The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

My kitchen, quilts, kits and cooking

It’s been another scattered week: kitchen-ing, frogging, Gramma-ing, kitting and cooking!

The little sheer quiltlette that I’ve been working on has had its share of challenges. I consider this a prototype for what may be a future class, so I’m not so upset with some “visible learning curve”.

There is an expression: “Visual decisions need to be made visually”. In other words, sometimes you can’t just sketch it out or come up with a plan in your head. You have to DO it and see what you think. I did a lot of that this week. I could not figure out what to do it in the remaining unquilted spaces on this piece:

See those various auditioned fillers in the upper half? On the left I tried daisies, in two different colors. Meh. Then I thought it needed something linear so I tried the filler on the right. Less than meh.

I did this I think five times! I spent some quality time with my seam ripper. I felt kind of guilty, like I should not have to stitch it out and then rip it out. But I realized, yes, you DO have to make visual decisions visually. I do not rip if my stitching is a little less than perfect. But I do rip when the whole trajectory is wrong, like everything I tried up to this point.

Good thing it’s cotton and those holes will fill in with a little bit of steaming. If this was silk (I frequently work with silk), it might not have been so forgiving.

This is my latest attempt and I think I’ll stick with this plan. It complements all the fluffy, curvy stuff well. I don’t think I need a more complicated plan either, it needs to stay simple. I am excited about this concept, which I describe as sheer whole cloth on a low volume print. I really like the idea of whole cloth on that subtle print. It gives just enough interest, and adds another dimension. And, it lightens up the piece. The same work on a solid fabric would give a more serious tone.

And we’re to this point on the kitchen:

This is just a beginning, but there was a lot going on this week with the kitchen: meeting with a potential contractor, discussions and research about cabinetry, adding ideas to my Pinterest board and discussions with our designer. And by the way, that drawing makes our kitchen look waaay bigger than it is. It is on the petite side.

We wee gasping for air when we got a more firm bid. As far as I can tell, the cost of my kitchen has increased at least 40% over just three years ago! One thing that caught us by surprise was that moving the island out 6″ (needed!) would necessitate refinishing the whole expanse of wood flooring. $$$.

And, the process of preparing kits for my Houston classes started:

I changed the mix of classes and other presentations this year, so I only need 225 quilt sandwiches. Previous year’s needs topped 400! All the other teachers I know are doing their own kit prep now also. We do put a lot of time, thought, energy and money into our kits. We want our students to have the very best experience and we know that our students may not have the time or room in their luggage to make their own. It’s a win-win.

And then there was a little bit of prep work for the upcoming visit with my Grandson. I really needed to up my Gramma game:

Was it stupid to get “My First Drum Set”? We shall see.

As usual, I plan and prepare most of our meals ahead of time when we have guests. My son, wife and grandson are coming to visit this weekend! I don’t want to be in the kitchen when they’re here. Since it’s going to be approaching 110 degrees over the weekend, I chose lighter, cooler fare. My frig so far:

Some of my choices harken back to the southern cooking of my Mother-in-Law: Potato Salad (no eggs!) and Green Beans stewed with a ham hock. And there are new additions: Double Dill Pasta Salad, Jalapeno Slaw, Grilled Jalapeno Corn off the Cob and a Vietnamese Chicken Sandwich. We are going to eat well! I was in the kitchen all day yesterday but it will be worth it, and I won’t be cooking when everyone is here.

It’s been a good summer for me. As I look at next year’s calendar (something I always ponder at the end of summer), I see lots of exciting things already for 2023: the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, Empty Spools, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking and lots of fun guilds. I love what I do. I love to teach, I love to travel, I love to meet new people. Lucky me!

I’ll share at:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday

 

Comments

  1. I love your new piece! When I am not sure about what color thread or design to use on a quilt, I put water soluble thread in my bobbin and try it out. No seam ripper needed😀

    • Thank you Debby! I have have caused myself trouble with that before. I forgot to change out my bobbin and quilted an entire piece with washable thread! I now isolate it and have my bobbin marked to indicate that it is water soluble thread. In this case, it would not be appropriate as I am still auditioning the quilting design. If I applied water, the markings on the rest of the quilt would disappear.

  2. Love your new trial piece, Jenny. I like those straight radiating background lines. Sometimes simpler IS better. I often forget how much straight lines can enhance curves.

  3. RE: your quilt sample(s): I liked the fillers in the first go ’round — both the more obvious *and* the more subtle. Ah well…what do I know? I don’t do that same sort of work!

    As for the renos…well…I’m a “paint if needed” and “fix if needed” sort of person and have never renovated an entire room (let alone a *kitchen*) in my life — so again, what do I know?

    The most major renos I can remember being part of as an adult: removing carpet in much of our home in order to install laminate flooring so my DH could navigate his wheelchair from his bedroom, down the hall to the dining room, through the galley kitchen and down a ramp to the family room; installing a hydraulic system to lower him into and out of a bath tub; and installing a ramp that led from our front door down to the street. All renos after that have been mainly paint and repair. It just doesn’t seem to matter much any more.

    • Well flooring replacement, now that is painful! Moving all the stuff out of the way, having the mess and the sanding, then moving it all back….ugh! It must have made life so much easier once the laminate was put in. I didn’t hate the first go ’round of fillers, just felt like the linear fill was a better fit next to all the curvy stuff. I am looking forward to the final product, but I am not the type of person that enjoys the hunt for colors, finishes, etc. My expression for most shopping is “give me the epidural”, as in, wake me up when it’s done.

  5. That sure is an expensive 6″!! Looks like your fridge is locked and loaded for you family visit, enjoy.

    • Yes, it really is an expensive 6″, but it makes no sense to make this fabulous kitchen with this amazing range and bump butts every time you walk past the range. Sigh. And my frig is less full now! Happy times!

  6. I love the radiating lines! It looked like a whole new piece. I had to go back and look at it again.
    I got a new range and it had to replace a double oven because you can’t find them anymore. The whole wall behind the stove has to be done over so now we are getting new countertops, new backsplash and the garden window I always wanted. To save money my husband is refinishing the cabinets. But they are saying it is going to take 14-16 weeks to get the garden window!!! And that has to be done first. Oh, well. It all needed to be done.
    Have fun with the kids.

    • Thank you Sandy! Interesting that double ovens are going away. Space issues maybe? People cooking less? Funny how one thing leads to another and all of a sudden you’re practically redoing the whole house. 14 -16 weeks isn’t bad. I will have waited 13 months for my range! I hope all goes well.