Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Working the Border

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard a work worth doing."
~Theodore Roosevelt

Quilting


Last week the black border didn't add anything to the conversation but the quilt still needed more contrast. I pieced more hourglasses with some black added to the pink and blues for the border then spent a while laying them out. This arrangement makes a striking zig zag but is much too strong for the weak center. {I'll have to remember it for another time.}

Hourglass blocks alternate blocks with pink or black outside to create a zig zag pattern.
Zig zag border arrangement

Black to the outside and pink inside makes a much better border but the corners need to be resolved. Removing some hourglasses to add the sashing means there's almost enough for a second quilt if they aren't used in the corners. This notion prompted another search through the stash for possible corners.
Even though the other colors in that floral are pink and blue, it reads orange. Not a solution. However, the blue choices might work.
A collage of three photos shows the effect of peach and blue fabrics in the corner of the border
Trying different corners

I settled on the gingham because it contrasts with all the florals and polka dots. Some might remember it as the binding on the Rose quilt.

What an improvement from last week!

Once this quilt is finished, the second should go together easily and will finish off those polka dots. But there's a slight hitch - the machine must have a tune up. I've been told the BSR software needs an update, too. I have a second machine but it doesn't have a walking foot.

Reading

The book cover shows a walking woman in a chador.I just finished Celestial Bodies by Omani author Jokha Alharthi and translated by Marilyn Booth which won the Man-Booker prize last year. {The Man-Booker is given to the best book translated into English and published in England as opposed to the Booker is for the best fiction first published in England.} Written in various viewpoints with many flashbacks, it tells the story of a large family including three sisters, their father, and one daughter as well as other people from their ancestral village as Oman transitions from slavery to an oil-producing state.

Interesting note: One woman sewed on a Singer with a butterfly decal. I've never seen one like that. Was is a treadle {most likely} or a featherweight?



Vintage pattern shows four variations of the half apron. Three are gathered and one is triangular. Square and diamond pockets are also shown.
Simplicity half apron pattern 
Gifting
While sorting I found a vintage apron pattern and would be happy to pass it on to someone who would use it. Let me know in the comments.

Enjoy the day, Ann