Fun with Flags

I have this continuing desire to big stitch quilt.  And I try quilting various things, looking for the perfect quilting experience.

Here I tried breaking the space up and then just quilting the spaces.  The piece looked like it belonged in "Fun with Flags" from the "Big Bang Theory".  And that ruined it for me.

But if I crop it severely, I rather like the cropped part.

And if you are not familiar with Fun with Flags, check it out here.

How to build a bridge

Making an art quilt

This is fun

How they make parasols

I use parasols in my garden to protect plants from the sun during hot spells and also to protect newly planted things.  Here is a video about how they are made.  

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant

I am really enjoying this book.  I borrowed an audio version from the library through Hoopla.  I think the narrator does a good job of enhancing the story.  Very fun.

Celebrate color!!

The center part is hand dyed silk that was already fused.  All I had to do for this was cut out the bits and iron them onto a bit of batting.  The border is a lovely Vicki Welsh hand dyed fabric.

It's not done, but I already like it.  When I don't have anything I need, this is what I like to do...

I cut out these little squares and bits and I put them together and they look like nothing.  So I move them around, add a few more colors, move them around some more until it almost feels like they lock in place and say THIS is where I belong.  I don't think I even do it.  The colors do it or maybe that genius/house elf entity that Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about guides me.  But it isn't me and it is so much fun....

Pieces in progress

These are the pieces I've been working on stuck on top of my wonky quilt.  It's a perfect place to look at things since it is across from where I sit and work.  

All the wonky patches except the left top one are covered by things I am working on.  None are finished.  They may or may not go together.  The skinny line pieces are all new.  The others have been around for a while but recently have been big stitch quilted.

Except for the center block the skinny line pieces were made by rotary cutting half inch strips and running them through my quarter inch binding maker.  Torn edge pieces are hard to put through the binder.  But I love torn edges.  It's very hard for me to cut a torn edge.

Yes, I am having fun.

I like the big stitch quilting with this background.  The colors and textures work for me.

This is probably my favorite.  The strips are torn skinny strips.  I like the fringey edges.  I also like the simple stitch down the center.  However, this method would not be good for heavy use objects.  Always a drawback....

My goal is to enhance the background.  Not sure I made that happen with this one...

Just because it's fun

I tore quarter to three-eighth inch wide fabric strips and I'm hand sewing them on with perle cotton.  I love the torn edges and the colors.   I don't know where I'm going but I sure am having fun.

They look like spring to me.

Bird with a paper towel

This bird is having so much fun with this paper towel!  Makes me wish I had a bird to share a paper towel with....

The robot who lurks in the basement across the street

The mad tile lady across the street made a tile robot.  She was inspired by some of the existing piping and brackets.  Isn't he fun?

Gum Trees

My friends Dave and Nancy just went on a little (for them) bike tour.   They saw these marvelous gum trees.

I love this tunnel of trees.

Happy New Year

Hope you aren't feeling like this....  I've always been fond of Mr Potato Head but I liked  him best when you used real potatoes and stuck sharp objects in the potato (it made such a great noise).

Source

Vicki Welsh hand dyed fabric

I buy hand dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh.  I am especially fond of her gradients.

This was posted on Vicki Welsh's blog Field Trips in Fiber.  It is a stack of dyed fabric she was ironing.  It's so beautiful.  It makes me want to iron that stack.  I DO like to iron...

source

I like this nest of thread, too.

story behind the thread

No longer light deprived

I've been feeling light deprived in this dark time of year.  I don't usually feel this way.  Maybe it is because the rainy season hit late but suddenly this year.  The rain started on Halloween, the same night that daylight savings time ended.

On Halloween we had record breaking rain.  And it has been raining a lot since then.  It was a very dry year until then.  But in the last six weeks we've gotten about half the usual rain we get in a whole year.  We've gone from drought to flooding.

We don't put up a tree anymore.  We have a cat who chews on electrical cords so every cord in the house must be protected.  You can't protect light strings.  I do love lights so I decided I wanted some little colored lights near the ceiling in the room we hang out in.

To my delight and surprise they erased the feeling of being light deprived.  They look so cheerful and bright, completely taking my attention away from how dark and gray it is.  I think we'll keep them up until the dark season is ended.  I am predicting mid February when spring comes to Portland.

The view from where I sit

And a little Christmas in the dining room.

Sriracha

Sriracha is a wonderful documentary about Sriracha hot sauce.  I love a good documentary and I heartily recommend this one.  I watched it on Amazon but it's around.

This is the trailer for the documentary.

The lure of the carnival

I ran across this photo here.  Oh, the carnival, lit up at night.  It looks so magical and alluring.  I think how it looks is probably the best part....

source

A walk in a different direction

In this direction many of the houses are bigger and grander.

This is one isn't so grand but it is so fun!  Look at all those sculptures.  Can you make out the one on the roof?

This is the da Vinci Arts Middle School, part of Portland Public Schools.  I bet it's fun to go there!  I hope it is.

Elizabeth Gilbert and Creativity

Elizabeth's most famous book is "Eat, Pray, Love".  She also wrote "The Signature of All Things", which I think is terrific.  Recently she published "Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear".  I am reading it now and loving it.

Here is a wonderful Ted talk she gave several years ago.

The mad tile lady across the street

My neighbor across the street is obsessed with tile.  Her husband says don't stand still too long around her.... you might get tiled.  Her obsession has paid off and she is really good at tiling.

Her latest project is the laundry area in her basement.  This part is pretty fun.  I really like it.

Here it is in context.

She painted the water pipes green to look like flower stems.

The knob for the water supply inspired the flower.

Nic Clark harmonica

I love this young guy's harmonica