Eggs and Bacon

Happy to be Scrappy

Me: Good morning
Paul (groan)
Me: Would you like some breakfast?
Paul: Do we have bacon?
Me: I don't think so.
Paul (Bigger Groan + A Whine)
Me: I can make you an egg sandwich.
Paul: Without bacon??? Why did you wake me up anyway?

How to put these together?

The smaller block needs help

Black floral + orange/yellow stripe is better than just the stripe

Matched size = Success

And so it grows!!!

Eggs without bacon is an insult...at least in Paul's opinion.
So when this cute pig ended up next to the eggs sunny side up...I decided to name the quilt - Eggs and Bacon.

Eggs and Bacon

Little did I know that the name would be prophetic...

Making a scrap vortex quilt is not a sprint. It is a marathon.  I work on it between other projects. Make a few slabs and set aside.  Every time I enjoy the memories associated with scrap fabrics from previous quilts and fabric scraps gleefully received from friends.

Color is Joy

The sleeping moon face, the ladybird and the blue sharks came from Bernie.

Can you find the two sheep?

The two tiny sheep fabric was leftover from the Garden Party backing.

Can you see the rippling?

The pink fabric with scissors and notions came from Julia and the pink-orange mini floral came from Mell.

Fussy Cut Bears :-)

 The birds on the left came from Mari.

Happy Memories

The polar bear with a scarf (Flurry by Ruby Star Society) reminds me of Quiltcon 2020 in Austin.  I scored some gorgeous fabric scraps when Ruby Star Society dismantled their booth and invited quilters to take the display fabrics. Instantly there were a dozen women rummaging through boxes of yet unreleased fabric lines.  The fabric scraps were like candy and I was like a kid on Trick & Treat spree on Halloween.

Scraps from Guild's Free Table

The cat and dog at a barbecue fabric is so  much fun. Thank you Julia.

Grey Raccoons and Multicolor Cats

The pink fish and multicolor cats came from Bernie.

Bewitching

Look what the wicked witch did - she made the cat turn blue :-D  You can always tell your own stories. The spinning of yarn continues even after all threads are buried :-D

Scrappy goodness

 The fruit slices were a gift from Mari and the dancing stick figures came from Sylvia.

Splash of Color

The fabric with peachy berries came from Cathy. The orange blob fabric is left over from the border for Rainy Day. The crabs are leftover from the backing of Animal House.

Cat and Crayons

The bright flip-flops and the smiling zoo animals came from Julia, I think.  Sometime I forget how I acquired certain scraps :-)


Let's talk about wool batting. No scratch that. Let me whine about wool batting.
I want to use wool batting for two major reasons
1. It is light, much lighter than cotton and cotton/blend battings.
2. It does not crease.

It has higher loft which can be good news for those of us who want better quilting definition.
It also makes for puffier quilts. No one told me that it creates a whole new problem.

The puffiness comes from multiple layers loosely held. These layers slide over each other during quilting. This is not a problem that can be fixed by basting or pinning.
Because it is not about how the batting sticks to the quilt top or to the backing. It is the fact that the batting is internally not sticking to itself.  I noticed the tucks when I made Eric's quilt.

A few suggestions to decrease that effect included
a. Increase stitch length - DONE
b. Decrease the pressure of the presser foot - DONE
c. Don't quilt too close - OK

Also it is best if the quilting lines do not cross each other. In other words, do not quilt a grid.
Rob Appell of Mansewing in his Quilt Batting Boot Camp (How to Quilt with Different Types of Batting) suggested to quilt from he center out to avoid tucks. In general we do that but I treated it like gospel.

I quilted a spiral. And it went swimmingly well.

Spiral Quilting

Backing Fabric

Labelled

I had done it. It was awesome and then I tried to square it.

Finished!!!

Red Backing, Green Binding

The quilt was warped with wavy edges. It lives up to its name - the bacon bit!!!
Bacon with ripples is sexy (ask Paul).  In a quilt - ripples are undesirable.

I choose Joy

Happily Yours

No. But wait. Quilts of Gee's Bend are rippled and un-squarish.
So I am not going to dwell upon the waves and ripples.

No, it will not win any award.
But it is bright and cheerful and will be perfect for some toddler's tummy time.  Here are a few more pictures cause you can never have enough eggs and bacon (according to Paul).

And here is a plate of Eggs and Bacon for my quilt model/photographer - a salty reward for my sweet man!!!

Eggs and Bacon for Paul

So I have soured on wool batting. I started with such lofty hopes (pun intended).

I am exploring the batting made from recycled water bottles at this time, while I ponder what to do with 30 (minus 3) yards of wool batting on a roll.

If you have any other ideas about wool batting (with the exception of hand quilting) please let me know.

I have completed my dark blue blocks for July. Here they are.

Fussy Cutting :-)

RSC 2020 Project#2

Cacti & Sparkles

Not so Dark Blue

Bright & Dark

Alphabet Soup & Midnight Sky

Picket Star Quilt Blocks for July 2020

Linking with Angela's Linky Party and all my other favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.
How do you reward (or bribe) your quilt models? I'd love to hear from you :-)

You Belong

Stan Lee passed away on November 12, 2018.

Photo Credit - By Sidrao21 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74400062

He was remembered on NPR in this story, wherein they mentioned the anthem of the Merry Marching Marvel Society.  Since I was clueless, I had to look up the song - You belong.

You belong

(This quilt was made for a newborn baby boy. The theme was aviation and the suggested colors were red, white and blue.  When I saw this backing, it seemed like a perfect match.)

Backing - Transportation

Listen to the clip here. I found the lyrics here.

The only reason I know about Stan Lee and the Marvel universe is Paul.
Paul introduced me to Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and the Black widow.  Of course Thor is my favorite, but I digress.

Scraps from all over

Me: Do you know the song - You belong?
Paul: It was before my time but I am aware of it.
Me: It is a great song.
Paul: Yes it is!!!
Me: Of all the comics, all the movies, all the super heroes, why is Marvel your favorite?
Paul: Because they were mostly ordinary people who overcame personal obstacles and shortcomings to become extraordinary.
Me: Each one of them is so different, like Thor is completely different from Captain America.
Paul: Hulk is completely different from Iron Man. But each one of them brought something unique and valuable to the Marvel universe.  Together, they make the Marvel Universe.
Me: They all belong.

Colorful

Snoopy takes center stage

Snakes, Frogs and Bugs

Such is this quilt. Every scrap brings something to this quilt and they all belong here. Whether it was abandoned on the free table at the guild meeting, came to me in a scrap bag from Sandra, was a remnant in the scrap bin at Joann's, or a leftover bit from binding another quilt.

Happy Tigers

Transportation theme continues

Me: Oh how I wish that our world today was as welcoming where each one of us could belong and contribute to our fullest potential. That would be perfect.
Paul: If the world was perfect there wouldn't be a need for superheroes.
Me (sighing loudly): Yes. But we can do better.
Paul: Yes, we can.

All sorts of planes

Labelled

Last finish of 2018

Hope we are better persons in 2019. Hope we can make the world a better place in 2019.
With this wish, I bid farewell to 2018. Have a safe and a happy new year!!!

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties, see full list on the sidebar.  As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts.