Cotton Constellation

Cotton Constellation

My little quilt galaxy is complete!

This weekend I completed the final two "test blocks" of the Texas Star template and pinned them to my shades in the back room for a colorful constellation. A few things I learned:

Allowances

The seam allowance contraption was incredibly helpful at keeping the seams to 1/4". Training wheels, I suppose, but well worth it.

Get to the Point

Sewing on the bias is tricky. Much easier if the fabric is starched and precisely pinned. I also learned you can burn starch, and in turn, burn the fabric. Following the written instructions are important; someone took the time to write and illustrate them for a reason. On the last two blocks (the green and blue and blue and yellow two, on the left) my seams were much straighter and the blocks went together a lot easier when I followed the pressing, pinning and sewing directions.
 

Reality

I am a messcat. This isn't news, but I had barely finished trimming, pinning, sewing and installing before my work table was a complete mess. My next two projects are scattered about, waiting impatiently for me to get on with it.

Three Wishes

The experiment was a delight! Now I'm ready for the real thing, with some favorite fabric pieces. Stay tuned!

XO Terez

Walk to Work Wednesday

A Little Birdie Told Me

Golden Path

Between the Rails

Asphalt Applique

Renegade Bunch

The leaves have finally started to change but it feels more like the tail end of summer than the middle of fall--upper 60s today and plenty of sunshine. The steam radiators in my apartment don't know the difference: still clunking and spurting out heat despite the balmy air. Such a treat in November makes me wonder if we'll pay for it in February: a squirrel is already trying to build a den in my ceiling and it's not even freezing at night yet.

XO Terez

Golden Afternoon

Golden Afternoon Selvege

The Chez Terez studio's state of affairs has been in a sad state indeed.  My workroom, lucky enough to contain four Northwest facing windows, is flooded with full-sun from June to September and it's simply to hot to work in there. Instead it has become a repository for every craft supply I've bought or scavenged and after a terrible attempt to move large pieces of furniture by myself yesterday, it looked like this:

Buried Treasure

I was in the middle of moving that metal drawer of paper crafts and I was too lazy to move the Scrabble dice game to safety, and well, you can see how successful that was.

Solo Stretching

Mid-clean spree, I decided to put the extra leaf in my work table. Alone. I re-enacted it in the photo above to give you the full experience.

After four hours, the place was back in business. Tonight every craft item is sorted and with its proper neighbors. Stamps with stamp pads, fabric sorted and folded, beads and pliers stacked neatly, printmaking inks stored properly, rulers hung on the wall. It is a thing of beauty.

I started working on a star quilt:

Start of Star Quilt

I still don't have a proper design wall. I found a piece of white felt, some clothespins and a spare curtain rod and rigged this up:

Star Quilt Test

Which worked great until I knocked into it while rooting around in the closet:

Star Quilt Fail

That only strengthened my resolve. What good is one star quilt when I could be making three at the same time? But forget the design wall, I'm back to basics: a freshly made bed will do just as well to test the layout:

Star Quilt Redo

Stay tuned. I should have a spectacular constellation to show and tell next week.

XO TEREZ

Winnipesaukee Weekend

On the Road Again

Guard Dog

Beach Read

This Means You

Beach Bar

Shore Line

Everybody In

Heading Home

Did you know that Lake Winnipesaukee has:
Area of water surface = 72 square miles
Number of islands = 253
Distance around lake = 182 miles
Height above sea level = 504 feet

XO Terez

Walk to Work Wednesday

Busy Bee

Which Way Did She Go?

Dinner Plate Bloom

Big Big Wheel

Prep Line

Walk to Work Wednesday

Morning Perch

Yellow Cascade

We're Getting There

Sun Salutation

Sidewalk Spiral

Meet Me on the Equinox: Spring Super Inspiration Sunday

Apartment Gardening

Test Eagle II

Bead Boxes I

Yellow Bloom Boom

Bead Boxes II

Bluebird Colorburst

Backyard Hawking

Super Moon Rising

Winter Blooms to the Rescue

Extreme Close-Up

Yes, yes, I should know better. When the New England mercury hit 60 degrees on Friday, I was ready to swap my wool for cotton and ditch the puffy Tootsie-Roll Coat.

Not so fast, my friends. Mother Nature is such a tease sometimes. The 60 degrees did us good: it melted snow piles that were shoulder-high to hip- or knee-high, and I finally, truly, stopped worring about my roof caving in. But in someways it was a cruel break before today's face-numbing-in-the-teens-wind-chill lows.

At least the sun has been making scattered appearances, hurrah! Yesterday's rays gave me the chance to experiment with my new camera and the Extreme Focus mode (as evidenced above by the teeny, tiny flower blown up to mega proportions) with the plant HH and I picked up last week:

Actual Size

Nothing like a pretty pink flower in a pretty pink pot to perk up the dog days of winter.

XOXO Terez

Walk to Work Thursday

Turbo Charge

Red Iron Walk

Turquoise Eave

Here Comes the Sol

 

 

Yesterday's News Today

Terez Through the Looking Glass

Emergency Mail

Cathedral Concrete