Oh my gosh! I’m doing so good. I’m actually sewing on a regular basis. Mind you, I’m bouncing project to project so I’m in no danger of actually finishing anything but progress is being made on the major WIPs I wanted to work on.
This month’s block color is navy blue.
On Ringo Lake
I worked really hard on this last month. I was so proud. Yeah. It is exactly the same as last month because I got distracted by other projects.
De La Promenade
I started the panel that makes up most of the left side of the quilt. I already have the three blocks that make up the center of the quilt made and quilted. The carousel horse in the picture on the pattern is blue with a white mane. I found a blue I liked for the body but plain white seemed a bit flat. I auditioned some very light blues but wasn’t sure. I decided to ask the husband. He panics when I ask quilt questions because he thinks there is supposed to be a right or wrong answer and not just an opinion. So I prefaced this with “I just need an opinion. There isn’t a wrong answer.” I showed him both mane options. He picked white because….(wait for it)…. because a light blue mane isn’t realistic. A light blue mane isn’t realistic on a horse with a blue body. He had no problem with the blue body. I was wrong. There obviously was a wrong answer.
I made the mane white but used a polka dot white on white so it wasn’t too flat.
You build the horse from all the pieces on a nonstick sheet and then peel him off and put him on the background. The horse is considered part A in this block. There are still parts B through D to go before I can put this block together.
La Tarantella
This is my never-ending hand piecing project. (I get tendonitis if I hand sew too much so I limit myself to just a little bit a day and you know I don’t work on it every day.) I forget when I started this. I tend to work consistently on it for a while and then let it sit for a while. Lately I’ve been pretty consistent.Â
It is from Willyne Hammerstein’s Millefiori Quilts book 3. The book doesn’t actually have much in the way of directions. There are some diagrams of how a few of the pieces go together and then a diagram of how everything fits together and then the five shapes you need to use and that’s it. Just make it from the pictures. Â
I was at a complete loss of where to start with this. How do you even pick colors? I decided to use a stack of really obnoxious fat quarters I had as the color selection. I combined this with grey tone on tone fabrics and black/white fabrics in places where I wanted the eye to be able to rest. I made up a few basic rosettes to practice and then picked a few that worked together and started combining them like in the diagram. Occasionally it isn’t clear what piece is supposed to be used but I think I’m figuring it out. I was pretty proud to finally get a whole chunk of it together this month. It seems less scattered now and more like a thing that actually may be finishable. Â
I’m making a file to show how much is together. Blue dots show the parts I’ve finished. See why I call it the never ending project?
“I’m bouncing project to project so I’m in no danger of actually finishing anything ” – So true for me too! LOL
I am in awe. I really want to do two of the quilts from the first Millefiori book, but at the moment I’m not even managing to get to my sewing machine! I would probably want to do the Inklingo printouts, but I have yet to get the printing to work at all (I have to use my dad’s printer, since we don’t have an inkjet, and so far I’ve just gotten crumpled messes). I enjoy handwork but I have a lot of embroidery lined up, and like you can only do a bit a day.
I have the inklingo for this quilt. Either it works perfectly on the first try or it doesn’t work at all. When it works it is so helpful that I keep trying in hopes of replicating the magic.
I bet! It would be SO helpful to have the seam lines pre-printed…
My brain is rioting even thinking about doing such fastidious work, so you know I’m amazed at what you’re doing! I’m seriously so (sew?) impressed and in awe of your talent and skill. What beautiful work, thank you for sharing it with the world!
There are times when I question why I’m doing fiddily quilts but when it all starts to come together it is so satisfying.