Candy Corn - the Quilt

The gift quilt for Young Man's house is done and it even has a tiny label.

Quilted with Glide thread in Raven (supersize to see the purple stitching) using my liberated all-over nested spiral fans.

Candy Corn measures 51" x 70" for the month of October on their living room ottoman.

(details on design and fabrics are here)

The binding is a Paula Nadlestern print with tiny dots and scattered stars in green and shades of orange.  It plays well with the colors in the quilt and adds a bit of sparkle around the edges.

I found the high contrast colors had not always been true in some of my photos so here is the quilt against our backyard grass which is still green but will start moving towards khaki before long.

Backed with spiderwebs on soft black that pre-washed with no bleeding at all.

To be gifted sometime this week. 

* * *

Candy Corn was a mid-September squirrel project that was, amazingly enough, completed three days before the end of September.

Next up is a pair of pillowcases for younger son's bed.  They're cut out and ready for me to sit and sew.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos."

Saul Bellow

August Recap and September Begins

In August I finished Journal for Joy - a scrappy eclectic glue book celebrating all sorts of things that make me smile.  

Holus Bolus, the first of the four Macnas series bonus quilts, was finished.

A stack of harvested Asian bits were transformed into a themed accordion journal.

Pieces and parts were cut, sorted, and pinned into pairs for Scrumdifferous.

I finally finished the long pending Squirrels altered book.

And the set of six reversible scrappy strip-pieced September placemats that were cut out on August 1 had their bindings finished on August 31.

Along the way there was also a lot of stash shuffling and editing, multiple donation boxes were sent out into the world, and the studio squirrels raised a ruckus leading to two more new quilt projects that truly need to wait until after the last three Macnas series bonus quilts are finished.  

And finally, continuing with my year-long series of monthly back yard photos, here is one taken early morning September 1st.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Most people don't want to be part of the process, they just want to be part of the outcome.  But the process is where you figure out who and what's worth being part of the outcome."

Scottie Pippen

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

Digging Into New Projects

Over the weekend, that stack of fabrics for a set of September placemats was transformed into lots and lots of 2.5" strips.  There are a few WOF but most are shorter since they were cut from scraps.  

(The small stacks outside the plastic boxes are the 2" wide leftovers)

The 2" strips were sewn together end to end (pinned to design wall).

Using some of the shorter pieces of 2.5" reds, I made six test blocks using the Duckworth Quilt approach (6" irregular/liberated/improv log cabin blocks).  The blocks are not for this project, but just because I've wondered about using that kind of approach for a future scrappy quilt.

Once I got that out of my system, I sorted the rest of the 2.5" strips into WOF and shorter before sewing the shorter ones into WOF lengths.

Yesterday after attending a funeral mass for the wife of our 30-years-plus next-door neighbors, an afternoon and evening power sewing session ensued resulting in 35 WOF yellow/red strip sets ready for pressing.

Over the weekend, I had also pulled out the stack of fabrics for December's set of five utility mats for our living room and cut these many 6" squares.  I also saved the end cuts and not long after this photo was taken, they were turned into 35 bonus scrappy 6" blocks that will be part of the mix when construction happens later in the fall.  

The best part?  There were far fewer pieces of yardage put back into the stash than what I had pulled out, and I didn't even feel guilty about using the last of several fabrics.

And on a non-fabric note, someone very special turns TEN years old today - it has been an amazing journey so far, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Quiltdivajulie

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"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before."

Edwin Elliot

May Recap and More

Let's start with the June 1 backyard photo . . . the grass is definitely greener and the plants are doing extra well after nearly 2 weeks of rainy days.  

During May, the following projects moved forward:

Hanabi, Macnas series no. 10, is a finished quilt.

Yutori, Macnas series no. 13, is now a quilt top, and so is

Holus-Bolus, the first bonus quilt to come from the Macnas series.

Young Man and his family attended the annual Italian Festival last weekend.  I'm not sure which parent took this photo, but I love it.

DH took this photo (through the kitchen window) of our resident bunny.  He's grown so much from our first sighting earlier this year.  

And finally, as I was putting away a stack of leftover pieces and parts, I realized there was another quilt lurking in that project box.   

The backing under the color groups is one I've had in the stash for a while now and it couldn't be more perfect for this future top.  

* * *

I'm not making any studio predictions for June - I have my 2026 spreadsheet but only time will tell how much I move forward.   

Quiltdivajulie

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"We should learn to ask, "What's not wrong?" and be in touch with that."

Thich Nhat Hanh

Friday Check-In

There are now ten rows sewn together for Morning Fog (Macnas series number 11) . . . only eight more rows to go.

Young Man kept us busy when he spent last weekend with us.  This was one of the quieter moments.

And he did indeed give the backyard swing a workout along with completing an unwanted writing assignment for school.

While taking YM home Sunday evening, DH captured this glorious sunset over the Mississippi.

It is no wonder so many riverfront and near-riverfront residents drive their golf carts to the parks to watch the sun set.

* * *

Next week's calendar is not nearly as full as this week's has been, so I seriously hope to get more time in the studio.  Fingers crossed!

Quiltdivajulie

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"BE A WEED!  A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows."

Doug Larson

Finding My Groove Again

The good news is our tax stuff has been handed off to the tax guy and I've finished/sent out draft minutes from the January-but-delayed-into-February board meeting for Davies Manor Historic Site.  

I'm also up to date with my Full Deck Challenge 4 shipping tags - I really like this one.

The not-so-good news is that Young Man has been coping with a high fever since last Saturday.  A home test over the weekend (and then again mid-week by his pediatrician) confirmed Flu-B.  Thankfully, last night (day 6.75) his fever appears to have broken.  

Next week is spring break at his school which means he'll have those extra days to get his mojo back.

During evening play time, I tried something different with this scrappy circles collage.  

This one isn't glued down yet but it will be before the end of the day.

I liked this combination so much I didn't bother adding any smaller circles.

* * *

On the fabric front:  After a few days of pondering the pin-basted quilt sandwich, I have finally chosen thread for Incandescent, wound bobbins, and started quilting.  Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to share early next week.

* * * 

Outdoors, Mother Nature has been hard at work bringing forth thousands of blossoms on these and other varieties of pink trees and a few gazillion more on the fluffy white Bradford Pear trees our suburban city is known for.  These beautiful spring-flowering trees were one of our happiest discoveries after moving from the snowy north 37 years ago.

Day by day the oak trees are showing more and more of their early-spring lime-green aura which also means Green Season 2026 (aka sticky sickly-yellow-green pollen) has begun.  

AND we shift to Daylight Savings Time this weekend.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Almost Back to Normal

Even though I was "resting" and "regrouping" I got a lot of pending things taken care of this week.

Bills were paid, financial correspondence was dealt with, the fridge and pantry were restocked after Mr. Munchie's adventure here, and the seasonal decor has been changed to green for St. Patrick's Day.

All the while, my Christmas cacti are blooming for a second time with lots of buds still waiting to flower.

The planter we bought for Christmas has lost two of its original plants (leggy, spindly, and pretty much ugly).  The pothos on the other hand is growing happily.

And look what I found late Thursday afternoon -- our first two daffodils.

Granted, they're about half their normal size and there aren't nearly as many buds this year thanks to the prolonged snow/ice/freezing temps.

I'm just elated to see blossoms in the back yard.

* * *

At Young Man's house, he and daddy have finished a project that's been in the works for a while now.

The world map decal ("Oh, the places you'll go") was removed from the wall, the wall was repaired and re-painted, and daddy created the framed backing boards for the three large Lego Technics cars YM has built using roughly 8,000 pieces of Lego.

The nursery that we all worked so hard to create has been changing along the way, but this newest installation really drives home the point that "time and tide waits for no man" (a proverb meaning no one is so powerful that they can stop the march of time).

Quiltdivajulie

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"We shall never know the good that a simple smile can do."

Mother Teresa

More Bits and Pieces

With the top for Rastro laid out on the design wall, I pulled out the project box for Motley, the fourth Macnas bonus quilt.

Featuring the potato chip block design, centers for the twenty 12" blocks will be leftover pairs from Grandiose (no. 8).  

This is the backing and binding for Motley.  I'm so happy to be able to finally use this gorgeous long-stashed Philip Jacobs Snow Leopard yardage.

Because I had so much fun making the Ottoman Quilt and Esperance, I started a project box to collect leftover strips and trimmed backing pieces to make another scrappy quilt top/back.  

And after creating four Macnas bonus quilts, I'm calling an end to using up leftover pieces and parts . . .  So I've added the remaining 2.5" x 4.5" colors to that future scrappy project box.

I also set up a low volume scrappy collection box for these end cuts from the original Macnas series rectangle cuttings as well as any remaining 2.5" x 4.5" pieces.  

(in looking at this photo, I need to move that darker pink print to the other project box)

Day 5 of DH's ongoing efforts to clear the frozen ice/sleet/snow slab from our main driveway.  

(the food-coloring outlining the edges of the driveway is just in case any of the delivery drivers venture out - so far we haven't seen any of them since last Friday)

And across town, this is how Young Man and his friends (and their parents) are spending their snow-day afternoons . . . 

Quiltdivajulie