Improv Quilt Continued

This photo was taken on the same day as the previous post, so it is somewhat cheating.  It is also a lie since we had lots of snow last night so the tree doesn't look like that today.  It has been extremely cold outside - below zero, and the streets are slippery.  Between making sure I don't fall and the dog doesn't get frostbite, the goal is to go outside and come back in as quickly as possible, leaving no time to stop and take pictures.  I am reminded of 1977 when we had the Schools Without Schools.  It was below zero for a long time, and there was an energy crisis.  In an effort to conserve energy, schools were closed, and classes were held in other places like bars, Governor's Mansions, and office buildings.

The following year 1978 was the great blizzard.  This year we have cold and snow, so it is somewhat of a combination.  Not as bad as either year, but I think it is pretty bad all of its own. We can be grateful that we have energy now.

I have been working on my Improv Quilt. The blocks are done and I am putting the rows together. Since they aren't straight, it does require some finagling on my part to get the blocks and rows to cooperate. Having never done this before, it is challenging my brain.

I hate that I can't show you what I am doing, because I think it looks great. Also, since it takes me a long time to make a quilt, showing the process along the way is what gives me something to write about.

Now, I can simply keep complaining about the dog who constantly wants to go outside, but has to keep coming back in because his poor paws are cold.  He has cabin fever and inspecting my progress on my quilt isn't giving him enough to do. Either that, or he hates the quilt so much that he wants to get as far away from it as possible!

Snowing

blue car in snow

Dog in snow

Yes, another backdated post.  I liked both of these photos for January 25. It was snowing that day.  As soon as a little bit was shoveled, more was there to take its place.

Improv Quilt

Sherri Lynn Wood at Daintytime.net is writing a book and she put out a call for people to make a quilt following her "scores" and 160 quilters agreed to participate .  I am one of 20 people who are assigned to do this quilt, and only 1 or 2 will be selected to be published in the book.  I'm sure some people will drop out, and some won't be able to finish the quilt on time, and it is possible that someone may make a quilt too close to hers, and someone won't understand the guidelines correctly, etc, but I am also sure she will get quite a good number of usable quilts that she will have to choose from.

It is challenging - usually with an improv quilt, the only person you have to please is yourself, but I want to make sure that my quilt fits what she wants.  But it is a lot of fun too, since it is making me try out techniques I haven't used before.

Although I have changed patterns, I haven't actually made a free spirited improv quilt.  It is scary, but by taking it one step at a time, I am managing to trust in the process and make something without a pattern. Except that I am combining at traditional pattern in an improv way.

Since this could go in a book, I cannot say anymore, nor can I show you the finished product until next year.  (Which means the end of the year recap could be short a quilt!)  I may show you what I am doing with the leftover scraps.


  

Reading the Newspaper

When we were on our daily walk, someone walked by and said "Reading the newspaper."  It took me a while to understand since there wasn't a newspaper in sight.  He was saying that the dog was sniffing around to find out about community happenings.  Here his nose is deep in the snow smelling something interesting.

Snow on Dog

It snowed, big flakes, and I like how the snow drops look on Zeus.

School Crossing

A neon green school crossing sign reminding students to look left, right and left again before crossing the street.

Shoe Print in Snow

This shoe print in the snow makes an interesting texture.  The newly fallen cold snow looks like dandruff.