It's been raining all day... lots of rain. Cooking has been going on and I've just one more dish to prep tonight. A strand of lights has gone out on the tree and I need to fix that so when the grandchildren get here tomorrow... all will be perfect... or as perfect as it's going to get anyway.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season....
I did get a project finished during my hiatus from blogging. Yea, me! I had made it a goal to finish the Monster Quilt this year before the weather got cold so I buckled down and got to work.
I'll probably never quilt a quilt this large again and will plan to do so in sections that are then joined together. Too bad I didn't figure that trick out before this top was completed.
Because of the size and amount of fabric that needed management while quilting, I did ditch-work, which is incredibly BOR-ing to me. I wanted to do something different on the outer border and opted for a big loop design. It's the first time I've done a loop like this and the loops are not perfect... but I kept telling myself that finished is better than perfect... and this quilt will never be in a quilt show. And, if it's keeping me warm on a cold winter night, who cares?
To keep up the loop pattern I did a triple loop in the four corners... again, not perfect but who cares? The backing is a vintage Jinny Beyer blender, gifted to me by a friend who started quilting in the '80s and no longer does so. I'll remember Carlene every time I see this lovely fabric.
Without going in to a 40 page description of the past two months and boring you silly, let's just say there was a Bermuda Triangle-type fall here. If it could go wrong, it did. For example, my camera bit the dust. This means that I have to decide what I want to replace it with, find time to purchase one, and get it up and running. Not as easy as I would have liked. Not at all. Anyhoo... I'm alive and appreciate my BlogLand friends checking on me.
I've not had much time to sew/quilt as I would have liked but I did tackle one crafty project (link).... one I found on Pinterest. Again, getting all the stuff together did not go as smoothly as I would have liked... who would have thought that finding wooden (or other) letters would be so difficult? Here is the first "draft" of my efforts.... I won't talk about the paint on my slacks or tablecloth... although it did come out in the wash.
Although the project poster swore this was a quick and easy project... it wasn't, at least for me. Blending paint round the letters was difficult, especially since I hadn't gotten a small enough brush to do it properly. (Read: Back to the craft store.)
I liked the subtle letters blended into the paint with the shadows... I let the painting "sit" for a couple of days while I studied it, deciding I wanted the "sea" to be higher and lighter at the "horizon."
It's overcast and rainy today so photo-taking is difficult but you can get the general idea. I like how it turned out, especially since it is my first ever attempt at painting. This will be a Christmas gift for someone special.
