NEBULA 7

 It was cool enough that I could finally get back into the studio after all the very hot weather we just had.

I got both of the Nebula 7 blocks and their small counterparts made this morning.

GROOVIN'

 I spent the morning in a 'Groove Session' on Brave Patch.  Sherri Lynn had a short lesson on improv sashing and gave the soft sell to new people about Brave Patch.

While that was going on I was sewing some of my scraps together.

Some of these were pieces I had made on a previous Monday meeting and added onto.  They are getting a bit big now.

MONET EXHIBITION

As members of Seattle Art Museum we got to be some of the firsts to see the opening of the Monet at Etretat Exhibit.

It was a small exhibit, but there were a few very special paintings.  We really enjoyed the background information and histories.  

Afterwards, we went to Cafe Con Leche for a really good takeout lunch, which we ate at the park next to the Duwamish river.

SKETCHING PLAYLAB LINES

 Another clinic of Dancing with Lines.  We had lots of fun.  Lots of play.

NEBULA BLOCK 6 MINI

 I put the parts together today for the Nebula Block 6 mini version.  

It got hot upstairs afterwards and I had to leave.  It's at least 84 degrees.  And having the iron on for several hours does not help.

FINISHING

 Today was another session with Joe Cunningham and his Quilt Freedom Workshop.  He showed some vintage quilts and then talked about using someone else's artwork as a jumping off point for your own artwork.  

While I watched that I was finishing up some projects.

Here is my Gifts block, Things That Get In The Way:  

I love it.

And then I finally finished this block for the Nebula quilt: Block 6

Then I did the drawing for the smaller version and got the parts cut out.

JELLY'S BIRTHDAY

 Today is Jelly's 6th Birthday.

We went to Lincoln Park to take her official birthday photo.

Then we took some more photos...

STARTED

 I started sewing together my 'Things That Get In The Way' block.  I only got this far.  I got the parts all made.  Now to sew them together.  There will be partial seams. 

ART DATE 10

 It was a warm and sunny morning.  I drove over to 18th and Cambridge to sketch the church there.  I sat outside on my new portable camp stool.  It worked good.

I spent a while trying to get the proportions and angles correct in pencil.  Then because I was getting too warm, I took the sketch home and worked on it some more there.  

 

NEW BLOCK

 I designed a new block for my Gifts project.  It was almost fully formed in my head.  I did some erasing and ended up with a better block.

It is "The Things That Get In Your Way".

PLAY AND COOKIES

 Our Monday Sew-In with Brave Patch decided to do a little '15 Minutes of Play' at the beginning of our meetings.

Today I tried doing curves.  That was a lot of fun and it definitely adds more interest.

I was surprised that I had so many big scraps.  

So, I played on for the whole meeting - about 2 hours - and ended up with two big pieces.

In the morning, before the sew-in meeting, I made some more Banana Oatmeal cookies.  It's become a big favorite.

Happy Monday!

PILLOW SHAMS

I got the pillow shams done for the people that bought the Floral Trails quilt. I used one of the new feet I bought the other day, the Edge Stitch foot, for the 'stitch-in-the-ditch' quilting.  

I'll be putting it all into the post tomorrow.

 

Good-bye quilt, live long and prosper.

FREE THE LINE

 This morning was another Sketching PlayLab.  I just love them!

Today was about making lines and how they affect us and the composition.

LUNCH WITH MOM

 Today was the first time in over a year that Mom, Julie and I met for lunch in a restaurant.  We are all vaccinated and things are starting to get better around here.

I went to Quality Sewing before we met to use my 40% off coupon to buy a foot for my Bernina.  I ended up getting two - an Edge Stitcher and the new version of the #37 quarter-inch foot.  Expensive!

Then since I arrived a little early to Bahama Breeze at Southcenter, I parked and sketched this motorcycle next to me.

Then we had a very pleasant get-together enjoying our lunches.  I had the Paella, but I couldn't bring myself to eat the mussels (I don't like clams either).  So, the dogs enjoyed them when I got home.  Mom and Julie really liked their mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon.

NEW SALE

 Someone bought the Floral Trails quilt from Etsy.  They requested I make pillow shams to go with it.  I agreed to do that.  But I had to find the leftovers from the quilt.  I was pretty sure I still had them.  I remember trying to sell them on Instagram, but where were they now?

I looked and looked again.  After about 45 minutes I found them!  I cut out a bunch of strips to make 4-patches.  I need to make 63 4-patches for each sham.  My goodness, what was I thinking?

I made a little headway today.  Still more to go.

NEBULA NOT DONE

 I started on the next Nebula block this morning.  I didn't get it done, I had to run off and leave it.  I'll get back to it tomorrow, I hope!

CHANGES

 You might have notice - over on the right - that I've changed the subscription provider.  I've used Feedburner up until this time but they are discontinuing their service soon.  So I've signed up with Follow.It.  

https://follow.it/

If you are already signed up to receive notices about new posts, you'll be getting them from Follow.It now.  You might want to check your Junk Mail folder to see if they are going there and then tell your email program that it's a 'safe sender'.  You don't want to miss out on any of my musings!

If you're not signed up to receive them, now might be a good time to do that.  Just put your email address in the box and hit that orange 'subscribe' button.  You'll have to confirm that you really signed up, too.  You'll get a chance at that time to decide the frequency and how you want to receive the notices.

Thank you!

BACK FOR CHARLIE

 Okay, I named the little quilt top Charlie because I got that bright Brandon Mably fabric 'Scuba' from a quilt shop while we were visiting Charleston SC.  And besides, Xs sounded dumb.

I made a backing and label for it today.

Then, since D is out of town for the week, I watched a silly rom-com movie after dinner and I popped some popcorn for myself and the dogs.

SOLO SATURDAY

 I took Darrell to the airport in the morning.  He'll be teaching in Connecticut this week.  I'll be home alone (with the dogs and the cats.)

I spent the morning upstairs putting the latest Joe project together.  I'm not happy with that bar of yellow at the bottom.  I may take it out and replace it with more Xs or I was thinking I might hand sew some embroidered Xs in that space.  What do you think?

After lunch, I was out on the deck, sketching a still life as an assignment for Liz Steele's 'Foundations' workshop I've been doing.  It's a series of pre-recorded videos and instructions that is done at your own pace.