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Tuesday 10 July 2012

Summer Ain't for Sissies

It's HOT.  Like - HOT to the point that the kids come back in at 9 am after five minutes outside because it is unbearable.  It's nearly 40C with the humidex for a week or more, and not a cloud in the sky.  If you can't find shade, you will fry.  I went for a drive to get slurpees, and there was no one on the sidewalks.  The parks and front yards were empty.  Only the super-tough would run or bike in this weather.  So... I'm enjoying the afternoon full-on shade trees and the sprinkler in the back yard... and the air conditioner of course.  But enough about the weather.  I have managed to get some work done over the weekend.  Here, I've added cream & purple seed stitches with a hand dyed silk.  I love the texture it gives!

stitch, stitch, stitch... lots of seed stitches done by hand

I like the variety of cotton, silk, and rayon. I can't tell you how liberating it is to have any color I need at my fingertips.   (Again... thanks to Margot & Jane!).

detail of "On Floral Road"

I've also been putting in hours and hours on my cousin's memory quilt.  It's made completely out of shirts and pants.  Nearly everything had to be interfaced with an iron (again - yay for air conditioning!).  And then nearly 150 blocks for this big queen sized quilt are being trimmed perfectly to size before we decide on a layout & I can piece it.

Arron's clothing on the way to becoming a quilt for his mother.

It's a much bigger and more time consuming project than I had anticipated.  I am used to pre-cut squares and speed-piecing.  This is different.  It took me three hours to trim half the squares.  I can't image 'the olden days' when this was done with a pair of scissors.  Then again... there didn't seem to be many perfectly intersecting seams back then.  Half of the squares for this memory quilt are black or charcoal.  I think this would look fabulous with big-stitch hand quilting... maybe that royal blue?  That will really pull it all together I think.

One more thing... If you would like to stop by The Needle & Thread Network, another fine Canadian Blogger has been featured.  Why not go have a read and leave her a hello!? : )  I'm linking to WIP wednesday there...

Have a great day!

10 comments:

HollyM said...

It's lovely, Monika! Nice to have all those colors and the variegation adds to the work. Speaking of colors, I've finally gotten around to putting my thread away. Would you believe it's almost all colors I didn't have? It's wonderful, thanks again!

Mary Ann Tate said...

Beautiful details....those little touches make such a difference. Really lovely.

Dolores said...

WElcome to the weather we had last week. We just sent it west.
BTW, once upon a time quilts were cut with scissors after having the pieces drawn with a template (I still do the odd quilt that way.) They even hand sewed the pieces and there were many quilters that matched their seams and took them apart if they weren't perfect. I have seen many 'New' quilts where the seams don't match up only because the maker was in a hurry to get it done and didn't care. The rotary cutter is a time saver but it's the person behind the making of the quilt that makes sure it's done right.

Threadpainter said...

Is it very Canadian to have heat like this ? Give me some snow ! lol !

What Comes Next? said...

love the colours and textures from your threads and stitches - beautiful as ever. Good luck with your quilt project!

Sheila said...

Your newest work in progress is beautiful , lots of texture and lovely color. Good luck with the quilt sounds challenging.

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

Great work as always Monika....I admire you; really. Fantastic things you do with thread.

CitricSugar said...

All hail the inventor of the air conditioner... I've been hiding.

That quilt is going to be so special! I have one using old jeans and cords that I hand-quilted - the big stitches work really well with the texture of trousers.

rtquilter said...

Lovely, lovely work, Monika. I love the wildflowers and you have captured their essence beautifully.

Regina said...

Your heat wave makes me doubly glad to live where it rarely gets so hot - on the other hand I don't get any sewing done......

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