Making Leaves

My first thought was to use lots of colors for the leaves but I decided the cardinals would be bright enough. The vine fabric is a blue-green but most of my greens are on the yellow side. I pulled all the blue-greens I could find in my stash and scrap bag. A few are crazy prints that may or may not work out. We'll see.

Green and blue fabrics for leaves

Preparing fabric using Lara's book, Crafted Applique, took most of the day but this method is easier on my hands. {I needed physical therapy after my last attempts to hand quilt. I now limit handwork to prevent recurrence.} My previous work with her directions worked quite well but I'm curious how this will hold up to daily use. Frankly, I wonder how long any raw edge applique will last. {QS says it will last as long as I live. What a comedian. Also a good point. This is a quilt for me and that's how long it needs to last.}

Stephie and I traded fabric scraps last week.  I thought mine looked like some of her flags for Fete, the quilt she's making for her sister's birthday. {Aren't sisters a wonderful gift in themselves?} She thought hers would make a good binding for my neutral string quilt. Plus she send some extra Quilty365 circles with hand stitching. Lucky me.

Fabric scraps, Quilty365 circles
and a card from Stephie!

We took the train to San Francisco and saw this magnificent dome in Westfield Centre.

Emporium Dome,
Westfield Centre, San Francisco

Originally built as the Emporium Building in 1896, the first dome survived the 1906 earthquake but fell during the subsequent firestorm. The current dome was built in 1908 and restored about thirty years ago when the shopping center was built.

It reminded me of another San Francisco landmark. Almost forty years ago Neiman Marcus purchased the old City of Paris building with its glorious white and yellow stained glass rotunda. The dome was added in 1908 when department store was rebuilt following fire damage after the 1906 quake. Despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was torn down in 1981. The new structure incorporated the original rotunda and is again a favorite city landmark.

City of Paris dome, Neiman Marcus, San Francisco

This dome reminds me of Sunshine by Monica at Lakeview Stitching. She handles yellow so masterfully.

Enjoy the day, Ann

May Quilty365

The sewing machine is back in working order but we've been traveling most of the month, both for business and family. Hours on the road gave me enough time to catch up the circles but now I've stressed a finger and wrist. This may be my last month of Quilty365. I've been thinking about adding several borders so six months of circles may be enough.

Quilty365 April blocks

The April AHIQ linkup is still open. Lots of great posts to read, too. 

Of course, this post is linked to Audrey's Quilty Folk. So many good versions of this simple idea. Take a look.

Enjoy the day, Ann

March Quilty365

This past month I just treaded water with circles. Despite completing thirty more, I'm still a month behind.

112 Quilty365 Circles 

But I have many more circles cut. I still plan to catch up. Hope springs eternal!

Mary at Fleur de Lis Quilts laid out her plaids and solids to help decide what to do next. They are gorgeous and colorful. Seems like a good plan; I have enough to lay out and capture a sense of the style. Hmm. Not sure what my style is. Perhaps I should focus on adding more greens and yellows.

Circles and background squares cut for Quilty365

Circle quilts are catching my eye everywhere. Here are my latest inspirations.

1. Odette Tolksdorf, a South African textile artist, made a series title Breathe and Breathing. Grounded on checkerboards, the floating organza has a circular shape. 
2. Sally Scott created Towards Infinity, a stunning quilt with circles... and fabulous borders. She also includes a photo of another Tolksdorf quilt that I can't find on Odette's blog.
3. Harmony Within by Sue McCarty of Utah won the Handi Quilter Best of Show at the 2011 IQF. It's a gorgeous Japanese-inspired design but I added it here because of the background. She thread-quilted circles on point with very narrow sashing. Great layout for our circles and the only example of this layout I've found.

Enjoy the day, Ann

February Quilty365

I'm behind on my circles this month. Way behind. Finishing these will catch me up through February, a total of 118 circles. You can see only five are sewn. Ah, well. There are more Red Circle days in my future.

Circles to be finished for February

Since I'm so far behind, I decided to run some Google searches for inspiring circle quilts. Here's some eye candy - two whole fists full! Hopefully this will boost my energy to get back on track.

1. Malka Dubrawsky made Twinkle Twin. Such a happy quilt.
2. Karen Costello Soltys designed Japanese Circles on dark backgrounds.
3. Kevin Kosbab used a pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting to quilt Verner with two different sized circles.
4. Holly DeGroot designed at least two baby quilts of circle blocks.
5. Brigette Heitland created a sophisticated quilt with circles inside circles.
6. Anorina appliqués cheerful circles on black and white squares.
7. EDIT: I found the quiltmaker and she has a glorious body of work. Timna Tarr's O Happy Day and Portrait of Flora both juried into the 2011 Cincinnati International Quilt Festival. The colorful background squares of the first are just as effective as the circle in circle on black of the second. Such different styles. Which would you choose? 
8. If you haven't yet started your circles, Lulu has a pattern for Googly Eyes, an offset circle in a larger circle. Looks like eyes or olives, your choice.
9. Connie Brown mixed circles and squares in V-Spot Target Attack. 
10. Shirley made Bubbles II with circles that touch each other rather than being appliquéd onto single size squares.

Linking up to Audrey's Quilty365 for March. There are many great progress photos. Take a look.

Guess what? My computer is back. Hooray. And there's still a bit more time to add something to the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up Cathy and I started to celebrate and educate about these essential insects in severe decline.

Enjoy the day, Ann

January Progress on Quilty 365

Eighty-nine circles through the end of January. Much brighter colors this month. I didn't realize I'd used so much red and orange.

Quilty365 circles for January 2016

I'm enjoying this project on my own terms. Which means:

• Pulling background fabrics from hither and yon, cutting them into squares, and stashing them in a ziplock. 
• Putting smaller remnants in ziplock #2 for circle consideration.
• Occasionally sewing crumbs into a piece large enough for a circle and adding those to ziplock #2.
• Writing an event and date on each finished block.
• Keeping a stash of red fabrics for "red circle days."

Equally enjoyable is seeing the many different ways people have approached this QAL. Especially notable to me are Stephie's fabulously artistic, expressive creations. Her abstract pieces convey so much emotion that I could look at them for hours. On the other hand, Shasta's style runs to the fun, funky side. Her circles make me laugh as I wonder what she'll pull out of her hat tomorrow! What a treat to see how two artists with vastly different styles work within the same parameters.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Be sure to check all of the current work at Audrey's Quilty365.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Red Circle Days - Quilty365

Thanks to Audrey's Quilty365 I'm rediscovering hand applique. Like so many others, I sew one circle a day... and I'm up to date.

Some backgrounds are pieced; some circles are pieced.

Red Circle Days - Quilty365
through December, 2015

Some days there is too much to do to choose a fabric. Those are my "red circle days." One small circle for every day in a row I'm busy or sick. It reminds me of Red Letter Days although being under the weather is not exactly a "red letter" event.

Other people appliqued multiple circles to a single background. I think they are counting the backgrounds. I'm counting the circles! Is that too didactic? Or cheating? That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

See many more wonderfully inventive variations of this project at Audrey's Quilty365. There's also one more day to add your improv work to AHIQ, too.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Quilty 365 Progress

All my technology failed the same week. Both laptop and camera are on the fritz. As I am out of town, it's difficult to recover quickly.
Here's an old photo of my circles - barely a week in. I started November 4 and have twenty-four finished. More are cut, ready to sew as we travel.

Applique circles begun, #quilty365

Linking up with Audrey's December post.

Enjoy the day, Ann