Hello, Friends! I finished all six of my double 9-patch blocks for my Tilda version of the American Patchwork & Quilting Scrappy Celebration quilt the other day, so now I have two tidy stacks, six of each style. The center square of my double 9-patch block is a dusty pink Tilda Solid that coordinates perfectly with the tiny ditsy pink flowers on the green print, by the way. It's looking weirdly gray in the photo, and my cutting mat that is actually pink IRL is looking more red in the photo. Not sure if it's some difference in the camera of my new phone or something different with the lighting in the new sewing room.
9 inch Finished Blocks for Scrappy Celebration
Having no design wall (yet?) in my new house, I am using my EQ8 quilt design software (this post contains affiliate links) as a virtual design wall instead. Below you see the EQ rendering of the Scrappy Celebration quilt from the pattern designer, and as I finish a set of blocks I just take a picture of one of them from straight on and crop it square, import it into the software and set the scale to 9" (because they are 9" finished blocks), add the block photo as a fabric, and then change the appropriate blocks in the quilt to plain blocks that I can just "paint" with the photo of my completed quilt block. That was probably clear as mud to those of you who don't use this software, but if anyone out there is new to EQ and wants a fuller explanation of what I'm doing here, feel free to email me for more complete instructions.
Why do I bother to do this at all? Because swapping out the generic solid colored blocks in the pattern rendering with my actual blocks helps me to get a better sense of how my colors and prints are working together and guides me in selecting fabrics for subsequent blocks. I'll also be able to print out the final image, once all of the plain blocks have been replaced with photos of my actual blocks, and use that as a roadmap for assembling the quilt top.
Not that I have any idea what I'm going to do with this quilt once it's finished. I just thought it was pretty when I saw so many versions of this quilt online during the QAL last year -- and immediately I started thinking about how I'd want to quilt it... so I had to go ahead and start making the top just so I can quilt it!
Well, hello there, blogosphere! I've been in Naples, Florida all last week visiting my in-laws and just got home in time for Maundy Thursday church services. While in Florida, my darling husband offered to take me to the local quilt shop, Flash Sew and Quilt. And once we got there, and I started picking out fabric, he was SURPRISED. Isn't that funny? What did he THINK I was going to do at the quilt shop -- just pet the fabrics and then leave empty-handed?! Silly man.
Fat Quarters, Layer Cakes, Charm Packs, and Kona Solids Skinny Strips
The assorted green and blue fat quarters are for my remaining six pineapple log cabin blocks, because I'm bored with the fabrics I've used on the other blocks. Plus I want as much variety as possible so no two blocks in that quilt are identical, and it would be great if I could lay out my blocks so no patches of the same fabric end up adjacent to one another.
Work In Progress: Pineapple Log Cabin Blocks on My Design Wall
The purple and hot pink Kaffe Fassett fat quarters will be for clam shells and for my 6" sampler blocks. The Moda dotted layer cake is going to mix in with some of those other big, bright prints in my Farmer's Wife blocks.
Another WIP: 6" Sampler Blocks, Farmer's Wife and Others
The white charm squares and the charm pack with the cat food novelty print are for my clam shell quilt, too -- either that or for a tumbler quilt yet to be started -- because 5" charm squares are the perfect size to cut with my clam shell and tumbler Accuquilt GO! dies.
Cutting Out Clam Shells With My GO! Baby Die Cutter
I know I will have lots of leftover blue and green 1 1/2" strips left over once all of those pineapple blocks are complete. The roll of brightly colored Kona Solids 1 1/2" strips will be mixed in with these leftover blue and green strips for some other project yet to be devised.
Current 1 1/2" Pineapple Strips, Leftovers Will Mix with Kona Solid Strips
After cramming all of these textile goodies into my suitcase, I was able to spend some time relaxing with some slow stitching -- my Frankenwhiggish Rose needle turned applique project:
Slow Stitching in Florida: Needle Turned Applique
I'm working on appliqueing the stacked petals that I assembled off-block to the remaining 8 applique blocks for this project. I'm having some difficulty lining the pieces up properly when I pin them in place, however, as you can see in the above photo where the bottom petal doesn't touch the adjacent stems like the other petals do. It's hard for me to tell where the stitching line is in relation to the stems when the seam allowance is still sticking out, covering up the stems! Ah, well -- antique applique quilts aren't perfect, and this one won't be, either. Going forward, I'm trying to feel for the bump of the stem and line up the petals that way. We'll see if that works better. After all, the whole purpose of this project is LEARNING new applique techniques.
Here's my husband and son, splashing around in my father-in-law's pool a few days ago:
Bernie and Anders in the Pool
Hard to believe that Bernie is having open heart surgery this coming Wednesday. Just within the past few weeks he was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation caused by a congenital heart defect that has degenerated over time, going unnoticed all these years (during which Mister Tough Guy rarely set foot in a doctor's office -- he has maybe been to the doctor twice in the last 20 years). Until it got so bad that his heart was enlarged and only pumping blood with 40% efficiency, was short of breath, having chest pains... And finally this 6'8," presumably healthy and very active 48-year-old man was told that he was at risk for congestive heart failure or stroke and needed open heart surgery ASAP. Very bizarre and surreal; we keep thinking this is a weird dream and we'll wake up tomorrow and laugh about it.
Bernie's Case Is Severe, Like the One on the Right
Again, Bernie's In the Severe Category
This is the best article I've found that explains about the prolapsed valve regurgitation thing, a condition which my family has (not so)fondly nicknamed "Vomit Heart": Mitral Valve Prolapse Regurgitation.
Bernie's surgeon is 90% confident that he can repair this defective valve (rather than replacing it outright) and he is also going to do a surgical maze procedure where he will create scar tissue to disrupt the wacky off-beat electrical pulses that have been making his heartbeat go haywire (Atrial Fibrillation, see cool animation here). That's why he's going in through the breastbone rather than one of the less-invasive side-access surgeries they can do for valve replacement or for bypass surgery. He wants to be sure he has access to completely fix the whole heart so Bernie won't need to go back for a surgical encore. So we're hoping for a full and complete recovery after surgery. Wish us luck, please! Warm and fuzzy thoughts and PRAYERS are greatly appreciated.
On My Mind
So this Easter, while I'm singing "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today," I'll also have little earworms in my brain looping "Change of Heart" by Cyndi Lauper...
...and "Tell Your Heart to Beat Again" by Danny Gokey:
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Weekend to All!
