Plan C...

Another design, another effort to get these three fabrics to work happily together. I think adding white definitely helps.

One more down!

Directionless marketing...

Dear Sally Beauty Supply,

Congratulations on opening yet another Sally Beauty location, and thank you for your most recent coupon. In this economy, it's refreshing to see that at least some business are expanding, and I always appreciate the opportunity to save my pennies.

However, according to the fine(r) print, this coupon can only be redeemed at the new store location. That being the case, I'm afraid that the $10 savings I might enjoy there is just not enough incentive to travel the SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN MILES from Chicago to Oxford, Mississippi -- so I'm sorry to say I won't be making the trip.

Thank you, and good luck on your future marketing endeavors.

A show of hands...

Who thought last week's idea wasn't a very good one? Not thought through very well? Dubious? A little too in-your-face loud? Poor color choices? Destined for failure?

In case you're wondering, my hand is up. Way up.

Initially, I was happy with the tumbler top, all proud of my design...but the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. I absolutely love these fabrics, and this combination has worked well for me in the past...but this time? Not so much.

The pink stripes were too dark, and too big. I'm not a fan of larger blocks, especially with smaller kid quilts. I know they go quickly (which was one of the reasons I was using 8.5" blocks), but the proportions always seem off to me, and that was the case here.

Then I ironed it, and the little barely-noticeable ripples at the edges turned into waves. Not Hurricane Igor waves, which my friends in Bermuda tell me got to forty feet off the reefs this past Sunday, but more like gale-on-Lake-Michigan waves. I've never done wavy before -- at least not like this. Not sure if it was the bias edges on the tumbler blocks or just me sewing it together a little too quickly enthusiastically, but it was bad. I was not proud.

Figuring I could correct my mistakes with the next two tops, I laid out blocks for another, this one with green sashing and pink and yellow tumblers (I'm not posting a picture of it because I don't want to blind you). Ack! Yellow in quilts is tricky to work with, and it turns out that yellow -- an almost-neon canary yellow -- especially in big, wide bands, was so loud I couldn't stand it. Seated next to another large swath of pink stripes, the two began a battle for attention that was downright frightening.

I know I said I liked in-your-face loud, but even I have my limits. And small children don't deserve to be put in the middle of a color fight every night when they're trying to get to sleep.

I looked at the piles of pre-cut tumblers I'd spent a whole afternoon slicing, and in a que sera sera moment, came up with Plan B. It's not very original, but at least it won't have those little girls fearing an attack from a large yellow and pink monster.

Plan C may be different still. I originally didn't want to make waves among the sisters by making three different quilts that could be interpreted (or misinterpreted) as one being better than another -- but then I realized I don't have to live with the fallout, so why not mix it up?

I may still make some waves, but they can't possibly be as big or as bad as the ones in that tumbler top.

Back in the saddle...

It feels so good to get back to sewing!

I spent a good portion of my week calculating and cutting, because I had the very bright idea (or that's what it seemed like at the time) to go into mass production and do three Christmas quilts at once. You see, three of those adorable little girls from a few weeks back are sisters -- very why-did-she-get-that-one-and-I-got-this-one? sisters -- so I decided to make more or less identical quilts for them and just vary the color combinations so nobody could feel slighted.

The pattern I came up with is a variation on Oh, Fransson's New Wave. I used 8.5" blocks and added skinny wedges instead for the sashing, which changed it up a bit. Top #1 is done:

The next one will have green sashing with pink and yellow tumblers, and the third gets pink sashing with yellow and green tumblers -- and bing, bang, boom! Three birds killed in a weekend, so to speak.

I've used these Jan Mullen fabrics in combination before, and love how in-your-face bright they are. And I have lots of it, which actually makes making even more quilts out of it a possibility -- there were six little girls in all, if you recall. I'm just not sure I can stand working with it that much!

I'll start out with these three and see where they take me. Maybe the fabric that inspired this whole frenzy will have to wait another year...

One down, many to go!

Too busy...

I ended up working on an assignment most of last week, which is (insert trumpet fanfare here) fantastic for keeping Archie rolling in catnip -- but it also means I didn't sew much. Or at all.

So once again, to tide you over, I'm posting a couple more pics from my photo shoot last month in northern Michigan. Still calling this one "Purp & Turq," for lack of a better title.

Hope to be back sewing soon!

So much for the end of summer...

The weather at the beach this Labor Day weekend, in a word, blew -- both literally and figuratively. Forty-mile an hour winds and acres of stinging sand didn't exactly provide a holiday atmosphere I had hoped for this end to summer -- unless the holiday we were going for was Christmas.

Because I envisioned spending my days lazing on a sun-soaked deck with a book and a beer or barbequeing with the neighbors, I didn't anticipate much sewing time and didn't haul my machine along like I usually do. We got in a few feasts ($5 lobster tail special at the local market! Woo-woo!), but there was a lot of down time as the temperatures started to dip with inverse proportion to the gale outside.

While the frontloaders engaged in a neverending dance of plowing the street clear and dumping the mountains of sand back where it came from, I played inside with my Paintstiks.

Another sort-of-successful experiment!

I tore painter's tape to keep the fabric underneath solid and obtain a stained glass look; the edges are jagged but clean. I used texture plates under some of the colors but kept them tone-on-tone. For a first try, I'm liking it. I'll do a couple things differently next time, but I'm looking forward to getting this thoroughly dried (it needs 72 hours before I can heat set, and it has a few to go) and see what I can do with it quilting-wise.

Any suggestions?

A quilty photo shoot...

With all my unpacking and vacation laundry done, I'm ready to get down to work -- but I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start. I came home to a project I didn't finish by the time I left and a pile of UFO's, and it'd be way too easy to dump them all in favor of my new fabric and all those ideas swirling in my head for little girl quilts.

So while I waffle between impulse and self-discipline, I'll leave you with some pictures I took of my Kaffe & Kona zig-zag quilt while I was in Michigan -- I don't think I ever posted it in its entirety. The lake offered such a great backdrop I was throwing it all over the place, and I'm sure the neighbors thought I was a little nutty. I even ran it up the flag pole on the dock, but took it down quickly when I realized if it blew into the lake I'd have to fish it out, and it wasn't exactly the best swimming weather.

I like the idea of having a quilty flag to fly up at the house...but that would add yet another project to a very long list.

I really need to stop thinking for a while.

Home...

...is where the sewing machine is.

I think it missed me.