Circle time, continued

I'm still working on the circle quilt. At this pace, I should stick to much faster projects! The circles have all been applied, and I am working on the last of the border. I decided to do a simple border, and let the fabric tell me what to do. That is, I sewed the leftover fabrics together in the same size they happened to be. So they aren't blocks or improvisional, just strips of fabric strung together. It'll be okay though.

When I first laid out the circles, I imagined that I let everyone in the family decide which craft project they wanted, and this one was the one that most people wanted, and not just because their other option was a luggage tag. Looking at it yesterday though, I had a "What was I thinking" moment. It is really busier than most things I make, and since I have been looking at modern quilts, with simple lines, and lots of white background, this one seems outlandish by comparison.

I really do hope I get it done today, because I have many more gifts to make!

The picture is of the first layout, when I really liked the quilt.. I pinned some circles down, but was afraid those pins would poke me, and cause problems with movement on the sewing machine, so I didn't do them all. I went back and did the rest, and then some of them fell off in process, and I threw those back on without careful measurement, so they don't look like this layout anymore, but it's a good approximation. I did press all the fabric before starting, but this must have been after some of the circles were sewn on. I'll have to be sure to press the whole thing again before quilting.

Circle Time!

I finished my sashiko. I will show it to you after I wash it. You know what this means, right? This means I can move on to another project. I didn't want to spend a lot of time thinking and debating, so I moved to the first one that crossed my mind. It is Circle Time quilt that Amanda Jean showed on her blog. She used old CDs as a template.

Remember when America Online and Prodigy and CompuServe were sending CDs in the mail, to get you to use them as their internet provider? I thought I would be clever and use the CD as a template for a quilt, but I never got around to it. I find it hard to do nice circles. And when I was cleaning out my basement, I found said old CDs that I was saving. You know, because CDs are so hard to find.

Then I saw the quilt, and it is so beautiful, and she uses the word "casual". Such a beautiful word. I can make a casual quilt. And then I can throw away my old CDs!

I think the key to making this quilt is to use beautiful fabric. Yes, I have cut into my African fabric stack. I cut out all the circles yesterday, and did the layout and a some of the zig zag stitching today. This is going to be a quick quilt, except maybe for the borders. My border idea may take some time, if I follow through with it. I am hoping to make lots of maverick blocks. I've read that the Africans like complex patterns so the evil spirits get confused and can't get into the quilt.

Fixed

The expensive part on the furnace that I needed to replace turned out to be two expensive parts that I needed to replace. But they have been replaced, and my furnace is brand new all over again.

picture from the internet

Then there was a pipe that was leaking, and it too has been fixed. The furnace guy said he couldn't do the pipe because it was complicated, but the plumber just replaced the saddle valve, which is a very easy thing to install, although you couldn't tell that by the bill.

The good news in all this, is that I just received my charge card bill, and these repairs were not on it. So I have some time to gather up some money, ahem, just in time for the holiday season.

Santa's workshop will be in full swing this year. I think it would be best for me to make all of my gifts this year, using existing supplies.

I need some ideas - I know I can make bags and table runners, and tree decorations. What would the men want?

Cold!

I guess it is a good thing that I've been spending time in the basement, working on cleaning it up. Everything is now organized in the boxes again - the ones that have fallen apart have been replaced, and most of the empty boxes and bags (they can be useful!) have all been taken away. I'm still going through the full boxes in an effort to reduce. There are still some boxes on the floor, and I'd like to have no more than can fit on the shelves.

I say I guess it is a good thing, because Friday night, yes it has to be at the start of the weekend, I smelled gas. Wasn't sure, with my allergies, but decided that it is better to be safe than sorry, and called the gas company on an emergency run. Yes, he did ask "what is your emergency?" I thought I had been transferred to 911 for a minute!

He came and after checking - he started and checked everywhere except where I said I had smelled the smell, he finally got around to the furnace, and decided that it was leaking. He said he had to shut it off. Lovely.

I figured I could manage the night without heat - I might have a blanket or two to keep me warm - and deal with it in the morning. The furnace guy said I needed an expensive part, and they charge $200 extra to open up the shop on the weekend! I guess I should have called someone who trusts their employees into the storeroom on the weekend. I decided that I was poor enough that I could manage a weekend without heat. I have sweaters and space heaters, maybe a lap quilt or two, and the temperature outside is not too cold.

Saturday was fine, but the sun decided not to come out on Sunday. I realized that I move around the whole house a lot more than I thought. Every time I decided to go to another room, I had to think about whether it was worth moving the space heater. I baked a cake instead! It worked great.

If you come to visit before it is all fixed, sorry. You might have to keep your coat on, but I'd be happy to fix you some tea or coffee to help keep you warm. And cake. I have cake.

Photo is from the internet. My heater is actually smaller!

Upcoming Project

I'm still working on the sashiko, and my mind has still been floating around to the millions of other small projects I want to make now that I don't have to have a purpose for them.

One day, I went to Joann's. I think it was after the Stitching Post went away, and a new very similar establishment took it's place. I was just walking by to see if there would be any good going out of business sale, which there wasn't, but the lady asked me if I wanted to look at her new sewing machine. I explained to her that I wasn't in the market for a sewing machine, but she talked me into looking at it anyway. I can dream, can't I? Be ready for when that spend a million dollar in a minute shopping spree comes along, I'll know exactly what I want.

Anyway, she gave me this sample as a gift to take home. I'm not sure what kind of flower it is, or even if I have it facing the right way. I got to push the button to get this to start! I think I was supposed to be impressed by that. Anyway, this will be the start of my next project. See how honorable I am, using up an orphan block. Not starting any NEW projects. Many great ideas for this one, including using up some more purple HSTs, or making one of those stitchery / patchwork quilts like the Australians have been making. Love those! But I've decided on making a delectable mountains quilt, like the one I made for a swap quilt once. A bonus is I won't have to know which way is up! It will be a scrappy one, since I don't have big pieces of the fabrics I want to use. I am cutting now, and hopefully I will have the stitchery done, and I can rush into stitching this one.

Sorry, the picture is blurry, but hopefully you'll be even more impressed when the finished product doesn't look as blurry.

Continuing Sashiko

The basement cleaning is going well. I donated two big boxes of things, and have a stack ready to take to recycling. There is plenty more I can do down there - the basement is solely for storage and laundry.

I didn't do any artwork of my own yesterday. I read Earlene Fowler's Tumbling Blocks. I haven't kept up with this series, but I do like the books. Benni Harper got a lot more help from her friends and family doing her work than I would feel comfortable getting.

I've been trying to catch up on blog reading, but it is a never ending battle. Not just because bloggers keep writing new posts, but also because sometimes they introduce you to new bloggers, and if you go visit the new bloggers, they will introduce you to a whole host of friends, and well, the list of bloggers keeps increasing, and all of their new posts. I love it, though. Great inspiration.



I have been working on the sashiko, and I would like to finish it before I pick up another project. It is going really fast - there are no color changes, no stitches to count, and you can do several stitches at a time, so it is good practice for quilting. I guess I should have read the tutorial before I started. I am working on a section at a time instead of all the way across the lines. Either way, it shouldn't take more than a week, but the temptation to start yet another project is strong. Every time I come across a project on a blog, I want to start it NOW. Unfortunately, the next blog also has a project I want to do NOW, and so on and so forth.

I generally get more projects finished in the fall than any other season. I am afraid that if I keep being this fickle, this year won't have many finished projects to show.

Another Day of Art?

I generally have some loose plans for the day, as a guide for what I will be doing. Nothing too strict, because things don't always work out. Well, yesterday, I didn't follow my plans. I wore some dress clothes, because my jeans were in the dryer. That might have started it. I started hand washing my hand washing clothes. Then, when I went to the basement to get the clean laundry, I started cleaning the basement. Yes, I want to do that, but that wasn't on the list of things to do yesterday. I decided to leave myself on auto pilot, because I was getting more things accomplished just doing things as I went along instead of following a list.

Is the cleaner basement art? Yes it is. It looks much less ugly than it did. And beautification is one purpose of art, isn't it? Making it look pretty would involve a capital investment, but I am going to head on back downstairs, see if I can make it look even less ugly. I am pretending that I have a camera crew from Hoarders with me. I think it will make it easier to get rid of the junk.

And yes, I did work on my stitching project too.