Project Quilting 12-4 Snail Trail block

 We have Snow! 

I've been looking out the window a lot this week. I'm not a big fan of cold, but I like when there's snow on the ground. So, as I finished up my quilt today, this is the accumulation of the snow... so far... it's still snowing here. It's a fine snow, so it's taken quite a while for it to pile up around here. It's fun looking out this window and remember all the years my kids would be out there playing and sledding. Such wonderful memories. If I get motivated, I'll take a walk to the Lake and take some pictures there. It's been a while since we have gotten this much snow and our lake is so deep it doesn't freeze. Anyway, onto the challenge...

The Cats are Cold

25" x25"

I had done a snail trail block a few times in the past so I was familiar with it but I was adamant I was NOT going to make a bigger quilt this time. Still, snail trail lends itself to the best impact being repeated in several blocks... But I really didn't want to make a big quilt. I found this one on Pinterest which uses just one snail trail for it's tails and then simple blocks for the rest of the cats. It seemed like something I could sketch out easily. I saw it made both like this and with a snowballed corner on the cat body. I liked keeping it more geometric. 

Every source I looked at for making a 12" BLOCK, gave different cutting instructions. I decided to make an 8" BLOCK and cut the pieces , 5 1/4", 3 3/4", 3', and 2", then sub cut the first 3 into half squares on the diagonal.

I practiced, and started on my precious Cherrywood fabric. These cats are using some fabric from the  "Alaskan Sunset" collection. I liked the humor of using that in the week of sub freezing temperatures. 

Both of my girls, who are living on their own, decided to own cats. We have had cats while they were growing up, but now we have the two dogs and no cats after ours have passed away from old age. So, it's a tribute to Psyche, Bob, Luke and Star. Maura's Luke is quite the scene stealer in her Zoom classroom. Cats are fun.  

So, what did I learn this time? I am usually clueless about quilting. This week, I became a bit more adventurous about free motion quilting. I gave myself permission to play and not be perfect. I also tried sewing a binding on totally by machine. I sewed it on the back and flipped to the front and I used a foot called a piecing foot guide which kept my stitches running right along the edge. I was mostly pleased with that experiment too. 

I had some thread breakage. I noticed when I went to block the piece, the water evaporated quickly. I'm wondering if the humidity was affecting my thread.. or if it's just too old? Maybe I should just get rid of it? Not sure. 

Calling this challenge done and happy with what I've learned. 

Project Quilting 12-3 Virtual Vacation

 Virtual Vacation

It's cold in the winter here and, unlike last year with it's spectacular sunrises, this has been gray (oh so gray) with few actual snowfalls to brighten up the place. I would normally think about a trip, but Covid has squashed that thought. I just need to be happy snuggled up in my house with my quilt making. The theme this week made me remember a couple years ago when I was able to spend a couple weeks at the beach in the Emerald Coast of Florida. Destin and Pensacola area, where the beaches are sugar sand and every day was a different version of a beach paradise. Sigh! I photographed so much and I have so many spectacular views of that area, I decided to upload them to Spoonflower and have them printed. I wanted to work in some of the proofs I made as well. 

 My shop is called  "Elijahbluewallacestudio" 

Gold Coast Dreams 

44.5" x 40.5" 

I used a larger print of a sunset and then added in a few smaller pieces of proofs and colorful fabrics. The darker fabric I used looked informally woven and I liked how it made the brighter pieces pop. 

A closeup of the pieces show some of the different sizes of the Pensacola Beach sign I had printed. This is the vintage sign, which they recently replaced. It was so well loved, the new one really mimics the old one in design. Then, of course we ALL have scraps of fabrics around and they just seem to multiply. You would think this project might have gotten rid of a lot, but no... still a bin full. 

  Quilting (my nemesis) Continues to frustrate me. I used a pastel thread for the whole piece, mimicking the cloud lines in the sky and then carrying that down onto the sand area. The borders are all stitched a simple back and forth (wiggly at times) in different directions, crossed in the corners. 

  I'm seeing a trend this year of making basically a baby quilt sized quilt every time so far and I am pushed to finish in time. I like how I was able to use some of my spoonflower proofs. I don't know why I'm making this size this year. 

  I was talking with my daughter the other day and I mentioned just how much PQ has started to influence my fabric choices. Opening my eyes to a different esthetic for sure. 

Now for a totally off topic bit-

One day this week, I had to go out and mail off packages (including the cherrywood challenge) and I decided to get my hair cut. I was able to get an appointment fairly easily and I walked in and tried to explain what was going on with my hair.  The simple truth is that I shed hair. A lot. All the time. Everywhere. Then I also grow hair, constantly losing and growing. I am not a fussy person and I gave up with styling it a long time ago. Thus, I usually just washed my hair, then put it in a ponytail or sometimes braided it and let it go. That meant that when I was shedding hair, it was a very long piece of hair. So I had layers of length from 3 ft to about 4 or 5 inches, depending on the stage of growth. So anyway, my only instruction was to try to make it look better. So, quite a bit of the length is now gone, it's layered to work in the new growth and the bangs are also part of that. 

  My husband's first comment was to ask me why my hair looked like platinum blond . I had to laugh at him. Didn't notice that literally feet of hair was missing, it was just whiter. So, there you go. My gray shows up more. Other than my husband, there's really no one else to see it except at an occasional trip to the grocery store. I'm sure no one there really cares.