DAY TWO OF WORKSHOP

 Day Two of the Exquisite Bead Book Workshop.  First thing, we rinsed the dyes from our fabrics then set them out to dry.

And we began beading on our practice pieces.

We began with stitching what will become the binding on the pages

It's a blanket stitch with a knot added.

EXQUISITE BEAD WORKSHOP

 I left home at about 7am heading north to La Conner for the Exquisite Bead Book Workshop with Gail Harker.  

I arrived a little early even though I stopped several times including at Starbucks for breakfast and coffee.

The workshop was in the Civic Garden Center, which is right across the street from the Quilt Museum.

The Pacific NW Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum

The LaConner Civic Garden Club

The first day we dyed the fabrics we prepared and brought, wool and silk organza.  Each reacted differently to the dyes.  The wool took a lot of dye while the organza needed very little, but it didn't spread very well for either.  So, we massaged it to get the dyes to move in interesting ways.

Dyes prepared.

Gail explaining to us how we'll do it.

And we dyed some perle cotton thread that we'll use on binding our books.

Here are some of the others fabrics - we set them out on plastic to leave them overnight.

And my fabrics.

DONE HAND QUILTING

 I finally finished the hand quilting big stitch on the Carpe Diem quilt of improv Hourglass blocks.

I haven't done any hand quilting in decades, at least on anything this big.  

I pinned up a sheet of plastic on the work wall and pinned the quilt up, using lots of pins.  My purpose was to get it squared up and straight.  Then I sprayed it with water to get the blue marking lines to disappear.  It took a lot of spraying, some of the marks were a little stubborn, but they all eventually went away.

However, orange from the Aurifil 50wt thread I used for the basting left orange marks and faint lines here and there on the lightest fabric.  Very disappointing. 

I patted the quilt, while wet, to get the layers  to meld together and it looks a lot better now.  

So here it is:

Before I sprayed with water, notice the orange dots and faint lines between.

After water, marking lines are gone, but orange dots still visible.

REMOVED BASTING

 I finished the hand quilting on the Carpe Diem quilt.

Then I removed the basting threads.  

SORTING BEADS

 Sue's beads have been in my studio for a long time now.  When I saw an email about a beading workshop, I thought that would be fun.  So, I started sorting the beads.  Most of them were in containers all jumbled together.  Some were in ziploc bags, some were in plastic containers, and a few were properly sorted.

So, for days now I've been sorting them, a bead at a time, and putting them in in containers.  I only need the seed beads and bugle beads for the workshop.  So, I'm prioritizing them.

JANE BLOCK C5

 I made the next Dear Jane block, C-5.  It was an easy one.

I started on the next one, but got frustrated before I finished it.  I'm going to have to unpick the last pieces of background I sewed on and redo them.  I'm using up too much background and am going to run out.  And I won't be able to find more of this 25 year old fabric, I'm sure.

NEW ROW OF JANES

 I made the first two blocks of the C row on the Dear Jane quilt.

This second block, C-2, was a little difficult.  I thought I could use my 60* diamond rulers, but these diamonds were not 60*.  So, I got out my protractor and measured the angle for these.  They are 54*.  So I made a guide for my ruler and cut the needed angles.  And, in the original block, it looks like the two outside diamonds were appliqued on after the center nine-patch was assembled.  But, I went ahead and pieced two more diamonds on.  

QUILTING DIAGONALLY

 I started the actually quilting on Spider Legs which I have mounted diagonally on the longarm.  It's going well.  I'm using the ruler exclusively to make straight lines in the 'background with a light teal thread, and zig-zaggy lines with black thread in the black and white 'leg' parts.

I only worked on it for a few hours, then I went back to work on the Dear Jane blocks.  I wanted to get my third and fourth one for the week done.

This is B12 and B13, which finishes off the second row.  This makes 26 blocks I've made, only 143 left to do.

B12 was all curves

B13 was an easy one to complete the week's 4.

FRIDAY FINALLY

 I finally got the backing for Spider Legs pinned onto the longarm.  I've been procrastinating about it for what seems like a very long time.  It barely fits onto the longarm because I added fabric to all the sides so the backing would be diagonal when I quilt it.  

I also loaded the batting and the top and even wound one bobbin.  Then I joined the Brave Patch Finish It Friday group.  

I was able to get the next Dear Jane block, B11, finished before I had to go in to make dinner.

BLACKBERRY JAM

 Wednesday Darrell and I went blackberry picking in a local 'park'. Jelly went too, but wasn't too happy.  She doesn't like blackberries and really doesn't like trying to walk in them.  So she stayed away and watched us.

Today I cooked them up, using a very low sugar recipe, into Blackberry jam and canned 12 little half pints and one pint.  That should last us for a few weeks!  

TINY PIECES

 I made the next Dear Jane block today, B10.

It has tiny pieces.

The middle part

2-1/4" square at this point

Getting bigger...

All done, 4-1/2" block.

CANNING PEARS

 We got a big box of Bartlett pears yesterday at the West Seattle Farmers Market.  With Darrell peeling and me cutting in half and coring, we made a good team.  He could peel them as fast as I did the rest.  We didn't make it through all of the pears, but I think we got at least half of the 24 lbs prepared.  We couldn't help but sample one - it was very delicious.

I hot packed them in quart jars and ended up with 6 quarts.

CANNING FRUITS

 Darrell and I went to the West Seattle Farmers Market and bought a box of peaches and a 24 lb box of pears.

We came home and canned the peaches right away.  We were disappointed with them.  Once they were peeled you could see a lot of bruises and soft spots - which all had to be cut away.  I think we were probably a bit too late in the season.  Hopefully, we'll remember this next summer.

But, we got four quarts put up.  

DEAR JANE B8 AND B9

 I've made two more Dear Jane blocks.  And again, they were challenging.

The center four pieces were fussy-cut and sewn together, then the corners were added with a Y-seam.

I added the appliqued leaves later.

This block was also fussy-cut and entailed Y-seams.

DEAR JANE B6 and 7

Working on row B of the Dear Jane quilt.   Today I got B6 and B7 done.  I doubt that I could have completed B7 with its curves and inset circle back in 1996.  But, luckily I have the skills to do that now.  But, this little block was still very difficult for me.  

I took B7 into the house with me to finish the appliqued little diamonds in the corners.   

I thought I would foundation piece B6, but that wasn't going to work, so then I thought I'd make the center square and foundation piece the rest, but that wasn't how I did it afterall. 

Making the parts for the center square.

I thought I'd foundation piece the rest of the block, but in the end, it seemed easier to just piece it.

Completed B6, 4-1/2" block

Then it was on to B7:

Sewing the little 'melons' on the center circle piece.  Can't have enough pins.

Once I got the center circle completed, I inset it into the outer square using the 6-Minute Inset Circle technique.  I think the original was probably made with four individually pieced sides and mitered corners, but I thought this new way would be better, and faster.

Completed B7