LAGERTHA FINISHED

 I finished Lagertha and we took some photos.

At times I struggled with the Improv Quilting.  It's somewhat of a new technique for me and I had a hard time coming up with interesting patterns and variations.  Some days I was in the flow, and others were very frustrating.

But, I am pleased with the results and glad that I got it completed.

FINISHED THE QUILTING OF LAGERTHA

 I finally finished the quilting on Lagertha, the Playcation 2022 improv quilt.

I procrastinated for quite a while on this one.  I'm doing improv quilting for the first time and I'm not very confident.  So, I procrastinated.  But here it is!  It's done and off the machine.

It's 91" by 93" big.

At the last second I added my initials to the quilting.

I also trimmed it and sewed the binding onto the front and pressed the binding to the back.  I started on the hand sewing of the binding onto the back, but didn't get very far.

BINDING READY

 I made the very long continuous bias binding I'll need for the Lagertha quilt from Kona Everglade today.  

The quilt is 91" x 93"  that's a 368 inch perimeter.  

I haven't finished the quilting yet.  I didn't get a chance to work on it today.  But tomorrow looks promising.

ART DAY

 I joined with Andrea Chebeleu's Watch. Learn.Play group yesterday and today to make art.

Here's what I did Under the Influence of Ruby Silvious.  She uses a lot of used teabags, and other discardable things in her art and paints tiny little objects or scenes on them.  She's amazing.

GETTING BOLDER

 I decided to go ahead and sew together that bold yellow section.  At this point I'm liking it and it will stay.

I got to work on the next row, too.  Bigger pieces.

Then it's back to re-organizing those scraps.  There is no end to the scraps - the more I sew them together the more I make.  

ADDING YELLOW?

 I worked some more on the Tree Tops quilt top.  At the end of the day I added a bigger section of that yellow.  I'll leave there for now and think about it.

PUT A SPIDER ON IT

 I'm still doing improv quilting on the Quilters Playcation 2022 quilt.

And I put a spider on it.

MORE TREE TOPS

 More fun making Tree Tops and Angles, improv style.  I've been sewing together the smaller bits of the 'background' to make larger chunks to work with.  That takes up a lot of time.  But it is relaxing and enjoyable.  I like using up scraps.

And, its maybe a third of the size I want it to be.  I'm going to go about it differently with the next area.  The way I did it this time is painfully more difficult than I think it needs to be.  We'll see.

QUILTED LADY

 I've been a bit worried about quilting Lagertha's hair.  I've been stalling.  But, I couldn't get much farther on the quilting until I got to it.  So, today was the day.

Here it is - it turned out okay, too.

I've been quilting the whole thing in an improv-style.  It's been terrifying and yet fun.

GETTING BIGGER

I've been working on the Improv Tree Tops quilt a little bit each day.  It's getting bigger, but I'm a long way from the size I'd like it to be.

 

IT IS COMING ALONG

 I 've been working a bit on the Tree Tops and Angles.

IMPROV SCRAP PLAY

 A bunch of us joined Sherri Lynn Wood on BravePatch for an Improv Scrap Play workshop today.  We made Tree Tops and Angles.  

I thought it might be a good plan to use the scraps from the recent finish, Playcation 2024.  I started out with those, but soon realized that the project needed more variety.  So, I got out the Blue Scrap Bucket and the Yellow/Gold bucket and continued on.

What I had done by the end of workshop.

And at the end of the day.

INTO SEATTLE

We took Quinten with us into Seattle this morning, in the rain, to have breakfast at Lowell's in Pike Place Market.

Afterwards, we walked around the Market a bit.  I stopped in the Starbucks for a coffee and bought a Pike Place Market mug, too, to add to our collection.

Then, still raining, we drove up on Capital Hill to the Blick Art Supplies store.  I bought some needed watercolors and some marking pens and other bits.

The Jimi Hendrix statue is in front of the store.

LAST MORNING WALK OF 2024

 It was a beautiful last morning walk of 2024.  The clouds cleared away to reveal a beautiful sunrise.  

Good-bye 2024!  It was fun.

It's been windy lately.  There are several trees down in Lincoln Park.  This one is across the main Bluff Trail.

Do I go under or around?

PLAYCATION 2024 QUILT TOP

 Over the last few day I've been sewing together the improv blocks from Cheryl Arkison's Quilters Playcation 2024 - all 49 of them.  I finished the top today.

Since I shy away from making square quilts, I made my blocks 10" by 12" because there would be 49 of them.  Which would make a great 7 by 7 blocks quilt.

BLOCK 49 AND DONE

 I finished the Quilters Playcation 2024 improv block - number 49 - the last one!

Then I took everything off the design wall so I could put all of the blocks up to see how it looked.

IMPROV BLOCK 48

Here is the 48th improv block by Cheryl Arkison on Quilters Playcation 2024.  I didn't get to make it last week while I was at the Joe Retreat.  So, I was catching up today.

Only one more to go!

I MADE A BEE

 Continuing to work on my MAYBE, I made the B today while hanging with the Brave Patch Monday Sewcial.

SMALL BOWL

 I saw this ball of cotton string.  It is much larger diameter than other string I've seen.  It's made for cooks.  But I thought it would make an interesting small bowl.  So I made one!

HOLIDAY DINNER

 We had Darrell's oldest son's family over for dinner today.  We ordered a Spiral Cut Ham and I made Green Bean Casserole using beans and onions from our garden.  And I made Potatoes Au Gratin with the last of our garden potatoes.  I used Cheddar and Smoked Cheddar in the cheese sauce. 

I had made a Pumpkin Pie and a Chocolate Merigue Pie yesterday.

It was all well received.

Stirring a white sauce for Au Gratin Potatoes.