Four more and a LAYOUT Plan

The final four blocks have been sewn, but not without an oops.  It would seem that after 26 blocks, I would have been able to make them right every time.  However, two halves ended up looking like this:

So I ripped them apart and sewed them again. Then I had the last four blocks completed. 

I took the blocks to Mom's (I go daily to check on her and help her with any needs she may have.) 

There I did the layout in her nice living room floor.  I am posting two photos as neither one is all that great. Mom's low ceilings don't allow me to stand on something to get a more straight on picture. 

I could have fussed with it a lot more, but I realized that I would never get it "perfect." Mom and I both like this layout so I am calling it good.  I stacked and marked the rows.  Hopefully I will get it in this configuration when I sew it together. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

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And then there were 26!

  After prepping the final strips - cutting them to size - I started sewing more blocks.   I got four made in record time.

These are more "mixed up" blocks. The final ones will be two color blocks. But there are only four more to go. 

This stack has 26 completed blocks in it.

  I am thinking I will take them to Mom's and use her big living room hardwood floor to decide on the layout. If I get in gear in the morning, I can have them all done and ready to take over.  That way I can get them laid out and take a photo to finalize the layout. A big plus is that Mom can be involved, even if all she does is watch.  A second set of eyes is always helpful. 

I am excited to get this top together and see how it looks. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

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Taming the Pile

There were a number of strips left in my Bento Box pile.  So, on Tuesday, I decided to tame that pile.  I pressed all the center seams out and any wrinkled areas on the strips.  Then I cut the selvedges off of every strip and cut the 6.5" sections from them all. 
Next up, I sewed the pairs together.  I put them all in this tray that I saved from a discarded (worn out) toaster oven.

They are all sorted and ready for sewing.  I should be able to get them all sewn in a couple of days, barring any delays.

After doing that, I sewed two more blocks.

I was planning to mix the two but I quickly realized that the two greens would touch each other and there just wasn't a great enough value difference.  So they are simple two color blocks - as the pattern dictates.

I am still enjoying making music on the various instruments that I (attempt to) play.  Mom and I are still doing "safe at home" as we are both over 60 and have issues that put us at greater risk. 

I hope you are staying as safe as possible.  Life is good and we should do our best to prolong it.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

How do you say that backwards?

 A Left-Handed Quilter managed to sew several blocks backward. She called it a Xob Otneb.  (hint- that is bento box backwards.)
So I decided to draft up the block in EQ8 and make a quilt layout with it.  Using just the backward block, it looks like this.

Saturday "Catch-up" Time

When I started the Bento Block quilt.  My first try was one block - you know, to see how it worked out.  After that I have been making two at a time.  I tried laying them out Saturday, just to get an idea how it was working.  I realized that I had an odd number of blocks.  So, Saturday became a day to do a little catching up and evening out. This meant making three blocks.

The bottom one is a repeat block.  But for the two top ones, I decided to mix up the parts.  Since I had already mixed up another pair (and made the pair  that made me nearly crazy) I needed a few more "mixed marriage" blocks so that it looks cohesive.  Or, at least that is what I am hoping!

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Friday Blocks

These two blocks are "twins" to  blocks that I made earlier in the process.  I am sure that will start to happen more as the quilt top progresses.

Meanwhile, the toilet issue seems to finally be finished. I put the "just in case" towel that I was keeping on the floor behind the tank in the evening wash.    I am so blessed to have a brother who helps me when I need him.   This is a bittersweet memory, but one of the last times we spoke to Dad as a family when he was in ICU,  he said "Y'all take care of each other."
It is the last thing I really remember that he said.   The three people standing at his bedside were Mom, my brother and I.   It makes me happy to say that we are honoring that request day by day.

Friday was Mom's birthday.  The same three of us sat on her porch - appropriately distanced and ate her birthday lunch.  She had one of her favorite meals.  I also made a sugar-free lemon loaf and topped each slice with a drizzle of raspberry syrup that I made with preserves that I had canned. We had a lovely time and enjoyed the time together.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Thursday Blocks -and - The Toilet Chronicles

I have a tale to tell.  I am calling it "The Toilet Chronicles"  as it was a multi-day bizarre sequence of events.
But first, how about another couple of pretty Bento Blocks for some eye candy/quilting joy.

The aqua toned blue goes well with both the lavender and the rich pink. I am happy with both of these blocks.

Now, a tale of horror!  A tale of home ownership.  A tale of two brothers and how they overcame adversity.  (we hope!)

Wednesday

Wednesday was a nice peaceful day.  

I sewed two of the Bento Blocks

in two colorways.

Simple.

Purple and lavender and purple and pink.

It will be fun to lay out this quilt top.

I may try to separate all the like colors

or 

I may pool them.

Most likely, I will try it both ways 

and hope I remember to take photos

so that when I choose which I like best,

I can recreate it.

But also the photos let me see it from a "stepped back" view.

That helps to see things that I wouldn't see "up close."

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Total insanity - Three Color Bento Blocks

On Tuesday,  after a regular 6-month check-up with my doctor,  I decided to expand the possibilities and make some three color Bento Blocks.

Let me just say, probably not a good idea unless you have a design wall right next to your machine,

and you are very comfortable with the block construction.

Do I need to mention that I had quality time with the seam ripper?

Here is my strip pull with the colors that will be sewn together placed together.

Purple and pink,  purple and green, pink and blue, green and blue.

Yes, it seems simple enough doesn't it?

After I cut all the pieces according to the cutting plan in the pattern, I laid out the blocks. 

I looked again - No, that isn't right. 

Hmmm...after three tries I think I got it right. 

(I should have taken failure photos)

 I tried mixing the colors as I wanted them to be and - my brain couldn't seem to do it. 

So for simplicity I made eight quarter blocks - and I sewed the long strip
on the wrong side of three of those. 

I sewed all the quarter sections, fixed the errors, pressed them flat 

and then

I put the blocks together with the light colors mixed. 

I didn't like that at all. 

So I kept the same light color in each block and mixed the darks. 

I like it but it is not something I will do again.

These two will end up somewhere in the layout, I just hope they don't look out of place.

Wednesday, if I get time to sew, I plan to do simple two color blocks!

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Monday Bento Blocks

Monday afternoon,  it was block making time once again. After a weekend with no sewing, I was ready to do it.  Slow and steady, that is the plan.

Gathering the strips, I made a change to the plan. These are the same sets as some of the previous blocks. So I gave myself permission to mix it up a little.

The eight sections were sewn - four for each block. Every seam was pressed to the dark side. (The geeks among you will get this "They lied - there were no cookies!")  If you don't  get it don't worry it was a slightly lame attempt at a joke.

Meanwhile,  I had mentioned to another quilter that there are so many possible ways to mess up a block - and I had used most of them.

The parts were switched and I sewed block halves.

So as I was laying out the sections into the block this appeared:

Wait a minute!  That doesn't look like what I was planning to do.  Hmmmmm...
 Let me try one of the other half blocks. 

Ahhh!  that is better, now isn't it?  Now to pin and match the points.  Then sew them into blocks. 

It was relatively quick and easy to do that.  Here they are!

What you may notice is that they are alike but different.  I think I like it.   New plan, do some two color and some three color.   If I get really crazy, maybe a few four color ones also.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

More Solid Color Bento Blocks

Remember that I am taking this quilt top nice and slowly.  On Friday, I made two more of the blocks.  This time I used one color for the dark on both. However, I mixed up the light colors.

Personally, I am not as thrilled with these two combinations, but once they are in the quilt, they will work.   One thing I considered was taking the dark diagonal corners from one of them and swapping them between blocks. That would have made each block a three color block since the dark is the same.  One would be like the picture below.  The other would have the pink and lavender reversed.

I decided not to do that since I would need to repeat it at least twice more and my planning is not that precise for this quilt.  I will try to stick to the blocks being two colors.  Although I think it would be fun to do a quilt where all of the blocks were 3-color blocks.

If you want to know the answer(s) to the puzzler from the last post, it is below the break.

One Sixth (and a puzzler)

On Thursday,  two more Bento blocks were made  at my house. That brings the grand total at this point to FIVE. And as I am planning to make 30 blocks, that is one sixth of the blocks made.

Here are the two latest blocks.

In the lower part of the photo you can see the leftover bits from the strips.  As the pattern has you sew two strips together (after cutting off  two pieces from each strip - very important!)  you see very quickly that the strips are not the same length.  I have to wonder why since it is the same line of fabric. It would seem to me that you would use a consistent base fabric for each color or print in a line.
Here is a closer look at those pieces.

You can see that the red and gold were the same length.  But the others are off by as much as a half inch.  It strikes me as odd.

Ah well...there are some questions we may never have the answer for.   But here is a fun puzzle that I heard today.  Try to figure it out without looking up an answer.

If you  have two bottles, one that holds five gallons and one that holds 3 gallons, how can you measure out four gallons of water using just the two?  Your water supply is not limited.
You can not use any other containers or measuring devices. FYI it is possible and it does make sense.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

And then there were 3

My plan for the bento box quilt is to take it nice and slow.  I don't see a need to get in a rush. I am not going anywhere for a while - and neither will it. Ha ha.

Wednesday, I took two more sets of two strips and constructed two more blocks - And then there were three.

These three show nicely how diverse the color combinations will be.  There will be more than one of most of the blocks.  There will be four of some and two of others.  Every time I look at the strips I think,  "Maybe I should mix it up more."  And maybe I will.  Those decisions can be made "on the fly" since I have no grand scheme for the layout other than size. 

One thing I noticed is that I am having a difficult time remembering just how the block goes together.  So rather than use a lot of paper and ink printing the whole pdf,  I took a sticky note and drew a simple (messy) diagram to follow.  It is possible that I am the only one who can read my handwriting.....

My strange little "helper" note

This tells me what I need to know about where the light and dark pieces go.  Oddly, I can remember the cutting details just fine.  I put the sticky note right on my machine for easy reference when I am constructing the block.   For what it is worth, the pieces marked "dark" and "light" are the pieces that are added to each quarter of the block AFTER the lower sections are all sewn together.

I have to say that I am rather happy to see that I am getting the points matched nicely -of course now that I mentioned it, the next one will likely not match at all.  Haha.  I can embrace wonky.
Can you embrace wonky or do you "have to" fix it?  You have my permission to be YOU and do it whichever way you can live with.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Bento

My friend, A Left-Handed Quilter,  is starting a new project. It is a Bento Box quilt made with 2 1/2" strips. She is using a collection called "Devon County." 
We decided that I would make the same pattern, but my quilt top will be in solids.  I am using a kit that I bought that was designed to make a bargello quilt.  (It was on sale and I bought a second one after making the bargello quilt.)  No-one says you "have to use the pattern that came with it."

So I took a photo of the strips before I sorted them.

The idea was to sort lights and darks.  So using a handy feature on my phone's camera app, I removed the color and left it in gray scale.

That helped some.  I used it as a basis for pairing the strips to make the blocks.  Honestly there are more mid-tones in this so I some of my darks are mid-tone and so are some of my lights.

While I was doing this, I had a visual migraine or something like it. Normally those just are really annoying.  But this is sinus allergy season.  And I was already prone to a headache. This kicked it up a notch.  I had to go to bed for a while after taking allergy and headache meds.

When I got up, I sewed this (less than perfect) block.

The camera's depiction of the colors is less than perfect also.  But they are the darkest purple and the lightest green from the first photo - where the colors are pretty accurate.

I think this will be a fun quilt top to make.  We are both doing 30 blocks in a 5x6 layout for a 60" by 72" quilt top.  I will have extra strips leftover that I may or may not use for binding.

The pdf tutorial for the Bento Box quilt is here and it is free at this time.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Playing With the Scrappy Bundle

The pretty bundle of batik fabric scraps that I won called to me.  I decided to just play.  So I chose a solid fabric in a light aqua blue to play with the browns and greens.  I ripped off a  strip of it roughly 7" by the width of fabric to see what would happen. I am glad there is more in case this becomes a quilt.

On Thursday, some strips were made and inserted between  strips of the blue.  I actually had one strip made from some other Island Batik scraps. And I decided to use the pieces that were with it on my cutting table to use them up. 

The strips were not measured.  The blues were cut randomly.  The others were used as I came to them. Some of them required a bit of trimming, but that happened as the work flowed.

I think it was Picasso who said "Inspiration exists but it has to find you working"  I know I have heard a variation on that from another artist.   Sometimes you just have to start and see how or if the inspiration comes. 

And failures?  They happen, but if you dig in, you can find the treasure of a lesson that you can learn from that failure.  Learning that lesson can make your next success even better.  As I was told in weaving class "Trust the process." 

Today I looked at this piece again and looked at the scrap bundle.  Then I created another pieced strip that is similar but different.  In abstract art class, I was taught the principle of  repetition with variation. It apparently sunk into my subconscious, because that is what I did even though I never thought of the principle while I was doing it.

Once the second strip piece was big enough, I added it on.  I love the look of this.

At this point, I have no idea what this will become. Honestly, at this point I don't care. I am enjoying the process as I create.   Although I do see some possibilities for quilting this with a variety of quilting designs.  That aqua was used on the back of this quilt:

 And I love how the quilting showed so wonderfully on it.  (I am sorry that the photo is blurry.)

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Experimental Fabric Painting

 Several days ago I decided to try some fabric painting techniques from a book I have "Off the Shelf Fabric Painting" by Sue Beevers.   I pulled some fabric to work with and made bundles for dipping into the paint.  I also kept a couple of pieces out to wipe brushes on and blot up drips.

Bundles -folded and tied

Paint and a paint tray that the fabric could be dipped into were needed also. The GAC 900 is a fabric medium to make the paint work as fabric paint.

This watercolor palette is really too large for painting -in my opinion- but is perfect for this technique.  I used a green, a blue, a purple, and a magenta.
One piece of fabric was folded diagonally and then rolled up. Then it was tied into a circle.  It was dampened and then paint was applied with a brush.

More paint was added before it dried.

Of course the brush needed to be wiped and rinsed before each new color. So the wiping clothes came into play. 

The bundles had corners or ends dipped into various colors.  But one vital thing had been forgotten. The book warns you to check the fabric for sizings or coatings that may act as a resist.  The muslin in the folded bundles was resistant and did not allow paint to penetrate through the layers. 

They did not come out well.  When I unfolded them to dry in the sun, I realized the error. So I used the leftover paint and some water to add a bit more color.  They still aren't great.  So they may be used OR they may get more paint later. 

The twisted diagonal piece looks similar to the one she did in the book.  It has a lot of white space left but I like it this way.

The two strips on the right are pieces that I had in my "to be dyed" stash.  I painted them to use up more of the prepared paint.  They are "improv" painting.

There was a lot of prepared paint in those little round cups, so a couple of pieces of a pale yellow print were grabbed too.

The sun washed out the color in the photo.  These are a bit more colorful than they appear and the yellow in the print is pale but not this pale.

The top fabric is one of the bundles while the bottom one is a brush wiping fabric. Both of these can have more paint added later or be used as is if desired.

When these had sat for 24 hours,  they were heat set.  Then they sat another 24 or so and were washed.  When I washed them, I also put the rest of that muslin in the machine with them to remove the sizing.  It now absorbs water nicely -so it will paint well.

Yes, I will eventually sew something else, but my mojo and my muse are playing hide and seek....and I am not finding them.  So I continue to practice music and do other creative things to fill the time.  I have no fears that they will return soon.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.