Break from the quilt-- new tablerunner!

The weather yesterday was gorgeous.  I did some tree pruning in the yard and planted some violas in the planters, but still didn't want to come indoors.  So I did a bit of hand-work on the deck.  When I was doing the little flower blocks the other day, I had some petals left over.  (I had just attached fusible rectangles onto several fabrics and cut out a number of petals freehand)

 So I laid out all the leftover ones into a larger flower onto the corner of the piece of cream linen, which was about 18" x 56".  Nice size for a table runner!  I love table runners.  well, I love making them, but I do like to use them too, although I tend to forget what I have and use the same ones over and over.

After I hemmed the edges by machine, I wanted to add a crocheted edging. 

 First I used the large tapestry needle to do a blanket stitch all around the perimeter.  This took quite a long time!  certainly longer than I had anticipated.  Probably nearly 3 hours to do that.

 Then I used a size 2.75mm crochet hook to do a single crochet into each space.  this went a bit faster.

Now, I think I need to do some browsing to find a nice crocheted edging that isn't too difficult.  I've seen some on pillowcases, and places like that.  I don't have a whole lot of the linen here either, and I'm not too sure whether I have more of this color at home in Saskatoon.  I might have to set it aside for a while.  Or, maybe think about doing some stitching right onto the linen part-- right now it just has that one flower on it.  Monday again, hope you get to do lots of stitching this week!

Saturday's assorted thoughts

 Well I continue the voyage that this quilt is now taking me on. I forged ahead with the sashing with a different idea of how to get the quilt to have a more light overall feel

 That is, to sew a sea of white all around it!
 However, because it looked sort of stark right next to the pieced center, I first added an inner border of my new favorite beige linen.  Yes,

 However, in all that, it was a bit tricky to figure out how many units to make for the outside pieced border. So, it doesn't quite march around the corners as elegantly as one might hope.  But that's okay with me.  I plan to add yet another border, of little echoing plus signs that finish at 3 inches.  I keep imagining what it will be like to use the quilt on the sofa or something, and the edge of the quilt is often the part that I see most, so I want something in a smaller scale there.  (I'm not sure if that makes sense to you)
Of course this border also needs to be surrounded by white.....

I think that if i stop there, it will be about 60" by 70".


So this afternoon, we went out just for the sake of being out and about. 
I picked up 4 or 5 books at a bookshop, so I have lots of great reading in the week(s) ahead.  Over Christmas I read a book by Pat Conroy called his "My Reading Life", which is a series of chapters about people and books who have influenced him throughout his life.  At one point he mentions that he has, since he was a freshman in high school, tried to read at least two hundred pages every day.  I think this is amazing, and feel like quite a slug in comparison.  It makes one think.
We also wandered around downtown Savannah for a while.  (this makes me so happy and I frequently feel quite surprised and privileged to live (part-time) in this amazingly beautiful place.
At some point the sky was quite dramatic, and this is a shot taken with my ipod of the cloud behind a church spire. Very Dramatic.

This is a column by a door entrance.  Nearly every building holds some ornamental architectural detail.

 And this last shot just happened to also be on my i-pod when I uploaded the photos to my computer.  It is a tray of goodies in a junk shop some place.  I liked the presentation,

 I hope that you are enjoying your weekend too!  It's only half over at this point,  but I have many pages to read tonight before I rest my head...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

progress on x and plus quilt

I had a pretty productive sewing time yesterday!  I worked on the x and plus blocks that I'd started the other day with the pale turquoise and taupe and grey fabrics.  Most of them are from "Hometown", by Sweetwater, for moda. 
The block uses these shapes that have connector corners that flip back.  Usually I trim away the extra fabric behind the top triangle, but because these are white, I left them there so that the seam wouldn't shadow through to be visible.  It doesn't add too much bulk in the seams, and I'm pretty sure I won't be handquilting through the layers!

When I set the blocks side by side to see how they would look together, they seemed sort of darkish.  I wanted to get more of the light fabric into the design, so I thought about adding some sashing between the blocks. I decided to piece the sashing with more of the dark fabric to amplify the pattern.  I think I like it, although it is a little different from what I had expected when I first started sewing the blocks.  However, I have to remind myself to be open to what happens, even if I have to see it as a different kind of quilt. 

I wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it's turning out to be.  the + designs are very dominant.  It reminds me of the snowball-ninepatch combination,

like this one by Bonnie Hunter, found here

I really like those quilts, and have made one before, but I like this effect too.
Still thinking about getting an overall lighter effect, I placed some of my leftover  (partway through, I changed my mind from making 30 blocks to 20 blocks) sections together to see what they'd be like as a border.

I'll have to think a bit more about that, and welcome any input you might have...

On another note, this is what I came home with the other day after shopping!

 Some Alexander Henry fabrics, and some others, including more of the beige linen! yay, they had more.  Also I went to the yarn store, called "Wild Fibre" to get a bit more of the red that I need for the scarf I have in progress, and some beautiful shell pink that I'm thinking of using for a cushion cover,
Isn't it strange how even when you are shopping for various projects, the elements often seem to go together really nicely?

New Stuff at the store.

Pretty fabrics??? I think so!  they are from a Lakehouse grouping called Pam Kitty Morning from LakeHouse Dry goods that we just unpacked at the shop. 
Well, I say we, but really it was Patti and Jen. 
---Because it was year-end, inventory had to be taken, and so we let a lot of deliveries just pile up in the back under tables until everything was counted.  It seems that there were 7 large boxes of fabrics, and several more of notions!  So now, there are Lots! of new fabrics. I talked to Nancy today and she gave me a little run-down.
I like these ones, although they have a sort of odd name, "Pam Kitty Morning"-- they remind me of Cath Kidston stuff.  Nancy told me that we got in 18 bolts, so there is a really nice selection. 

Also, a lot of Children's flannel came in, some "funky monkey" stuff, and a dozen from Blue Hill fabrics with bunnies on it, and zebras? and other stuff too.

I copied these from the fabric companies web-sites, because I am not there in person to take photos!  this is wrenching for me!  I love unpacking new fabrics. 


 Oh, and Molly, just to tempt you furthur!! the rest of that Catkins line came in from In the beginning fabrics-- just had to let you know! what you do with that information is out of my hands.   (hee hee)
Seriously, I wish I was there to get my hands on this fabric.   I went shopping a bit today, but it just isn't the same!   I'll be home near the end of January, and then we will see what will happen.  I think there was a big Westminster order too,......
Well, I better go do my "Notions" order-- that's easy to do online!

By the way!  I hope that you all have a great year of sewing ahead! Happy stitching.

WIP wednesday

 I have quite a small stash of fabrics here.  that is, aside from a tall pile of 1930's fabrics.  I was quite enthusiastic about them this autumn, and might have done a few too many things with them, because now I seem to want to do some sewing with quite different styles of fabrics. 
I noticed this block above, on a flickr thread of photos, here, it was from a quilter called Setsuko Inagawa. I think they are calling it "Japanese X and plus".  I had just done it from memory, and going back to the photos now, i see that I simplified it a bit in the shadings.  I am liking how they are turning out, however, and hopefully I'll sew some more of them today.  They are going to finish at 7-1/2" square. 

Another thing that I started based on a photo I saw, was this set of little raw edge applique flowers.   I have actually sewn a pieced border strip around them, but have stopped working on them because I don't know what to do with them next.  I have thought of several possibilities, but none really make me feel excited.  I think I need to get a bit more of the beige colored linen, since I have no more of it.  It might be nice to use larger pieces of it in the setting of the blocks.  (I know, I just want to go shopping!)

 

@Bernie, Hi there, it's nice you want to try some applique, and I hope you enjoy it,  this here, is a post where I mention how I do applique, but others might have some other tips or techniques that they like to use, hope you get lots of time to sew this year!