FINISHED QUILTING

I finished up the quilting on Bona Dea and took it off the machine.  It's beautiful.

ORGANIC BLOCK

I'm working on an organic flower block as part of my homework for design class.

This one I'm doing with freezer paper.

I also started Eduard quilting on my value study quilt, Bona Dea.  I'm using a rectangular block as an edge-to-edge.  It's being difficult, but it's a beautiful design.  

GEOMETRIC FLOWER BLOCK

Here's the finished block:

HOMEWORK

I'm finally getting around to working on my homework for my design class.  I've been thinking about it and making drawings, but today I started making my samples in fabric.  Just before assembly, I decided to change some of the colors.  I was too tired to make a decision, so I'll do that tomorrow.

WATERCOLOR CLASS

I went to my second watercolor class at Daniel Smith.  I'm hoping to learn some techniques and improve my skills.  

We didn't get it finished in class so I came home and sat under the gazebo (it was a perfectly beautiful day) and worked on it for another couple hours.  I think it's done.

NOT GREAT

Well, I'm going to say that this almost works.  What makes this 'Plaidish' quilt (pattern by KitchenTableQuilting) work is the placement of lights, darks, and mediums.  If I do this again, I'll be more discerning about what are lights, what are darks and what are mediums.

But, it is interesting and looks sort of retro.

I've got the Bona Dea quilt back and label made, and it's off the wall and onto the longarm.  I haven't decided on how to quilt it yet, though.

MEDIUMS AND LIGHTS

I got the medium and light valued blocks sewn up today.

Now that I have all of the blocks sewn together, I want to get them up on the design wall and arrange them before I sew them together.  But, there's stuff on the design wall.  I need to make the back for Bona Dea and get it all down and off, and hopefully, onto the longarm.  Then I can put the Plaidish blocks up.

We got a bird bath for the  new front garden space.  Mr. Bentley thinks it's a great idea.  He likes little birds.

UNITY TABLERUNNER

I sewed together the blocks I made to show Unity, Variation and Contrast to turn them into a tablerunner for our front entry table.

I got it quilted and bound today.

PLAIDISH STARTED

Jeez, I'm off on another tangent.  I've got lots of homework to do for my Design Class, but instead of working on that, I'd rather start on a new project.  I'm easily distracted.

I saw this quilt on Instagram by KitchenTableQuilting and she was giving away the pattern and instructions, I was intriqued.  

I started cutting out the parts yesterday.  I'm using the fabric samples I picked up at the local saleswoman's annual sale. She sells them by the pound. I haven't had any ideas about what to do with them until now.  This project seems perfect.  We'll see.

The main idea is to divide the fabrics into lights, mediums and darks.  The instructions say you can use any fabrics, any colors, as long as you divid them into their values.

I made the dark valued blocks today.

Parts waiting to be sewn together.

WATERCOLOR CLASSES

I finally went to Daniel Smith today to check out the watercolor class they offer weekly.  The class is every Tuesday morning, taught by Jenna Howell.

I had fun and decided to go every week. 

BINDING BIRDBOX

I made the binding and sewed it on front and back today.  It looks great.

NEEDLE CHANGE

Back to quilting on the Birdbox today.  I've got Aurifil 50wt thread top and bottom.  The top thread has been breaking sometimes, especially when going right to left.  I tried a few passes before I gave in and changed the needle.  I set the eye at 5:30.  It helped a little but I was still fixing thread breaks right up to the end.

I almost made it through the whole quilt on one bobbin, probably would have without all of those thread breaks.  But, I had to wind a partial bobbin with the bright yellow for the backing to finish up.

But, it's done!

QUILTING BIRDBOX

I loaded Birdbox onto the longarm and got just one pass of a wave panto before dinner time.  I was having trouble with the Aurifil thread breaking.  

UNSEWING AND RESEWING

After seeing the picture of the Bona Dea quilt put together yesterday, it bothered me that there was a place that looked too jarring.  There was a line of darks I couldn't unsee.

So, I picked out a section.  I was going to just turn the block over, but that didn't work.  I ended up replacing some of the pieces.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

I took my value study blocks to class last weekend, so now I can sew them all together (with the other parts) and make a quilt top.

I was going to load Birdbox onto the longarm this afternoon, but it was way too hot up in the studio.

It was hot...

Jax

[Official high of 95 degrees, breaking the old record]

BIRDBOX BACKING

I made the label and put the back together for the Birdbox quilt.

I mitered the corners, I haven't done that in a long while!

DOWNTOWN ARCHITECTURE

Darrell and I took the dogs downtown Seattle this morning.  He wanted to get some pictures of the Rainier Tower to include in the book he's currently writing.

We walked around and enjoyed some of the interesting architecture in the city.

FERRY FUN

I made my way to Port Gamble this morning for my Design Class with Joen Wolfrom.  I take the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island.

On the way home, I was the second to last car onto the ferry and was hanging off the back of the ferry boat.  

It was a beautiful afternoon, and I stood out on the deck and just enjoyed it.