Ta Da!

Doodle Bugs
26 inches square

Doodle Bugs is finished!  Yay!  It was actually done weeks ago, but I couldn't get a decent picture.  Finally, when the sun came out, I could get it.

   

Edited to add:  You can read all about how the Doodle Bugs came to be here.

I did a scrappy binding.  Mostly because I didn't have enough of any one fabric for the whole thing.  Besides, I think it's more fun, and this quilt told me it wanted to be fun.

You can see the great quilting that Shari did better on the back than on the busy front.  And this is why I sent it to her, instead of doing it myself.  Something this wonderful is way beyond my skills at this point.

Of course, the Quilt Inspector had to come and do the Softness Test.

And the Warmth Test.

The other evening, right before sundown, the rain let up some and the sun came out.  When I went into the Quilt Studio, I saw a rainbow.  So I ran downstairs, grabbing the camera, and out the front to see that it had become a double rainbow on the right hand end.  It's faint . . . can you see it?  We haven't seen a rainbow for a while now, and I love them.

I'm starting to feel a little better, but still am not quite up to snuff.  I've just started on the second antibiotic. I hope this will do the trick.  Right now, I have a good day about every other day.  So, I'm starting to be able to get into the Quilt Studio occasionally, and I'll hopefully have something more to show in a few days!

Question:  how do you feel about the new "Lightbox" feature that Blogger has started?  Do you like it?  I turned it off on my blog, because I don't care for it.  If you prefer it, let me know.  I don't think the photos enlarge well enough with the Lighbox and I like being able to see the details on the quilts.

Fall seems to be off to a good start here.  It's most definitely cooler, it's been raining, and some of the trees and  bushes are starting to turn color.  But what really tells me that it's Autumn is that we're having lots of noisy flocks of geese flying in to land on our pond and then noisily leaving again.  They don't stay long . . . they act like they're in a hurry to get South!  And it's sure getting dark a lot sooner now, and I've had to put a warmer quilt on the bed.  I love Autumn!  Happy Fall, y'all!

The Doodle Bugs return. . .

It was just over a year ago when I first showed my Doodle Bugs. (you can see them here) I can't believe it's been that long! Wow, time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Anyway, a while back someone commented on the Doodle Bug wallhanging that showed up behind Shade in a picture of him in the quilt studio. I looked through the old posts and apparently I've never shown this top! Don't know how I missed that. So, at long last, here it is! It's only at the flimsy stage, but it's been up on the wall in the quilt studio (for the last year, I guess). I've been hoping to get inspiration for quilting it. I really don't know what I want to do in the way of quilting it.

Here's a closeup of one of the bugs. I used a dotted fabric for every bug, where on the originals I added the spots. This was easier! They are fused on with Misty Fuse, which isn't supposed to need to be stitched down. These guys are pretty small - 4 inches from nose tip to tail - so I don't want to have to stitch around each one. The Misty Fuse was dream to work with, as far as fusing it. It was so easy - I loved it!

I love this fabric in the background. It looks like hydrangea leaves to me.

I made the first Doodle Bugs for my granddaughters. I'm not sure where this wallhanging is going to live. Maybe at my house for awhile! Of course, I need to finish it before that's a problem, huh?

I've been doing more stalling, apparently. Avoidance of putting together the Witch's Pantry, although, in my defense, I have been working on it. I'm trying to finish up the last jars, and only have to put the lids on the last few. I just seem to have string quilts on the brain. I'm going to a quilt retreat at the end of the month and my friend KV and I are going to be making string blocks. So, I've been "testing" patterns. The latest one is the String X block. It's a pattern from Quiltville and can be seen here. Here's what I came up with:

I used old telephone book pages as the foundation. I used Bonnie's recommendation and used a larger needle (size 16 Denim) and a smaller stitch (about 1.5 on my Bernina), and the paper comes off like a dream. The pattern makes one quarter of the block. This is how Bonnie shows it put together - as an X. I, of course, had to play with it:

You can also put it together as an O. I think it would be cute to put both X's and O's together in one quilt. I wonder if it would need sashes between the X's and O's to show that they're X's and O's and not just some crazy pattern?? I'll have to try that.

Then DH got in the spirit and came up with this idea. I think this is called Indian Hatchet. That's kind of fun too! This could be fun to try lots of different things with. I just love asymmetrical blocks - there's so many fun ways to put them together. Anybody else have any other ideas?

KV and I will be making 11 inch square blocks, but I think I'll take some foundations to do this block too. The strings it uses only need to be about 5 inches long, so this block is good for "leftover" ends of longer strings. I haven't decided what background fabric to use, but I think that can probably wait until I have all the foundations pieced.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was up to 55*f and warm enough to go without my coat for the first time in months and months! Two days ago our high was 35*f. So, this was a gift. It was wonderful. Blue skies, singing birds. And rain tomorrow. At least we had one beautiful day. That'll hold me for a bit. Now I believe that spring is on the way!

Another Doodle Bug

Remember my Doodle Bugs? You can see them here. Well, this is the latest version of the Doodle Bug. DH made this one out of pottery and it's intended to be yard art. It's about 8 inches long. I think "he" came out really cute!

We're having great weather yesterday and today. We finally get to see the famous mountain here in Western Washington - Mount Rainier. So I had to snap a picture. (Sorry, the sky is still pretty hazy, so the photo isn't the greatest.) You can see that the mountains in the foreground still have snow on them. They got nice fresh snow on Wednesday (see previous post). Today everyone was out mowing their yard and doing other various yard work today. The weather was

just too nice to stay inside. Unfortunately, it's not supposed to last. Showers by tomorrow evening and then by Tuesday our high is only supposed to be about 48 degrees. Wow, spring just can't seem to stick with us. I can't believe it's almost May! *sigh* DH has spring fever badly. Tonight we BBQ'ed hamburgers in the fire pit - just like camping! They were yummy - and then we HAD to do marshmallows too!

We have lots of noisy frogs and tiny baby ducks in the pond, so apparently they think it's supposed to be spring! Some day. . . .

Doodle Bugs

As promised, here is my new little creation: The Doodle Bug! This came about through a doodle that DH drew for our granddaughers. It was a little exercise, kind of like looking for shapes in the clouds. He drew a full-page doodle, and when he looked, there was this cute little bug-like creature! All it needed was legs, antenna and eye.

I thought it would be really cute in fabric! Well, I used Heat 'n Bond Lite (all I could find), and then remembered that you need to sew down the edges. Rats! The little legs and antenna might be 1/4" wide - waaaayyy too small to do that (at least in my opinion). So, the first two Doodle bugs are on their own little quilts. I sewed down the middle of the legs and antenna, figuring they're never gonna get washed or worn if they're on the wall! I made a little 6 inch quilt and just quilted the outside edge. I tacked them to some black fabric that I then wrapped around an 8 inch stretched artists' canvas.

They are ready to hang on the wall and will go home with the girls on Monday! Now DH is making some Doodle bugs out of clay for yard art.


This is Doodle Bug #2. I'm not entirely happy with Doodle Bug #2. He's a little dark for the background he's on. That's why I added the gold dots - to help him show up more.
Now I'm going to try them in fabric again, with a better fusible that's no-sew. I'm gonna try Misty Fuse - I haven't used it before. I think I'll do a small wallhanging, and this time I'm thinking of using non-batik fabric - possibly polka dots.

This little quilt is my daughter's first or second quilt (I can't remember which). She was 18 when she paper-pieced the 4 inch stars, using fabrics that matched the valance and comforter on the futon in the computer room. I think it's excellent for a first attempt. She even quilted it herself! She's asked for it to come live at her house now. I think that's a good idea, but I wanted to show it before it leaves here for Nevada! It's actually more intense colors that what shows here. I don't know why it's so washed out.

Here is my attempt at Bonnie's Maverick Star block. This was a lot of fun and very easy. I'm thinking there will be more of these in my future! Thanks, Bonnie!

And speaking of Bonnie, here's the blocks that will be on their way to North Carolina for her "house-warming", thanks to Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting. I made a wonky
house block for Bonnie, and am throwing in a few crumb blocks that I had made. I think the house is pretty funny, and I love the way it looks like the chickens are having an after-hours party!