Caterpillar in My Curry

The fear of an unfinished object is real.  It is not that the UFO will physically attack me but the passive aggressive nature of the silent taunts can be pretty traumatic.

A new finish

Therefore the leftover strip sets from "Playing with Fire" had to be quickly repurposed.  

Repurposing Leftover Strips

Paul: Very Halloween
Me: I am calling it Caterpillar in my Curry
Paul: WHAT!!!

Me: If you can have a wasp in your hat then why can I not have a caterpillar in my curry?

Paul: You mean "a bee in your bonnet"?

Me: Yup, that's what I said.

Simple Rail Fence Blocks

Paul: But why is there a caterpillar in your curry?
Me: Because the orange curry has yellow/black caterpillar in it...
Paul: You make it sound yummy.
Me: Well, it is what it is.

Caterpillar in My Curry

Paul: What happens to this one?

Me: I can give it to Jeanne for her charity quilt drive or save it for Nancy's baby boy due in December. Plenty of babies in need of quilts.

Paul: Isn't it kinda dull for a baby quilt?

Backing

Me: It is. That is why I chose this Charlie Brown backing.
Paul: Now that is cute.

Labelled

Caterpillar in My Curry finished at 40" by 48".  A few more pictures.

Warm and Cool

Close-up Quilting

Cuteness!!!

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

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After months of waiting, it was finally time for sunshine - Sunny Papayas to Curried Bananas.

Sunshine!!!

Here are my Picket Star Quilt Blocks in gold, butter, honey, lemon, pineapple and butterscotch...or Yellow by any other name :-)

Corn and Curry

Sew Something Spicy

Light & Dark

Floral and Paisley

Butterscotch Juice Boxes

Floral & Geometric

And here are the blocks for RSC Project#2.  

Linking with Angela's RSC Linky Party.

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There were a total of 104 comments on the blogpost Diamond Star Quilts - Book Review & Giveaway.  Thank you so much - you are the best :-)

 The lucky winner of the giveaway is #5. Congratulations SandyPA.

Men in Black

What to do when an UFO (unfinished object) menace strikes?
Summon the Men in Black :-D

Men in Black

It began in 2014.  The basic premise was layer fabrics, cut, shuffle, stitch and repeat.

Blocks from 2014

Once the blocks were made, I struggled with the layout.

I made a flimsy (no pictures of Flimsy #1) and then had second thoughts.
Some blocks were removed to arrive at a better layout. And then it was put away.

Thank you Sandra

On the banks of Lake Ontario

I took the flimsy with me on my trip to Niagara/Buffalo.
These pictures were taken by Sandra in July of 2018, on the banks of Lake Ontario in Canada.

Fast Forward to December 2019.  It was time to just finish it. I pulled it out and Paul saw it.

Paul: This looks interesting.
Me: It has been interesting since 2014.
Paul: Why not finish it?  
Me: I cannot decide on a quilting approach.
Paul: Wavy lines, I guess. You are such a one-trick pony!!!
Me: Ouch.

Paul is the only person who can say that and get away without a scratch.
But he was right. It was time to do something different.
I marked the quilt, painstakingly and quilted it with my walking foot using a variegated blue/turquoise thread.

Marking 

Slowly

My new reading glasses prevented blindness as I stitched the charcoal binding with a dark grey thread.

Thank you reading glasses!!!

Finishing at 45" by 53", it qualifies as a crib size quilt.

Finished at 45" by 53"

Pieced Backing

It is labelled and will go to one of the charity causes supported by my guild.

Labelled

Manly 

Finished Yay!!!

UFO Conquered

In essence, this was a UFO and had been bothering me.  So when I completed it, I chose the name - Men in Black.  Thanks to Paul's needling, I put more thought and effort into my quilting.

Quilting Detail

Thank you walking foot

Not a one-trick-pony!!!

What do you think? Too much? Not enough? Tell me already.

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After I completed my big RSC block, I had some smaller green scraps left over.
When I saw Mell's design on Instagram I had a lightbulb moment.

January is Green

3.5" square color blocks framed with 2.5" strips (low volume fabrics) will result in 7" finished blocks. Yippee!!!

Blocks in the works

Here is the result of that.  Thank you, Mell!!!  I will be making these along with the big blocks :-)
Sharing at Angela's linky party.

RSC2020 - Project #2 Blocks

I think I need to increase the volume of my low-volume fabrics by about 17%.  What do you think?


If you are interested in Melanie's design, you are in luck.  Mell has a very detailed tutorial on her blog.

Angela has already announced Orange as the RSC2020 color for February and I can barely wait to finish this blogspot to dive into my orange scraps.

February is Orange!!!

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Australia is burning and the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild is leading the effort of making quilts for those affected by these bushfires.

Four designers have provided tutorials for making 12.5" square (3 trees and 1 new shoots) blocks. The links are on the WMQG page, link above.

Although some trees are short and more rounded, when I think of a tree, I picture a rectangular block. But two trees next to each other, or better still overlapping may end up in a square block.

The idea crystallized while I doodled during a boring meeting at work.

Doodling or Designing

This is not the first brilliant idea resulting from a dull meeting. I am sure it isn't the last.  So here is the block I designed :-)

Twin Tree Quilt Block 

Designed by Me!!!

Yes, I am supremely happy with it.  I am making more of them.

My Twin Trees Workshop :-)

If you can and wish to contribute to this effort, please please read the FAQ document on the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild website.  They are rather particular about what they will accept.
Use #BushFireBlocks on Instagram.

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.
As usual, I'd love to know your thoughts and deeds :-)

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And one last thing - I am going to Quiltcon in Austin.  I will be there all day Sunday enjoying the quilt show and exchanging hugs :-D

Are you coming?

American Hustle?

What can I make with a few remnants?

I can make mistakes...
...And may be learn from them.

Whenever I go to Joann's I  make it a point to visit the remnants bin. Remnants are the end of the bolt pieces that are less than a yard and are marked down to 50% off. Over a period of time, those remnants can lead to a sizeable stash. This stash comes in handy when I want to try out a new pattern or practice a block.

One afternoon, I watched Maggie Ball make Kaleidoscope Blocks without a template. Needless to say, I wanted to try her technique. It seemed easy and I could definitely use some remnants from my stash to practice the kaleidoscope blocks.

I chose two matching remnants - pale green and green/brown stripes

Following Maggie's very simple instructions, I cut the two fabrics into 10" squares. Placed the two squares one on top of other and marked the 3" point from all the corners. Cut both layers of fabric across the square, matching the points.  The result was four kites and four wedges. The next part was pretty simple. Mix and match them till you are satisfied.

Place the wedge over the kite and sew. Chain piece, separate, iron and then chain piece some more.

I love how the play of the striped fabric provides movement (or an illusion of movement) to the blocks.

Also, did you notice that each kaleidoscope block is unique due to the use of the striped fabric.
Once I completed 16 blocks, I placed them on the design wall and stepped away to admire my handiwork.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA.....$%#$*&*&^&@!

What happened?
I made a mistake. No, I made two mistakes.

Mistake # 1 - Not enough contrast (I sure can match fabric)
Mistake # 2 - Not looking at the block from a distance

What could I do now?
Option # 1 - Forget about these blocks - they were practice blocks anyway. Not like you spent serious $$$ on them.
Option # 2 - Make the best of a rather unpleasant situation.

I found this cornflower blue solid (from Connecting Threads) in my stash and decided to use it to bring some zing to the rather lifeless kaleidoscope blocks.

It helps but just a little bit.

What else can I do? Get creative with the border? I did. Completed the top.

When Paul came home and saw the quilt top on the design wall, he remarked, "Very 70s look"
What does that mean, I asked.

Paul: It has that retro vibe to it.
Me: Retro? How?
Paul: Well, we used to have that green colored wall paper and even that brown seems familiar.
Me: I see. So what shall I call this quilt - That 70s Quilt?
Paul: What was that 70s con movie that we just saw?
Me: The American Hustle?
Paul: Yes, that is the one.

American Hustle, it is.
It is the perfect embodiment of mistakes made, lessons learnt and life goes on in a quilt...

May be I can do some creative (for me) quilting so that these kites and wedges stand out better. That way, I will get some quilting "practice" out of it too.

But in the end, I do not care for it and there are too may enticing things out there, too much yummy fabric, so many new patterns to try...that I have decided to let it go.

If you want it, you can have it. Please let me know in a comment what would you do with it and please also include your email address, so that I can reach you.
I will choose one person, at random, and ship it to you anywhere in the US or Canada.  You have until March 31, 2016 to respond.
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I am also giving away a mini wacky web template.  It came in a box with other supplies. I don't need it . You can have it.  Send me a separate comment, please. I will choose one person, at random, and ship it to you anywhere in the US or Canada.

You have until March 31, 2016 to respond. _____________________________________________________________________________

Once upon a time, I used Pigma Micron pens to label my quilts. I have since moved on to Pentel Archival pens. Therefore, I have this set of pens you can have.  Please send me a comment with your email and I will get in touch with you.  I will choose one person, at random, and ship it to you anywhere in the US or Canada.

You have until March 31, 2016 to respond. _____________________________________________________________________________

All items will be shipped in the first week of April.  I am linking with Quilting is More Fun than Housework's Orphan Adoption Event.
Thank you, Cynthia, for this opportunity.