TBT: Pointillist Palette Quilts

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I was dabbling in quiltmaking. I had made a couple of projects with fabrics I bought specifically for those projects. The Internet was just starting to be something that quiltmakers could use and I was on a Usenet Board where quilts were discussed.

Pointillist Palette 1: Sun
Pointillist Palette 1: Sun

I went to Seattle for a conference and visited a quilt store called In the Beginning. At that time, it wasn’t just a fabric line, but there was a huge store. It was one of the largest I had ever visited. I saw the Pointillist Palette fabric there – the whole line. I was amazed and thrilled. This was fabric I really liked. Up until then, I was trying hard to avoid dusty rose and teal.

Pointillist Palette 2: Ice
Pointillist Palette 2: Ice

I like these quilts and think they might be the precursor, in some small way, to the Fabric of the Year quilts.

Pointillist Palette #3: Flower
Pointillist Palette #3: Flower

I wrote a lot about my inspiration in another post, which is good since then I don’t have to rehash it. I did think about one of the quilts in the series back in 2014. years ago, I know, but the thought hasn’t died. There is hope.

Various & Sundry 2017 #13

Help Those in Need

As many of you know Hurricane Harvey is still raging as I write this. I am sure we will be asked to send fabric, quilting supplies and sewing machines to those quiltmakers who lost everything. That time is not here yet, but other supplies are needed. Hobbs Batting is filling their trucks and driving them to the affected areas. Read about it on their IG feed. Of course, national and local agencies are taking donations and blood banks need blood as well.

Fabric, Tools & Supplies

I picked up a Quilts & More magazine and then forgot about it. 🙁 I saw it in the [giant, endlessly teetering, some of these papers and flattish things done have a home] stack on my desk and leafed through it while my computer took its time booting up. In it I noticed that Windham has a cool new panel of the US. It is kind of mid century modern version of a U.S. map.

I recently saw an Instagram post with some fabulous fabrics. In scrutinizing the photo, I also saw a ruler. It turns about to be the Classic Curves Ruler by colorgirlquilts. I have never seen it before, but I am definitely interested. Have you tried it?

On the Blog

My links got away from me. I recently found a couple that were out of date for some reason. Gabi Campanario – Seattle Sketcher – was one of them. I love his drawings and his drawing style. Check out his site and his blog for inspiration.

I am horrified to say that I never updated the link to Sandy’s site after she moved hosts 12 years ago (exaggeration for the sake of emphasis). You should be able to use my blogroll to get there now.

I also updated the Quilts in Print page. Have you read any of these books?

Finally, will be giving a trunk show in September. In anticipation of that activity, I began looking through my blog’s Gallery to see what I wanted to bring to the show. As a result, I have also started adding more quilts to my gallery, especially older quilts. I don’t have as much information on those older quilts as I do on my current quilts, but I have made a start. Stay tuned.

Sites

We all know Spoonflower, but my friend told me about Shop Vida. It seems like the same sort of idea, but with more wearables – scarves, shirts, and wraps.

My friend had a skein of sari “yarn”. Sari silk is twisted over yarn or string, I think to make something like yarn that you can knit or crochet, etc. I saw a tutorial for making your own with fabric scraps. I am not sure it would work for something like my scarves, but it might work for a rug.

Other Artists

Melody Johnson has a cool improv stars project on her blog. I love the colors. Very cheerful. Very quickly she turned it into Moon and Stars. Fabulous!

Have you seen Sharon Risedorph’s website? She took the photos for Roderick Kiracofe‘s book, Unconventional & Unexpected:
American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000. This is a gorgeous, well researched and interesting book. Sharon’s site shows more than just quilts. It is spare and the photographs are highlighted very well.

Media

You can purchase the entire archive of American Patchwork & Quilting (1993-2016) AND Quilts & More (2005-2016) on a USB drive for $149.00 (probably around $165 with tax and shipping – YMMV). Go to their shop. While generally, I have enough projects. I am very tempted by this as it is a complete collection. It will also allow me to go through my project sheets and toss the paper. Also, there are a number of projects in Quilts & More that I have really liked and would like to be able to see what I may have missed. I will have a searchable archive. I think you get updates as well, because the ad says that a 2016 update is now available.

There is an article someone sent me about the health benefits of knitting. It was in the NY Times. It references the study that came out a few years about how quiltmaking helps brain health.

August BAMaQG Meeting

If you want the full, official minutes of the meeting, check the BAMaQG blog. This will just be some impressions of things I liked or inspired me.

Informal Pedicure Challenge
Informal Pedicure Challenge

Three of us were chatting and admiring each other’s pedicures. I took a picture and posted a photo/joke up on IG about the latest BAM challenge. I wasn’t 100% joking though I don’t know if I have time to make something. We’ll see what people say.

I was invited to do a trunk show next month. Gerre had spoken to me about it several months ago and I had completely forgotten, so I was a little stunned when she announced it. Of course, I am extremely flattered. Since the meeting, I have been thinking about which quilts to bring. I can’t bring them all, because I don’t have them all. Also, there are too many even of the ones I still own. I am going to focus on my older quilts. I haven’t, for the most part, showed them at guild and I think they will be the most interesting. In preparation for this exercise, I am preparing some Throwback Thursday posts. Look for those.

Gerre is starting to talk about projects that can be made out of all of our merit hexies. She has started to collect ideas on a Pinterest board and there are some fun ones there. I am not sure what I will make. I don’t want to sew them all together like a Grandmother’s Flower Garden. I have enough EPP with the Half Hexie Star project.

BAMaQG Charity Monkey Wrench Blocks
BAMaQG Charity Monkey Wrench Blocks

The Charity Girls have some interesting blocks. I have never really been interested in the Monkey Wrench block. Of course, all blocks have beauty in their own way blah blah blah.

I think I must have missed the call for these blocks. I saw them laying on the table as I was wandering around and found them to be the most exciting Monkey Wrench blocks I have ever seen. I particularly liked the top one. I took pictures of it in detail in case I want to make some like it – for the charity project, of course.

Monkey Wrench - charity
Monkey Wrench – charity

I think all of the MW blocks use fabric cleverly and that makes them much more interesting than just using two colors/fabrics. My favorite is particularly interesting, not just because of the fabric, but also because of the reversal of foreground and background. I am not an eye researcher so I don’t know the particulars of how the eye sends information to the brain, but I think that I was looking at it more. My eye was moving around the block more because of the foreground/background switch. My brain was trying to make sense of the information the eye was sending to it. I am VERY tempted to try making a few of these.

August 2017: Charity Quilts Available to Quilt
August 2017: Charity Quilts Available to Quilt

The Charity Girls still have a lot of quilts available to quilt. This makes me nervous because I always bring quilt tops. I barely quilt for myself and quilting for charity might send me over the edge. I was pleased that someone had taken the Stars #2 Quilt right away to quilt. Another thing I don’t have to worry about.

Most of my info seems to be about Charity. There is a lot of interesting work going on with Charity right now. A lot of people stayed until the bitter end, but not a lot of people sewed. There wasn’t a lot I could photograph, as a result.

Reminds me of Renewed Jelly Roll Race Quilt
Reminds me of Renewed Jelly Roll Race Quilt

The last Charity effort I saw reminded me of my Renewed Jelly Roll Race Quilt. The colors in the fabrics are little bit dustier than my quilt, but this is still a very cheerful and attractive quilt.

It was a great meeting, as usual. The Board is doing a great job.

Ta Dots & Stripes HSTs

I seem to have a lot of HSTs around. The other day I talked about the Mostly Manor HST quilt. I found the bag of Ta Dots & Stripes HSTs recently and laid them out to see what I could do with them.

First, they didn’t turn out as expected. The stripes are a lot darker than I anticipated and kind of dominate the quilt.

Second, there aren’t as many as I thought, so this will most probably be a lap quilt.

Third there aren’t enough colors of dots to make this really interesting. I don’t remember if Ta Dots come in more colors. If not, they should, but these are all the colors I have.

Ta Dots & Stripes HST Quilt Layout
Ta Dots & Stripes HST Quilt Layout

I laid them out anyway in order see what I could do with them. I laid them out in lines and straight HSTs.

This layout is similar to the one that my SIL did with the Mostly Manor HSTs. It concentrates the colored triangles together and makes them stand out a bit more. The stripes still fairly dominate the whole piece.

Ta Dots & Stripes HST Quilt Layout n.2
Ta Dots & Stripes HST Quilt Layout n.2

The other layout was inspired by a quilt on the Quilts and More Summer 2017 issue. It is straight HSTs in kind of a color order all pointing in the same direction. I thought it would be a possibility for this quilt.

It is ok, but the contrast is still difficult.

Cafe Apron Returns and Leaves

You might remember the Amanda Jane Cafe Apron? I made 3 or 4 of them and sent them off to new homes.

Lil Sissy's Cafe Apron Repaired
Lil Sissy’s Cafe Apron Repaired

Apparently, my sister loves hers and uses it at her art shows. She ripped a few seams so when I went to visit the YM she gave it back to me to fix. I have been working diligently on the art quilt, so it took me a few weeks to get to it. I took a break from the art quilt and did some piecing. One of the other things I did was fix Lil Sissy’s cafe apron.

I reinforced seams, which I am shocked I didn’t do before. I also backstitched some seams that I thought would get stressed. My sister was very good natured about it and I appreciated that.

SIL’s Seasons Quilt

SIL #2 moved back here from Maryland last year. Since then she has been getting comments about how she must miss the seasons. We do have seasons here. They may not be the four radically dramatic seasons of the East coast, but we have seasons.

SIL's Season Quilt -in process
SIL’s Season Quilt -in process

Anyway, she has started her Seasons quilt and the first bit of it is AWESOME! Part of the awesomeness is the cutting, but the other is the Pointillist Palette fabric. The picture is not ideal, but you get the idea. The quilt shard is not on a curve surface, but the Pointillist Palette fabric and the placement makes it looked curved.

Pointillist Palette was a great fabric line. It cemented my friendship with TFQ. We bonded over fabric. 😉 It was one of the first fabric lines I bought. It was one of the first fabric lines I remember being marketed as a fabric line. There was a reissue of some of the colors and new colors last year. Both SIL and I have large collections of many of the colors. I still have the idea -and some hope- that I will finish my Pointillist Palette series. Seeing SIL”s piece gets me thinking about my PP series.

Creative Spark #17: Inspiration

Dolores Street Decoration
Dolores Street Decoration

The first headline of this spark is “Follow Fireflies. it made me think of my ‘What If’ game. The first line also sent my mind spinning. It reads “Inspiration is everywhere you look” (pg.73). I had just been walking down a street I frequent when I saw the decoration/gargoyle on a house. I thought it looked like a semi-wild cat. I like the detail (new houses have no character) and was amazed that I can still find things to see and be inspired by on a street I have walked down many times. I think having a  camera in my pocket gives me incentive to look more carefully at the world around me.  Bloomston also says “it can be commonplace or holy. It can catch you unaware and take away your breath. It can leave you speechless” (pg.73). I think I tend towards the commonplace – looking at the world around me, taking inspiration from the line of some bricks or some green growing in the crack of a sidewalk. At certain times of the year – not summer where I live – the sky and clouds can be quite dramatic. When I travel, I often find views and cityscapes that take my breath away. Architecture often amazes me because of the sheer scale of buildings built without computers. Noticing shape and line that inspires us is what Bloomston calls “the fireflies” (pg.73). She says “when we step into a life of chasing the fireflies of inspiration, we are more able to get into a creative space” (pg.73).

I find that I worry less when I am looking at the world around and making an effort to see the details – the beauty of the world around me. Carrie says that by getting into a more creative space “we create a fluency between our so-called normal life and our creative life” (pg.73). I find that there is less of a difference between the lives or parts of our lives. That lessening of space makes it easier to move between the two. The author further says “inspiration is often just a pebble thrown onto the path. It is up to you to stop, stoop down, and investigate it” (pg.73).

Ms. Bloomston has four suggestions: “slowdown, daydream, unplug, have a net” (pg.74). Unplug speaks to me today. I have been listening to many, many audiobooks. Lately, I have to think a lot and I can’t keep track of the story, so I haven’t been listening to as many audiobooks. I realized that, while I was very much enjoying listening to stories on audio, I was escaping and keeping my mind entertained so it wouldn’t dwell on the political situation or other bad things with which I was struggling. Now that I have less time to listen, I am allowing my mind to wander a bit. It does go to the dark places, but not as often. By not engaging it with audio 24/7, I am giving it space to think creatively as well. I am getting back into the groove of daydreaming. I think I am also learning to let my mind wander and touch on various topics, let it make connections between things.

As usual, Carrie Bloomston has some worksheets (pg.75). Go get your copy and fill them out. Think about what you are writing as you fill in the worksheet and let it inspire your creativity.

 

Nota bene: we are working through Carrie Bloomston’s book, The Little Spark. Buy it. Support the artist. Play along. There is much more to each spark than what I am writing. The original chapters will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston’s book, so you get the full benefit of her fabulousness! You can see my book review, which is what started this flight of fancy.

You can find the last spark on the blog a few weeks ago.

Lichen Scarf To Be

Lichen Yarn wound
Lichen Yarn wound

I know the Nighthawk Scarf was barely cold in the box of gifts when I went and bought more yarn. There are not many yarn shops near me, so I have to take advantage when I can.

There is one near my hairdresser and since I was getting a cut, I stopped and bought yarn as well.

I bought two skeins of the yarn shown, which is Madeleine Tosh Lichen. The person receiving this scarf-to-be likes dark green. I couldn’t find an all dark green skein, so this is what she is getting. I am not a huge green fan, so the purple and grey will relieve me a little bit.

This is knit on size 6 needles, but I cast on to size 7s and then purl on to the size 6s to keep the curve from developing, like on the Nighthawk scarf. I really wanted to get started, but forgot my size 6 needles, so I haven’t gotten to it yet.  Soon.

I was tempted to buy two additional skeins as well, but resisted. I really don’t want to start a yarn stash. I have a fabric stash and that is my limit.

Finished Nighthawk Scarf

Finished: Nighthawk Scarf
Finished: Nighthawk Scarf

I am pleased to say that I finished the Nighthawk scarf. I started it just about a month ago and finished it over the weekend. I wove in the ends at Craft Night, so done and dusted.

As I almost always say, I am pleased with how this scarf came out. I was also pleased with the size and feel of the yarn. As I said in a previous post, it has a kind of springy feel.

The finished scarf is rather heavy. It is also long, but I wanted it to be long. This scarf, the Monarch scarf and the next few scarves will go to the YM’s friends who helped take care of him this summer.

Finished: Nighthawk Scarf -full
Finished: Nighthawk Scarf -full

 

NSGW Quilt

Back in May, or perhaps the beginning of June, I went to Sutter Creek with DH for a Native Sons event. There was a wonderful parade in the town where people drove their minivans filled with costumed poodles, the local dance troupe danced along the town square and the Shriners drove go carts like crazy people all over the main street.

NSGW Quilt -Sutter Creek, California
NSGW Quilt -Sutter Creek, California

It was pretty warm, so we spent most of the time inside the Parlor building. As I was wandering around, I noticed an amazing crazy quilt! It is made of various ribbons along with velvets and other fancy fabrics, embroidery and event ribbons. It is framed and behind glass, so I couldn’t see all the details. From what I could see, it is in great shape and well protected.

NSGW Quilt - detail
NSGW Quilt – detail

The ribbons are NSGW ribbons, political ribbons and there is a judge’s ribbon for a California Admission Day Celebration in Stotckton (yellow). Some of the ribbons are dated in the 1880s and there is a definite Stockton theme, though other Parlor ribbons can also be seen.

DONE: En Provence Clue 4

En Provence, Clue 4 - Peaky & Spike
En Provence, Clue 4 – Peaky & Spike

Yep, I finally finished all of those Peaky and Spikes I talked about in July.

I thought I would never finish and while I was taking a piecing break last weekend I put all the rest of the undone pieces together and sewed.

I never thought I would finish this clue. I have to admit that I am getting sick of all of this prep and would like to sew some blocks together. I am fighting with myself about whether to sew a block or two together or to just follow the clues.

I just looked in the folder and I have two more clues, then I will be, presumably, finished.

The next thing I need to do is make a bunch of half square triangles. Now to figure out the colors.

FOTY 2017 Progresses

FOTY 2017 - Mid August 2017
FOTY 2017 – Mid August 2017

In the process of cutting for the Triple Star, I also cut some pieces for FOTY 2017. Some of the other (non-Triple Star) have been on the wall for awhile. I seem to go in waves: cutting a lot and then not cutting anything.

I really like the plaids in the Chroma line. They are more fun than regular plaids.

Amy’s Color My Quilt Finished

Amy's Inspiration
Amy’s Inspiration

After hearing Karen talk about her quilt, I decided that I would do more of a strip piece for Amy, so she would have some pieces she could use to connect other pieces. I tried to keep the pieces long and thin-ish.

Amy's Color My Quilt piece in process
Amy’s Color My Quilt piece in process

Partway through the process, as I mentioned, I took out the piece and took a look at it.

I was trying very hard to adhere to the spirit of the words, but color balance kept creeping in to my work. In the case of color balance, left, of the in process piece, I thought it needed more blue towards the top.

After working through all of my thoughts and feelings, I am pleased with the way this came out. I worked on it over the course of several weeks in between other things until I ran out of time. I also focused on the placement of the color rather than the width of the strips, etc. I did try to keep the strips from getting to wide, though I really wanted it to be long, so some are quite wide.

Amy's Color My Quilt piece
Amy’s Color My Quilt piece

I wanted to make it about a foot longer, but ran out of time. I am pleased and hope Amy will be, too.

Colorplay: Glass n.2

AirBnB leaded Glass Window
AirBnB leaded Glass Window

I decided to use this photo again and try to make palettes with Kona colors and see the differences. Obviously, I am going to try to put the dots in the same place.

You can see my first effort, from last week. I used Bella Solids on last week’s post. It was an accident. I meant to use Kona, but Bella was turned on so I went with it.

Leaded Glass-default-Kona
Leaded Glass-default-Kona

The default palette is very similar to last week’s default. I guess if there are no neutral colored areas in the uploaded image, it goes with similar colors or as close to neutral as possible.

I do like that very dark, Kona Espresso as an addition to the pinks. I think I would swap out the Crimson, though it looks more purple than crimson to me, to allow the Espresso to shine more.

Leaded Glass - palette n.1-Kona
Leaded Glass – palette n.1-Kona

The obvious differences in my first palette are the first red is darker and pink is more blush than grape. The first three colors (from left) are the stars as they were in the first Bella palette.

Kona Pool is such a great color and the yellow, Kona Wasabi, though looking much brighter on the bottom is a nice addition. I am not fond of the sand, but I am sure it would be a good unobtrusive hue to help the others shine.

Leaded Glass n.2-Kona
Leaded Glass n.2-Kona

I gave up doing a scientific experiment and just had some fun. The next palette had a circus feel.

The colors are not pure primaries, so I don’t think it looks kid-like. I think it looks very cheerful. The Baby Pink as well as the Tomato keep the whole palette from being too much like a young child’s playroom.

Leaded Glass n.3-Kona
Leaded Glass n.3-Kona

I tried for another cheerful palette and got one similar to the circus palette above, but with greyer hues. Not completely, because Pool and the Citrus are VERY cheerful. I am not sure I have seen citrus show up in a palette before (it must have and I didn’t notice). The Ultramarine and Grass Green make this palette into one that the parents of the children above could use.

Leaded Glass n.4-Kona
Leaded Glass n.4-Kona

The blues stood out to me. Since I can resist them I made a palette with blues and greens – towards the darker, tending towards neutral.

The plum was an unexpected addition. I can’t pretend it just happened, because I put the circles in place. I was surprised at how well it went with the greens, especially the Celadon.

Leaded Glass n.6-Kona
Leaded Glass n.6-Kona

I guess the neutrals have gotten to me, because I couldn’t finish the exercise without a neutral palette.

One thing I noticed is that I have to really notice all the colors when I made so many palettes. I didn’t notice the dark brown, actually Cocoa, when I started on this exercise last week. The Kona Pepper looks more dark blue to me than black, but it adds a tinge of optimism to the palette.

Leaded Glass n.5-Kona
Leaded Glass n.5-Kona

The Pepper with its blue tinges sent me off to make one more blue palette.

The Ivy, which isn’t a favorite allows the Oasis and the Holly colors to shine. This might be might favorite palette, but I am also partial to n.2 above.

It is really a lot more fun to use a photo with many colors. I’ll have to find some others to use and do it again.

 

Triple Star Progresses

I had a few minutes to sew on Friday night after work and I blew through about 30 pieces for the Triple Star quilt. Not tons, but some progress, which felt good.

Triple Star - August 2017
Triple Star – August 2017

I have to admit I was avoiding quilting on the art quilt. I had taken off the walking foot in order to finish the star donation quilt and just drifted over to piecing rather than be disciplined about quilting. I have to give myself a break. This is supposed to be fun and I have been driving myself.

I was pleased to do some piecing. I received the Chroma finally, so I could cut the rest of the large rectangles. Now I am in the process of sewing (using the flippy corners method) 2.5″ squares onto two sides of the rectangles to make a parallelogram. I need a lot of them so it is taking forever. I might sew a sample block just to ease the mindlessness. I have no excuse to be bored 1) because I can switch to other projects and 2) I just started!

Other Posts on the Triple Star:

Triple Star Progress – July 6, 2017
Triple Star – June 20, 2017