Paint Party - the Quilt

Paint Party, No. 12 in the Macnas series, is finished.

Quilted using Glide thread in Yellow Whisper and my liberated all-over nested spiral fans.  

I had planned to bind Paint Party using a black and white stripe but after switching backings, I used the same fabric for binding.

(Color Splash Multi purchased from eQuilter)

The palette for Paint Party was inspired by this photo of Young Man helping a local restaurant owner paint her patio fence in early 2025.

Again, I am so glad I made the decision a few weeks back to eventually gift eight quilts from this series, otherwise I would have let myself fall head over heels with Paint Party.

* * *

Next up in the quilting queue will be RUSKA as it needs to be gifted in early August.

Once Ruska is finished, it will be Yutori's turn.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment.  It fashions its own

 perfect moments out of ordinary ones."

Bruce Garrabrandt

Morning Fog - the Quilt

Morning Fog, number 11 in the Macnas series, is finished.

The final binding stitches were taken at 7:50 pm and the outdoor photos were taken just before 8 pm.  

ONLY during the week of the summer solstice can I get decent outdoor photos that late in the day - for which I'm grateful as it is supposed to rain again tomorrow (more on "rain" below).

This was the random online photo that inspired Morning Fog's color palette.

Here is the just-finished quilt on my sewing table under indoor lights.

Quilted with my liberated nested spiral fans using Glide thread in Hawaiian Blue.

Backing - Midnight Floral 108” by Chelsea DesignWorks for Studio-e (a division of Jaftex).

Binding - Down on the Farm by Stacy Hsu for Moda.

I really, really like this quilt.

* * *

This was our back yard on Monday morning.  

We knew it was supposed to rain an inch or so . . . 

. . . but we had NO idea it would rain just over FIVE inches. 

There was so much rain pounding the back roof that one of our living room skylights leaked (first time in almost 20 years).  

Tuesday afternoon DH used his engineering knowledge to safely get on the roof and re-caulk the

skylight's seal.  

Fingers crossed that tomorrow's rain is more drizzle than downpour.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Even when the sky is filled with clouds, the sun still shines above."

Janet Donaghy

Painting a Fence

On their way home from Spring Break, Young Man and his parents stopped for dinner at a local restaurant.  

As they left, they noticed the owner painting the wood fence surrounding her outdoor patio.  

Young Man complimented her on the colors and she invited him to help paint - very fun.

I tucked the photos away in my quilt inspiration folder.

A few weeks later, I found this amazing fabric online and ordered enough for a photo-inspired quilt back 

The fabric itself is fine but the colors are so much less vibrant than that online image (and no bleeding when it was laundered) . . . color me beyond disappointed.

I didn't want to give up on the idea entirely so I sent that backing to the someday-I'll-be-a-backing-for-something-else closet and decided to keep my eyes open for another option.

Lo and behold, I chanced across this panel and its coordinating fabric (below) over the weekend in the clearance section at eQuilter.

And then a thought occurred to me . . . 

I have a box of leftover pieces from the making of Dragon Fyre and I'm guessing that if the quilting fairy is in a good mood, I'll be able to use quite a few of them in this new project that I'm calling PAINTING A FENCE.

Time will tell how and when this evolves.

And you can see where our total rainfall ended up once the storm moved on . . . we're seriously soggy but otherwise still standing.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

Thomas Edison

Old Books - a New Quilt Begins

Audrey's recent post (CLICK HERE) sent me scurrying to the stash.

In 2004, when I was a very new quilt maker, I made a quilt named Decadent Dreaming for our chocolate-loving oldest son and his also-a-chocolate-loving fiancé (gifted Christmas 2005).

The remains from a few of those gorgeous browns are still in my stash, and when I saw Audrey's Folksy Baskets quilt top I knew exactly what I wanted/needed to do -- use them to create another "two-color" Macnas-inspired quilt.  

But what to name this project?  When I asked DH and YS, they suggested Chocolate Cream (as in pie) and Waffle Cone (as in ice cream).  Hmmmm . . . good but not quite the vibe I was feeling.

(photos above are from unknown online sources)

That evening I went to put something on my art table and noticed  a pile of vintage books waiting to be put away . . . .  and the quilt-to-be instantly named itself.

OLD BOOKS (updated to VELLICHOR - "the strange romance evoked by the scent of old books and paper."

No time table for Vellichor beyond getting the strips cut and the stacks of yardage and scraps off my cutting table so I can pin baste Spoondrift.  In the meantime, I am going to re-read this book.  I loved it the first time so I'm looking forward to another visit.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"The principle of true art is not to portray, but to evoke."

Jerzy Kosinski

And Then She Changed Her Mind - DD 12 the Flimsy

For those of you who may have lost track, this was one of my Nov. 2022 inspiration photos for the twelfth Dumpster Diving quilt named Confetti.

When it came time to finally sew DD 12's blocks together yesterday, the sashing shown in previous posts was left behind.

It wasn't needed and it actually detracted from what I've always loved most about the DD quilts, namely the way the colors crash into and collide with each other.

Here's another of the inspiration photos . . . 

And another of the freshly pressed quilt top.

(too windy for outdoor on-the-fence photos)

* * *

I'll add a 2" border of the backing fabric all around to contain the many, many seam ends, but that will be trimmed back once I get to the point of binding (much like I did on No Ugly Flowers).

And if you want to see the previous eleven DD quilts, click over HERE and follow the links.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"I want to access the part of my brain that is willing to surrender control and learn new things.  Play allows me to do this."

Sarah Gardner

Looking Ahead after Looking Around

January is a time when I pretty much stop what I'm doing in order to take time to clear my head, clean up, reorganize my priorities,  and re-evaluate my work in progress projects.

This blog post from Elizabeth of OP Quilts landed in my email inbox a few days ago and its timing couldn't have been more perfect.

I adore the idea of a "chuck it" list (click here for the full article).

She also linked off to this article on why you should swap your "bucket" list for a "chuck it" list.

So . . . much . . . food . . . for . . . thought!

After already having done considerable pondering on my own and then taking time to digest those articles, I've been busy in the studio.

Four waiting projects have been scuttled in order to focus on the others that mean more to me.  

Plans for several fabric pulls have been updated to reflect the way I want to work now - more about color stories with less pfaffing about over design.  

Two other projects are being donated to Linda's comfort quilt effort (seventy 2.5" already-cut strips plus several yards of backing fabrics).

I've gone through the bloated paper stash/supplies now that I'm much more comfortable with what I want to make vs. what I see others making online.

I used the money earned from last night's Zoom presentation to improve the filing/storage system for my newly-culled paper stash.

And I'm deleting the oh-so-alluring QAL and online course offerings and meant-to-be-enticing sale notices from my Inbox.

* * *

I've also decided my overarching goal for 2024 is to focus on my four words - colorful, scrappy, eclectic, and liberated.   I'm hoping they will help me do a better job of being ME.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."

A. A. Milne

Road Trip

DH, YS, and I took a road trip over the weekend.  

The clouds were so beautiful.

Our destination was Discovery Park in Union City, TN.

Be sure to check out their history and some of the other links.  It is indeed a fascinating place.

The grounds were full of gorgeous flowers and plants - I love this particular combination.

DH posed with the large (stationary) rocking horse.

We visited here in 2014 but there was so much new, especially on the grounds surrounding the main building.

The red building behind the greenery houses a large new agriculture-related exhibit featuring vintage (and new) tractors and farm equipment along with the story of farming in NW Tennessee.  

This was one of the views from the top of the observation tower (12 stories high).   DH and I walked the area shown during the morning hours (all new since our first visit).

Visitors can see up to 15 miles - including the borders of Kentucky and Missouri.  

YS also got some great photos from the tower - he took off on his own and spent his time exploring the main building (three levels) much like we did on our first visit.

DH took a photo of me with the baby elephant sculpture.  

Turned out there were twenty amazing wind-driven sculptures around the grounds (temporary exhibit featuring the work of one man) as well as lots of other permanent art installations.

Finally, the video below shows their rainbow windmill featuring the colors in the park's logo.  

I've never seen one like it and loved checking it out it from many different vantage points around the park.

Enjoy!

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Play is an essential tool for artists."

Col Mitchell

It's All About the Fabric

After the new aboriginal fabrics were laundered, there was a bit of folding to do.

This group involves the new fat quarters. 

This stack contains half yards.  Some of these were already in the stash while others are new additions.

Can you spot the imposters?

The new ones were all ordered from the "Aboriginal - Australian Fabrics" category but clearly some of them are not truly authentic (colors too bright and designs too symmetrically repetitive).  

There are three yellow/orange pieces (below the center-line) and two light blues (above the center-line) that will go back into the stash (if not a few others) since they don't blend into the overall medley well. 

Changing gears, I don't know if I will follow through with this inspiration idea or not, but if I do this color family will be where I will start.  (the black and white will change, maybe to the blue/black Jumble?)

Agilejack made a quilt top over the past week or so using Kaffe reds and a pattern named Fractured.

Check out Ann's quilt top "finish" post HERE.  It's worth scrolling back through some of her process posts just to enjoy the fabrics she used.

And this is the current state of the replacement top for my sewing table.  

Life caused a full week delay but the drop-in opening is now cut for my Bernina and the plexiglass-surround insert is ready for final fitting once the existing base and the new top are assembled - in another week or so.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Good artists borrow.  Great artists steal."

Pablo Picasso

Flaneur - Little Man's Influence at Work

Some of you may remember my splashy announcement last fall about making TWO more quilts for my NOT a Mystery series (color palette inspired by Rhododendron Trail, the 2021 Bonnie Hunter annual mystery quilt).  Well . . . here's an update.

These were the strips cut from the scrappy assortment of colors meant to be paired with the dotted gray to make HSTs for the second of the two quilts.  (see photo below for the inspiration quilt).

I named the second project FLANEUR (meaning deliberately aimless).

I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but the gray fabric had issues.  There was an inconsistent "fade" in the gray.  I thought at first it was the lighting or my eyes, but as I cut more and more strips, it was obviously all through the yardage.  

UGH.  I stopped and put it all away.

Fast forward into 2022 and I decided to forget about using the dotted gray and use this Laura Heine Color Fusion multi-directional text print instead.  

I made it this far pinning pairs to leader-ender.  But my heart wasn't feeling much joy about the grayed text and . . . 

. . .  my original inspiration idea was no longer interesting so I stopped once again.

And then THIS incredible quilt made by Bertha Robinson popped up in my Pinterest feed.  (Birds in Flight Variation, ca. 1950, cotton, cotton/polyester blend, and polyester, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama)

I fell in love instantly.  

I also knew in that very same heartbeat that the wishy-washy text print would have to go.

Do you remember this fabric that I used as the background in Spotty Town?   (Pinkerville Fairy Dust in Cotton Candy by Tula Pink)

I used it to make a few test blocks . . .  and oh, yes - this is SO MUCH better.  

Now I will unpin the already-paired-with-gray sets and proceed to leader-ender the soon-to-be-newly-paired HSTs over the coming weeks.   

What I'm really looking forward to is playing around with the many layout ideas Bertha R. used in her incredibly interesting quilt.

* * *

And for the record, my plan to make Agglomeration (the other of the two 2021 Not a Mystery quilts) has been completely removed from my waiting-to-be-made list.  

I've waffled and faffed about since last fall worrying about the design (after deciding I did not want to make the originally identified broken grid string quilt).  

I'm tired of trying to make something happen that clearly wasn't meant to be.  Especially since Little Man and his Camp Sefton quilts reminded me just how much fun making quilts can be.

(and please remind me come November that I have decided not to start any more NOT a Mystery quilts when the 2022 color palette is released!)

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“You know what the issues is with this world?  Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.”

The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland

Logophile - Major Update

This is the glass house in the Children's Room at the main location of our Public Library.

Here is the description from the library's website:  

"Perhaps one’s first thought when stepping into the Children’s Area is, “Exactly how did I wander into the pages of a children’s story?”

An understandable reaction, as you are surrounded by stylized trees, colorful rivers and a fantastic glass house at the end of a magical path. Nancy Cheairs has created a world of wonder based on her celebrated painting that grips the imagination of children and adults alike. “I wanted to create a whimsical piece that opens children’s minds to reading and learning,” said the artist. Delightfully exaggerated and fueled by creativity, Cheairs has helped make the Children’s Area of the library the most captivating of its kind."

And this photo of Little Man (many months ago) in front of that glass house is what inspired the project I named Logophile (a person who loves words).

After leader-endering over 300 three-inch HSTs and turning them into 9" blocks, this was the very disappointing result of the first layout on the design wall.

This was a second attempt which was still utterly and completely disappointing, which clearly meant there was no where to go but somewhere far beyond the original inspiration . . . 

This iteration is so much more alive.  When sewn together this way, the top would measure 54" square.  (double click to supersize for more fabric details - lots of text prints and KF fabrics)

Here it is on the design wall with the intended backing (from the Story line by Carrie Bloomston).  It doesn't show well in this photo but the bodies of the elephants have fragments of text on them.  (the  backing and binding may or may not actually be used)

I'm going to let things stay this way on the wall for a bit to be sure I want to move forward with finishing.  

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

“And where does magic come from? I think that magic’s in the learning.”

Dar Williams