BOATS AT MARINA

 I finished up the painting of the watercolor on my pencil sketch from yesterday.

ART DATE 7

I didn't go on my Art Date yesterday when it was scheduled, so I made up for that today.  I drove down to South Park and found an interesting scene at the Marina.  I love all of the masts and lines, but it does prove a challenge to draw!

I got this pencil drawing done, then headed back home to add some color.

I didn't get it finished.

OLD JOE PROJECT

 While cleaning up a big box of fabrics, I came across this old project from a Joe Retreat.  I was not happy with it when I put it away, but now I think it has potential.  I want to add some pieces around the sides, as a sort of border.

First I had to make up some 'parts'.  Unfortunately, I had used up almost all of the leftovers that were in my scrap bin.  I did manage to find a few pieces I could use.  But, for the most part, I made up most of the parts here today.

ADDING ON

 After I put all of the 'X' blocks together from Joe's Workshop, I thought it was just blah.  So I thought I'd add a few more with variations.  I'm all out of the Brandon Mably fabric, so I went with a solid yellow, Kona Bright Idea.

Something is not quite right.  So, I went looking for some more of that Brandon  Mably fabric in the background of the larger 'X's.  I'd already tried finding it at the commercial fabric shops online.  Today I tried looking on Etsy and lo and behold I found a yard at $14.50.  A little pricey but worth it, since it's out of print.  But, I was shocked to see the shipping would be $10.50.  That makes it $25 for one yard.  Yikes!  But I purchased it anyway, because, you know...  Then I see it's coming from Montreal and it's going to take a while for it to get here.  I guess I'll set this aside for a few weeks while I wait.

BELONGING

 I spent a good hour fussing with the color choices to do this last part on my Transparency block.  It can be quite frustrating not having the exact fabrics colors you want - and I have immediate access to more than most do, I imagine. 

I ended up changing every piece at least once.  I wish I had taken pictures of all of the different iterations.  But I did get these two.

Then there was a lot of pinning to get some of these pieces together.

Here's how it ended up.  I wish that one part had been just a shade darker, but that was the best choice I had access to.

I tried a lot of different color placements and ended up with a pile of rejects for the scrap bin:

TRANSPARENCY AND CURVES

 I took a zoom workshop from Carolina Oneto today called Transparency and Curves.  It was about transparency and curves.

She had a great presentation about the 'Chromatic Circle' and how she achieves 'transparency' effects in her quilt making.  I gleaned a few pearls from her.

I was already familiar with the technique she uses for sewing the intersecting curves together and I sort of jumped ahead and made a more difficult block then she was teaching.  [I was the rebel student].

I'm using the palette of colors for my 'Gifts' quilt - that added a degree of difficulty also.

Here is what I had finished by the end of the workshop.

Nicole took Darrell and I out to lunch for my birthday at Smarty Pants Garage restaurant in Burien.  We had a great time.  We haven't eaten in a restaurant in a loooong time.  We had to sit outside and it was a little chilly, but we really enjoyed it and the food was terrific.

When we got home I did a little more work on my project:

65

 When I was young I never thought about actually getting to be 65.  But, here it is, such as it is.  

Happy Birthday to me!  Life is good.

I started the day out attending a zoom Sketching PlayLab workshop with Paul and Suhita.  They provided a reference photo.  We did a lot of thumbnails and then sketched it.

I really enjoyed it.

Then when I went grocery shopping I got a piece of GF birthday cake, Chocolate Pistachio, and I sketched it, along with my free birthday coffee from Starbucks.  

I'll have some of it after dinner tonight.

LITTLE TOP

 I started with just a yard of fabric.  It was a piece I picked up while we were visiting Charleston South Carolina.  I purchased it from a little quilt shop in a cinder-block building, Stitch-n-Sew.  I thought the fabric reminded me of the area.  Bright yellow background, reminiscent of the bright sunshine, with boldly colored sea creatures reminding me of being so close to the sea (no alligators though).  I paired this bright yellow with a violet-blue solid for Joe's project this month.

The yellow fabric was cut into 6" squares and the blue into (more or less) 1" strips.  I did eventually trade out the solid blue for two other print fabrics of the same hue to seem more 'make-do'.

Someone used the term 'coping strips' in the class when talking about adding a strip of fabric to make the square big enough.  Joe really like that, I do too.  I hope it catches on. [Maybe I'll name the quilt 'Coping']

So, this was as big as it was going to get with using just that one yard of yellow fabric.  I ended up with 36 6" squares.  But I used only 35.

It is 27.5" by 38.5" - - -

I just love that 'tomato red' - maybe I should use that color on the backing, or maybe a blue and yellow pin-dot.  [You know, you can never find the fabric you have in your mind.]

QUILT FREEDOM WORKSHOP 12

 Today was the 12th Quilt Freedom Workshop with Joe Cunningham.  That means it's been a year of monthly zoom workshops.  Time flies.

Today he talked about pattern progression and showed us quilts from the International Quilt Museum with examples, all curated by the museum director, Caroline Ducey.

Then we started on a project of our own.  He had us cut out 6 inch squares and 1 inch strips. We were to slash the squares diagonally and insert a strip.  Then slash again and insert another strip to make an 'X'. 

Then he had us modify and explore how far we could go with deviations. 

I stayed on the conservative side.

I still have a few more to make.

LATTICE WALK

 We put some lattice brick pavers down at the bottom of the new deck.  They were quite heavy.  We used ropes under each side to move them.  That worked pretty well so we didn't have to bend over to place them.  

And the cat slept on...

I got some ground covers and put them in the spaces.  It will take a few years for them to fill out.

ART DATE 6

 One of my friends on Instagram posted a picture of an old piano, sitting outside covered with plants.  It was very interesting.  I asked her if it was in West Seattle, because she lives and walks her dog around places in West Seattle.  She responded with where it was in White Center.  It is in an alley between 17th and 18th, and 102nd and 104th.

So, today I went looking for it and parked my car in the alley and sketch it.

CONNECTIONS

 I made a little quilt block about Connections.

I drew it out on freezer paper and cut the pieces out and ironed them onto the backs of the fabrics.  I inserted the 'Cedar' strips as I put it together.  Then I hand appliqued the blue (Windsor) circles over the intersections.

I want to make a quilt that I'm going to call "Gifts". I hope to make more blocks in this palette to go with this one.

Stay tuned.

FARMERS MARKET

 We went to the West Seattle Farmers Market at the Junction (California and Alaska) this morning.  We were looking for another Siberian tomato plant like the one we got here last year.  It was a great producing plant with some very tasty tomatoes.  Alas, the seller that had them last year was not here again this week and we haven't been able to find one anywhere else.

I sketched while he looked for the tomato plant.

The day warmed up and it turned into a very nice Mother's Day.  It seems that half the people leaving the market had a bouquet of flowers.  It was pretty crowded there, they were trying to control how many people were allowed in at any one time.  And everyone was wearing a mask.

Back at home, it was all about the comfort of the cats.

A RHODY TALE

 I've been taking pictures of a flower on a Rhododendron in the front yard.  It's the only flower on this plant that has begun to bloom although it is covered in buds. 

These were taken, once a day, over the last week.

ART DATE 5

 It's Friday.  I missed my Art Date yesterday, so I made up for it today.

But first I made some cookies and a really ugly Rhubarb Custard Pie.  I bought some frozen gluten-free pie crusts to use.  I thawed them, then tried to use the second crust as a top.  It didn't want to come free of the tin.  I had to coax it and in the process it broke apart and made an ugly mess.  And I overfilled the custard so it had to ooze out, too.

My Mom used to make me a Rhubarb Custard Pie for my birthday every year.  Now that we don't live too close together I make one for myself occasionally.  I saw the rhubarb at the grocery store the other day and thought it was a sign because my birthday is coming up soon.

In the afternoon, I went out to sketch.  I'd thought about this place the other day.  This house, which was probably built around 1905-1915, is on my way to the dog park.  I never noticed it because it was hidden behind overgrown bushes.  One day it just suddenly appeared when someone had cut them all away.  I love houses like this.  It's a shame it has been so neglected.  It appears that it's slated for demolition.  The two houses to the left of it have chain-link fences around them with signage - a sure sign of coming destruction.  

I thought I had better sketch this one before it's gone.

WASTED THURSDAY

 The day started out very sucky.  I made my regular breakfast - a smoothie - with a NutriBullet type blender.   It's the kind where you put the ingredients into a big cup then screw the blender part on the top, flip it over and put it on the motor part which engages the blender blade and mixes up the ingredients.  So far so good, then I couldn't unscrew the top and the husband is out of town.  I tried and tried and tried and tried to unscrew it, but it wouldn't budge.  I soaked it in warm water to no avail.  I thumped it, I cursed at it and tried a few other things.  But it wouldn't budge.  

So, I put it in the refrigerator and went out to get a breakfast sandwich and chai tea at The Birdhouse Cafe.  I noticed this very interesting sky while waiting - 

Then I had to wait around for the shipping company to come and pick up a small table that the husband sold.

So, that disrupted my plans to go on my Art Date with myself, so I was upstairs.  I cleaned, oiled and changed the needle on my Bernina.  Then I got to work mending his work jeans.

That was fun.  I used a glue stick instead of the usual pins to hold the patch in place while I sewed it down on the inside.  That worked a whole lot better and I didn't get stuck with those sharp pins, which always seemed to happen.  Glue sticks have been a great new tool for quiltmakers.  I wish we'd discovered them years and years ago.

LABEL AND BACK

 I've finally decided to finish the Cincinnati quilt made in 2017.  Yep, 2017.

I had to look back to figure out when I'd made it.

I bought the fabrics from quilt shops in Cincinnati when we visited in June of 2014.  Darrell was making a video with a magazine there.

I started making the hexagon blocks in February of 2016 and finished it up sometime in early 2017.  I remember it was a lot of fun making it using the new book by Katja Marek, The New Hexagon.

I made a label and started on the back yesterday and today I got the backing finished.
Now it's ready for longarming.  

SMALL NEBULA 5

 There was way  more than enough fabrics leftover from the Nebula 5 blocks to make the smaller versions.

I drew up the pattern on paper first to make sure I cut parts the right size.

They went together easily, same as their big sisters.

I got these made while zooming with my Brave Patch Monday Sew group.  We talked about Improv - how ironic.

NEBULA 5

 I pieced together the blocks for Tula Pink's Nebula quilt.