Tsukineko Ink Sampling

A few weeks ago, hubby asked me if there was anything I'd been wanting and initially, I said no to which he then said 'nothing.' I thought about it for a while and then said that I'd love to get some more paints/inks. I really like the Tsukineko inks and had a few bottles from a class that I'd taken years ago. These inks never go bad and it only takes a tiny amount so the bottle never seems to empty. Isn't that cool! Well, hubby gave me the entire collection! Our 35th Anniversary is in July and this present is a wonderful present. Thank you honey!

I thought I'd do something I've never done with any of my paints and that is make a sample showing all of the colors. My goal was to show full saturation of the inks on one half and a light shading on the other half. This sample aided me in learning just how much pressure I needed in order to get a light shading. The fabric I used was an inexpensive white, bleached cotton called Roc-Lon. I think the results would have been even nicer on a nicer fabric. I could feel the ridges of the fabric pulling and in many cases causing a streaking of the ink when shading.

On the last square at the bottom, I used the green, #10 ink but before inking the box, I spritz the square with the #9 potion to see how it would react. I love how it looks but it will take some practice to know how to control the spreading of the ink. I inked the center and it immediately spread out and gave a beautiful watercolor effect.

I finished quilting my Hoopoe and am ready to cut, bind, label, and put the sleeve on it. I can't wait to post a finished picture.

I've been working on and off on my drawing for Australia as well. It's not quite where I want it yet so I'll keep working on it until it tells me it's done and to get stitching!

Enjoy your weekend! We had 2 full days of summer this week and it nearly killed me. Seriously, we've had 50 to 55 degree days and 40 to 45 degree nights. And then just this week, we had 2 days of over 80. My body did not react well to such a sudden change, but I will adjust if the temps stay put and quit varying in 30 degree increments.

Virtual Tour to Israel

I am so excited to tell you about a virtual tour of Israel that I just today learned about. I didn't want to wait to tell you so decided to do a quick blog update.

The signup is free and I've watched a little bit of Tour 2 already. What I've watched so far is amazing, and I hope you will check it out since this month our destination is to Israel.

I'm working on the souvenir for Israel, but I've slowed myself down to enjoy the process more. I'm loving how it is coming along and think you will really enjoy making this souvenir for yourself. In case you don't remember, my goal is to try techniques that are new to me. I will post how I put the souvenir together but you may choose to do it anyway that you want to. I hope you will push yourself out of your comfort zone too and try new to you techniques as well. It's tough for me because I know I could have already finished some steps had I done it in a manner I'm comfortable with but than I'm not growing as an artist if I don't expand my skills.

Israel Virtual Tour

In between this and that, I've made a bunch of microwavable bowl holders. They are such fun to make. You cannot make just one! And, you know what? You can make them to fit a dinner plate as well. Cause, if you are like me, you wanna eat in your recliner while watching TV and don't want a hot plate burning your fingers.  

Barn/Chicken Coop Quilt Block

Here's my version of a Barn Chicken Coop Quilt Block!

The girls home needed a pick-me-up because our Oregon winters had really beat it up. The original paint we put on it really showed its age.

My Mariner's block had nearly disappeared which believe it or not, I had not really noticed until I started repainting it with new colors and fresh paint. This time around, I took the extra step of applying two coats of varnish on it hoping to extend the life a few extra years. I love the updated look, and I think the girls do to.

Hubby redesigned their play area so that we wouldn't have to trudge through the play area to get eggs. Now that they can't get to the front of the coop (front porch area), I got to plant ground cover surrounding the stepping stones. Guess what! That area is so rich that the plants have already doubled in size. Who needs fertilizer when you have chickens.

I haven't been able to get much sewing done but redoing the block on their coop counts too -- right!

More Half Square Triangle Play

In case you missed my post about half square triangles, you can read it here. After much playing and matching units on the floor, I still ended up with extra hst units. And that is after having enough to do 33 more ships and approximately 35 pinwheel units. I think those are going to be joined together for a fun and comfy quilt that will be perfect when relaxing in our recliner and watching football.

So, what to do...what to do. My baby dog (he's 10 but he's still my baby dog) has a store bought placemat for his water and food. As I was looking at it, I thought hey, what about a custom placemat for Dilly too. I really liked the staggered placement of the squares. I ended up making it 22 inches by 15 inches which actually is a perfect size for people placemats too. I may have to now make us some! Once I was done putting the top together, I used one of the beautiful stitches on my Bernina 770 along with the 1D foot and stared at the line in the foot when quilting it. I made the stitch as long and as wide as it would go and I love how it turned out. And as fate would have it, I had just enough leftover binding from my Piecing through the Decades quilt to bind it. Waste not, want not! I'm so glad I kept that little bit of binding and didn't toss it.

Here's a picture of the back so you can see those cool stitches.

I still have a few more hsts leftover. I'm thinking mug rugs may be in my future!  LOL

Pinwheels, Ships & Wind

I'm hummed the song Brandy (you're a fine girl) while making this block. Come on sing a few verses with me:

He came on a summer's day

Bringin' gifts from far away

But he made it clear he couldn't stay

No harbor was his home

Chorus... .... my life, my love, and my lady....is the sea....

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes

as he told his sailor stories

She could feel the ocean foam rise

She saw its ragin' glory

But he always told the truth, Lord he was an honest man

Last month I picked up a big baggie of sewn half square triangles that a guild member graciously gifted the free table. I was fortunate enough to be standing there as she unloaded her haul. There were many more great baggies full of other treasures, but I didn't want to appear hoggish so I happily went away with my half square triangles.

I've been feverishly working on joining the rows for my block of the month class so I can share the nearly finished top with my students during this Saturday's class. I've also been writing assembly instructions to give them, and my brain is fried so today I allowed myself a little free play and what better to get some creativeness going than by grabbing those hsts. 

Brainless sewing is very therapeutic and I've been happily making pinwheels until I needed a bit of a break. I love Bonnie Hunter and her morning post today stopped me dead in my tracks when I read about the vintage signature quilt top she saw during her teaching trip in Washington. It was signed and dated from the 30s. The ship was made with hsts and from what I could tell rectangles so of course, I had to make me one too to go with my pinwheels. My poor ship looks lonely so I will have to fix that! I have no idea how all these will get put together but that's okay. For now it's just playtime.

I don't think we would appreciate ships and pinwheels nearly as much if not for the wind that seems to effortlessly move them about. We enjoy the wind in the summertime. We seem to always have a light breeze even when other areas of town are still. It's refreshing and helps clear out the winter stagnant air from inside our house. That wonderful breeze that we enjoy all summer can and does unexpectedly and violently turn mean. We live in a city that is known for having strong winds, and even though we have lived here over 22 years, when the turn happens, it always takes me by surprise. We have already completed our mid-October routine of removing anything from the outside that could get damaged or blown away so we're ready but not ready if that makes sense.  

While thinking of the wind during my playtime, I started thinking about wind and how it was described in the Bible. I love doing mini Bible studies. After a quick search, I quickly located over 50 mentions of the wind, and I'm sure there are more verses that mention the wind. Many of the verses I read describe wind as rough or strong as in Acts 27:13-15 ...but before long there rushed down from the land a violent wind; Job 1:18-19 ...a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house; John 6:16-18 ... Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

I also noticed that the Holy Spirit is symbolized as wind as in John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I always ask for discernment and understanding when reading the Bible. I believe the Holy Spirit delights in giving us just that when we diligently ask. The more I do it, the more I get out of it. It's not something I get to do once and then I'm done. It's a daily meeting when God and I spend quiet time together. I like the following except from Richard T. Ritenbaugh's sermon.

   "Like the wind, spirit is invisible. A person cannot see it move or work. However, one can see the effect of what the Spirit does. One can see how it acts on things—just as the wind going through a tree full of leaves. One cannot see the wind, but everyone has seen how it makes the tree's leaves and the branches sway. Some have perhaps witnessed a strong wind knock a nest out of a tree or rip leaves or branches off a tree, but not the wind itself. It is the same with the Spirit. The Spirit moves, and we then can see people react. The people do things. A work gets done. What we see is not the Spirit itself, but the Spirit's fruit."

Is it just me or isn't the study of wind simply awesome. Now which hsts will I use for the next ship block....

Moment of play

Do you recognize this block? I know the colors are outlandish, but they were the first scraps I grabbed. I found a line drawing of it in a book called Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer. It's called Dutchman's Puzzle. I love how Jinny breaks down blocks so we can understand how the blocks are put together. In her book, this book is called a 16 patch because it was made with half square triangles. My version is done up with flying geese units. Eight flying geese make up this block.

I'm anticipating teaching more and more classes this year so I purchased the Go BIG. It arrived this week but I haven't had an opportunity to work with it due to a root canal gone bad procedure. The BIG came with a die and mat, which is unusual for AccuQuilt. At first, I wasn't wowed by the die. If you've known me for very long, you know that I like working with 'small' pieces and these geese are HUGE. The geese finish at 3" by 6." Man oh, those geese had way to much cake for Christmas! 

In order to try out the new electric cutter, I grabbed scrap fabrics so I could make the first non-manual cut!  Wow...it was simply fantastic...  Ruh roe as Scooby Doo would say...cause I couldn't stop with just the cut you see below. I had to cut more....just to make sure it is working properly.

And then I had to sew it together to see if it was accurate!  Easy...peasy cutting and sewing! I'm pretty sure you could cut and sew a quilt in a day using the Big and this die.  

I think the big geese are growing on me and the BIG Accuquilt is awesome!