Happy New Year!

Pattern by Judy Mathieson

So, it turns out that I am very bad at quitting anything. I'd like to say I've found my compass, or something apt like that, but truth is I'm just blowing around in the wind. But in any case, I may as well blog about it. 😂

The new Quiltville mystery, Frolic, has started! I started too, but I'm not so sure my colours are working. I'm waiting for the reveal to see if I need to change course. In the meantime, I have plenty left to do on last year's mystery, Good Fortune! I've shared a little of that on Instagram, but never here on the blog.

I decided to try a dark background for a change, and I'm very happy with that. The instructions called for string units, but I didn't have a lot of orange strings. I tried some slightly improvisational skinny inserts instead:

I'm happy with them too. Of course, the process of making them created a lot of orange strings! And since I decided to make the quilt larger by adding blocks, I made some string blocks as well.

My new laptop doesn't have the good editing software, yet, so apologies, my pictures are not the usual standard.

The orange blocks are nearly finished. I made two test blocks for the stars...

They looked a little small when I took the photo, but I don't know if that is just a question of pressing or if I need to tweak them.

And that Mariner's Compass at the top? A medallion for the centre! The pattern is easy foundation paper piecing from Judy Mathieson's book Mariner's Compass Quilts, New Directions (C&T Publishing 1995).

I'm super happy with everything in this quilt, the warm colours will be really nice in winter.

I want to do another dark background for this year's quilt, but I'm not quite sure of the colour placement. Bonnie's colours blend where mine contrast, so I think I should wait for the reveal. And as we all know, I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy.

Happy new year everyone! Let's sew!

Until We Meet Again!

Hi everyone! Long time no see. 😄

As you all know, I haven't posted in over a year, and I've decided to let my .com url expire. I'm not sure what will happen to the blog. It'll be somewhere in cyberspace I guess.

Everything is fine with me, and I hope you all are doing well too! I still sew now and then, but not as much. I have to admit, I've been mostly hanging out on mobile, where three emojis constitute a deep conversation. And it's just so convenient!

So, you can still find me on Instagram, @lakeviewmonica. 

Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and sharing their work! It's been a wonderful experience and it's been so great to connect with like minded people around the world through our blogs. I really feel like drawing a line here is going to open up something else, so, it's definitely not goodbye. Until we meet again! Take care everyone.

💗😂😉

The Big Rainbow Plan for 2018

...and probably 2019 too.

Blue for January

So, this is my first post of 2018 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Last year's project was a rainbow version of Bonnie Hunter's Talkin Turkey. I finished the blocks but they are still not all sewn together.

The first colour for 2018 was blue, and I did start my new project back in January. I didn't share it then because I was giving myself time to change my mind. But, it's working and it looks good, so it's on. And it's the project I've been most keen to get moving since my break.

This year, in addition to all the rainbow colours, I'm going to have a range of shapes to keep things interesting.

And the entire quilt is going to be foundation paper pieced. It's slow, but I realized that it will be the easiest way to manage a wide range of scraps, and all the different shapes and sizes I'm going to need.

Is it starting to look familiar to anyone?

How about now:

Yes, it's Sue Garman's Halo Medallion, the 2017 BOM she designed for The Quilt Show, and her last one before she passed away. The pattern is still available this year to TQS members. I loved all the borders and the distinctive Halo Star in the centre, but I knew that a whole month of sewing flying geese, followed by a whole month of pinwheels or HSTs, would never work for me. Then last year I had the idea of superimposing a rainbow over the whole thing:

That way, for each RSC colour of the month, I get to sew a cross section of different things.

Obviously, it's a crazy idea, but I've done a Herculean amount of planning, and so far, so good. My rainbow has 11 colours plus grey and/or beige in the two corners (still TBD), so it's most certainly going to run into 2019.

I was also thinking of doing Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party for RSC this year, but I've come to my senses on that. It will have to wait.

Anyway, I'll get into more details in future posts. In the meantime, check out the rest of the RSCer's at this week's link up.