Strung Together

On a recent spring day,

 I was driving past a 

preschool and the children were

out for a fresh air walk.

The teachers had the kiddos

all strung together with a walking rope

similar to this.

Everyone was in perfect step,

staying in place,

evenly spaced,

and not getting tangled.

It made me think of all the chain piecing

I've been doing this week.

Every piece side by side,

 in perfect harmony with it's neighbor.

I've started a new project.

It's been lingering on the shelf for about a year

waiting for the perfect moment.

I fell in love with the quilt on the cover

of Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke's book

 

Material Obsession,

Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots.

I think it was the polka dot background for a 

very traditional Dresden Plate that made me smile.

Sarah calls it "Dotty for Dresden".

I've chosen some bright,

 

  bold, clear color fabrics for the wedges.

And using the Nifty Notions 22.5 degree Wedge ruler

I had the 400 wedges cut out in no time.

These aren't arranged in any order, at the moment,

but it did give me a sense of how the fabrics will look

in a circle.

Nest step, is to

turn and press each wedge.

I used my "Purple Thang" to get

a perfect crisp point without 

poking a hole in the end.

I think I'll find myself

back in the rhythm of 

walking in step

as I get all the turning and pressing finished up.

Thought I'd also share an "Earth Day" photo

taken yesterday from my family room window

of Long's Peak

 located in Rocky Mountain National Park.

 It's a pretty dominate peak at 14,259'

along the front range here in Colorado.

That's Mount Meeker on the left at a mere 13,916'.

RMNP is celebrating it's centennial anniversary.

It's a beautiful place to visit and I hope 

to get the park soon to enjoy 

this magnificent place.

Hope you have a chance to enjoy a place 

that's spectacular too.

Until Next Time-

I've Been a Ditch Rider

 Just along the edge of our property line

there's a dirt ditch which

is 2-3 feet deep.

It's a small part of an intricate irrigation

system that weaves it's way

across the prairie just east of the 

foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

The ditch rider controls when and where

water flows and how much.

It's not my water to use. 

Others have the water rights.

This week, though, I have 

been spending a lot of time in the ditch.

No, not cleaning out sticks

or weeds, but instead,

right in my sewing studio.

Although, I wish I had a picture

of me sitting in the ditch

stitching!

Sometimes, if the ditch rider

doesn't get things just right

the water can jump the banks.

 Guess, sometimes the same 

thing happens to me.

 Oops!

Things happen!

Just a couple of pictures of spring
around here
because today there's snow predicted.

Until Next Time-

It Was Like Wrestling A Giant Squid

This week has been quite the

sewing week.

In fact, I've felt a bit

like Captain Nemo,

of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,

 wrestling a giant squid

on top of a submarine.

The reason is

because I've been adding the final border

to the Mountmellick quilt.

Don't let anyone kid you

that adding borders is the easiest part.

I created my final border

by sewing two border prints together.

Of course, the idea is to make it look 

like it's not pieced.

It took quite a few unsews, repositionings,

and seam allowance adjustments

 to get it right.

Then the quilt turned into a menacing squid.

 The extra long border pieces needed

for mitered corners,

 turned into tentacles.

They seemed to be dangling and

 tangling everywhere.

It really did take awhile to 

get the corners sewn.

They're not perfect, but

it's the best I could do

while on top of that submarine.

1-2 threads off

 can make a disjointed mitered corner.

I still have the last bit of corner applique

to finish and

 then it's on to the quilting.

Hopefully, 

my squid wrestling days are over.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

A New Star Galaxy Is Closer

Far, far away
in another Galaxy
there was a stack of EPP stars
looking for a new place to shine.

They found a new space.

A place they can call their own.

These stars will circle and orbit

the last pieced and appliqued border of

Di Ford's Mystery Quilt,

Mountmellick,

which can be found
 the in Quiltmania Magazines, 2014.

It won't be long now

before their star presents
will light up this quilt.

Then there's just 

one more outer border to add and

this wonderful quilt will be complete.
May the force be with me.

 Until Next Time-

I'm Not Foolin'

This isn't an April Fool's Joke.
It's the real deal.

You might remember that I had 

rededicated myself to work 

on one of my projects that was

long over due for completion.

It's the wool applique that I had started in 2004.

You can refresh your memory here is you'd like to.

It was a quilt that was a challenge

from the very beginning.

From making the templates,
to appliqueing the wool pieces, the embroidering

and finally the quilting,
it presented challenges and obstacles.

Well, here's the good part.

See I wasn't joking!

It's done!
It's quilted and bound.

An guess what?

I love it!
Quilting the black wool background
was only a daytime chore,
but it went fast with #12 black perel cotton
and big stitches.

The binding is the same as the flannel backing,
but with a narrow faux piping of green.

You can find lots of tutorials online
about how to make this this faux piped binding.
Here's what the binding looked like before I
attached it to the quilt.

I'm definitely going to use this technique again.
It worked perfectly with the scalloped edges.
And there's no hand stitching the binding down. 

I'm just smiling from ear to ear to
finally have this done.

And that's no joke either!

Until Next Time-