Divide and Conquer

  It was last year when I purchased several pre-printed panels.   I made a small wall hanging as a daily reminder to me to have a grateful heart.    It resides on the pantry door and I see it often during the day.









  A couple of months later I put together another small wall hanging to use as a gift.   I used an accent color to frame the main part,  and added butterflies for an accent.
  That left a larger section to divide up or use together.  I knew I wanted to add a narrow frame around the next batch and blend with the 2'' squares of floral fabrics.








    The larger section got cut up after all.  I wanted to frame the two main portions for an added pop of color.  I had just a small bit of this purple for the 1'' border.    I love how it makes the purple in the printed sections stand out.
   I played around with  very irregular/asymmetrical blended sections.  I tried to keep the darkest to the corners so as not to detract from the center.   It worked to create the depth I was hoping for to give a more artsy feel.
  Garden of Praise is a wall hanging that is 33'' by 36''.



Today all were finished!  With the sun out  and no rain drops to spoil the photo taking process, we ventured out to the deck.    I wanted to have a photo comparison of the finished projects.

   
    Those large pre-printed panels can be intimidating.  They have inherently uneven blocks or sections, or the printing may be crooked.  You need coordinating fabrics to blend with the printed sections, and so on.   
   So this series for me became a Divide and Conquer idea.  Even though I used the same watercolor technique to enlarge each portion I cut out---the divide part--I conquered the designs by altering the type of layout.



   The two on the left are symmetrical  with the blended portion moving around the top one, and in the lower one just accented in opposing corners. 

  The two on the right are the ones just finished.  The larger one I discussed all ready.  The small one...is just that a small left over that just didn't fit into the other ones.  I couldn't let it go to waste, so using the leftover bits from the larger one, I made a small table top mat as a Blessing! 

      I still have the insanity during the pandemic quilt to quilt.  My hands and wrists need a few days to rest and recover before I tackle that.

   And one last look at the 4 in the series of divide and conquer.
  Happy stitching. 

Catching up

  Time to catch up.....I know it has been a month since I posted and several emails from readers reminded me to wake up. 
 
  We had a very nice Spring and Sir Old man worked tirelessly in the yard completing projects from my list for him.  We had 2 truck loads of mulch spread over the beds to give them a refresh.  the crew also planted a couple of new trees we got for Earth Day from the power company and Clemson. 
  Sir Old Man finally added the birdhouse he built for the Bluebirds.  And can you believe it is already occupied!  It has been fun to watch them darting in and out or sunning on the roof.  he is inspired now to build another one for the front yard. 
   We spent one Saturday morning adding some edging plants to the back bed.  It was one trip/venture I made away from home....to the garden center nearby to select some herbs and ground covers for the back.  And yea, we ran into a quilting buddy.  Waving to Yvonne!

 
 
   I was working on the insanity during the pandemic quilt last time  I posted.  It is assembled and ready to quilt.  Thanks to Sir Old Man learning to pin a quilt!  Without his help I would not have gotten both of these ready to quilt. 
  The top one is  another wall hanging build around some more pre-printed panel parts.   Small sections  of watercolor florals frame the parts I put together.  Fusing onto interfacing and simple stitching, I can handle right now. 
  Note to self....you are now out of both batting and interfacing.  Need to order both.

 Both of these are smaller so I am hoping I can manage the quilting. 

  We have had over 7 inches of rain in the last week.....stormy days and such.  All add to the aches in the hands and wrists.  So for simple stitching time.....personal therapy session.... I have been doing some scrap  and crumb piecing. 

   I have a small basket of bits and pieces by the machine.  It is easy to grab a pair and build a section like the center part here.  I needed a leader/ender project while stitching the fused floral units for the wall hanging. 
  I decided to use the light print with and rosy vine on it for a constant thru out.  I have quite a bit of the light, which I am sure I was saving for something that will never happen, and this seemed a good time to use it!
   Beyond freely stitching and a light press for now, there is no real plan.  I have about a dozen together , so many more to grow.    I will square them up to a common size on a less painful day. 

    Our world is beginning to open up a bit.  Sir Old Man has been doing all the shopping, and keeping me home.  I am allowed to ride along when he gets gas or goes to the dairy.  There are times you need to see that the world still exists.  I went to the podiatrist last week but had to wait in the car until they could slip me into a room and then right back out.  I was notified that another of my doctors retired......I am assigned to a new one for next month.  Oh, joy....lol. 


   So while I chose to not blame anyone for what has happened, I do recognize the take aways  during this time. 
   Never forget how much freedom means. 
   Never freely give up your rights to be free. 
  Forever and always be thankful that we are free, and live in a wonderful country that lets us be free.     Free to love others, free to be ourselves, free to walk among the world.
   And today we remember those who died for our right to be free.   And once again I share a favorite wall hanging entitled Remembrance. 
  Happy Memorial Day.
  Happy stitching.

A pair of wall hangings

  A pair of small wall hangings kept me busy over the weekend. 
  The first was simple and plain until I added the trio of butterflies. I found a few of these ready to fuse in place.  Some matching thread to zig zag down the edges and I was happy with the results.  With the warmer days right now, I long for spring.
   The binding on this one was leftovers I found in the scrap bin.  Both were the  flange binding but I simply joined them and pretended it was the same all around. 









 
    I also took a close up photo of the corner.  I get a lot of questions about my fabrics and  where I find them.  I have an assortment going back 20-25 years so don't expect to simply buy a couple of fat quarters for these projects.   You can see the fabrics are an mix of size prints, as well as different values.  A large scrap of fabric can yield a lot of 2'' squares, so you don't need much really.    So study this photo and hopefully that will help.



  The second one is part of the pre-printed panel I bought last fall.  The little bit of watercolor blending in the border is just fun for me.  It would be a good way to try your hand at this. 
  I just worked in one upper and one lower corner to frame the design.  A neutral tonal floral finishes off the border. 
   You can see I also added a few more butterflies....I just could not resist. 










   And I found space to work in a few feather motifs  for the quilting.  It has been quite a while since I tried feathers, I was glad to see I still had the touch for them.  The rest of the quilting was curls and loops.










  A nice pair for spring.
Happy stitching. 

Valentine's Day

  Dropping in to say Happy Valentine's Day!  Sharing a favorite wall hanging from 2013.

   And to let everyone know I am still hanging on.  It has just been a painful month.  Some days I have trouble holding a coffee cup.   When the weather goes thru such drastic changes in 7 days, it plays havoc on my body.  It was 70 degrees on a Tuesday,  On Thursday the rains began and stayed until we had over 6 inches of of runoff forming rivers in the yard and streets...etc.  Winds and tornadoes happened on Friday.  And Saturday we turned cold and.......... and snow happened.    Don't you love my Metalbird  on the post?  It was a Christmas present!




   That was last week, which leads to this week and more rain....lots of it.  On the good/better days I try to get to the sewing room for an hour or so.  It has taken a while but I managed to get those pre-printed place mats done.

   Today I hope to work on an older small water color wall hanging that I found in a box of blocks.  I think I must have used it for classes at one time.





  So one final wish, and hug for a sweet Valentine's Day.
This candle mat was made several years ago from scraps and parts.  I love mixing the variety of red prints.

  Happy stitching.

Runner and wall hanging for Fall

   According to the Almanac, fall has begun.    I do wish our weather listened to them ;)  Temps in the mid 90s is not conducive to anything but staying inside! But I went ahead and pulled out a few wall hanging and runner to at least remind me of fall days. 
 
  Then this morning I read Carole's post at From my Carolina Home.  Her Autumn Jubilee begins today.  You should jump on over and check out what she has going on......and all her sponsors this year.   Patterns, inspiration, and prizes!

 This runner was made from her patterns during the Jubilee  a few years ago!







  I only made a couple of blocks of each one and then "made up " a border of odd pieces I had in the leftover bin.  But  it all worked together.   And I love how it fits the new cabinet just perfectly.

 
This is one of my favorite fall wall hangings....from 2016!    This year I am using on the pantry door.  The link for the pattern still works.....Pineapple from Havel sewing.   So grab it if you are interested. 

   Not a lot of new sewing got done this month.  Sorting though things,  I found more leftover parts.....actually I have 2 bins of those.  But there were enough HST of the same size that I decided to turn them into pinwheel blocks.  I am waiting for more inspiration on this.  I think it needs a wider border and then a round of something/anything....we will see. 

  But......I got bit by the Bonnie String Scrap bug again yesterday.  I had already played around with the wonky version using mixed sizes of strings for the court house block.  And made a start on a few others.  And then this morning she posted a full tutorial for the Crooked Courthouse Steps.   So you can guess what I may be working on for a while.  Actually they are quite easy which is really good for me right now. 

Happy stitching.

January Let's Book It

  A welcome sign is symbolized in a pineapple.....or so the story goes.  I shared this pattern on Friday finds a couple of months ago.  I thought it would be great to have as a wall hanging in the guest room.

  Simple squares of gold and tan for the pineapple, topped with a crown of green Dresden plate segments.  Then it was border time......

At first, I was a bit concerned about the bold pattern of the fabric I selected.  It had the perfect tones of the green and gold along with that rich purple.

   To soften the effect, I added a simple extra border to the top and bottom only.  Just a few scrap logs extended the overall length.  Now it was looking better.

 I quilted in a lot of texture around the pineapple that now adorns the storage cabinet where I keep the extra quilts.  I used a light binding to contrast with the border fabric---again to soften it---and to be a nice contrast against the dark cabinet.  

  Oh....lest we forget.  The ugly fabric is on the back....the color matches.  No peeking to admire that!!  Just enjoy the welcome to our home and enjoy your stay.













Linking to Let's Book It at Vrooman's Quilts.     

  If you haven't joined or don't know about Let's Book It...the details are at Sharon's blog on the Book It page.  Simply select a project from your collection of saved patterns and create it.....large or small, start it, change it,  or better yet..... complete it.  Then share at the end of each month.  It's Sharon's way to enable/encourage us to enjoy our projects.  At the end of the year, you will be surprised at what you accomplished!   And those small projects make great gifts  :)

Final note......followers have been dropping this week....Google is cleaning house.  If you are a regular blogger, great.  If you drop in occasionally, that is great too.  You might consider following your favorite blogs by email if you do not wish to join google.   Check the sidebar and sign up.  My understanding is that you can join google and get a "dashboard" to read your favorite blogs with out writing one.  That way you can also comment.  technology....such a headache!  I'd rather be stitching.

Trunk Show edition

   It's the Trunk Full of Quilts over at Whims and Fancies blog.  

I had visions of sharing some large quilts and new photos.....yet I moved to plan B because the sun hasn't  cooperated this past week.  So here's the trunk......

 Let's open the trunk and see what we find.   It could be filled with pirate's treasure, but in this house I bet it holds a different bit of wonder.

     Changing Seasons is a mixed technique wall hanging.  It began as a regular watercolor in the center.  And then it evolved when I decided to add cardinals sitting on a branch.  The branch needed to be anchored to a tree, and so I "grew" up a tree.
   The tree is fused applique with several layers of fabric.  I would cut a hunk and pin it up on the design wall, stand back and see it if created depth.  This went on for about a week.  I ended up adding twisted yarns and cording in areas for more texture to the tree and branches.
  The border was by chance.  I did not have enough of the one fabric used on the left side.  So I looked for large hunks to finish it off . It  ended up with a scenic type border----from sky to horizon to ground.   A narrow strip of black pushed the outer border back for even more depth.

  
 Remembrance is also a mixed technique wall hanging.   On the left is a section of leftover watercolor squares from another project.  To it I added cobblestone blocks of pastel batiks.  The cobblestone blocks are a scrap technique from Wanda at Exuberant Color.    She has such wonderful ideas and does amazing work.

  Once I had the background created, I was inspired  to use the Veteran's Day symbol of poppies.  I love how they stand tall against the sky.









  The poppies are fused applique with a small amount of thread painted detail in the centers.    A narrow filet of a yellowish batik was added before the border went on.  I liked how it made the flower centers pop.

 Hope  is always hung somewhere in the house.  It has a seasonal appearance, but  I keep it up all year round.  It is a basic watercolor background with thread painted cardinal and pine branch.

  I went through a period of doing a lot of thread painting and this was the final one I did.  There are 3 sections---cardinal, main branch and pine needles, and smaller clumps of pine needles.  Each section was thread painted --with a zig-zag stitch---onto bridal tulle sandwiched between sulky as a stabilizer.  Once completed the sections were cut out (sulky dissolved) and appliqued onto the wall hanging.   A few extra thread painted stitches were added to blend it all together.

  I don't remember exactly how many shades of red I used, but I think it was in the range of 9-10.  The highlights were actually pink.

  Appliqued cording was added to separate the border.













     One more to say Welcome for the season.  This is a small table topper.  The pineapple was made from strips and strings of  yellow and gold fabrics in a braid pattern.  The pineapple shape was cut out and appliqued to a string background.  Three shades of green were cut and fused for the leaves.  I did not have enough fabric for a border on 4 sides, so I made do with just 2.  I love the off set look and use it a lot now.



Now, click on over to the Trunk Full of Quilts linky and see what other inspiration you can find.
Happy stitching.