What's Cooking?

I had planned to be back before now to show you the results of what's been cooking in the studio. We've had some internet connectivity issues. It's a little scary how dependent I've become on being able to access the internet!

The finished wall quilt (16" x 20"):

I've titled it "What's Cooking?" I think I mentioned in the previous post that I expected to use red to frame the chefs but liked the white "onion" print better. The same thing occurred when I got to the binding. I originally thought I would use red but this old mottled print with varying shades of green caught my eye and held it.

When I finished the wall quilt there were a few chefs still intact in the original half yard cut. Hmm, what do to? How about coordinating potholders?

This time I followed my inclination to use red as a frame. The red in this pair has a swirl in the print that could be interpreted as steam:


That pair of potholders used up the complimentary food print. For the next pair I decided to keep the red frames (but I had to use two different reds this time) and then use what I'm calling the onion print to bring the blocks up to size (8"). The black and white check I'd been using was all gone by now too so I had to find something else for the hanging loops. Again, this wiggly stripe reminds me of steam.

There's a third set of potholders. I'm keeping them for myself. I don't enjoy cooking but I do like to bake. I did all the decorating on my children's birthday cakes as they were growing up and had a lot of fun with that. So this pair of chefs seemed appropriate to have working in my kitchen. ;- )

The corners of the snowball blocks are a light pink on white that looks like sprinkles to me. The black outer frame and loops are a tiny muffin or cupcake print from eons ago.

Now I'm in that uncomfortable, anxiety producing zone between projects. We have company coming in a few days so I'm reluctant to begin a major new quilt effort. I've hit a snag with another project and have to wait a bit for supplies to arrive. So I'll probably resort to cutting and sewing scraps into random blocks for the next couple of days. I did take time yesterday to rearrange some of the storage in the studio. I needed a place for those random blocks to accumulate that was easier to get to. I think I've succeeded. I guess the next few days can be the trial run to see how it works!

Cooking in the Studio...

So to speak. While I admit to eating in the studio (you know nothing gets done without chocolate), I have never enjoyed the process of cooking. But I have been having a lot of fun playing with these chefs:

I fussy cut these guys from a print called the Daily Special from Wilmington Prints. The black and white checkerboard reminds me of the tiles you mightfind in a busy kitchen. The question was, how much of that checkerboard would be pleasing?

Yeah, I think that is a bit much. In the end I set them right up against each other. I thought I was going to frame them out with red but this white and black print caught my eye. It made me think of onions, sliced and peeled. Double click on the photos for a better look.

The wide border print is also from The Daily Special line I believe. I bought it at the same time as the chefs at any rate. My whole plan was to make a little wall quilt for a kitchen. This measures 16" x 20." In between seams for this kitchen quilt I sewed together random blocks for future quilts. At one point I got a little sidetracked by a dog print. This is what my design wall looked like when all the pots were boiling.

The chefs have nearly cleaned up all their mess now. I'll show you the feast in the next post. :- )

Colorful Additions

If you've stopped by my blog in the last few weeks you know I made this 12" x 12" quilt for a swap over on the 15 Minutes of Play blog.


This was not a direct swap but more like a round robin swap. So instead of receiving a quilt from the person to whom I sent my quilt I received a quilt from someone else in the group. In this case, I was given this absolutely delightful quilt from Nancy over at ColorFiberTexture:

When she showed it on the 15 Minutes blog I admired the happy colors with the black and white prints. Now that I have it in my hot little hands I see that not only is the center of the star made up of scraps ("made fabric") but so is the narrow border between the picot ribbon trim and the binding. And I love that she hand quilted it with embroidery floss. What a cheerful piece to have hanging in my home!

On another front, DD gave me a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day. One of the little carnations was too short to fit in the vase with all the longer stemmed flowers. My begonias were in need of trimming so I combined a bit of the cuttings with the carnation in a bud vase. There's also one leaf from another house plant whose name I don't remember at the moment.



The arrangement made Miss May Belle's walk with the hounds this morning a bit more colorful.

Here's wishing you a colorful walk through your day!

One Thing Leads to Another

My nearest bead shop (the one that was closest relocated, much to my disappointment) sent out a newsletter with a coupon to use for Mother's Day. Who am I to pass up such an opportunity?!

One of the things I purchased was this hank of purple seed beads. I thought I'd share with you a slick trick I came up with for getting the beads off the strings and into the plastic bags I like to use for storage.

Holding the hank at the top I very carefully cut the lowest points of each string, making sure the hank is well into the little pitcher (actually a creamer I found at the thrift shop one day).

The beads slide off the strings into the pitcher...

And then I can easily pour the whole lot into the baggie. :- )

I didn't really need any new beads but going into the bead shop and bringing home a few new goodies was inspiring. QuiltDivaJulie asked me to contribute a block for her new lab coat. This is the block that I pieced for her coat:

I wanted to do some beadwork to dress it up a bit. Putting away my new treasures from the bead shop was enough to start the juices flowing.

I used some of the dyed shell chips I'd used on my ATC for January's bead journal project. They're called "Happy Beads." They couldn't be more aptly named in my opinion!

I have some serious catching up to do on the rest of my bead journal projects for this year. I've been making notes about what I might do for each month but right now sewing up blocks with the sewing machine is what has my full attention. I suspect I would do more beading if I didn't have to clear space to do it. DH and I have discussed things we might do to create a dedicated space for my beading projects. We'll see whether or how soon any of it comes to pass.

Finally, let me take this opportunity

to wish all my readers who are mothers

a Mother's Day that warms your heart.

Dots So Happy

I've been wanting to play with dots for a long time now. An opportunity to play on a smallish scale came my way so I went through my stash to see what I had that I could use. There are lots of dots and dot-like prints but only a few had the white background I wanted. Aw darn, another trip to my LQS. ;- )

Look what I got!

They're in the washer now, preshrinking and being cleansed of the fumes that tend to cling to bolts of new fabric. Then it will be PLAYTIME!

Since my last post I've made a few more blocks out of scraps and samples of newer prints.


Mostly old scraps I guess.

FYI, that block in the bottom left corner is just four flying geese units, not actually a block.

I have no plan in mind for any of these blocks/units. I'm finding that I rather enjoy making blocks out of scraps and letting them pile up until I have enough to build a quilt top. I suspect the trick is going to be to make blocks in a variety of sizes to give myself a wider range of options when it comes to setting them together.

Time to put the newbies in the dryer!