Chopped, confetti salad

So my salad was not quite as good as Yak and Yeti's but was not bad.  Chopped cauliflower, swiss chard stems, red cabbage, peas, carrots, cucumbers with a garlic ginger dressing....I liked the colors and it was pretty like a crumb quilt.  I have to conquer the camera still but , I'm figuring out how to upload the pictures. 

This week is the last class of my evening beginning quiltmaking class.  I'm making the blocks along with the students using some mint green, pale turquoise, lime green and a little gray and brown....I'm thinking of setting the blocks very modern with lots of white negative space.   My Saturday class is halfway through and is a little smaller.   All three students are doing well.  One is doing a batik sampler, another black and white and the third various shade of green. 

In early November, I start my last class for this fall.  It is full with two people on the waiting list. 

The difference in this class besides an extra block is that there is curved piecing, more complicating piecing of multiple sizes triangles , rectangles and squares plus the whole quilt is set on point.  I made the sample a couple of years ago so I need to pull my books and draft the directions.   I love the orange print in this quilt .... the bright daisies were pretty festive, too. 

Purple and Yellow Pants

A few years ago, we went to Washington, DC.  We were walking to the Textile Museum from Dupont Circle, I think, and we saw this Sunday farmer's market.  The street was closed for the market and it was pretty crowded with early June vegetables, flowers , and baked goods.  These bright purple and yellow cauliflower caught my eye.  They were the colors of some awful pants that I had in sixth grade.  Oh, how we dressed in 1972.  I think one leg was purple and one was yellow with the reverse on the back or maybe the bell bottoms were yellow with a purple upper part of the pants.  Thinking back they were quite bright.  I loved them!!!

I am having fun stitching kona cottons; I finished this a couple of weeks ago.  These are scraps from a larger quilt ,  easier to finish the small than the large.  I hand quilted with narrow rows of perle cotton.  I am trying to decide if this is a table runner or a small wall hanging.  The quilt took on a life of its own.  I started with a black square added the scraps , Chinese coin style but I didn't like it at all.  A little slice and dice before it became a vertical piece.  Its bound with black and has a solid eggplant back. I realized sometime ago that the "big stitching" is lost on the back when a print is used.  Solids are much better. 

Today's finish.  I really liked the stitching on this.  I used perle cotton again, free hand stitched an outline for the concentric squares and finished with triangles in the border.  The kona cottons have such vivid colors.  I haven't washed yet but I will soon.  I wanted to finish so that I could carry both pieces to the Anchorage Modern Quilt Guild meeting tomorrow night.  Local Quilt Artist Diane Melms will be the  special guest speaker sharing some of her quilts and process. You can view some of Diane's work here - http://www.dianemelms.com/

Teal Surrounded

Two more borders to quilt!! This quilt is coming along....it is pieced from scraps of Kona solids with a border of green.  Outline quilted with perle cotton and quilted with green interlocking triangles on the border. Everything is freehand and this time I am not using a hoop.   The stitching is done in matching colors but more dramatic on the sable brown back.  Should have taken picture of the back. I can't decide whether to frame with a brown binding or more green. 

Quiltmaking 101 starts on Wednesday and it is a full class of 8 students!  Need to find my directions and update with any corrections .... first night is always fun , talking about fabric choices , showing some quilt samples and talking about tools that make quilting fun.  Shouldn't take long to get into the rhythm but it was nice not to teach this past summer. Everyone deserves a break.

Taking a week off was nice but of course, I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted.  But I have 8 new flourescent light bulbs in my sewing room, a pile of stuff  folded and a new bulb in my Ott Light.....I can see again.  The Miata is detailed although I still need to mend the seat and get the oil changed but it is washed and waxed!!  Maggie's stairs are finished.    And I saw two good movies, The Help  and Contagion.....a shopping trip to Kohl's on the other side of town and now I have new work slacks....if only I had gotten around to hemming!!!