Rectangles: How Square ~

I was thinking one day not too long ago about how much I enjoy half-squares and how much this little square with not much of a personality by its' self, when put with other blocks, makes a quilt top just sing. 

But wait.....this post isn't about half-squares!  We are into half-rectangles....also a triangle! 

It was a totally scrap-happy day spent cutting up all these rectangles then re-stitching into half rectangle triangles.  

Just a sampling of what's to come:

Let's Go Sailing!

 

 

 



Sky Diving Anyone?

Oh, Go Fly A Kite!

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World

I'm running out of fabric scraps, but not ideas on how to arrange all those half-rectangle triangles.  Remember, when in doubt grab a scrap!   Any Scrap, Any Way, Any How ~  doesn't matter the size, it works. 





 

Inspired to be a nine-patch

What are friends for?  You know, the ones that give you scraps of fabric and left overs of things that they no longer want or need and knowing you will take them and eventually do something with each little tidbit. 

Having tripped and fallen over a stash of hand-dyed fabric for way too long,  I decided that now was the time to put to great use the hand dyes given to me by Kathy and Madeleine, along with those purchased from VickiW,  Cherrywood Fabrics,  Laura W ,  Freida A and those dyed by self in a hand dyed fabric workshop with Wendy S.   Now, that's  a lot of hand-dyes. 

I'm prepping for a program for a local quilt guild in June and wanted to freshen up a bit one that I have presented to other groups.  It's my "Inspired By A Nine-Patch" program.....the one that I take the double-disappearing nine-patch to a more modern level. 

So,  I gathered and pressed, cut and bundled into 9: 

\
 
 
 
 

and set about making 20 nine-patch blocks...each one different from the other.

I then took all twenty of my nine-patch blocks and did the unthinkable (to many in my quilting group), and


Cut them into pieces

 

 All the pieces parts are now on the design wall ready to be tweaked just a bit then sewn back together again. 

My little garden party is most definitely "Inspired by a Nine-Patch." 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Face: Lifting

Oh, No, not for myself....even though  I'll be the first to say that a face lift  would be an improvement. But, who wants to up lift ones' face and then have the remainder of her body show the years of wear and tear?  Not I. 

Money can only buy back so many delusions that youth is eternal. 

When I see acquaintances on the street and think "Don't I know you from somewhere?   You resemble someone I once knew,  but your eyes are not the same....they are too high on your head and they bug out just a bit too far.  And your lips have an unnatural puff....do they hurt?  And your skin is so stretched that it shines.  No amount of  powder could remove the sheen.  And where did your smile go?  And why can't you open your mouth?   No, I'm mistaken.  I don't know you after all."    

 

Where did all this come from????

  What prompted this rant was a visit through pictures of a grand and majestic lady, The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Spring, Arkansas, who is undergoing a face lift.  After all, she is getting on up there in years....but where does her change of façade stop?


Don't we want to continue to see a few character lines?   After all, a complete redo would be a tragic loss to all who have visited her through the years. 

When her time is over and she's put on the national register, wouldn't we want the true and steadfast Crescent Hotel posturing and preening and posing for our camera. 

I like to think that perhaps she's just out for a spa day,

having a facial scrub

a manicure, a pedicure: 

and then it's back home again continuing to be the beauty that she is. 

And so goes my day, enjoying a makeover, but not too much:  I'm out of my pj's, now ready to move from the computer to the sewing machine.  










 

Earth Day 2015....my wish ~

When sunflowers are young, they keep their heads turned toward the sun to gain strength and energy.   As each new day emerges, they too emerge with new-found strength, ready for what the day beholds, facing toward the sun, never looking for shadows to hide behind. 

Sunflowers are made up of thousands of tiny florets: 
Each one, if planted will also become a sunflower. 

Earth Day 2015  ~    My wish is that I  grab hold of each  ray of sunshine and never hide behind a shadow from yesterday. 

If I were a sunflower, my wish would be that each tiny floret within me would be a smile and that each smile would be filled with thousands of tiny florets....Just imagine the sheer joy of it all

being a sunflower

sharing one's life with a smile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 








 

It was an out and about day ~

LOL:  Living Out Life   



It was one of those great gad about days, with no particular place to go and no place to be at any particular time.  And, I wasn't even driving.  Since she seemed to know just what was expected of her, I just sat back and relaxed and when she stopped, I got out of the car and only got back in when all our purchases were paid for.  

We stopped to enjoy a leisurely lunch break and had a nice visit in the beautiful home of a very talented artist friend.   But other than that, we hit every thrift shop within our 40 mile driving radius. 

Not only did I find over-sized linen shirts, but also tee shirts to cut up and enjoy in my latest creating binge to put tee-shirts into quilts.  No, I'm not making any more tee shirt quilts:  just putting tee shirts into my quilts   Listen, if the fantastic modern quilter, Luke Haynes can do it, then so can I.    I spent (more or less) $20 and came away with a very happy day.

Now that all my duds have been laundered, I've begun to cut.  Wow, am I evermore impressed with the quantity of fabric from one large linen man's shirt.  I couldn't resist laying out the cuts side to side and measured 28" x 50".....and that's  not even including the smaller pieces cut from the sleeves, collar and back yoke. 

Only a few linen scraps remained ~

The tee shirts are beauties and  have a nice range in color from vibrant green to subtle grays and browns and with graphic images that sizzle  to very low volume words and numbers.....all ready to cut and incorporate into quilts.

 

 

Yes, I have a happy face today with all those buttons I cut off my thrift store shirts. 

Black and White and Oh, So Bright!

Yes, the stars are out and they are black and white and oh, so bright!  That's the name of the first quilt guild activity 2015 and my stars are out tonight....at least they are on the design wall and are being auditioned with some fun oh, so bright fabric scraps. 

Here's my latest addition:  A 12" square  fifty-four forty or fight quilt block surrounded by Malka Dubrawsky's whimsical orange and yellows.   

 

 

More Malka fabric surrounding a couple of 6" blocks with a little piece of Jay McCarroll's Center City at the bottom for the perfect compliment.   

Oh, No!  A horse with no name!  Sadly, my piece of fabric had no designer name on the selvage.  But not to be outdone, the back packs of these black and white horses with no name adds just the right touch of whimsy and brightness. 

 

 

and the stars keep growing and getting brighter

 

and growing. 

 I think at the finish line my Black and White and Oh, So Bright quilt will measure about 50" x 60"   

 

 

I get the most pleasure

out of wondering about what's yet to come: 

I had another birthday on March 17 and today I received a very special birthday card.  You see, she mailed it on March 13.....in plenty of time.  But once the post office got their hands on it - they sent it back to her!  How confusing! 

So, with another envelope and more stamps and a little help,  here's the happy envelope I received today. 

 and inside was the original envelope.  I see a Too and a From and a stamp all in the right places.   What's the deal?   I thought the post office could deliver with an address and zip!  And that seems to be  there.  Well, maybe the street address has been edited a bit and a last name penciled in by unknown adult. 

 Anyway, I received the best hand made, one-of-a-kind (no doubt about that) original birthday card in the mail today, April 1, and that's no fooling. 

 

Yes, Finley, it was a grate birthday.  Thank you for your love. 

Oh, and the artist and card maker is 7 years old.  








 

There's an orange orchard in there somewhere!

An orange orchard work in progress.   I have been working on my improvisational  modern orange peel quilt for quite some time and thought I might get some pictures of what's on the design wall to get a better fabric placement perspective.   Stepping away from it for a few days helped. 

I was so inspired by A Quilty Habit's improvisational orange peel and also the curve piecing method of Made On Main Street that I put the two ideas and techniques together for my orange peel.  

These four peels  were left-overs from - well, they were just left over -  and I decided to sew them on top of 6 1/2" blocks to throw my improvisational curved pieced blocks a curve.

I don't have to look like you and you don't have to look like me,

 but can't we all meet in the middle

of my bucket of

scraps

for an

 orange that's just been peeled

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'm off to make more blocks....I'm thinking I need an orchard that is at least

50" x 72".