Posted by bitter purl at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

every week I hear the weed-wacking and lawnmower sounds of the landscaping guys around eight in the morning on thursdays. I heard them this morning as usual. today is wednesday. it took a little while for the confusion to clear and the disappointment to set in. I really wanted it to be thursday just so tomorrow could be friday. sad isn't it? so I thought I'd cheer myself up with a random post of things I'm loving right now.

thangles. yep. thangles.

I had never heard of them until amanda started raving about them. she sent me a couple packs to try and, I'll admit, I ignored them because I just didn't get it. I got used to the monotony of making half-square triangles I guess. a couple of weeks ago I wanted to get back into my 80's quilt and the next block on the list was mostly half squares. this was the fastest block I've put together and everything lined up perfectly. thangles for the win!

sometimes a fabric line just grabs you. gerta certainly did. I love the graphic lines and the discharged look. I'm not sure what kind of quilt I'll make, but once I find some solids I like with them it's on. I also see a bag or two in my future with this fabric.

I started using bobbin thread after lisa explained to me its virtues. maybe it's just psychological, but I love seeing the little stitches on the back and I feel like my seams are even better now.

my aurifil thread stash. enough said.

linky links:

• the remnant and pogagi quilts victoria keeps making are killing me.
• I've been loving latifah's measured improv project, but this quilt stole my heart.
• yellow and grey? yes please
• I can't wait to see this come off the loom. (is that even the proper term?)
• I NEED to get my hands on some geo grand. I'm not buying any fabric this month, but on september 1st this fabric is mine.
• I haven't knit a stitch since umm february? stupid arm. but once my arm heals up I'm so knitting elinor's new cardigan! I'll gladly bust up my arm again for centered cable goodness.

Posted by bitter purl at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm a little behind on this month's bee blocks, but I just got my second one done today and I still have a few more days to get a third, and maybe fourth, done so I'm not sweating it yet. our bee seems to be dominated by stephs and amandas. july is steph's month with stars, but june was steph's month and stripes. did they plan it out somehow? I don't know, but I'm suspicious!

at first I thought working with only two colors would be a challenge or intimidating, but I ended up loving it. I definitely see myself making a similar quilt for myself in the future. steph wanted stripes of any kind and my mind immediately went to rothko. I wanted my blocks to be clean and graphic. instead of lots of thin stripes, I wanted larger blocks of color that would make the blocks really pop. of course, I went a little overboard and some of my blocks ended up a lot bigger than necessary. it'll be interesting to see how they work in relation to the others.

by the third block I reigned the size in to be closer to 15" square. at the time, this one was my favorite though I can't really explain why. the proportions maybe. it doesn't feel so "in your face" as the other two. but then I got inspired to make a fourth block since I still had enough scraps left.

this block became my favorite (for now at least). I was inspired by an amish quilt I saw online. that quilt was pieced in many colors with rectangles going up the side (my memory is a little fussy right now). I really liked the movement and tried to recreate that feeling with only two colors. I randomly pieced the center of the block until I got a size I liked and then surrounded it with larger swatches of color. it still has the constraints of the other blocks with hints of a freer feel to it.

Posted by bitter purl at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

six weeks of it at least. I randomly signed up for a screenprinting class in may after deciding that I missed art classes. I went into the city once a week from june to july and spent all day playing with inks and a powerwasher. the class wasn't exactly what I expected. there were no crits or discussions on our ideas. it was more like seven people working independently in the same room and sometimes chatting. I did get to re-experience the intensity that comes with focusing one one thing for eight hours straight. I don't know how I spent so many hours in the lab in grad school, just once a week killed me this time. I would come home zonked out and the next day I felt like I aged 40 years. I still loved every minute of it, aches and all.

we started with freezer paper stencils and then moved on to photo emulsions. of course I had to play with the idea of quilting with freezer paper. all the colors were "found" and just tweaked a bit to get what I wanted. I think this took me longer than an actual mini quilt would have (it's from an edition of 20) with all the lining up I had to do. .

I let loose on the second print is. I hand drew everything on acetate and then added some pictures of the vintage polaroids. that was basically the only plan I had before printing anything. I made it up as I went along which drove part of me nuts but I'm in love with the textures I was able to get.

Posted by bitter purl at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I've been ignoring my 80's quilt for a while because I felt like I couldn't move on. I drew out the blocks for the third column, but there was this drunkard's path block that scared the hell out of me. all those little wedges mocked me. I could have started some other blocks but leaving an empty spot to come back to irked me. I finally made myself sit down and sew it yesterday.

after making four little "perfect" wedges, I decided to shake things up and make the rest wonky. it is a DRUNKARD'S path after all. I threw in a little linen to add texture and more grey. you can't have enough grey. after all my whining and fear it wasn't so bad. fiddly, but not awful.

with the other two blocks I have done, I can finally say there are two columns finished, three more to go!

Posted by bitter purl at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I've been in my own little quilting/sewing world since I started sewing again last year. but it's hard not to notice all the wonderful blocks that come out quilting bees. not knowing how you even got into one, I talked rangsiwan into starting one with me. we asked six of our friends to join in and pollen8 was born (for a while it was pollin8, but pollen8 just looks better).

may is our first month and amanda asked for log cabin or square in square blocks. the only request was to use a grey strip of fabric in at least one of the blocks. since there are only eight of us we decided to each send in three blocks.

it was great taking a little break from the precision blocks of my "80s quilt" and just being free to improvise. no worries about seams or patterns here. just random cutting and piecing. it also helps that amanda has great taste in fabric. can you believe these are from her scraps?! this was my first time working with the heather ross gauze so I just had to show off that little frog.

I wanted each block to stand on its own, so I approached each one differently. my original plan was to gradate to the blues, but my block became pretty big without me realizing it. I like how it reads as calming compared to my other ones.

my next challenge was to only use solids. I wanted it to be graphic and modern. I hope I succeeded. I love the way the shot cottons mix with the linen.

before I mailed out my blocks I got the urge to use up what I had left for a bonus block. I think this one is my favorite. the blues and whites are so fresh and relaxing.

I already got our june package and I can't wait to get started. I'll admit I'm a little nervous, there were only two colors in the envelope.

Posted by bitter purl at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

guys, I had a deadline! partially self-imposed and partially out of my control. you know, the mother nature kind? hence the silence. I started with a month to spare, but something about piecing all those half hexagons kinda killed me. I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted the whole quilt to look and all those rows seemed to take forever. of course, babies don't wait for design decisions do they?

the quilt was delivered on the 15th and the baby was born on the 18th. it got there just in time! now I wish I had better photos of this one because I love it so much. I asked Illanna what the baby's room would be like and she said "linen with pops of color". I basically ran with it, using some hello betty in the retro colorway with essex linen in putty. the binding is from lantern bloom.

I'm still shocked I managed to surprise her after asking about the baby's room and constantly checking on her due date. if you want to surprise someone, then just ask questions through twitter. tons of distractions there apparently :)

Posted by bitter purl at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)