Feisty - the Flimsy

Feisty has become a flimsy.

(or quilt top if you prefer that term)

This is my fifteenth quilt top of 2020.

From the opposite direction . . . 

And yet another perspective.

SO scrappy and so gloriously colorful.

* * *

On the renovation front:

You may wondered how we were going

to get all that flooring from the garage

to the second floor bonus room.

Well, here's your answer:

DH installed this lift a year or so ago

and we have never been sorry.

It lowers into the garage from the second story.

(notice the lighter gray painted landing area)

Here is the lift in action.

(controlled by a remote that lives in the garage -

and as a precaution, DH added safety features 

to prevent the lift from being operated

when the garage door is open)

And here is the lift (shown with different cargo)

where it appears on the second floor.

Like I said, we have NOT been sorry

that we invested the money and space for this lift.

DH has spent this week leveling the flooring in the room.

(darker areas are still wet)

We always knew that floor was unlevel

but we had NO idea it was as bad it really was.

Even though the surfaces are hard enough to walk on,

we need to wait another few days for

the compound to lose the rest of its moisture

before installation of the flooring can begin.

Progress is happening!

Quiltdivajulie

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“I want to say THANK YOU to the rare few individuals in my life who have listened without judgment, spoken without prejudice, helped me without entitlement, understood without pretension, and loved me without conditions.”

Unknown - from QuotesCollective.com

Another Block for Feisty

After deciding NOT to use 

this beautiful but too-dark olive green

in the next spiderweb block for Feisty, 

I found this light-ish purple with white dots

lurking in one of the resource boxes.

But there wasn't enough to cut a 16.5" square

and quarter it like I had done with the others.

So I improvised.

Using one of the green triangles, 

I marked the center kite and then  cut 1" away 

from each side  to create a fabric template.

I had more than enough of the lighter purple

to make four center kites like the one shown above.

The two stacks of strings shown above are the ones I selected 

for the side wings, which were pieced using the green 

as a reference for placement.

The string on top is pieced along one side of the kite,

then the next string in the pile is placed beside the first one,

the third string goes next, etc. until it is time for

the triangle at the bottom to cover the outermost point.  

(I'm choosing the strips first because otherwise I spend

way too much time making decisions between stitching seams.)

Stacking the strips from last on the bottom to first on the top

 is a trick I learned in one of Christina Cameli's Bluprint classes.

(Have you have heard that NBC 

has decided to close down Bluprint?)

Once I had two of the four quadrants pieced,

I placed them at the bottom of the first column

to get a feel for the eventual length of the top

with a 3 wide x 4 long layout.

When I finished the other two quadrants,

I moved the sections up to the top

to get a feel for how the rivers of color

would look running vertically through the top.

Next I shifted the sections to the side . . . 

And in block formation on the left.

After the four sections were sewn together

and the block was pressed, I  moved all six blocks

from my sewing studio to the design wall in the design studio.

(if you're curious about my work spaces, check out

My Studio Space - tab just below my blog header)

* * *

Why did I move Feisty's blocks?

I need that design wall for another project.

I'll share that story on Wednesday.

Quiltdivajulie

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"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."
Bryant H. McGill

Feisty and Bella - Another Update

This is the second spiderweb block for Feisty.

After making two blocks (four quadrants each)

I decided to revise my work area --

larger boxes for the color groups made life much easier.

(I slid out the small table from underneath my sewing table

for the blue/green boxes and borrowed a Raaskog cart

from the other room to hold the brights on blacks)

Block three in progress - four quadrants pieced.

Block three sewn and pressed.

Block four.

With four blocks pinned side by side

the secondary design begins to appear.

Feisty indeed.

* * *

Oh, and 21 of the 38 slabs 

for Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

are sewn and pressed.

One slab at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

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“When we listen to certain types of music or soak our eyes with paintings or fill our lungs with poems, it all begins to blend and run through us, quietly becoming part of our blood, flesh and bones.  We always carry the art we’ve loved.”

Victoria Erickson

Feisty Wins

I know . . . I know . . .

I said I was going to finish sewing 

all the blocks for Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

and turn them into a quilt top

BEFORE I started making spiderweb blocks

for the quilt to be known as Feisty.

(click here for that post - and see below

for the current state of Bella's slabs)

But the colors of Feisty kept calling my name

to the point that my new plan is to 

sew at least one or two slabs for Bella each day 

while I work on Feisty's webs.

At that rate, it won't take terribly long to get

 all of Bella's slabs ready to trim  into blocks

and I won't get as bored by the process.

(AND once I get Bella's blocks trimmed

the top won't take long to come together)

This photo shows the color sorted strips for Feisty

plus a smaller box with charm squares 

cut on the diagonal for the skinny tip ends.

(top to bottom: pinks/reds, purples, brights on black,

greens, blues/aquas, and yellows/golds/oranges) 

Gotta love all that scrappy goodness.

Here are all four quadrants for the first block.

I used the technique from Marit's method 

of flipping the large triangle ends out of the way

for all but the first two strings.

I hope the following photos

make that process a little clearer.

These are the back sides of those four quadrants.

If you look closely, there is only one line of stitching

on the foundation triangle on either side of the center kite.

(I measured 2.5" to each side from the tip

and used the line on the ruler to mark the bottom point)

Here is the first trimmed quadrant 

with the trimmings still visible.

I then trimmed away the excess foundation triangle fabric

by measuring approx. 1/2" away from the two seam lines.

Here are the four trimmed quadrants . . .

. . . and here they are sewn together.

WOOT!

I have waited SO long to start this quilt top . . .

The finished blocks will be close to 16 inches 

but I'll trim all of them to equal the smallest block.

These are the other sets of background triangles.

The plan is for 3 blocks wide x 4 blocks long

making a 48" x 64" ISH top.

Depending on how the blocks size out after trimming,

I may need to add a border strip -

but that's a wait and see idea.

* * *

These are the first four 

(of 38 non-center stringed) 

slabs for D D 8. 

One day at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes, or dark lake with the treble.”
Wassily Kandinsky

Davies Quilt Show Wrap Up 2019

This was my spot during the three days of  

the 23rd Annual Davies Manor Quilt Show

for my Dumpster Diving display and demo.

(L to R:  DD3-Waterfall, 

DD2-Good Morning Sunshine,

and DD1-Willy Nilly)

Here are the same three quilts looking from the 

wall towards the center of the room.

On the back side were the other three completed DD quilts.

(L to R:  DD4-The Christmas Edition, 

DD5-Catharsis, 

and DD6-Lagniappe)

Over the course of the three days,

in between talking to show visitors

and explaining the scrappy process,

I stitched together the purple and green strips

and assembled 45 DD triangles in squares

that will become DD 7 - Respite.

(layout TBD)

I also sat and chain pieced solids

for what will become DD8 - Bella.

It was such fun to see peoples' eyes light up

with the possibilities of these 1.5" strip segments

as they realized they didn't need a pattern.

Elsewhere in the show area . . . 

sCRUMBtious hung in the 

machine pieced-machine quilted area.

Conundrum was in the Small Wall Quilt category . . .

. . . as was Mosaic.

MO Color Story was in the Large Wall Quilt category.

My cross stitch pillow and a scrappy Christmas runner

were in the Accessories category.

And April Showers was part of the smaller

but still amazing exhibit of BLUE challenge quilts

from earlier this year.

Next year the Davies Challenge will follow

the same 24" x 24" approach

but with the theme of GREEN.

I have three ideas and I'd like to make them all.

Time will tell!

Little Man made a marble bag

with the help of Miss Andrea 

and her hand crank sewing machine.

It was awesome to see the difference

in his ability and understand

from last year to this year.

And this big bag full of now-freshly-laundered fabric

was my take-away from various vendors.

The local Modern Guild had four tables of fabrics

for sale this year - their members clean out

their stashes and sell the bounty to 

raise funds for their dues and speakers -

so we all benefit.

I picked up a set of 31 hand pieced

churn dash/hole in the barn door blocks

that have been hand washed in Orvus soap

(three times before the water was reasonably clear)

and are now drying flat between towels.

And there are enough random scrap pieces

from the grab bags to start cutting 1.5" strips

for a "someday" spiderweb quilt.

* * *

It was a busy and worthwhile weekend.

Next comes the "take down" day

and the "give back" day

and then this year's show will be done.

Quiltdivajulie

Progress Notes

300+ 1-1/2" (or 2") strips for a piano key border

were cut and stitched during Studio Saturday

(along with some necessary tidying up).

I'm pretty sure there will be more border than needed

so I'll include any leftover segments in the scrappy lettered back

(the center for which is on the design wall above).

The final blocks for Impact Zone have been stitched

 and the flimsy is now off the design wall!

Sunday afternoon/evening were spent shopping for (researching/comparing) 

and purchasing a new plasma television and blue ray player

(our Christmas presents to each other).

Now it is Monday again ~

the office will close during the afternoon for our co-worker's funeral

(high temperature predicted to be 30 degrees).

Then maybe I'll spend the evening using a few more of the IZ trimmings and scraps

to make some holiday ornaments like the ones Bumble Beans shared on her blog.

Quiltdivajulie

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I know Belinda would have agreed with this thought:

"I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life."

(Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes)

Congratulations, Tonya!!

Today is THE day . . . FINALLY!

Today is the long-awaited release date for Tonya's book!!!

WOO HOO!

Tonya and her work,

 especially her free-pieced, liberated letters,

have been a BIG part of my quilting journey ~

so it seems that today is the perfect day

to share my most recent lettering efforts.

Thanks, Tonya ~ for everything!

Can you guess what these will spell?

I won't bore you with each and every letter in the words . . .

but you can see that they are definitely wonky and full of character.

Here is the assembled name panel that will become

the center of the back of my still-under-construction spiderweb quilt

The lower two rows of blocks of Impact Zone are stitched together

(I took it to work last week to see how

 it will look/fit where I'm planning to hang it).

Three more blocks and I'll be ready to start on the borders . . .

I have copies of Tonya's book on pre-order with both Amazon and Barnes & Noble ~

I sure hope one of those orders arrives SOON!!!!!

Here's to all the friendships and inspiration 

within the free-pieced liberated quilty-community!!!!!

Quiltdivajulie