Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Progress and Beothuk Star Quilting Ideas

This little owl block, measuring 4.5" finished, is just so adorable I can hardly stand it! It was one of the Tiny Tuesday blocks in March when the colour was green. You can find Sally's tutorial at The Objects of Design, when she was a guest blogger for Angela at so scrappy. I have all my March ones done now, and have started in on February, which was yellow.
Here is the first of February's four blocks, a simple 9-patch, most welcome after the owl...which really wasn't that complicated since Sally broke it down into manageable sections, so it only took about two hours to make once I'd settled on fabrics!

Do you see a piece of Beothuk Star in there? It's the centre! I have some Beothuk (bay-uh-tuck) Star thoughts on quilting a bit further down. There's a yellow from My Mother's Lilacs, and another from Luminous Layers. Ah, the connections that can be found within scrap quilts! Perhaps that's why I love them so much. Scrap quilts are a commentary on my life through this blog and through teaching yoga. The kindred spirits I have met, and continue to meet, and who I now consider such dear friends, in both of my worlds, is amazing to me, and it's through connections.

Allow me a momentary digression. I received the best tear-off each day calendar from my darling friend, Linda, at Christmas. On May 31, this was the thought, which I used that week in one of my yoga classes, where I usually give them a thought for the class:


My friend Nancy and I (another kindred spirit who I've met through yoga) now have in our lingo, 'our fortress of contentment', and I realize the more I've come to ruminate on this thought that yeah! That's what I've created with my life since leaving Alberta: my teaching of and doing two kinds of yoga, an intense, sweaty one, and a still, meditative one, my daily quilting, my blogging, my animals, whether I'm walking my beloved dog, petting, brushing or playing with the little minx Bella, reading a good book, enjoying tea, and chocolate! or morning coffee, or my lunch, on the beautiful deck my MacGyver built, gazing at and being thankful for this beautiful yard which is only going to get more so as we, well mostly my darling husband, helps it get to our oasis as he calls it... and I'm not going to let anyone try to break down my impregnable fortress. I'm going to send pieces of beauty out into the world with doing good works through quilting but this oasis? No one is coming in, either physically or metaphorically, with mal-intent. I won't let them.

The second Tiny Tuesday block for June which is dark blues:
I am working on Grandmother's Fan which we just got.

Happy mail came this week from Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict in the form of a little thank you for my contribution to H2H2019. All three quilts have been delivered.
Perfect fabric for me with my favourite colour combo of blue and green, a sweet coaster, and sweeter little sketch book that will go with me on my travels this summer. Thank you, Sarah!

Here are my two more sets of Arrow blocks for my main RSC2019 project:
Green ones for March
and June's current ones, navy and rich deep blues.

I still have those 12 HSTs each month and I now know what I'm going to do as the spin-off project from this thanks to a Sunday Showcase post at Aurifil's blog. Did you see I got featured twice recently?! Cheerio and Luminous Layers were features. I just have the yellow arrows now to do and I'm up to date!

Speaking of fortresses of contentment, here is my actual 'fortress', as it were:
Walls, anyone?!
Okay, Sandra, I thought you were doing an improved sewing room with dormers in your half storey upstairs...we are; it was MacGyver's vision for this house which he drew out two years ago. What I haven't told you is that he had a second vision, not too much longer afterwards, to build above the kitchen addition, which we think was originally built as a sunroom in the 70s. Building above this addition was doable structure- and budget-wise, and it would become our bedroom, according to the plan (which has now changed). We also had planned to replace the back east-facing kitchen wall, taking out the door and windows and putting in a patio slider. Well a couple of weekends ago when we had a window of 2.5 days in a row, in a ROW with no rain in the forecast, our builder got a crew together to help him and MacGyver tear off this last half of the back section of the roof. The other 3/4 of the roof had been replaced at that point. Well...

Our builder, Dan, suspected that the roof over this addition had originally been flat, because there was evidence that the sloping roof had been added later. His fears of previous leaking were realized when he discovered that the ceiling joists and the 2X4s in the walls were rotting. Nooooo. You know how a renovation never is just what you originally planned? Well, we suddenly found ourselves that Sunday making the decision, like we had one, to do it completely over, and do it right. So Monday and Tuesday this happened, and then we lived under a tarp, (camping memories abound I tell you), and are still living under one as I type, but on the level above the kitchen. Yay for IKEA cabinets, that come apart so ingeniously and will go back together. MacGyver had to dismantle two sets, and the contents are.... in various places😩... 
By the end of the week, last Friday, that is, I was ecstatic to have walls back and a working patio door, albeit installed temporarily while they go back to the finishing off the front dormers and getting us at least half shingled this week as.... you guessed it, more rain is coming. You can see an opaque green above the patio door which is the tarp over the upper level. More on the upper level another time. Yes, Tish, I baked scones Saturday morning, though it meant unplugging the fridge temporarily, so I could plug in the oven, so I could get the igniter to light the gas!! The burners work using a lighter, but there must be a safety thing that you can't do that in the oven. Obviously we only have electricity in half of the kitchen. One day I hope to be all settled with a place for everything and everything in its place!

Finally a quick note about my Beothuk Star QAL whose final linky opens this Saturday on the birthday of a famous Canadian, 😁 my dad. The link will be open for a week, so that gives you a whole week extra, basically, to finish up your quilts. I am super excited at seeing the quilts come together. I've been so enjoying seeing them and reading the comments under all of them about the fabrics and pattern (and how to pronounce Beothuk: Bay uh tuck!)

If you want to get fancy, check out the quilting on my original quilt here. There are, as usual lots of photos. Here is a closeup of how I did the centre 'hidden' star:

For my second rendition of Beothuk Star, I'm going more modern. Because the fabric is pretty busy, wavy lines is what I am doing, most likely throwing in pods with o's or l's inside like I did on sections of Luminous Layers and like I did on Postcard from Sweden:

Linking up
Sew Fresh Quilts




11 comments:

  1. Those tiny blocks get me every time. If I didn't have too much other stuff going on (not one more project, Wendy, just -- no!), I'd get them all done. Oh man, those renov pictures bring back memories. I recall renoving our kitchen. The fridge in the dining room, washing dishes in the bathroom sink (and putting a crack in that sink - oops). The discovery of yet another layer of renov that needed to happen. It will all be worth it -- when it's done!! In the meantime, just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . . haha! Anyway, I likely will not have my Beothuk finished, but will link up my top. Thanks to my back injury, I'm a little wary of doing any quilting right now.

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  2. From that adorable tiny owl to ideas for quilting Beothuk Star and everything in between - I enjoyed your post this morning. Exciting things are happening at your house, and it sounds like it will even better than ever when it gets all finished up! I think of my home as an oasis and a fortress, too - there is just nothing better than Home! This morning I'm shopping for backing and binding for my Beothuk Star - looking forward to basting the layers (well, no, not really, lol) but definitely excited to finish it up!

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  3. I love that owl enough that I may be headed on over to get the pattern. The joys and pleasures of a reno. But oh the rewards it will bring when done.

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  4. Once again, a super long post jam packed with such wonderful stories. I love your calendar quote and will try to remember it as I go through the week. The work on the house seems to grow! How wonderful that you can keep your sense of humor, mange to blog and sew and do yoga! Hope that the weather cooperates and that you can complete the project before snow flies! Yeah, that was bad of me!! Hang in there.

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  5. I haven't done the owl yet (well, I haven't done a lot of the tiny blocks yet). i have to force myself to pull out some Kaffe fabrics and find the eyes. But he is so cute, that he must be done even at the expense of messing up a Kaffe fat quarter.You are one lucky lady to have such a cooperative contractor who keeps showing up. I've heard of too many jobs where the contractor disappears for days or weeks at a time. It will all be worth it in the end.
    Pat

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  6. I actually said, "Whaaaat??" out loud when I saw your kitchen! Yikes! I've heard of having big windows to "let the outdoors inside," but I think your method has some issues. Hope things get back to normal soon!

    My first Beothuk is sitting in my studio, refusing to choose a backing fabric. I might have to abdicate that decision to my DH so I can get started with the quilting. It will be going to a newborn baby, so I'm thinking I should do really soft and loose and drapey...

    Fortress of Contentment would make a great band name :)

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  7. That owl is adorable. Good luck with renos. Can we link up a finished quilt top, or does it have to be fully quilted?

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  8. I love your little owl, he is so cute, and so teeny tiny, I must check out the tutorial. I’m just amazed you managed to get so much done, especially with all your renovations. I expect it’s the yoga that keeps you so calm and focused. I was doing Pilates to strengthen my core, but sadly had to stop as it irritated my back. I will begin again in September though, I loved it.

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  9. Fortress of contentment - YES!

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  10. Amazing work for such a small block and many pieces, it truly is cute.

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  11. Lovely post and oh, what a mantra to have! It's great to see all your blocks and exciting to see your renovations - hope there are no more surprises to slow the job down! xx

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