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

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

Janet Donaghy

Studio Improvement

This is the top of the drawer unit that sits beside Max's table.  

For the longest time, I've used two utility mats made using leftovers from previous quilts on that top.  

Not ideal but it was what I had on hand.

When I finished Xanadu (reveal post with photos coming soon), I had eight four-patch HST sets leftover.

AHA - they would make a single mat just the right size . . .

And so I used those leftover blocks, leftover binding, leftover backing, and the same thread to make this 12" x 24" utility mat.

And this is how the top looks after the upgrade.  

Fluffy approves and so do I.

The smaller of the two removed utility mats now sits happily under the bobbin drawer unit at the back corner of Max's table.  

I've used this mug mat under Max's bobbin winder ever since Max arrived.  

Seeing these in the background as I quilt makes me happy.

I'm happy to share that Morning Fog is indeed pin basted and the thread color has been decided.  

The binding fabric (foreground) has been pressed and is ready to be cut into strips.

I might just get this one finished before June ends - stay tuned.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"If happiness happens, say thanks."

Marlene Dietrich

Another One of Those Weeks

I'm honestly not sure where this week went - lots of cleaning, sorting, editing, and trashing apparently ate up more time than I thought.  

That said, I've spent evenings playing with my papers as a reward for all that work.

Bricolage (my DIY Wreck That Journal project) is beginning to come alive.

It continues to surprise me how the smallest bits can make or break the vibe of any given page.

Stickers, fussy cut images from a wide variety of sources, text clipped from books . . . 

. . . even packaging elements from the grocery store or elsewhere - they all make a difference.

The flower fairies image is from a thrifted reproduction book I found a year or so ago.

I laughed out loud when I realized how fun it was to put the fussy cut spotted leopard (cheetah?) next to this tea bag envelope turned pocket.  

(each of the pocket's inserted strips has something fun glued onto the reverse side - no sense in wasting a great surface)

And while yet another thunderstorm raged last night, I worked on this two page spread.

Back when I was creating Abecedarium, I cut out way more ransom letters than I needed and this was a perfect opportunity to actually use many of them.

* * * 

Over the next few days I am determined to finish pin basting Morning Fog and get it quilted/finished.  

I also need to get "finished" outdoor photos of Xanadu while it is not raining (we have rain predicted every day now for almost a week).

One thing at a time . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"HOPE is a discipline."

Mariame Kaba

Weather Makes a Difference

This was the scene on Thursday . . .

And this was the same scene less than 24 hours later.  It has been raining off and on ever since.

Three inches in the past 24-hours alone.  

All those thunderstorms have stopped me from doing much sewing or quilting, so instead I've been working with my paper projects.

I've been writing down four letter words in my traveler's journal.

I loaded them into a spreadsheet and alphabetized them so I could easily eliminate duplicates (there were quite a few) .

The edited list flows left to right across the two page spread.

And while I don't have a photo to share, the set of twelve pink collaged index cards are also done . . . 

. . . which meant I could use the extras to fill two more pages in the journal.

I added some larger items from the stash and even found a way to include the word JUBILATION cut from a magazine a long time ago.

Inspired by the name of @Ricki_ticki_tavy's Etsy shop, I've chosen BRICOLAGE as the name for my DIY Wreck It Journal.

* * *

Xanadu is nearly finished and we have a day or so with no significant percentage of rain predicted so it WILL be finished early week.

 I won't be able to gift it for another week or so which means I won't post the finished reveal photos until after the gifting happens.

Quiltdivajulie

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"To thrive in life you need three bones.  A wishbone.  A backbone. and a funny bone."

Reba McEntire

Miscellaney and Beyond

Xanadu has been pin basted, the thread has been chosen, the bobbins have been wound, and the quilting has begun.  

And since the pool noodles were empty, I went ahead and rolled the top and back for Morning Fog, the next in line to be quilted.  I have Frankenbatting pieced using end-cuts from previous Macnas series  battings ready to roll onto the third noodle.

Evening playtime updates:

MISCELLANY, my 5" x 5" scrappy paper nine-patch journal is 'done' with 58 unique nine-patches comprised of 522 one-inch squares.  

I left the last few blank pages in case I punch out enough more squares to create those additional nine-patches.

This floral group is one of the last few in the book . . . 

. . . as is this one featuring people and security envelopes.

One evening was spent collaging the 12 red index cards using bits from the ephemera boxes. IF I find more tiny items, I may add those additional elements on some of these.  If I don't, then these are good just the way they are.

And while red things were out, I went ahead and filled the two-page RED spread in my DIY Wreck That Journal project.  

I'm contemplating names for this journal so I can stop using the author's inspiration book title.

Again, if I find red things that fit, I'll continue to add to these pages.

* * *

The predicted rainy weather missed us so the driveway repairs are happening today as planned.  The crew started at 7am and most of the damaged concrete and buried tree roots have been removed.  The mixer truck is scheduled to arrive later this morning . . . 

I hope to spend much of today in the studio quilting Xanadu.

Quiltdivajulie

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" The pessimist complains about the wind.  The optimist expects it to change.  The realist adjusts the sail."

William A. Ward

Here and There and Back Again

Each spring, after the worst of pollen season has passed, we celebrate our Annual Bottle Washing Day. 

Typically the bottles remain on the bottle tree year round but last winter they were removed before the ice storm to prevent broken glass from being part of the inevitable tree debris clean up.

Last Saturday I spent the morning washing the bottles and getting them back on the tree - it is so good to see them sparkling in the sunshine once again.

After getting Xanadu's back pieced, pressed, and rolled onto a pool noodle, I spent an hour or so prepping a new journal project.  

I used this wild and crazy duct tape on the front and back covers. 

I used ordinary masking tape as labels in keeping with the "not too precious" nature of this project.

And since I had just finished with the blue index cards, I used the leftovers plus a few more bits and pieces on this "blue" two page spread.  

I didn't use a lot of Keri's prompts and used more of my own to make this evening playtime project truly mine.

* * *

The big goal this week is to pin baste Xanadu (thank you for all the comments) and get it quilted/finished while also keeping up with the usual household activities.  

DH and I also spent a morning cleaning out four overstuffed file cabinet drawers filled with cables, adapters, wires, chargers, and other random tech stuff.  There are now two partially-filled drawers with neatly labeled files and the rest sorted into zipper pouches (like with like). 

Before the now-predicted 10 days of dreary/gray/semi-rainy days, we were scheduled to have part of our driveway torn out/replaced.  Fingers crossed it isn't too wet for the crew to work.  But if it ends up being next week it has already been quite a while since the damage occurred so a few more days won't make that much difference.

Quiltdivajulie

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"It is better to be absolutely ridiculous rather than absolutely boring."

Marilyn Monroe

Xanadu - the Flimsy

It was past time to finish pressing the blocks for Xanadu, especially since this gift quilt is to be delivered mid-June.

There are 432 die-cut 3" HSTs  in five color groups sewn into 108 six-inch blocks on the plates.

This is the resulting quilt top - 54" x 72" before quilting.

Here's a detail photo so you can see more of the individual fabrics.

(The consistent "white" fabric is from the ‘On Dragonfly Wings’ collection - Splatter in White/Pearl by Ann Lauer of Grizzly Gulch Gallery for Benartex)

The fabric on the right is in the process of becoming a backing for Xanadu.

It's a very good thing I decided back in January 2025 when I pulled the fabrics for this quilt that it would be gifted, since I absolutely LOVE the way it is coming together.  😎

(the name Xanadu was inspired by the backing fabric's selvage - another design by Ann Lauer of Grizzly Gulch Gallery for Benartex)

* * *

Next steps will be to get the top and back pin basted, choose a thread color, wind the bobbins, and get Max fired up and ready to quilt.

Quiltdivajulie

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"I think there is something very special about handmade work.  You can appreciate the thought, detail, and time that have been invested into creating something amazing, whether it is great or small.  In my opinion, handmade goods are accessible works of art."

Tami Gagne

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

Hanabi is Finished

Hanabi, number 10 in my Macnas series, is finished and it happened before the end of May - yes!

I quickly took the quilt outdoors to get these photos since it had stopped raining earlier this afternoon and the next cloudburst isn't expected for another hour or so.  It's been like this for over a week now - intermittent thunderstorms, heavy gray skies, brief patches of sunshine with blue skies and puffy white clouds, and then more rain.  I'm not complaining because in a few short weeks we will wish we had some rain.  

Here's a detail showing more of the fabrics and a bit of quilted texture.

The backing is from the Writing on the Wall collection by Seth Apter for Free Spirit.  I knew the instant I first saw it that it would be perfect to back Hanabi - a Japanese word that means fireworks.

I used a bit more of my Rollicking Robots stripe by Patrick Lose (an elderly fabric from the stash) for binding and I love how it interacts with the scrappiness of the quilt top.

Quilted with my liberated all-over spiral fans using Glide thread in Mulberry.  Not pink, not purple, but a heavenly blend of the two that worked well across all the colors in the quilt.

* * *

Be back in a day or so with my month end recap for May and the June first backyard photo.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Quilt fabrics aren't purchases, they're investments in happiness."

Kristine Art 

(edited slightly by yours truly)