Dutch quilt - backing

I'm working on the backing for the Dutch quilt.  It is a fun process even if it involves the use of math.  I'm starting with a panel which was given to me in Amsterdam by the very nice owner of the quilt store.  I think it was her way of showing she understood just how much we were spending and to show her appreciation for the crazy spending.  (Jill, if you are reading this, I so wish you had come with us that day.  I think you would have thoroughly enjoyed it!)  Seriously, I'd go back to Amsterdam just for this store.

I put a narrow border around the panel and will be adding color blocks to the left and the right. The rest of the back will be black.  I think it will look great, and I have to get this done relatively soon because I reserved time on the long-arm for October 8.  I'm scheduled for all day and I plan to take my time and go slow.

Fabricworm Project

I took a break from quilting today to get my hair cut and colored and to make a cowl/tube scarf from a tutorial available on Fabricworm.  It really was as easy as the tutorial claims to be and I might have to make another one in brighter colors.

Friday night sew-in - October Edition

Woot!  Friday night sew-in is back.  For October, I plan to work on a Halloween quilt.  Sure, I already have one Halloween quilt, but is one ever enough?  This month's sew-in happens on October 15th.  Quilt, knit, watch TV shows about quilting and knitting, whatever you want to do.  Then on October 16th, brush yourself off and post pictures of what you've done on the Friday night sew-in flickr page.  Details are available on Handmade by Heidi's blog. 

Dutch quilt - decision time

I honestly don't know how to proceed on this one.  I added the selvages to the upper left corner of the quilt as shown above and I added a 2.5 inch black border around the entirety of the quilt.  I was planning on adding another border of 2.5 inch stripes of the solid colored fabric to surround the black border.  But, now, I'm wondering if that will be too much.  I kind of like this as is.  I guess I thought adding more color to the border would make it modern, but I also don't want it to be distracting.  At the moment, it remains on the couch because the girl cat has once again discovered it and is making her stand on it.

Wisconsin

I am back from my week-long trip to the homeland of sunny, southern Wisconsin.  I miss my family so much, but I had a wonderful trip and am looking forward to going out there again in the spring.  But, I got to see turkeys, lots of fall flowers, sandhill cranes, and some trees that were turning already.  I even got to go to the Arboretum in Madison for the first time.  (And, I can't believe that was the first time I had been there.)  Today, I am home from work on my last vacation day.  I always believe in taking a vacation after your vacation.

Dutch quilt - more assembly required.

I've finished putting all the blocks and am in the process of putting borders on the quilt.  Unfortunately, the top two rows of blocks are significantly smaller than the bottom three.  Go figure.  I decided that rather than have a lot of black, blank space in the top corner that I would add a couple of selvages in to fill in the gap. The selvages say that these are reproduction fabrics produced in Amsterdam and I intended to add them to the quilt anyway, so this is rather fortuitous.  At any rate, Little Girl Cat discovered it when I laid it out on the sofa to see if I picked the right selvages.  You can see them in the upper left hand corner.  She's lucky she's so flippin' cute.

Marmots in the Mist

Yesterday's hike was to Summerland at Mt. Rainier.  You can tell fall is coming as the wildflowers have  basically finished blooming and the leaves are starting to turn.  Despite the chill in the air, it was not raining and the hike was beautiful if not completely exhausting.  This is the first time I've been close enough to a marmot to get a decent picture which was probably because he was happily munching away and did not seem at all concerned that he had been spotted.  He's got to get ready for a long winter too - and that poor guy won't have football to keep him company on the weekends.  The full documentation of the marmot and other pictures here.

Fabric shopping

I've been shopping on-line for fabric and couldn't resist these mixes of warm, cool and neutral colors.  I'm trying not to just buy fabric randomly when I see something pretty because I want to make sure that I actually use it in a project.  My initial thinking is to only buy after I have a project in mind and, apparently, this type of thinking is no longer allowed here.  Now it's all, "Look pretty!  Where's my credit card?"  But, I tell you, nothing beats opening an envelope and seeing that pretty fabric looking back at you.