions to create a total of 60 altered vintage slide frames.

This group features postage stamps with bits of torn tea bags.

Another group has bits of old road maps.

All the others have different types of script or text in their windows.  All of these will make great bits to add into my journals and altered book projects.

There are lots of tutorials out there for altered slides - most of them completely disguise the original printed words and logos with paint or paper.  I tried one or two that way and they felt all wrong, so I went back to my ink pad method with little bits of collage.  

* * * 

I'm not 100% yet as my focus/attention span is still shorter than usual and I still need an occasional rest break, but I'm delighted to be doing as much as I am.  

We've also had some marvelously cooler weather which means reading on the back porch.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Everything has a value, provided it appears at the right place at the right time.  It's a matter of recognizing that value, that quality, and then to transform it into something that can be used.  If you come across something valuable and tuck it away in your metaphorical suitcase there's sure to come a moment when you can make use of it."  Jurgen Bey

Catch Up Post

Grandiose (Macnas series no. 8) now has its first 8 rows sewn and pressed.  Only ten more rows to go. 

The three-strip blocks for Incandescent are my leader-ender project whilst stitching the top for Grandiose.

For every two rows of Grandiose, I get thirteen finished blocks for Incandescent. 

Slow and steady.

Esperance is finally pin basted . . . 

. . .  and ready to be quilted.  

I have been thinking that I'll use the same amethyst thread used for Haru, but I am also wondering about a soft pink?

I finished cleaning up some odds and ends on the paper play table.  These four book covers have been updated and repurposed.

Two of them have papers bound inside using a three-hole pamphlet stitch.  

The other two have three-ring binders.  

The reproduction Country Diary book is filled with an eclectic group of papers while the postage stamp cover has a single sheet with notes to myself for the time I am inspired to fill it with papers.

(you may remember the postage stamp cover from this past spring's Postcard Swap - I ended up storing the postcards I received in a small wood box which meant the cover was fair game for a future project)

The prompt for Week 34 of Full Deck Challenge 3 (Shanouki Arts You Tube channel) is "happy scraps."

This is the front of my tag . . . 

. . . and this is the back.

I've considered several other approaches to this challenge for next year but I keep coming back to how much I enjoy working on these shipping tags.

Creating these tags, I've surprised myself since this is the first year-long (or any other) challenge I've continued for more than a few weeks.  

* * *

I've also just realized we are nearing the end of August and I had intended to make a set of six new placemats for September. 

I've pulled the fabric, pressed it, and will get it pin basted shortly.  I won't have them done by the first of the month, but they will be finished and in use before September ends.

 

Quiltdivajulie

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"If living life is an art, then only you can be the artist to make it colorful."

Sagar Gosavi