More Paper piecing and a rant about trees

So the paper piecing started with this star

The method is a 'new to me' no waste system

Where you fold your sections and  sew along the fold and not through the paper.

I like this much better as it eliminates the annoying, to me, bits of Paper piecing

The paper waste the ripping and the picking.

I can reuse the initial paper pattern over and over 

instead of spending hours picking whats left out of the back and distorting my stitches

The pattern maybe broken up into more pieces 

but the process, I feel, is more streamlined and easier for me to wrap my brain around.

So far I have 6 full stars and one half star

only 20 more to go!

And it fulfills my RSC Quota (Self inflicted, of course) with the center star! 

I still haven't decided if I want it dens-packed with stars or 

hexie rows with diamonds in between.

I have drafted and cut a pattern for the diamonds bUUT.....We'll see

*Rant incoming*

Poplar #2 and hubs taking photos for the neighbors who weren't home

In other news I have been dealing with another power outage due to tree
fall and trying, yet again, to get the city to take down the danger trees. No one was hurt by this one either, thank goodness, just 'inconvenienced' for a few days by power and cable/internet outage issues, and the neighbor across the street now has to have the roof redone because the tree hit the ridge line, which left trunk limbs on the roof and dropped the tippy top in the backyard. Oy.

and half of it still stands!

We have finally gotten to what, we think, is the correct department to do that. But it was so obscurely hidden in the Snohomish county web page it took ages to find! and it's not like the will just give you the phone number when and if you
get a human being on the phone either. the appropriately named department "Vegetation Management" was hidden at the very bottom of the Street maintenance under several sudinonomous tabs. it's like a state secret or something they don't want you to know!

They usually have a driveway and a bush on either side

Very annoying! But finally, hopefully, taken care of. Though a week after the tree-fall and initial surveyor, we have been informed we are on the "list" for tree removal. Great you got a time line on that? there is this other 80' ft tall poplar that is just as punky (I can stick my finger through the bark!) as the other two that came down, in what I can only describe as "barely enough wind to blow out a birthday candle". Waiting for the #3 to come down on it's own, is not an option. t's bigger than the other two and the only reason they haven't managed to kill someone yet, is by providence alone! 

You know the law of threes.

The power pole down the street about 800 feet

 and oopsie-poosie, does not cut it this time!  Whew!

Anyway I am going to make of myself a pest, until this is resolved, if I have to stay on hold till the next ice age or whatever it takes to get it done!

There rant over, thank you for letting me vent.

Explorations in paper piecing

 This was an experiment in paper piecing

That i liked so much I am contemplating a whole quilt

We will see how well that goes

right now i have cut the pieces for star center 

the triangles and  strips for the rest.

I am still deciding on all hexies 

or hexies with diamond corners 

and should those be solid or pieced. 

Lets see how extra I feel like being

The star Tarot

 Here we go again with another Tarot card

This is the Star, She'snot finished yet but I thought I would post her so far anyway.

She is a more personal card to me My Aunt Rainey gave me this card when I was 7 or 8.

She is the one who taught me to love the cards and gave me my first set.

She sAys she was taught by gypsies, which knowing her just might be true. 

She lived in the same big "C" shaped apartment building, 

3 doors down from Wrigley field, that we did when I was little.

We on the 3rd floor and she on the 2nd. 

I could get to her house by running down the porch stairs and banging on the door.   

when she was home she would let me in and we could talk,

She taught me to make cookies, and it was OK to speak your mind and to be different from everyone else.

She would say "If everyone was the same life would be boring."

The card depicts the north star, sailors and travelers guide in the night sky, in the middle of the 7 sisters constellation. 

A woman on a field of grass and flowers, Pouring water from 2 jugs onto the earth and into a body of water,

She stands on the water and kneels on the land.

She is a calm guide to that balance within oneself, that nourishes the soul. 

She sees both sides and nourishes them both without judgement.

All sewn in DMC 3 strands over satin fabric in satin stitch and rice stitch.

The stars are with 3 strand DMC burnished silver thread.

Any time you use a metallic thread you must be gentile and patient with it or it will turn into the most unmanageable nest of vipers you've ever seen!

I use short lengths, no longer than a foot and a very wide eye needle, this helps to keep knots in the thread and damage to your fabric to a minimum because Metallic threads will shred a fragile fabric.

Make sure you go to the back of your work and bury and wrap the ends otherwise they will wriggle loose.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge time! Blue

June was blue 

Lots of blue-ishness going on here!

 This months color is Orange. 

I chose this color because I am sick of blue and dark grey skies.

The official RSC runner may choose something different, I need something bright right now.

For anyone interested in Following along.

I will shout out the color at the beginning of the month,

To follow along, You pick a pattern And how many blocks you want to make.

Here are some block ideas, with instructions. I use dice to choose.

Block                                             Google Doc                    PDF

Postage Stamp -Block 1                   Postage Stamp                Postage Stamp

Double Bowties -Block 2                 Double Bowties                Double Bowties

Rail Fence -Block 3                         Rail Fence                        Rail Fence

Shoofly -Block 4                             Shoofly                             Shoofly

Big O -Block 5                                Big O                                Big O

Bright Hopes -Block 6                     Bright Hopes                    Bright Hopes

Antique Tile - Block 7                      Antique Tile                      Antique Tile

Chubby Plus - Block 8                      Chubby Plus                     Chubby Plus

 Friendship Star - Block 9                 Friendship Star                 Friendship Star                    

Bears Paw - Block 10                       Bears Paw                         Bears Paw

Jacob's Ladder - Block 11                 Jacob's Ladder                  Jacob's Ladder 

Prairie Queen -Block 12                   Prairie Queen                    Prairie Queen

Opposing Corners- Block 13            Opposing Corners             Opposing Corners

Petals - Block 14                               Petals                                 Petals

Old Maid's Puzzle - Block 15            Old Maid's Puzzle            Old Maid's Puzzle

Spiral Stairs - Block 16                      Spiral Stairs                      Spiral Stairs

D4P - Block 17                                   D4P                                  D4P

Broken Sugar Bowl - Block 18         Broken Sugar Bowl           Broken Sugar Bowl

Pennsylvania - Block 19                   Pennsylvania                      Pennsylvania 

Churn Dash - Block 20                      Churn Dash                        Churn Dash

Spools - Block 21                              Spools                                  Spools

Grecian Block - Block 22                Grecian Block                        Grecian Block

Rolling Stone - Block 23                  Rolling Stone                        Rolling Stone

Friendship Star - Block 24               Friendship Star                      Friendship Star

Here is another idea for you, and the blog I got it from below,

Do a round robin quilt! you start with a 12" block for the middle, could be a panel or an old UFO

And follow along row by row, building up one border at a time.

https://kathleenmcmusing.com/2024/02/sahrr-2024-round-6/

If you want more information

this is the "owner" of the (RSC)challenge and her info

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/p/rsc-2023.html

Oh, scrap! linky party with even more eye candy

https://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/

CQJP Elli Phant is finished!

 Lest you thought, I have fallen off the face of the earth,

Fear not! I'm here.

It's gardening season so when it's not raining, 

i'm outside playing at muddy mudskipper.

And I have finished the Ellie!

Yay.

Here's her left side front

                    with ears

and her left side back

I even remembered the tail this time!

 the right side front

And finally right side back

Now to get it to my kiddo and hope she likes it.

now back outside

Mara's Ellie CQJP 2024

We continued the flower spread\

over the head and down the other side

Here is the start

And here is the end

Now for that big yellow patch

I wanted to fill it but not overwhelm it

I think this circle of branches in steam stitch

and a big blue and pink Butterfly

Cover the branches with Leaves and Roses

 

More on the right side of Ellie

Starting on the left leg I will be stitching 

a brace of pomegranate 

flowers leaves and stems

So first the sketch

Then the stems and pomegranates

Sewn in 3 strands of DMC floss

in a nice red and green satin stitch

The bumble is sew in bullion's

ow to just fill in the leaves with a bicolor 

light on lone side dark on the other

that's going to take a minute

I got distracted with making a spiderweb on the other side 

in that blank space that was teasing me

Where to put the spider?

A spring assortment in a cozy corner

I think I have enough room to add a dragonfly

I also added some daisies 

at the base of Ellie's trunk on the other side

Little bits at a time will eventually get filled in

And I still have the ears to do
 

RSC Pink

 

It's Rainbow Scrap Time!

This Months color is Pink

Now go scrap yourself silly.

RSC April

 The color for this month is yellow 

For any of you party goers who follow along

And I need to make at least 2 more to round up this months batch

Critter BOM

 So here we finish Madame la Herssone from

last years Block of the month from Sue Spargo

I had her background and environs finished 

but not the knotty problem of her Prickles

Not wanting her to be boring, I decided to cover her with little drizzles, instead of the occasional drizzles as laid out in the instructions

A close-up reveals she is made of very densely packed drizzle stitch, you must admire them, they took for F%*king ever!

3 different kinds of thread and some brassy colored tinsel type thread, like krenik but not them.

Because again, YBboring? And I had a little left for a little project,  it wanted using up. So I paired it with a dark brown DMC size 8 twist

and randomly drizzled away

Then there was the med brown/purple/grey Finca size 8 twist 

and last but not least the brown variegated that came in the BOM 

The blocks are about 6" square so she's not a big 

Hedggie but still that was a lot of drizzling

Good thing I had this car trip to see the eclipse

so I could finish her coat on the way when I wasn't driving.

Here she is Madame la Herssone!

I might give her butterfly another pair of wings though

The eclipse was wonderful BTW.

Critter bom

Madame La Herssone isn't quite finished yet

I decided her prickly's should be a close drizzle stitch 

so.....she's going to be a while

I also want to give her butterfly another set of wings

My additions to the piece beyond the pattern are 

more spots on the mushroom cap

bullion stitch for the gills

and a woven ring with cast-on frills for the stem

CQJP 2024, Starting Ellies right side

That's a lot of open realestate!

That place where 4 patches come together 

is going to be hard to sew through because it's lumpy as hell and the patch below it must be reduced 

Also, that yellow patch is too big, it need to be bisected in some way to make it seem less                                     'LookAt MEEEE!' 

 

But first This little cutie

with wings

and a butterfly

Next we tackle the lumpy patch

I knew I needed to put something over it 

so if the next part failed there was something over it to hide the oppsie-doo 

That's where the Applique heart comes in

next I need to make a slit in the backing fabric 

to get to the lump of 4 patch togetherness 

and cut most of it away making it easy-er to sew through

Then to embroider the eye right in the middle 

of all the mess to keep it from fraying and closed

I then surrounded the heart with a lace trim daisy chain

Making the patch less big, I bisected it with a willow tree

I used 2 colors of floss and chain stitch for the trunk and branches then wrapped some of it with another color to make it more knarled

The leaves are detached lazy daisies 

 And gave it a satin stitched brown bunny with Bullion ears and head

 and a crow made of bullions 

but it needs more

So I added a branch and a swing made with an outline 

and detached needle weaving stitch

and a  squirrel

I made it with bullions and satin stitch 

a little underlay for the tail 

on which I will use turkey work to make fuzzy

She really needs her fuzzy tail!

Here's the whole thing so far

Now to start on the yellow patch

I found a piece of  jacquard ribbon 

added some lace trim 

which makes that patch muuuch smaller 

And easier to deal with

Once I figure out what to put there!

CQJP, RSC Progress

 And anything else that I joined willy-nilly to throw on the pile??

Anybody?      Anybody?

SO last month I was asked if I would help making costumes for Woodinville Reperatory Theaters production of "Act a Lady" I said yes aaaannnd Cue the chaos.

It was more a case of chaos in my normal staid  boring routine

Pick up another hobby and wouldn't you know it, 

Quilt guild called and would like their Quilter back, please, we're backlogged.

a daughter called and wants to surprise a girlfriend with a "Mom" made quilt, 

taxes need doing and there is this trip coming up I need to pack for soon

and did I say there was progress? Sheesh.

Now do I mind all this chaos? No, not really.

Am I going to bitch about it? Yes, a little.

I wouldn't be m'mothers daughter if I didn't.

Here are 9 of the 12 blocks I made for the 

Rainbow scrap challenge with this months color Purple

These are so simple to throw together It's like I knew, sOmewhere down the line, this year I was going to be busy

We are now working on the left side of the Ellie

where I have decided I need to break up some of the really big patches with something that makes them look not so big

And blank

Starting at this "corner" where several patches come together and make a lump underneath 

I Appliqued this patch over the lump then went in back, made a slit in the backing, cut away all the extra fabric making the lump blessedly flat

So I could then embroider a big eye right where the lump was. 

 When you start a project, even if, you have drawn it out 

and planned your piece you can't always predict 

what you are going to have to trouble-shoot.

or just shoot.

a border of daisy lace trim makes it stand out and blend in

Don't ask me how that works, it just does 

Next a willow tree right in the middle of the big grey patch 

to break it up into a more easily handled visual 

and less intimidating blank space for me

Now on to the critters, Knew I wanted at least a bunny 

and a crow, we have a Larch willow in our backyard 

and crows like to perch on the crown of the tree 

there is almost always one there on a nice day

And our yard has a rotten rabbit problem that I have a love/hate relationship with.

They're OK when the population is kept to proper levels

but when there is a boom the little rat-finks will eat all my bulbs down to a nub, before they get a chance to store up energy for next year. 

The balance of nature is important.