July 01, 2005
Roses and Gardens
Yesterday I cleaned off the tops of my two desks and called it good.
My sink is still shiny, I thought to her Flyness, and so I moved on to other, more fun, things.
I knit a bit on the Blush Shoulder-Warmer Capey Thingey, but a picture wouldn't give you much of a sense of progress, so I'll defer that for another day.
My kindergarten instincts have taken over after having seen so many beautiful flower garden quilts in progress at Quilting Broads. I realized that many of the Broads were working on these while away from home because they lend themselves to portability. Witness my eminently portable bracelet box containing cut-out index-card hexagons waiting to be covered in pretty fabric. I simply baste through the card and fabric around the edges in order to maintain a perfect form and keep nice points intact:
After I have covered 37 of these (1 for the center, 6 for the first circle, 12 for the second and 18 for the third) I can assemble one motif, like this--
Obviously this one is not sewn together, but when I get to it I will whipstitch the edges together, eventually taking out the basting and the paper. The extra creamy hexagon is a feeble gesture in the general direction of completing the "path" that winds around each motif. All of this hexagon workmanship is easy to do, autopilot-type activity.
Here's the second motif just getting started:
Speaking of flowers and gardens, I awoke yesterday to an additional item on my bedside table, a perfect, beautiful, fragrant white rose from the man of my heart.
Sherlock is unmoved by the fragrance of the rose but absolutely delighted to pose for the requested portrait.
He's happy because he knows.... it's Pizza Night!!
ooh! ooh! Hey Sherlock!!!! Nice collar! And such a wondersmile!!! Thanks, Sheila, he makes my day.
Posted by: tanya on July 1, 2005 09:55 AMIt's pizza night here, too. A grand tradition! :-)
Oh my gosh--Sherlock just makes me smile! He reminds me of those funny funny alpacas (alpaci?) after they have been shorn...
Posted by: Janine on July 1, 2005 12:40 PMThat's going to be an awesome quilt! I'm going to teach myself how to quilt after I finish the intarsia blankie I'm making :-)
Posted by: Jon on July 2, 2005 04:56 PMOh, don't make me want to get my quilting stuff out! I have too many knitting projects going.
Lovely white rose from your sweetheart. What a delightful way to awaken.
Posted by: Nathania on July 3, 2005 10:11 AMJust wanted to say thanks so much for the advice on washing and finishing my fabric. I dragged out the sewing machine, and lo and behold, I do have a zig zag that sews several tiny stitches per zig/zag. I sewed it up, snipped my different sections apart, and tossed them in the washer. I wasn't brave enough to wash with hot water, for fear of excess dye leaking, but when I pulled the cloth out of the dryer, wow! So soft, the cotton really bloomed, and now it feels like real fabric! And the edges frayed right up to the zig zag stitch and stopped dead. :-) I'm so thrilled, can't wait to put the next warp on the loom. Thanks again!
ps. Now that it's washed, do I have to worry about unraveling when I cut the fabric to sew?
Robin, I'm so glad it came out well! As far as raveling from this point on-- take the same precautions as you would with store-bought fabric. You'll have to hem or overcast any cut edges unless they'll be enclosed in a seam (or zigzag if they're going to be hidden). If the fabric is in any way loose ("sleazy" is the correct term) then even if it's enclosed in a seam I would zigzag the raw edges. You've spent so much time weaving it, you don't want all that work to go down the drain.
Posted by: Sheila on July 5, 2005 07:49 AM