Featherstone Quiltworks

Wow, it’s February 1st and this is my first Design Wall report of the YEAR!!!  Thanks to Judy Laquidara for hosting these Design Wall reports.  If you have extra time, swing by her site and check out what other people are working on.  It’s always interesting!

I’ve been working on a wall hanging from the Skinny Quilts & Table Runners book, edited by Eleanor Levie.  The wall hanging I’m making is by Karen Eckmeier (page 61, if you have the book).  This is for a skinny quilt challenge issued by Pam of my sewing group in Minnesota.  Since we all make resolutions to lose weight in the new year, and few actually succeed, let’s make a skinny quilt!  The odds of success are soooo much better…

The pattern called for lights, mediums and darks of both blues and turquoises.  I had no trouble sorting my (mostly) batiks by color.  It was the color value that was getting tricky.  I was just reminded a week or two ago by Vicki W. to use your camera as a tool.  (See if your photo-editing software  has an option to change the picture to black and white.  Another way to do it is to look at your camera’s options and you can possibly select taking a black and white photo (remember to change it back!).)  It is so much easier to see what fabrics are out of place in grays.

I wasn’t planning on using the fabrics absolutely from darkest to lightest, but I did want to sort them that way initially.  It was also a good test to try when I did have them organized how I thought I wanted them.  I changed them around several times before I had an arrangement I was pleased with.

Now I’ve started embellishing with some beads, trim, lace and yarn.  There’s quite a bit more to do on it, but it is really a fun piece and will be a wonderful memento of our time at the beach.

No, it isn’t quite straight, but the designer allows an each on each side to be trimmed off when everything is done to ensure it squares up.  Also, I have the top inch of sky tucked into the armoir, so there is a little more sky than shows here. 

I have a throw-sized top finished (can’t show it yet), and a queen-sized top started as well.  And I’m working on the same pair of Zauberball Crazy socks I’ve been working on for a l-o-n-g time, but I am on the second sock!  That’s a good thing for me.  It’s always so tempting to switch to something new, and I have a knit stocking cap that I want to get done this month.

I will share a crafting report later in the week.  Two weeks ago we embellished dishtowels, and this Wednesday we are making those cute criss-cross coasters.  Two weeks from now we are making Vicki W’s pot holders.  (The alternate weeks are strictly “social” get-togethers.)  If you’re wishing you were in Texas at the beach, you can do the crafts with us electronically!  Fun, fun, fun.

Notice I’m not talking about the weather.  For beach weather, this week leaves a lot to be desired.  However, for getting-away-from-the-snow-and-cold weather, it’s pretty darned wonderful!

–Sue