Trying to right the ship

     If you have followed my four patch floral black diamond quilt, you will know I was disappointed with it. I grit my teeth, cut some black strips, and sewed them on. I used a method presented by my co-chair at our latest program on Seminole piecing. She cuts the strip wider than she wants, sews on the first side, presses it with enough to hang onto and then sews the next side with a wider seam which is then trimmed after pressing. This way, the strip is always manageable and does not stretch and wobble. Worked perfectly when I sewed the outside floral border on. The black strip finished at 3/4". I auditioned a whole bunch of fabrics for the outside border, thoroughly messing up my stash, and chose the first one I pulled out. 
     The quilt is now 72.5" x 87" unbound. I don't dislike it as much as I did, but it is not what I had imagined. I can live with it now. Why did I not buy more of that blue floral? I had to skimp with only 2 yards. I can't get the colors better than this.

My audition fabrics all around the black strip

The mounting makes all the difference

     I was not happy with the small water lily quilt because of the way I mounted the quilt on a same size painted canvas. The show it went in had a size limit, so I listened. Turns out they had way more room and it looked ridiculous on the wall. It sat around here languishing. Now I have a presentation coming up on the art quilts. I bought a much bigger canvas and found the perfect fabric at Hobby Lobby which my friend Elizabeth treated me to. I staple gunned it to the canvas stretcher and will sew on the quilt at the corners using a button to anchor it at the back. Now I absolutely love it! The canvas is 18 x 18.

Mounted on the canvas board below which is slightly smaller. The canvas floated the quilt away from the wall and the sides could be seen, but did not really work.

The painted canvas, will reuse for smaller art quilt.

18 x 18 canvas covered with fabric, art quilt sewn on at corners. Quilt is 13 x 13.

Presentation sample

     My friend Elizabeth and I are program directors for our guild. We have a 3 year term, up next December.  One meeting a month is the program meeting. Hard to get teachers or demos in the evening. So, we have been planning and organizing most of them- Jan. to May. We work off a list compiled from a survey done of the members before we started. Every program has been a detailed offering of the subject. Last month, Elizabeth did Seminole piecing and made samples all summer. In two weeks, I have art quilts. It is sort of joke, since doing programming and comfort quilts has all but squelched my art quilt projects. 
     I needed at least one current in progress sample. As I cleaned off the counter, I found 4 leaves that Elizabeth had taught how to use up the modge podged fabrics from the landscape program. I pulled out some of my made fabric pieces and thought they could use combining. Of course, the made fabric blues did not work with the leaves, so I made new made fabric ones. I added a little of the leaf colors into the made blue fabric. Now, it is sewn together (next post shows with borders) and I started big stitch quilting with perle cotton.

Purposely sketchy lines with black thread outlines

Wide side trip

     Last weekend, a couple from our church asked us to go on a trip with them to the Amish country in Ohio. We didn't know them well, but took a chance. It is about 4 1/2 hours to the south west away. We stayed at a bed and breakfast alongside some Amish farms. Gets pretty dark out there.

Garden Gate Bed and Breakfast. Our room door facing on lower level.

Wonderful shed on the property

     My hope was to see quilts and vintage machines and maybe even bring a special one back. I did eat lots of delicious cheeses and saw a phenomenal selection of wood furniture, but not quilts or machines. I did find fabric, of course. 

One of the fabric stores I shopped at.

Parked outside the fabric store.

The town of Charm, fabric store just out of sight.

     I am not sure if it is funny or it is sad, but when I asked various Amish fabric store clerks where I could find vintage machines or people working on them, they said, "Oh, we don't use them anymore. We just sew on Berninas." They use solar panels for the electricity. I was struck dumb. I sew on vintage machines because of their superior stitches and they are on computerized Berninas? I was told the vintage machines may show up in thrift stores or barns. I found none in Antique Malls. Why is it any little old tool or tin is there, but the sewing machine, which revolutionized the home, is absent? Does it only bother me?
      Some other fun scenes, but no quilts.

Sign around corner from B & B, parking for a wedding

Horses parked, eating from hay wagons.

Behind buggy, is the manufacturing building where the wedding was held- 400 guests

Bargain store we visited. The scrapbook supplies were cheaper than with the coupon at Joann's

Farm still life

Kind of sums up the road size situation

 

Dreaming of sunflower fields

     Wait a minute, I wasn't dreaming. Just north of Buffalo, a farming family opened a sunflower field to the public. Sunflowers Of Sanborn N.Y  on Facebook is the official site, local TV coverage, https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/western-new-yorkers-flock-to-sunflower-field-in-sanborn_20180314092023237/1042866005 gives explanation for them. And the latest, the town they are in shut them down in some kind of Grinch moment. Unbelievable, the sunflowers and the letter from the town. The farmer family has grown crops there for years and with their own money, made a parking lot so people did not park on the street, does not charge an entrance fee, provided portapotties and sold some food (sales tax revenue for the town).
     When I first arrived and walked through the first field, I just wept. It was so gorgeous even though a lot of the flowers had gone to seed. It was absolutely magic. I have always been in love with sunflowers and painted and made quilts of them. Oh, how sad if they cannot do this anymore. 

Corn to the left, flowers to the right

The corn out to dry

Husband is 6'4", so you can see the flowers height

This was a three headed immense sunflower.

There were orange ones.

And red ones.

And fancy ones for you to cut bouquets.

Butterflies, oh my

     I adore butterflies. A friend's sister embroidered one panel for me that I made into a quilt, but am always looking to piece another one. Do not want to paper piece them. I would love to make one large one. I found this free pattern and have made 20 of these. I think they capture the variety of butterflies. Here are six of them. 
     Half of me wants to sew them in columns and rows and let the butterflies be. The other half wants to put them in a design that shows movement, but I don't know if that will fight with the colors and textures in the butterflies.
     I have to put all of them on the wall and try it out, but the floral 4 pattern black diamonds is up there waiting for borders.

All in except borders

     I sewed together the quilt that has disappointed. With the seam allowance the distance is closer between the black diamond points- it has improved slightly. I am thinking of putting a 2" border (finished) of the same white green grid fabric, a skinny black, and not sure for the last border. I auditioned floral squares and the same background again, just not sure how much more fabric/color/texture to throw at this. I don't want a floral border overwhelming the other florals. Undecided.

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