Last week we had Christine Barnes as the guest speaker at quilt guild. She gave a wonderful lecture on using color in quilts and followed it the next day with a workshop on luminosity.
The idea is to use warm and cool colors together so that the cool colors make the warm colors glow in the quilt.
Class was great fun. I had brought my collection of batiks. I know, I'm not much of a stash person, but over the years my sister has given me quite a few fat quarters for gifts and I've acquired a few more as door prizes and other gifts. While the teacher seemed to think I didn't have quite enough for the quilt, others in the room had lots and lots of fabric and were kind enough to share to fill in some holes I had.
The initial blocks went together quickly and Christine would grab finished blocks and take them around the room to show them off. Even though we were all working with mostly batik and hand dyed fabrics it was amazing how different each persons blocks looked.
After lunch we had enough blocks to cut up and start playing. There was a large flannel board so as four blocks were arranged it was held up and we could see each project.
Me, being me, I had to have all 16 blocks sewn before I started cutting things up. I wasn't able to finish them all in class, but I did sneak in a little sewing time over the weekend and got them all completed.
Monday it was HOT. Hot, hot, hot outside. As the afternoon heated things up, sewing seemed like a good option for being a little productive without getting too warm. I cut up the blocks and started playing. Here's how they look up on the board.
Pretty fun!
I was anxious to put them together so I could really see them. Tuesday was even HOTTER - seriously we have been complaining all summer about how cool it has been. The weather guy has been proclaiming some months the coldest on record. How quickly things change!
Another hot day meant another good time to do a little sewing. I was sewing and pressing merrily along when I noticed an awful lot of lint on the presser foot. And then time slowed down.
Have you ever done something and known as you were doing it that it was a really bad idea but your brain just couldn't stop your body from doing it? Yeah. Well...
I saw that lint. But instead of waiting until the seam was done to blow it away. Instead of just blowing it away. I reached forward to brush it off. Yep, while sewing.
My brain said "bad idea", my finger kept moving and I sewed right through the side of it.
And there I was, at one with my sewing machine.
Seriously, it didn't hurt but I was trapped. Oh, and just so you know, at times like this you might just regret that clever little needle down position on your sewing machine. I was good and stuck. As I pondered how to get out I couldn't help but think how stupid I'd feel if I couldn't get out. After all, it's not like I could reach the phone and call for help.
With gritted teeth I chose the fly wheel option over the needle down button option because sometimes I push the button too long and the needle goes up and back down. At this point I was taking no chances at a double piercing.
Bandaged up I decided that perhaps I'd done enough sewing for one day. Were I a cool twenty something I'd probably stick a steel bar though my finger and start a whole new trend of digit piercings. I'm just not that cool, though.
-- marcella
As you can see the center circle still needs to be added. Before I do that I need to decide what exactly I am going to make out of this block. I'm thinking table runner but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it will likely be a small project so I can finish it and get back to other quilting projects that have been neglected.
As luck would have it, she sells 
