Henrietta

This has been the week of Henrietta.

I started the quilting with this block.  And this is my attempt at McTavishing.  I am going to have to watch the DVD again.  However, I think it kind of looks like the wind is blowing.








Here we have the Acorn Lane stipple and a small piece of the border quilting.










This block just had loops along with the outlining of the appliques.














The third block got wavy lines, up and down on top and side to side on the bottom. 










The square in a square blocks have continuous curves and a flower in the center.

















On this block I did wavy lines again but this time they followed the jumping squirrels.











For the basket block I used echo quilting. 











The last block I’ve gotten done got a basket weave quilting pattern.  I did mark a grid but the markings were all gone by the time I got to the end.

I have three more blocks to quilt but need to spend some time coming up with three different fillers for them.






 I am using batting scraps for this quilt.  It has taken 4 strips, plus a couple of small pieces to patch the holes.  I find it very interesting that in the areas that are quilted I cannot see or feel where the pieces overlap.







Even though this is not part of Henrietta I did want to show my finished batik scrap placemats.  They are so pretty that yesterday, when we were having sloppy joes, I turned them over just incase we “slopped” on them. 


Well, that’s about all that’s going on around here.  I have a couple of other projects to work on so probably will not get back to Henrietta until the weekend.

Have a great rest of the week.  Gari

Spring Quilting

We are well into Spring here in the South.  These are the trees at the front of our property and aren’t they filling out nicely.  We have several shades of green and even when it is raining we have a nice “rain forest” cover to take our daily walks through. 














But I haven’t spent all my time out in the woods.  After a couple of days of laundry/housework and deck/reading I finally got back into the studio and put my string placemats on the HQ. 










Instead of appliqueing them first, I decided to sew down each strip as part of the quilting process.  The idea also was to work on my control as part of this process.











It can be readily seen that although all the strips will eventually get sewn down, control is not yet achieved. 















I did some pebbling in just a few spaces and then small wavy lines in the rest with larger waves on the outside.





I really am pleased with how they turned out.  I have already started the binding; it is gold and I will show them on Monday.  All of these strips came from my Funky Chicken applique so these are very bright.  I have scraps coming from the fish (bright) and the owl (mostly brown) so there will be more placemats.  We use them all the time so more is more at our house.





When I was a child you were either a cat person or a dog person and we were only dog people.  But in this home we are both and so are the cats and dogs.  Each of these two have chosen this recliner as her own (or maybe it is the throw) but sharing is not out of the question.  My, they sure do make me smile.





Our hearts hurt for the people of Boston.  DH was born just south of there and spent his high school years in Boston so we have a special love for the town and it’s people.  Our prayers have been and are being said for those affected by this atrocity and for those who are working so hard to find the perpetrators. 

Gari

Edit:  Linking to Nina's Creative blog.

Small Projects

When I went to bed Saturday night this was what was sitting on my “design ironing board.”  Even then you could see what it was to become.














But how much better is this?  And it is on the real Design Wall.  It still needs applique stitching but I am very pleased with how he looks.  He is currently a free design at Justquiltin with Denise Russart.  Mine is going to be smaller because he is destined to fit on my bedroom door: he kind of looks like I do when I am on my way to bed each night.  He is made with batiks (sound familiar?). 







Earlier this week I finished the binding on my Carol Doak tabletopper and have put it to work.  It is a little small for our table but it does brighten up the room.









Next up on the HQ are my batik scraps placemats.  Here they are, hanging on the frame so that I can’t forget to get them going.










I found this fabric in my stash (leftover from someone else) and the colors are very similar to what is on the placemats so it is to be the backing for them. 








I had a very hard time getting into the studio on Saturday.  It was such a beautiful day I put the hammock out and then got on it.  What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  Every so often I would put my book down and think “I really should get in there and get something done.”  Then I would swing a little, pick up the book and stay where I was.







However Sunday was very different.  This was what our weather looked like.  As of 4pm we had had 3” of rain and I had had a good day in the studio. 












One of the interesting things I found on the deck this week was this red leaf.  This is a 4 year old poinsettia plant and for some reason it is putting out a red leaf (actually 2).  I thought one had to hide the plant in the dark for a long time in order for this to happen but I guess not.  Anyway, I guess this means that the plant is happy, and so am I.

I am linking up with Patchwork Times. 

Have a great week,  Gari