Pansy Pincushion Started

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! It was another slow week for me, craftwise. We had another long power outage this week -- this time from Thursday morning until Saturday night. This time it wasn't a planned outage so the length of the outage was a surprise. They kept saying the power would be back in a couple of hours, then they would extend it or switch back to "assessing the damage." It was very frustrating! But the power is back now and I didn't have to throw away very much food so things are good.

I decided to make a start on. my Pansy Pincushion designed by Sue Spargo. It was a good hand project to work on in lower light. I got all of the pieces cut out and appliqued to the background.

Pansy Pincushion

Then I got the embroidery done for the first flower.

Pansy Pincushion - Flower #1

This flower has a Bullion Rose stitch in the center. This is my first time trying this stitch. It looks fine, but could be improved. I do love trying new stitches!

I also made some progress on my Atween shawl designed by Laura Nelkin. 

Atween

This week I made a start on the third trapezoid. It wasn't a lot of progress, but any progress is good!

Nancy

Tula Sunrise Progress

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! We're back from Kansas City and my septic line is fixed, so I'm doing great!! The guy who did the work was incredible. He didn't just replace the line, but he saw other problems, like some places where the line went uphill, and fixed those, too. And he jackhammered the rock in places to make sure that the line would be completely buried. I'm so appreciative when someone goes the extra mile for you!! Our weather continues to be unusually warm, but we did have a storm come though last weekend and we got over a foot of snow. It's mostly melted already, but it's great to have the moisture!! I'll just keep hoping for more.....

Before leaving Kansas City, I was able to make some more progress on my Tula Sunrise quilt designed by Tula Pink. I got the first sun finished.

Tula Sunrise - First Sun

These are the largest pieces I've ever used in English Paper Piecing (EPP). I took the paper out from behind the center piece and it made the whole piece wavy, but I think it'll be fine since the fabric for the pieces wasn't pulled too tight across the paper when they were attached. I'll iron the unit the next time I visit to see what I think. I also got the rest of the center pieces basted and ready to be sewn to the triangles.

Tula Sunrise - Basted Pieces

As I prepare a fabric piece, like one of the center pieces, I also prepare any other pieces that are needed from that fabric. So, for example, each fabric used for a center pieces is also used for two of the triangle border pieces. The fabric used for the sun ray triangles is also used in the border, so the orange/white polka dot border pieces were also prepared. I organized all of the fabric to match all of the fabrics with the instructions and found that I'm missing two of the solid fabrics in the kit. I'll check under my cutting table to make sure they didn't slip under there when I was folding the fabric after washing it, but it's not a problem if it wasn't included in the kit. I have a collection of Tula Pink solids that I can pull from so I'll just pick two from there. When I get back to Kansas City, I'll go through all of the fabrics and decide which ones I'll put together for each of the suns. I might choose the combinations that are in the picture of the quilt (the first one matches the example), or I might decide to go my own way. Tula obviously has better color sense than I do, but I might also be using a couple of different solids from what she used. And I might just like something else better.

I've also made some good progress on my Atween shawl designed by Laura Nelkin. 

Atween

I've got the first two sections completed and now just need to make the third section and attach it, and then add the border. 

Atween - Close-Up of Graft

I was looking back at the pictures in the pattern and realized that I mixed up the colors when making the shawl. I had already wound the yarn so didn't have the ball bands connected to each yarn. I went back and forth looking at things and thought I had figured out which was which color name and matching that to the information in the pattern, but, obviously, I screwed that up. Oh, well. I think the color placement in the pattern looks a little better than my color placement, but this will look good, too.

Nancy

Tula Sunrise Started

 Hi all -

I hope everyone is doing well! I'm still visiting my family. The excavator called last Monday to let me know that the guy who is going to do the majority of the work on my septic line would be out for a couple of days because his mom had triple bypass surgery. I hope it is all going well for her!! I haven't heard from the excavator again yet so I'm delaying my return home until Thursday. Then, I'll have to go home regardless of the status of the work since my cat is at home alone. Hopefully the weather is reasonable and they are able to get the work done by then!

I brought my Tula Sunrise kit designed by Tula Pink to my sister's house.  This is the kit that I decided to keep here since it is English Paper Piecing (EPP), which is all hand work, so I don't need a sewing machine to work on it. 

Tula Sunrise

I started by organizing the paper pieces. They were all jumbled together in the kit, so I separated them out into baggies along with the cutting template. Then I organized the fabric and figured out how each is used and how to follow the pattern. Finally, I was able to start basting the center pieces and the large triangles for the border. I only have a few more of these pieces to baste, then I can start working on some of the smaller pieces.

I've also been making progress on my Atween shawl designed by Laura Nelkin. 

Atween

This shawl is built as three separate pieces that are grafted together and then a border is added. I've finished the first piece and am almost done with the second. I haven't looked at the grafting instructions yet so that will be and adventure!

Nancy