Kelp

Karen @capitolaquilter chose Kelp as the Bee Sewcial prompt for this month. "Refer to my Jellyfish for the Palette: primarily blues/greens of all shades for background and mostly yellow/orange but can lean towards mustard/rust and include greens as long as it contrasts with the background. Sprinkle in bits of other colors as necessary." Karen also provided a link to Monterey Bay Aquarium as a source for ideas: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/giant-kelp

Here's my first block for her, 12" x 14", inspired by a kelp variety common at the aquarium - Dictyoneurum reticulatum AKA reticulated alga. I improv-pieced a rectangle of orange and yellow scraps before cutting them into kelp-inspired shapes. Then one by one, I pieced them together with the background fabric.

My second block measures 11" x 14.5" and is inspired by a feather boa kelp. I debated whether or not to piece the 'border' with smaller bits of the various colors, but for variety-sake, I decided to. Plus I kind of like the addition of that darker green 'just because.'

Windows Update

Though I took a brief break to stitch this month's floral stitches sampler, I've mostly been working on White Windows, the embroidery piece by Colette Moscrop @colettemoscrop, and I'm loving it. I even took it (and worked on it!) when we went out of town last weekend.

Somewhere along the line, I decided I needed to keep track of the embroidery stitches I'm using to fill in the windows, since I'm trying to use as many different stitches as I can come up with.

At first, I was just using stitches that were familiar to me. But as I've gone along, I've been consulting the internet and a couple of embroidery books I have in my library. We'll see if I run out of ideas before I get to the end!

Matchy-Matchy

Last week at Seattle MQG, I participated in what we call a 'Round Table' - a chance for several members to share a skill with the rest of the group. I was asked a while back to share about matched binding, which I was happy to do.

I took a few samples of finished quilts with matched binding, necessary tools - minus my sewing machine - and also made up a small (16" x 20") sample quilt to demonstrate the technique.

I shared the same demo with five different groups of about eight people, using a glue stick and wonder clips in place of my machine at each of the color-change junctions. Sorry, my hands were too busy to take photos, but it worked well enough! Once I was back home, I sewed the binding with my machine, hand-stitching on the back as I normally would.

The piece, which I'm calling "Matchy-Matchy," was quilted with an uneven grid using Aurifil 50wt 5021 [Light Grey], which I actually thought looked more like a light tan. Whatever, I liked how it let the grid show off without being too stark color wise. 

The demo got a great reception from my fellow guild members, some of which had never seen the technique before. I think I even convinced some of them to give it a try! 

P.S. It was surprisingly, harder to catch the true colors of this quilt in the natural light than inside. The second and fourth photos are most true - with the pink more of a peach color, and the medium blue more of a light teal.

Like, Totally :: October

This month's #seamqgbom2024 blocks were a great next step after a satisfying quilt finish - HST in a HST blocks. Despite it being a breezy day, I went out and got a photo real quilt before the rain started...

Good thing I was quick!

Hard to believe we have just one more month of blocks left. I'm really looking forward to seeing my blocks all up on the design wall, and making them into a quilt top!

Side Chairs

It's been a while since I've had a decent-sized quilt finish, so it really feels good to have completed my chair quilt now know as "Side Chairs." 

Definitions of side chair. noun. a straight-backed chair without arms. synonyms: straight chair. - www.vocabulary.com

Side Chairs was initially inspired by a quilt made by Kathy Peters of Marquette MI, called "Table Scraps" that I happened across in Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston. Making one little block eventually led to many many more, and I'm not sorry one bit. To me, the OOP Mod Tex Flower in Sorbet by Studio RK is the star of the show.  The solids are all Kona colors, and the stripes are orange pin stripe and pink pin stripe by makower uk for Andover. And the remaining print is Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Martini, which is a longtime favorite.

I couldn't resist making a pieced quilt back out of project leftovers, and the binding was made from the last of the floral print.

For quilting, I went with Dimensional Arrows from WALK 2.0 by Jacquie Gering, because it reminded me of the chairs. Using Aurifil 50wt 1104 [Neon Orange] felt like a stretch, but it was the only orange I had, and honestly, I don't think it stands out that much on the front. Not even sure why, but for the bobbin I used Aurifil 50wt 2423 [Pink], and as you can see, the contrast is much more noticeable.

Measuring 46" x 62", Side Chairs is so maximalist, but I love how some chairs are so obvious, and others you have to hunt for. Oh! And in the center of them all, is a dining table. Our dining room wouldn't actually fit 39 chairs, but the random number is more symbolic of generosity and connection, than an actual amount.

It was fun to go out for an actual photoshoot for this quilt, something hubby and I have rarely done since the pandemic.

Hubby thought he was clever snapping a photo of me taking a photo....

Which reminded me it would be a nice idea to get a decent photo of myself with my quilt. So....

"Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious." ~ Ruth Reichl

Thought it would be nice to list the posts about this project, just to record its progress:

7/4/24 | Chairs

8/12/24 | Pull up a chair

8/24/24 | A Seat at the Table

9/25/24 | Find a Seat

2024 Quilting Q3 Check In

How can it be October?? We're three-quarters though 2024, so it's time to join in the #2024QuiltingQ3CheckIn with Yvonne of @quiltingjetgirl. 

(Italics are from my original post; regular text is my current response.)

Quilts

I'm glancing back at my goals from January's Quilting Planning Party to see how I've done, and for the first time this year, I did not meet my loose goal of at least one quilt per month. In fact, I have just two small quilt finishes for the quarter. Oh well!

• Surrounds was my entry in Seattle MQG's "I Heard It On the Radio" quilt challenge. I plan to share more about it and the challenge quilt show in the months ahead.

• Matrix was begun in an On the Grid workshop with Maria Shell, and made incorporating several improv elements Maria shared in the workshop. Very fun!

I do have three quilts in progress:

• One using my Bee Sewcial prompt for July, Minimal Shapes; I'm still receiving blocks from my bee mates.
• "Like, Totally", the 2024 Seattle MQG BOM, which is still ongoing.
• The chair quilt I've been working on the last few months. I just finished quilting and hope to start binding tonight.

Handwork

• I've continued to enjoy stitching Dropcloth @dropcloth samplers, and have added several to the mix, all part of the Floral Stitches series: 

• Floral Stitches II
• 
  
• 
• Floral Stitches III





Floral Stitches IV

Floral Stitches V

• Other handwork - My daughter, Rachel @snippetsofsweetness, gave me a sashiko piece back in February that I finally finished!!

• AND I started a new handwork piece - White Windows by Colette Moscrop. It's still very much underway.

Community

• I plan to continue with the regular blogging and publishing monthly or so newsletters. This has continued to go well, with the expected ebbs and flows, depending on what I'm working on and life happenings. 
• Next week, I plan to participate in a 'round table' at our monthly Seattle MQG meeting, sharing my tutorial for matched binding. There will be several other members sharing a particular skill as well. 

New Directions

• Maybe not new exactly, but I feel the need for a studio refresh - In July, I worked on a few more refreshes. See Studio Refresh I and Studio Refresh II.

Well that's it for now. It's felt like a very disjointed quarter, especially August and September, but that's how life goes sometimes. Just working at taking one day at a time, and letting it be what it is. Meanwhile, I've got a quilt finish in sight, and I'm calling that a win.

Linking up with Yvonne's #2024QuiltingQ3CheckIn.

Windows Embroidery Sampler

A new handwork project is always exciting, and since this one will probably take me a while, I thought I'd mark the beginning of it with a post. It's the white windows on 100% linen embroidery sampler by Colette Moscrop @colettemoscrop, which I purchased from Snuggly Monkey @snugglymonkey. A hand screen printed fabric panel, it measures 13.5" x 20.5".

I backed it with Essex linen in natural, and hand-basted it.

Due to the nature of this piece, I have to decide how to stitch it! I'm using Aurifil 12wt, and just deciding on stitches as I go. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and love stitching on the 100% linen.

September Fabric Usage

Guess what?! I didn't bring in an inch of fabric this month! To be honest, I WANTED to. There is a new line I'm itching to select a few pieces from, as well as several solids I need to restock. 

But I forced myself to wait a few weeks, as I knew my usage wouldn't be that great. Taking a vacation was awesome, but it doesn't help the productivity does it? 😉 So other than bee and BOM blocks and backings for a couple of embroidery samplers, all the fabric used was for the chair quilt - top and back. And that's ok!

September Fabric Usage

Used up: 6.45 yards [5.15 projects + 1.3 recycled/donated]
Brought in: 0.0 yards 
Net: -6.45 yards

Find a Seat

It's been a full month since I checked in about the chair quilt, and I finally have a completed quilt top!

Measuring 47" x 62", I ended up using the OOP Mod Tex Flower in Sorbet by Studio RK to fill in around the table and chairs as I puzzled them all together. It's chaotic, and overwhelming, and I love it.

Now to make a pieced quilt back and consider a quilting plan. It feels good to finally have a quilt project thoroughly underway!

whisper wind sky

It was Leanne's @shecanquilt turn to choose a Bee Sewcial @beesewcial prompt this month, and she chose "whisper, wind, and sky, mainly the clouds in the sky. Consider the movement of the breath during a whisper or of the clouds in the sky." She asked that we make improv blocks using fabric “crumbs” - no piece larger than 2” on a side. "Your crumbs can be used in any shapes you like, cut with or without rulers or both, can be all of one shape (e.g. rectangles or long stripes ) or a combination of all shapes." The colours requested ran from bright white to darkest black and the blues and possibly other colours we might see in a daytime sky.

I opted to create entirely ruler-free, and made two blocks, the first measuring about 10" x 10". Despite the fact that Seattle experiences its share of cloudy and rainy days, we count any day with sunshine or blue sky a win, brief though it may be.

The second block measures approximately 11.5" x 18" and represents the band of dark clouds we sometimes see over the lake behind our house prior to a weather shift. Hubby or I always comment when one of us sees a band of dark clouds, as they are so striking. 

Both blocks will be sent to Leanne untrimmed, per her request. They were a bit of a challenge for me, as I don't usually save fabric crumbs, so pretty much had to cut up larger scraps into smaller pieces to play with. I'm curious.... do you save crumbs 2" or smaller? Do you keep them separate from your other scraps? Curious minds want to know.

Floral Stitches V

It was pretty perfect timing that a new floral stitches sampler arrived in the mail the day after I got back from vacation. I was definitely in the mood.

It felt like this one - a poppy?? - was one of the quicker samplers in the series. In fact, I had a really hard time stopping. So I took the time to add echo stitching inside the flower petals, and a combination 'border' - first a twisted chain stitch, followed outside by a back stitch. At that point, I called it done!

Linking up with Favorite Finish {September} with Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl!

Like, Totally :: September

Near the end of August, I took my #1 sewing machine in for a cleaning, then promptly left for a 10 day vacation. That all resulted in over a two-week break from sewing. Period.

So over the weekend, I finally drug out a backup machine, and got to work on this month's #seamqgbom2024 blocks - a combo of striped and regular HSTs.

Boy that felt good! The blocks were straight-forward enough to be a perfect reintroduction back into sewing. Just two more sets of blocks to come in this delightful BOM.

At the Table :: 2024 Rainy Day Bites May to August

My foodie posts may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I totally get that. So feel free to peruse or move on as I report in on the last several months of Rainy Day Bites Cookbook Club. I'm actually heading out on vacation in the morning, so hopefully I'll be able to post a bit on IG. But I'll be back posting about quilting and sewing before you know it.

Note that I linked to each IG post, in case you wanted to read what I wrote about each recipe.

May

Featured book: First Generation: Recipes From my Taiwanese-American Home by @littlefatboyfrankie. 

Topic: Identity through food.

scallion pancakes 

fried egg rice with cilantro

June

Featured book: The Global Pantry Cookbook: Transform Your Everyday Cooking with Tahini, Gochujang, Miso, and Other Irresistible Ingredients by @anntaylorpittman and @scottmowb 

Topic: Diversify your pantry and avoiding waste.

"diner-style" French onion soup

crunchy panko pain perdu with bacon ketchup and bacon maple syrup

May & June baking: Chicano Bakes: Recipes for Mexican Pan Dulce, Tamales, and my Favorite Desserts by @chicanoeats.

Mexican sprinkle cookies

dulce de leche

chocolate caliente

tres leches

July

Featured book: The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey by @gazamom @thegazakitchen 

Topic: Discover the food and people of war-torn Gaza.

falafel

open-faced pies

August

Featured book: Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking: 125 Recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands by @cocinacriolla 

Topic: Explore the diverse food and complex history of the tropical islands and the issues they face including colonialism, climate change, and food insecurity.

pernil (AKA marinated roast pork shoulder)

stewed red beans with butternut squash

July & August baking: Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen by @arlynosborne.

Maja Blanca Custard Cake

southeast tiramisu

mango float cheesecake cups

marbled ube banana bread

Our last day of the month global baking party selections (any recipe from any cookbook):

May | New Zealand/Australia: Pavlova from barefoot contessa at home cookbook by Ina Garten @inagarten.

June | Italy: Gelato, Sorbet or Granita from from Aloha Days Hula Nights, a cookbook from The Junior League of Honolulu HI

lemon granita

July | Greece/Turkey: Baklava from San Juan Classis by Janice Veal and Dawn Ashbach

August | Portugal: Pastéis de Nata (custard cream tarts) from My Portugal: Recipes and Stories by George Mendes

This quarter had several new-to-me ingredients. I learned about ube - purple yam from the Philippines; and pandan, made from leaves of a tropical plant.  Probably my absolute favorite discovery was tres leche, which I's heard of but never had. Now I have the recipe to make it myself. Remember, anyone can join the club. Just follow @rainydaybites to see what we're cooking each month!