My day was waylaid.....

The last thing before I fall asleep I often plan what I want to do the next day.  I love waking up with a sense of purpose.  DH is out of town and I had a lovely long uninterrupted day ahead. And I decided I was going to spend the day painting buttons and answering emails.  I did neither.

I got the lace and trims on the last three blocks last night and this morning I awoke wondering where was the blue silk I bought in LA two years ago and what did I do with the two extra blocks I made for the covers for the corset cuties.  And so I ended up making a huge mess but finally found the silk, etc. and was able to sort tons of things out. But not until I had made a huge mess everywhere.   My goal is to go right into January and finish this project.  I got the silk page linings cut today, the interfacing applied, and the seam lines basted.  Now I can add the corset ads and embellished them. These linings will be my on-the-go blocks for the next two months.

I decided I would not start any new projects in 2016 until I finished the hanky project and the cottage project.  The hanky project has been held up because I could not find exactly what I wanted to back and border it with.  I had my heart set on a dusky blue moiré taffeta and it proved almost impossible to find... But I have it now and will move ahead after the first of the year.  There will be lots of embroidery on the taffeta so this is not a quickie project.

The second big finish will be the cottage blocks.  I originally intended for these to be a book.  But after the excitement of a quilt in Houston, I thought I might finish it as a quilt and enter it.  I just could not make a firm decision.  But now I have.  I will go with my first plan and make it into a book.  Friends and family can look at it in a book and I know that  I  (nor anyone else) would ever hang it on a wall... so a book it is.  I have this lovely striped silk for the linings and now that I have made that decision I am eager to do this.  I loved these blocks from start to finish.  The blocks are only 7" but I want the book pages to be about 12" square so each block will be bordered and embellished.  So this also will be a time consuming finish.

When I do finish these, which will probably take several months, I ran across two projects to finish that have been shunted aside.....  especially  the peacock piece which I have MANY hours already into.  The other is a ORANGE piece with a Moroccan theme. 

So even though not one button was painted, it was a very productive day and just what I needed to get myself going again.

When all else fails just put a needle in

Besides the fact I have serious stitcher's block and can't get into this piece, I feel I really need to finish it before I can clear my mind and move forward again....It has been laying around much too long and I need to finish it or abandon it.

 

 The foreground tree was the problem when I set it aside two years ago and it still is.  But sometimes I just need to put thread in a needle and start anywhere.  I did that the last couple days doing a lot of unnoticeable stitching on the trees in the background.  Then I put it in the computer and did some fiddling.  The problem was the area  (outlined in pink)above the   tree was all the same colors and the tree still wasn't large enough and still undefined.  It needs to really dominate that space and balance the cottage offset on the other side.

 

Once I added a much brighter green it was better.  Then moving the top of the tree into fence helped define it....  Now I can get moving again.  The ribbon leaves on the trees go slowly.  The foreground will go more quickly because it will be lots of lace and silk flowers... hopefully.

 

And we are getting tails feathers.....

Perfect class by complete accident.

 One of the things on my "to do" list was to photograph and study  different ways of sashing and doing borders...  When the class schedule came out there were some on borders but I had limited funds and most called lots of supplies...not for me.  But there was "Border Design Workshop" by Karen Buckley that was  an inexpensive lecture requiring no supplies and just 4 hours... I couldn't have found the more perfect class if I had searched for months...  You can see upper right how intricately she drafted the border to make fit it the quilt...

 Back tracking..... you may have noticed until the suffrage quilt, I  almost NEVER assemble  blocks other than the Morris book.  I finish all the larger blocks to be displayed singly and all the RR blocks languish in baskets waiting.  But next on my list is assembling the CQJP cottage blocks. 

But most of the assembled CQ blocks I've seen have rather simple sashing and borders.  I wanted something rather spectacular for a set of blocks which took a year to make....  Then along Allie...all her borders and sashing are always an integral part of the whole piece... what an inspiration she is.. And the border on her Houston entry was breathtaking.  This is the border she recently did for a relative and I loved it.  I knew I wanted to head in this direction...

Now Karen Buckley is a famous applique quilter and doesn't do any CQ but she had so much practical and technical information that was just what I needed.

Her first statements were what I wanted to hear:
1. Sashing and borders should include elements of the quilt itself.
2. Who says that all strips and pieces have to be the same width, same fabric, same color, or even the same size?

She gave us a video of the entire lecture PLUS a roll of this "tracing" paper she uses when drafting a border to a perfect size.  This is actually a roll of paper chiropractors use on the headrests of their tables...  It is 8 1/2" wide, transparent, and a nice substantial weight.   I can see MANY uses for this paper and never would have found it otherwise.  I will be looking for a source when it runs out.  I actually found a source...  Amazon 

  In addition there was a wealth of information on designing borders, designing corners, making everything fit and tips on overlapping elements. Also on how to recover when you make mistakes...  She makes and uses lots of coordinating piping and had tips on that.  Plus she had some wonderful tools I will HAVE to buy as the budget allows. And I love how she used sizing with her applique work...definitely can use that idea.

So since early last spring I have been collecting fabrics I thought suitable for the cottage piece... florals, ginghams, checks, and polka dots.  I could probably make a bed size quilt from all this....  I'm hoping you will all follow along as I start this project.

This was the only class I took but did go to two sessions of rooms full of demonstrations.  I got lots of ideas on techniques applicable to CQ I'm anxious to try.... more on those later...