Friday, September 23, 2016

Dusk mosaic #2

I couldn't figure out how to do two images on the contest link thing, so here is part 2

Dusk Mosaic Contest

The other day my older son showed me a list of questions his class was supposed to use for a writing exercise, but didn't have to because they were "impossible!"  I thought they were lovely.  My favorite was "Which is louder, sunrise or sunset?"  That question has tickled me every time I've seen either this week, so I definitely wanted to participate in Stitched in Color's Dusk mosaic contest.

My entries:

1- Shouting sunset:  our sunsets have been glorious and assertive lately.  The eastern half of the sky will be dark, while the sun spills loud bright golds and reds in the west:


2 - Whisper sunset:  for the time after the sun has dipped below the horizon, but its fading light still colors the sky.
 

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Finished #quiltsforpulse top

The Friday before the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub, my husband and I went to a concert.  My husband is the concert enthusiast in our marriage, I tag along because I enjoy his company.  I have a love/hate relationship with concerts.  With a few notable exceptions (looking at you Brian Fallon -- RIP Gaslight Anthem -- and The National), I don't really like any one group enough to want to listen to it for that long, that loud, with people I don't know at all spilling drinks on me and "accidentally" grabbing my breasts when they "stumble" while holding a one-person mosh party in a crowded venue.  I especially have trouble enjoying the opening bands, who are often more miss than hit.  This is a problem with me, not them.

Long way of saying I did not have high expectations when we mistimed our arrival at the venue and did not miss the opening band.  Best mistake ever.  The opening band was Told Slant, and they were awesome.   After a few songs I told my husband I was really glad we came early.  A few more, I told him I was going to buy their t-shirt at the break.  At the end of the set, I told him to buy the album when we got home, please.

So then there was the most deadly mass shooting in the US.  I learned through a post on the Stash Bee that the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild was collecting heart blocks to make quilts for the survivors, victim's families, and first responders.  The blocks were easy, so I made a few.  Then I made a few more.  Then I decided that they were so easy I should just make a whole top.  Told Slant's first album, Still Water, was playing on an almost uninterrupted loop every time I sat down to sew.  The music fit the project.

A line on one track says "I hope your sister grows up, and thinks that the world is beautiful."  My middle child happened to walk into the room once when that line played.  He looked at me very earnestly and informed me that "actually mommy, the world is beautiful."  My daughter, who is now 4, saw all the hearts on my design wall, and said that they were pretty, and "I sure do like that quilt!"  That is her way of hinting that she sure would like the thing for herself.  When I just thanked her for her compliment, she gave up hinting and just directly asked who it was for.  I explained the quilt drive.  She got quiet, and said "what were their names?"  We looked up the names and pictures of each of the victims - I thought she'd want to stop after a few, but she looked at every single person.

So now my quilt top is done.  But of course there has been another shooting, in the city where I live, and another albeit smaller, quilt drive.  And the lyrics from another song from the album seem appropriate:

there is no one way the world should be 
because we all get bored of all our favorite things 
and I don't mind that you are not like me 
because I don't feel like I'm a lot like me




Sunday, June 19, 2016

#Quiltsforpulse

A fellow member of Stashbee 2016 posted about the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild's Quilts for Pulse quilt drive.  More details here.  At first I was going to sign up as an individual and send a few blocks, but I decided to take the plunge and join the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild and send mine along with their donations.  I hope to be able to complete a full top, but we'll see!

I started with the paper-piecing templates from don't call me Betsy, because I love paper piecing.  I learned, however, that I much prefer smaller scale paper piecing.  Since I do not actually mind the stitch and flip of the original, I went back to the original tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew.  As I was cutting the corner pieces, I realized that the paper templates and the stitch-and-flip tutorial use different sizes for the corners.  No biggie, I just measured the templates, and used a 2.5 inch square for the smaller pieces, rather than 2 inches.

My goal is to make 4 blocks each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and 6 rainbow blocks, for a final quilt that is 6 blocks by 5 blocks.  For each color I am doing one block as patchwork or stripes, rather than just a straight cut of fabric.  We'll see - the improv patchwork I did for the purple and orange took longer than I imagined it would.

Here's what I have so far - I just stuck them up as I made them - I'll arrange them into vaguely rainbow order when they are all done.  I think I will also end up scrapping the red on the upper left.  The strips ended up wonky from one side to another.  I stuck it up there hoping it would grow on me, but it isn't.