Succulent Persistence

Succulents tend to be pretty hardy, often thriving even when they don’t get the best of care. Despite their hardiness, I managed to kill off a small potted one a few months ago. The top rosette still looked like it had some life left in it, even though the roots either rotted or dried up. I tried rooting it in with a different houseplant. My attempts at reviving it failed, so I threw away the dried up leaves. I seem to have missed one leaf. Look what’s happening now, with no help from me except some occasional watering.

Gluf is Born

Gluf is another creature inspired by the “Stupid Sock Creature” book. Camilla created him last week. She learned to use the sewing machine to sew the long seams on the arms. The rest of him is hand sewn. He has four arms, three eyes, and a wacky hairdo made from toe socks. He insisted on a hat made from leftover sock fabric.

The green pillow behind him is one I made about 30 years ago when I was about Camilla age.

Block of the Month & Strip Quilting

This month’s block of the month for the Piecemakers guild was to be done in gold colors. I stayed with a relatively “safe” color scheme this time. Last month one of my blocks did stand out quite a bit from the others (I wonder if it will be used). I played around a bit with the arrangement in anticipation that I might go home with the blocks. Set together in straight rows and columns would result in a diamond pattern. Offsetting the columns by half a block creates some interesting possibilities. Someone else went home with a dozen or so blocks.

We played “strip poker” at the meeting this week. This involves no stripping, and it isn’t even really poker. Everyone comes with a set of 2½ inch strips of fabric. A very simple card game is played, which involves absolutely no strategy. Everyone has fun, and everyone goes home with an assortment of fabric strips.

I found a few strips from last year to re-play, and had to cut a few more to go with them. My daughter came with me this month, so I had to cut some strips for her also.

I decided to actually do something with my strips this year, so I began piecing some blocks. I found some more strips after I began, so I have quite an assortment of strips. I don’t know yet how big it will be. I will stop when I run out of strips, or I decide it’s big enough.

Pincushion Wildflowers

I was surprised to find large drifts of purple wildflowers in the local hills. They are mostly dry brown grass by June. I think these are a variety of pincushion flowers. This spot is just a short drive away, and was a nice weekend stroll.

International Quilt Study Center

I’ve been catching up on my reading. I’ve just finished looking at the SAQA newsletter from a couple months ago, and was excited to find out that my quilt “Succulent IV” was chosen to be part of the permanent collection at the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska.


The quilts have been traveling since January 2009 in SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Trunk Show. 183 SAQA members created eight inch quilts which were mounted with archival mat board. Three of the 56 quilts chosen for the collection are featured this month on the IQSC website.

Redefining Red, White, & Blue

The block of the month at the Piecemakers Guild meeting today is supposed to be in red, white, & blue colors. I expect most of the blocks will be typical patriotic colors. I decided to try something a little different. I had fun picking out fabrics for the first block. My second block is made with “safer” colors, but still not traditionally patriotic fabrics. I hope they don’t clash too much with the other blocks that are turned in.

Grab Bag Challenge

I’ve been too busy with my day job lately. I haven’t had time to work on the latest Grab Bag Challenge. A week or so ago, I decided I better get started on it since it’s supposed to be done by June 1st. I have a photo that is to be used for inspiration and a bag of fabrics and embellishments. Many smallish and medium sized pieces means I am doing piecing instead of the whole cloth painted quilts that I’ve been doing lately.

I made a few sketches, laid the fabrics out on the table, and have been letting myself have an hour or so now and then to do the piecework. I let myself have most of Saturday to work on it, and now it is well on its way to looking like something. I am interpreting the photo rather abstractly, and am using the sketch as a guide rather than making a pattern.

I was discouraged last night as a laid out a large piece of hand-dyed fabric with lots of color variation behind the main shapes. It wasn’t relating to the composition the way I had intended. The darker colors weren’t in the right place, and were hiding behind the foreground shapes. This morning I gave the background fabric a quarter turn, and now I feel good about it again. The dark area is now at the bottom of the composition, and adds a lot of depth to the piece.

There are a few more colors I want to piece in. I will get out my paints to add in a few shadows, and I will probably get out my paints again after it is quilted.