Thursday, February 18, 2016

Unsewing and Other Stuff

No matter how many years of experience one has at sewing and quilting, there inevitably comes a time when unsewing is necessary. Why do I know this?

My observant blog-reader quilter-friend - Beth - caught my Picket Fence layout mistake when she viewed my last post. Just compare the first design wall photo (left), and my latest design wall photo (right).

It's the left picture that's correct, with the lightest value diamonds positioned with strips standing vertically - not horizontally as on the right.

Of course, by the time I realized my error, I'd sewn 14 columns of diamonds to one another. Oh well. The unsewing is done now. Onward!

Last week I received a UPS delivery - a wonderful gift box from MassDrop! This is how they show their thanks for referring customers to MassDrop. I received this bundle after 25 people placed an order. Thank you to those of you who have registered through me... and ordered!

I received: an Omnigrid folding mat/ironing board; an Omnigrid zippered project case (for carrying quilt blocks and supplies); a 45mm purple Splash Olfa rotary cutter; a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's True Colors; a pair of Ginger 3-1/2" stork scissors; and a bobbin "Bob" of Bottom Line 60-weight thread. Pretty wonderful, isn't it?!

I used my new project case to take 11 quilt blocks and notions with me to the "Off the Grid" workshop I attended last Sunday with Lee Heinrich/Freshly Pieced. (See our Central Florida MQG post about Lee's visit.)

In 2014, I participated in the Bay Area Modern Block of the Month - BAMBOM. These 12-1/2" blocks have been laying around since then, and were perfect for trying out different modern layouts according to Lee's suggestions. My first attempt was a grid-like asymmetrical layout. It was nice, but didn't speak to me.

The second layout is much more appealing. But it first entails more sewing. The top and bottom blocks, on the left, will become half blocks so the design appears to float off the quilt. And, I'll give the string star a special treatment with a narrow orange flange, and a Kona Bahama Blue frame.  Negative space on the left side of the quilt will be Kona Ash, and sashing and negative space on the right will be Kona White. It's great having a plan!

Monday saw me at the catheterization lab for my seventh angiogram due to PAD (peripheral artery disease). This is the fourth time Dr. Q. has been in my left leg, in the femoral artery. He used a "cutter balloon" to clean out an 80 percent plaque blockage at the top of my eight inch-long stent, and a 20 percent blockage at the bottom of the same stent. He also peeped inside my right leg which is now 70-80 percent blocked. He let me know at my Wednesday follow-up visit that my right leg also needs to be ballooned in the next few weeks. Sigh. As well, I learned that my recent heart arrhythmia, which was "performing" Monday while I was on monitors, is likely related to stress! Dr. Q. has upped my dosage of Tambocor to take care of that too. I'm very blessed with excellent medical care.

So I've been recovering, hanging around the house. Time has been put to good use. I: caught up on the "Open the Bible" study I've been doing independently; unsewed those diamonds; worked on two Keynote (MacBook) presentations I'll give in March; and begun to prepare for teaching machine appliqué to 20 quilters who will make the "Candy Pop" quilt in Beyond First Time Quiltmaking classes beginning February 27. The quilt pattern is in Christa Watson's book, "Modern Quilting With Style."

Guess I have a few things on my plate.

By the way, my younger sis's birthday is today, but she told me she's celebrating National Drink Wine Day! I think I'll join her. Linda

11 comments:

  1. What a lot of goodies you received in the mail :-)
    The difference in the 2 LO's is remarkable, I like both though. Unsewing is probably my least favourite thing about quilting. I have to do it much more than I want to think about!

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  2. Glad you came through your procedure fine!!! Hope Hogan is doing well too!! Love the quilt!

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  3. Oh my goodness- the block layout makes quite a difference. Glad your reader caught it. Nice gift from Mass Drop! I love the feather block in your Modern layout. Maybe you need to pack some hand work and some good books and go on a cruise to get that stress level back in balance. Take care of yourself!

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  4. Wow! Those layouts are, indeed, quite different! So pretty! Love your gift from Mass Drop, and oh, my, those mod blocks are gorgeous! Esp. the feather block. It's my favorite every time I see it somewhere! Glad your leg work is over, but sorry you have to have the other one done again, too. **sigh** I, too, experience an arrhythmia under stress....very extreme stress, though, so it doesn't happen often! But it's scary when it does! Take it easy! I know there is someone there taking very good care of you! XO

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  5. I'm anxious to see more of your Off the Grid project. Lee is really sweet and I bet it was fun to be in class with her. I'm also curious why your top project wasn't ok as it was - it was still consistently placed right? You just wanted it like a particular pattern?

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  6. I'm liking that second layout! Working on some orphan block projects and seeing that layout gives me some lay out ideas. Thanks and take care of yourself!

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  7. Glad your procedure went ok. You're always so very very busy . . . maybe you do too much and just need to relax more and enjoy the Florida sunshine. At least be kind and gentle to yourself.

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  8. My seam ripper and I are good friends. Yesterday I realized I had sewn the front pieces to each other and the back pieces to each other while making pajama bottoms for a sewing class. Of course I had already over locked the seams -- including the pockets! The teacher felt so bad but all I could do was laugh. That's what I get for distracted sewing.

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    1. HI Jamie! I appreciate your comment, but am unable to reply to you because you're a no-reply commenter. But thank you for sharing about your pajama-sewing mistake. I was a sewist before I started quilting, so I know exactly what you did... and I've done the same thing. Good for you to have a positive attitude about it. We have to chuckle at our ineptness sometimes. We sure can't get away from it, so what else do we do but smile and move on.

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  9. What cool things from Massdrop! And thinking about your procedures and hoping for continued success.

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  10. That's a lot of unsewing! You have such perseverance! It is beautiful!

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