ITAA: Happy Things

Two more cornerstone blocks in today 🙂

Lynn has made two of the cornerstones I need for the quilt.

You may recall that these cornerstones represent things which made Trudy happy. There’s the Trudy Crowley Foundation she initiated and set up, her work for Ovarian Cancer, her family and friends, a glass of bubbly, the pretty shoes she adored, and the beach, her happy place. So we have the TCF logo, the ovarian cancer ribbon, a heart to represent the ones she loved, a shell for the beach, a fabulous high-heeled shoe and a glass of bubbly.

I’ve done the TCF logo and the ribbon, Lynn has made the shoe and the glass, Sue has made the heart and Margaret has made the shell; the two last are on their way so I can’t show them yet.

Paper pieced pattern ©2018 Kate Chiconi

Paper pieced pattern © Maartje Quilts in Amsterdam

The shoe pattern is available free on the internet, and if you want the glass, just email me, I’m happy to send you a scan of my hand-drawn pattern.

I’ve also made a few extra blocks for the background and border, in case blocks on their way don’t arrive in time for me to start assembling, quilting and bordering. Rest assured that anything that arrives after that time will find a home in future quilts, so your work hasn’t been wasted. With the house move going ahead, my time is so tight now that I may need to make these difficult decisions, so I hope anyone affected will forgive me. I’m not showing the blocks I’ve made, as I’m still hoping they won’t be needed. Also, I’m still waiting to hear from the embroiderers about whether they can do the banner. I’ve virtually resigned myself to having to cut out and place each letter individually using iron-on transfers. That’d be fine, but embroidery would look a bit nicer and save me some time. Fingers crossed…

So, some progress. I hope that in the next few days I’ll receive the shell and a background block from Margaret – I’m looking forward to seeing the shell she’s made using appliqué, it should be lovely!

While I wait, I should look at some F²F³ blocks too, don’t you think…?

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Reprieve…

I’m dancin’, I’m groovin’, I’m smilin’ 🙂

Gone are the dark clouds…

The gloom has lifted, and it looks very much like we’re getting our new house after all. We both spent hours digging out papers, printing stuff out, putting together loads of financial information, and it’s been worth it. We have ‘in principle’ approval of a loan that’ll enable us to buy it without condemning us to a life of bread and water forever, and by the original settlement date. We just have to wait for a valuation and for full confirmation. And of course, for the funds to arrive in the bank….

Enjoy a classic, y’all: Jimmy Cliff: I can see clearly now

 

 

 

ScrapHappy January

It’s that time again, and I completely forgot!

It’s ScrapHappy day today, and I have failed to post anything, for the first time in 4 years. It’s not just the work I’m doing on In the Arms of the Angels, or the fact that the Husband had multiple medical appointments in the past few days, it’s mostly that we received very bad news yesterday which drove everything else from my mind. Our forthcoming house move is almost certainly not going to happen… Suffice to say that a chain of events has made it impossible to achieve the agreed settlement date, we cannot yet establish a new one, and the owners of the house we are buying will probably put it back on the market. If there’s a miracle, we may still be able to buy it, but a miracle is what it’ll take. We’re both miserable….

Anyway, I did do some scrappy sewing this month, which you’ve already seen, but in case you’ve forgotten, here it is again. These blocks are both for ITAA, and are genuine scrappy blocks, so at least they qualify for today’s post.

My apologies also to those I normal alert with an email a few days in advance. This month, let’s agree to just post our pretty, clever or useful Scrappiness some time around the 15th of the month?

I’m so sorry…

 

 

 

 

 

 

ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps of anything – no new materials. It can be a quilt block, pincushion, bag or hat, socks or a sculpture. Anything made of scraps is eligible. If your scrap collection is out of control and you’d like to turn them into something beautiful or useful instead of leaving them to collect dust in the cupboard, why not join us on the 15th of each month? Either email me at the address on my Contact Me page, or leave a comment below. You can also contact Gun via her blog to join. We welcome new members. You don’t have to worry about making a long term commitment or even join in every month, just let either of us know a day or so in advance if you’re new and you’ll have something to show, so we can add your link. Regular contributors will receive an email reminder three days before the event. Except this month, obviously 😦

Here are the links for everyone who joins ScrapHappy from time to time (they may not post every time, but their blogs are still worth looking at).

Kate (me!), Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen and Connie

See you again, hopefully on time next month!

ITAA: walls start to go up

It’s coming along.

So far, I have about half the blocks I need for the pale background, and half what I need for the border. More blocks are on the way from the lovely generous contributors, and of course, I’m making blocks myself, as you can see here.

Still needed:
4 background blocks.
3 rectangular border blocks
4 square border blocks
4 cornerstones

 

On the way:
Background blocks: 2 from Jenny, 1 from Margaret. I’ll make the last one.
Rectangular border blocks: 1 from Lynn, 1 from Nanette, and I’ll make another one.
Square border blocks: 2 from Sue, 1 from Margaret, and I’ll make one.
Cornerstones: 2 from Lynn, 1 from Sue and 1 from Margaret.

If I can get all the centre background blocks, I can actually assemble, quilt and add the wings and other bits to that section, so I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll come first. It would be good to have a section complete and ready. One less thing to worry about…

I’m also waiting to hear from the embroiderers about the banner. There are technical issues with getting the banner into the frame that holds the fabric while it’s being embroidered, and I reckon I can probably get around that by basting a border around the banner to extend it. There are other issues surrounding actually doing the embroidery of the letters. The text runs on a curve, both top and bottom line, and this will require the piece to be repositioned frequently. If they feel they cannot achieve a satisfactory result and turn the job down, I have a solution for that too. I’ll make the text as a transfer, and if I have to cut out each letter individually and place it on the curve, then that’s what I have to do. I can give it the dimension I wanted by hand-quilting around each letter to make it pop out of the background. Fiddly, but it’ll do as a Plan B.

We’re getting there!

SAL #74: well-watered

Perhaps all the rain we’ve been having has helped…

The flower is blooming well, I’m happy to say. There’s quite a large new area on the left hand side.

Here’s where I was before:

And now, after (different lighting, different time of day):

I’m one of the first to post my progress, usually, so why don’t you give it a couple of hours and then head over to see what lovely stuff everyone else is working on. This month, Mary Margaret has returned to the group and have two new members!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Jess, Sue, Constanze,
Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph,
Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine,
Deborah, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee and Jenny

A warm welcome back to Mary Margaret, and welcome in, Renee and Jenny 🙂

ITAA: both wings

That went better than I hoped!

Both wings are now ready – I found a quicker way of assembling the second one and it was done in a couple of hours 🙂 I’m loving the pair, which are… not chunky, but substantial. As you can see, I also got the hook done.

Today’s mail delivery also brought these really beautiful blocks from Nanette for the ‘wall of heaven’ background behind the wings. Gorgeous colours, fresh, pale and clean. Heavenly, even!

Tomorrow I need to pay a visit to the embroiderers with the banner and the text to go on it, to see what they can do for me.

And that’s the news today from Heaven’s waiting room 🙂

 

ITAA: fully fledged

One of the wings is done 🙂

Each feather now has its central shaft stitched in and is attached to the stiff foundation piece behind. The wing is about a metre long and the weight is quite substantial, so I’m really glad I made the foundation, or it’d be dragging on the front of the quilt, which would be pretty ugly.

It took the better part of a day to finish each feather and assemble the wing correctly, so I won’t have the second wing finished for a couple of days yet.

Once I do have the other wing finished they’ll be ready to be stitched to the back-ground ‘wall’. I have about half the blocks I need for the wall – there are more on the way and I also have to make more, so it’ll be a while before I’m ready to quilt and assemble that.

This detail shot gives you a better idea of the fabrics used in the wings, and also shows the tiny glitter of the silver thread I used to stitch in the shaft of each feather. It’s a small detail, but I think it adds to the overall effect. Click to enlarge the image.

I’m really happy with how the wing has turned out, to the point where I’d love a pair of wings just like it to wear on the back of a dark coat. Perhaps not for everyday wear, but striking!

I also have the ‘L-plate’ done, complete with its own hanging cord. I just have to make the wall hook and that’ll be all the 3D elements completed and I’ll have done the part I wasn’t entirely sure how to do. And there are more border blocks and a cornerstone on the way which I’ll show when they arrive.

And then there’s the Trudy Crowley Foundation logo I need for the top right hand cornerstone… I’ve been waiting to hear about this for a few weeks, and chased it up today, because time’s getting tight. I’d hope to be able to use it in teal on a cream background, but this is not a usage they want, which is fair enough; the master logo is lilac and white. However, I’m OK to use it in white on a teal background, so that’s what you’ll be seeing eventually.

Once the second wing and the hook are done, I’ll need to make the logo and ribbon cornerstones; the heart, shoe, glass and shell are all in hand (thank you, ladies!), and probably some more background and border blocks.

We’re getting there, slowly…