The Rest of the Series

I've finished the first three quilts in the Macnas series (Macnas, Reverie, and Tuxie-Tude).

This set of sewn pairs will become number 4 - Vellichor (the beautiful wistfulness of used book stores; the strange romance evoked by the smell of old books and paper).

As soon as these are pressed, they'll be sorted into 18 rows and sewing of the quilt top can begin.

This set of pinned pairs will become number 6 - Wallaroo (Common name for species of Australian macropods intermediate in size between kangaroos and wallabies)

I'll use these as leader enders as I sew the top for Vellichor.

(number 5 - Rubricate (to mark with red) is nearing flimsy status with only 7 more long horizontal rows to be sewn)

This set of pinned pairs will become number 7 - Fandango (Fandango is a vibrant and lively shade of purple with pink undertones, often associated with a lively and energetic feel. It falls within the spectrum of magenta tones, offering a bold and eye-catching hue that can evoke a sense of creativity and fun.)

I'll use these as leader enders as I sew the quilt top below.

These sewn pairs will become number 8 - Grandiose (name inspired by the Philip Jacobs backing fabric's selvage).

Once pressed and sorted into rows, I'll use Fandango (above) as leader enders as I sew the top for Grandiose.

These sewn pairs will become number 9 - Enchanted (adj. – utterly delighted or captivated; fascinated; charmed or under a spell; bewitched; magical).

Once pressed and sorted, I'll sew these into a quilt top using the pinned pairs for Hanabi (below) as leader enders.

These pinned pairs will become number 10 Hanabi (Japanese word meaning fireworks).

They will be used as leader enders as I sew Enchanted's pairs into a quilt top.

These pinned pairs will become number 11 - Morning Fog (name inspired by an early morning waterfront photo).

I'm very happy with the softer assortment of scrappy neutrals - the evicted grays simply did not play well with the light blues.

And finally these pinned pairs will become number 12 - Paint Party (inspired by photos of Young Man helping paint a restaurant's patio fence).

The planned alternate gray rectangles from Morning Fog were also a fail here - instead I used Tula Pink's Fairy Dust (white) which totally supports the inspiration's "happy" vibe.

For all of these projects, you can click on their name labels at the end of the post to see their individual back stories/progression posts.

* * *

Now that all the planning, cutting, pinning, and pairing is out of the way, let's see if I can find enough time to sit and sew/quilt so these are finished by year end.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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Do something.  If it works, do more of it.  If it doesn't, do something else."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tuxie-Tude - the Quilt

Tuxie-Tude has become a finished quilt.  

Started in early 2024 this is the third in my series of twelve Macnas quilts.

I managed to get these photos outdoors between rain showers - it was seriously breezy and very damp.

The clips are a new set similar to the other pool-chair-towel-holding-clips I've used before (toucans and flamingos - all three sourced from Amazon.com) 

These parrots definitely have the best ability to hold the quilt on the fence on windy days.

And then . . . we have the pieced backing.  DH jokingly suggested I keep it far away from any runaway zebras lest they use it for camouflage.

Quilted with Glide thread in Sterling using my liberated free motion nested spirals.

The finished quilt measures 52" x 72" - I'm glad I swapped out the binding at the last minute.  I like this white with sets of black stripes better than my originally planned black with crooked white stripes.

Quiltdivajulie

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"We must cultivate our own garden."

Voltaire

Lots of Things

Here are the promised glimpses of our "blueberries and daisies" decor for June.

First off is our mantel.

The finished dining room wall quilt - Meadow Flowers.

Three of the placemats in action on the dining room table where we eat lunch and dinner every day as well as our weekly family dinners.

Week 23's prompt for the Full Deck Challenge 3 is "repeat."

The front of my shipping tag features rows of repeating numbers on a vintage 

computer card, repeating zig zags on the washi tape strips, and words from The Little Engine that Could.

The back of my tag features the infamous repeating phrase from Dr. Seuss's book.

I have finished piecing the scrappy backing for Tuxie Tude (shown here hanging over the stairway balcony before I sewed the final top-to bottom seam).

And now the quilt sandwich is pin basted and hanging out with Max - I'm hoping to start quilting very soon.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Creativity is contagious.  Pass it on."

Albert Einstein

Every Step Counts

Now that the seasonal decor items for June are finished (photos of them in use are pending), I went ahead and pin basted the noodle-rolled parts for July's "red white and MOO" themed wall quilt.

Originally a 2006-vintage horizontal panel, I cut it apart and reconfigured it into a vertical arrangement.  This is next in line for quilting (after Reverie) so it gets finished and out of the studio sooner instead of later.

With Reverie under Max's needle, it was time to pin baste the long-ago-noodle-rolled parts for Haru so I could prep another quilt for basting.  

(Haru is a Japanese word for spring)

Haru will be an anniversary gift early next year.

And with the double-length pool noodles empty, I pulled out Tuxie-Tude (another of my Macnas series - see links in sidebar or the dedicated page HERE).

I've measured the three main fabrics for the back so I know what I have to work with, cut the binding strips, and measured the 8" (fin.) insert strip at nearly 3.5 yards long - I will have just over 40" of it leftover after making the pieced backing.

Once I decide how I want to design the backing, I'll get it pieced and onto one of the empty noodles (the other noodle will hold the batting).  And then it will be time to pin baste since my goal is to have Tuxie-Tude ready for July.  

In the background, I'm piecing the rows for Rubricate (another Macnas series quilt) and if the planets align I'll have it quilted and finished before July ends.   

(Rubricate -  to mark or color with red)

It does feel good to see progress happening. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"We live in a rainbow of chaos."

Paul Cezanne

TUXIE-TUDE, the Flimsy

Tuxie-Tude is a full-fledged quilt top / flimsy.  

Measuring 52" wide x 72" long, it contains 468 rectangles.

I mentioned in an earlier post that the only colors in this top are the flashes of color in the Tula Pink zebra print.

Here you can catch a glimpse of turquoise and pink.

Pink ears . . . 

Purple and aqua . . . 

Splashes of yellow and a hint of lime green . . . 

Along with orange and a bit more purple.

The top has been pressed but I need to go over it with a lint roller and make sure I remove all the marker pins (like the 6 in this photo) before I fold/hang it in the "waiting to be quilted" closet.

* * *

At one point on Sunday, I realized I had several missed calls and texts on my phone -- turned two were from Dr. Foot and the others were from the hospital where I was scheduled to have my surgery today.  

There was a pipe break Saturday night with water damage to the OR areas and the staging rooms for OR equipment; meaning that all of today’s elective surgeries were cancelled (including mine).  

I'm now waiting to hear from Dr. Foot's most-excellent assistant regarding rescheduling.  

This was NOT expected, to say the least. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Black and white photography erases time from the equation."

Jason Peterson

Where Things Stand

As I stitched the final six rows together for Tuxie-Tude's top, it dawned on me that I didn't want to use the planned brights on black for backing after all.  

I want to keep the black and white theme going; so I'll use these three KF prints (onion rings, jumble, and sharks teeth) to create a giant off-center four patch and bind Tuxie-Tude with Brandon Mably's wobbly striped Creased.

I'm also going to include a vertical insert strip made from the sewn-together leftover segments (shown in the photo's foreground) edged with leftover Dr. Seuss binding.

But . . . 

There might not be much, if any, action in the studio for the next month (or so).

Dr. Foot, the ortho specialist, met with me a few days ago and told me what I suspected/feared he might.  The replacement joint in my left big toe is failing after 20 years.  That pain is radiating through the forefoot and arch and making it hard to walk.  

There's no recourse for treatment other than to replace that failing joint so, I have "reconstructive foot outpatient surgery" scheduled for October 7 with at least two pre-op appointments between now and then.  I'll be off that foot for the first three weeks other than moving from the chair to the table for meals and/or to the bathroom and back to the recliner while wearing a special heel-walking surgical shoe. 

And between now and then -- younger son has a half-day gastro procedure next week while DH's second cataract surgery is being pushed back at least two to three weeks until the last of the double vision in the first eye resolves.

Lots of multi-aspect pre-planning happening . . . so grateful for the synchronized calendars on our phones.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Keep a notebook.  Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it.  Slap into it every stray thought that flutters into your brain.  Paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory."

Jack London

Tuxie-Tude Moves Forward

Over the past couple of weeks, twelve of Tuxie-Tude's eighteen rows have been sewn.

Those twelve rows have been sewn into six pairs of rows (shown above).

Here's a close up so you can see some of the many fabrics from the stash.

Another close up showing a few more.

And a third close up with even more fabrics.

It's been a long time since I've made an all black and white quilt -- the only color in this Macnas-inspired top comes from the random  color flashes in the Tula Pink zebra print.

There are six more rows (three pairs) still to be sewn before the pairs of rows can be sewn into a quilt top.

It really does feel good to make and be able to see progress happening.

Quiltdivajulie

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"When life throws you a rainy day -- play in the puddles."

Winnie the Pooh 

Tuxie-Tude Moves Forward

Nearly 475 pairs of black and whites sewn, pressed, and sorted based on the darker fabric.

(there are at least six different white dot on black prints on the one tray)

There will be eighteen rows in the quilt, so I sorted each of the stacks from the trays onto these plates.

The pairs on each plate will become one row.

Four rows sewn into two pairs of rows.  

This two-rows-at-a-time approach worked well for Macnas and for Reverie, so I will use the same method for Tuxie-Tude.

One seam at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Women belong in all the places where decisions are being made."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Only Ten Long Seams to Go

Tropical Canyon is moving right along.

Once I press these eleven sets of strips, only ten more long seams remain before flimsy status is achieved.

I've been using the pinned pairs for Tuxie-Tude as leader enders - very happy to see how many are now sewn and finger pressed.

Today is the first day of school for Young Man so it seems right to share some of our August back-to-school decor.

(several local school systems started last week - the rest start this week)

One end of our mantel - the crayons are gone, replaced with freshly sharpened colored pencils and multiplication flash cards. 

On the kitchen table, a large jar of Scrabble letters are available for spelling out different words and phrases.

(the kitchen table quilt this month is Shift Happens)

And Young Man managed to check off one last square on his summer reading bingo card by "reading a book on a bench" while he was here for his birthday dinner. 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Honor the space between no longer and not yet."

Nancy Levin

Mish Mash Monday V2

This is our new (replacement) mailbox - we love it!

The box itself is larger than the destroyed one and we can now put a Large Priority Mail box inside with room to spare.

This is the side we see from our front porch.

Indoors in the studio - All 450+ scrappy red and neutral rectangles for Rubricate are cut and pinned into pairs.

I'll use yardage to back Rubricate - sale-priced Kaffe Fassett 85 and Fabulous line's Beach Balls.

The 450+ rectangles for Tuxie-Tude are also cut and paired, meaning I can now use my empty cutting table to pin baste Hoppipolla.

Even better, all 900+ rectangles (for BOTH Rubricate and Tuxie-Tude) came out of the resource boxes!

I plan to piece a backing for T-T using a mix of these glorious bright-on-black prints.  

Here are the first eight of the eighteen rows for Reverie on the design wall.

Here's a detail showing just some of the fabrics.  

I loved working with these colors when I made Gotta Love It  and its backing in 2011 and I'm still loving them today.

* * *

Young Man was supposed to spend this week with us in order to attend Mud Camp just down the road from our house.  But he's had a high fever for the past week and everything is on hold until after he sees his pediatrician again Monday morning.   We'll see how things evolve.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Release harsh, critical judgment and just play.  Life's too short to stress over art."

Lanie Smith