Purple Power

I recently got another special order, this one a baby quilt for a childhood friend's first granddaughter. She asked for a pink flower quilt like I made for my neighbors down the street when they had their second baby girl. I actually have another Spoonflower panel similar to the first I haven't used yet, but I'm almost out of pink stash for the backing and binding!

When I dug out the second of three pink flower panels, which I designed with flowers from my garden, I wondered why I haven't done a purple flower panel. I don't think I'll ever run out of purple stash!!! I would have plenty of backing fabrics and scraps for a purple flower quilt!

So I made a new collage with my purple flowers. My friend's granddaughter still gets a pink flower quilt. But one day I'll be able to make another garden flower quilt to use up some of my purple stash, and I'm excited at the prospect.

I made a small version, too, because I thought the purple would look awesome in a dress. Then I saw an advertisement with flowers swirling from the bottom of the skirt diagonally up into the bodice. Back when I was in high school, I used to design dresses while I was working the graveyard shift for my parents' answering service. One of my favorite designs would feature my own embroidered butterflies swirling from the bottom of the skirt diagonally up into the bodice and completely covering the sleeve. Somewhere in my basement is one of those envelopes of 100 butterfly embroidery designs from the '70s because I always intended to make that dress one day. Somewhere in my basement is a book of 1,000 embroidery designs, with a whole chapter of butterfly designs.

I got this crazy idea to make yet another purple flower fabric panel with flowers from my garden along the bottom of the skirt and going up to the waist. It took longer to create this new collage with the flowers properly placed on the fabric than it took to do the entire first collage. I still don't know if I lined everything up right. But I ordered two yards so I can see how far off I am. And to make a dress, or a skirt if there's not enough fabric to make the dress. Now I just have to wait for the fabric to arrive. And I guess, the time to sew...

I asked AI to create such a dress (because my photoshopped mockup is so amateur; I could have drawn a better rendering!!!) so I could have an awesome image to help illustrate this blog post, and I accidentally forgot to specify I didn't want a video. The accidental result is so entertaining, I have to share it here!

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Blue Me Away

(affiliate links to my designs)

I think it's been a long time since I created any new Spoonflower fabric. Kind of fitting, I guess, since I haven't had time to sew anyway. And I already have so many Spoonflower cheater panels in my stash I haven't even begun to put together as quilts yet.

I did finish a new floral Spoonflower cheater panel AND baby quilt last year for my then newest little neighbor. I incorporated photos of pink flowers in my garden. I've wanted to create a similar quilt top using my blue flowers ever since.

I tried my hand at a blue flower collage back in 2017, and I had a couple of yards printed by Spoonflower. I thought it might look cool as a dress or skirt, though. Not a quilt. Haven't finished that project yet either. Perhaps that yardage now can become the quilt back to go with my newest Blue Heaven cheater panel, once I'm able to get it printed.

I wanted to jump for joy when I finally finished my newest panel. It has many more flower photos than my previous flower fabrics. I think the blue flower collection will make a stunning quilt. I get so excited every single time I look at it. My chicory is in full bloom right now, and I think it's just about the prettiest shade in my garden. Of course, I would say that about my delphiniums, too, if they were blooming right now!

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Too Many Choices

I looked it up. I cut this dress out on February 9. I thought it had been a month or so earlier. I'm pleased to discover it didn't take quite as long as I'd thought!

Six and a half weeks later, I wore this dress for the first time. I absolutely love it. And I've got a sort of companion dress to go with it, to hopefully prevent this one from becoming too worn out too quickly and to provide a tiny bit of variety for my Sunday school class so they aren't left wondering if I own only one dress. :)

I bought four yards of Kaffe Fassett Collective Blue Tropical Water Lillies back in September of 2023. I didn't even wait for it to go on sale. I loved it so much, I wanted a dress, a whole dress, I could wear to work. (choke, choke, but that's a blog post for another day) And that was my original intention. When I cut out the dress parts (mistakenly believing I could wear the finished dress to church that very day), I cut all six major pieces from my Kaffe yardage. I cut pockets and linings from solid leftovers that sort of harmonize.

Caregiver duties ensued, and no sewing got done that day. Or the next 14-15 days, for that matter. Good thing, too. By the time I finally did sit down to the sewing machine, I'd decided to split the pattern pieces into two different dresses. I'd use one stash solid for the bodice of the first dress, and another stash solid for the skirt for the second.

If I'd had more than one yard of my hyacinth Grunge, I'd have used it for both dresses. The two fabrics go together so beautifully! Perhaps it's good I didn't have enough of any stash solid to cut a matching skirt and a bodice. The two dresses would have been so similar, it might look like I was wearing the same dress every Sunday.

When I finally sat down to sew the last full week of March, I'd decided to cut out one of the leftover flowers to create an appliqué for the Grunge front bodice. I remember thinking at the time the flowers were dahlias. That was meaningful for me because I'd decided I'm not going to invest in dahlias for my garden this year. They are too disappointing at my altitude and in my climate. Having a dahlia dress sort of makes up for the garden sacrifice. Now I find out the "dahlias" are instead water lilies...

I wished I'd had enough hyacinth Grunge for the sleeves. But flowery sleeves will do.

Actual combined sewing time for the first dress was less than three hours, with the appliqué taking up the lion's share of that time. The rest of the dress was so darned fast, I feel ashamed it took me so long to finish it. This pattern is easily a one-sitting project. Unless the seamstress is loaded up with a plethora of duties that take priority...

When I first cut the dress fabric, I modified the bodice from empire to princess cut, adding about four inches in length. I forgot to adjust the skirt and wound up slicing off three inches along the bottom once the dress was assembled.

When I first decided to make two dresses instead of one, I wanted them to be different enough that they didn't look like twins. Ultimately, I didn't have enough of any of my Grunge stash for a skirt, much less sleeves, and I didn't want to do floral sleeves on both dresses. I had plenty of denim-look fabrics, and plenty of yardage to boot. I decided to go sleeveless on the second dress.

While cutting out the skirt for the second dress, I suddenly became bored with way too much solid. I wondered what the dress might look like if I stuck a vertical stripe in the front of the skirt...

And then I got REALLY crazy. What if I did some quilt blocks in a stripe down the front of the skirt using leftovers of both fabrics... If I don't like the stripe, I can always make a quilt...

So maybe this second dress will get finished in the next two months, or maybe a bunch of quilt blocks will be crafted... Or both... :)

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Pins and Needles

(affiliate links to my designs)

I'm publishing this blog post at 4:30 a.m.; the winners of Spoonflower's Winter Holiday Patchwork design contest will be announced in three and a half hours. I'll update this when results are announced, but I have to say, I'm so tickled with all the support I received, even if I don't break the top ten. Back in 2017, my Ocean Hexies design was hearted 38 times. As of the end of voting on Tuesday, my (half year) 2024 all-blue digital snowflake temperature quilt had been hearted 55 times. You guys are awesome!!!

Oh, well; it was fun!

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Contest!

Back in 2017, I entered my first (and only) Spoonflower challenge design. I knew I didn't win anything, but I had no idea I got so many votes until I entered my second challenge entry this week! I was 73rd of 9,996 entries!!!

(I still haven't made the swimsuit I intended to create from my Hexie Madness fabric, but I'm hoping some upcoming changes in my life will open up some new free time I can devote to my sewing machine...)

Now I've gone and done it again! I finally entered another Spoonflower challenge because I actually have a new design that fits a contest theme!!!

Voting for the Winter Holiday Patchwork contest will commence July 4 and last through July 16. I would truly appreciate your vote, if you like my design. I will share the voting link as soon as it becomes available.

This is my all-blue 2024 Digital Snowflake Temperature Quilt, representing just the first half of this year. I love the eclipse and Northern Lights snowflakes! I'm still thinking this fabric might make a great dress or coat, but I also love this design idea so much, I might actually appliqué, piece and quilt from real crocheted snowflakes and real batiks one day.

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A Whole New Fab

(affiliate links to my designs)

Spoonflower had another fat quarter sale, so I had to make some new fat quarters.

I'd made a valentine card with six weeks of heartflakes on pink in digital temperature quilt style.

If I made the blocks three inches wide, I would need only a handful more to complete a fat quarter panel.

The pink version turned out so well, I decided I should do the same thing with the blue digital snowflake temperature quilt blocks I've been doing each day this year to see how an all-blue temperature quilt would look. I LOVE IT!!!

I most definitely will crochet a blue temperature project one day using my own hand-dyed blues. Yes, I have enough, and now that I know I don't want to use up all my hand-dyed thread, I don't have to ration my hand-dyeing anymore. I just have to make time. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Gosh, I made the coolest greeting card, too. I could do a whole series of these and never get tired of them.

I cannot wait to begin sewing these new fat quarters. I might have to add them to last year's digital snowflake patchwork fat quarters for perhaps another quilted jacket!!! I would have the coolest jacket in the galaxy!

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Better than Resolutions

Now that I've freed myself of completing another daily year-long temperature crochet project (or actual fabric temperature quilt), I'm free to set new goals for 2024. I'm not one who shies away from resolutions, and generally, I can keep resolutions I make. Nevertheless, I have a few (self-imposed) obligations in the coming year, and one is coming up a bit too quickly.

I have set resolutions for Lizard, all with his approval. Nothing new; I've been trying to encourage him in these goals for the last six to eight or so months. I hope to get him walking at least once a day again, and we can work up to that at his pace. I am trying to get him to do his LOUD therapy every day. That one is a bit harder for both of us (for me because it's very difficult to enforce while I'm working, and that's his best time for doing it), but I won't give up. I want him to color or do some other finger therapy at least three times per week. He's been doing once or twice a week for going on two weeks now, and that's SO encouraging for me. I'm hoping he will be able to get back on his bike. Whatever he can do will be amazing. He wants to get back into his Parkinson's stretching routine on a daily basis. He was unable for nearly six weeks, so the one time per week he is achieving right now is an AWESOME accomplishment.

My one resolution this year (other than trying to get back into an exercise routine and lose a bit of weight) is to get back to sewing. I've missed it SO much. I was tempted to say SEW much! I have a ton of mending that needs to be done, I have fabric for dresses I can't wait to wear, one of my bosses is getting married in just eight weeks, and I'm going to be an aunt again twice this year. I have established contact with three more of my adopted kids' adopted kids (just three more to go!!!), and they need grandma quilts. And, one of the adoptive families to whom I have become "grandma" has adopted three more kids. They need quilts from their new grandma.

As a result, my goal this year is to finish nine baby/kid quilts. I really hope to finish a quilt for my soon-to-be-wed boss. I have yet to even pick a pattern for what was supposed to be my mother-i-law's quilt for Christmas in 2022. I also would like to finish one or two of the UFO quilts I've been trying to finish for more than a decade.

I would really love to work on my Moda Blockheads quilt from 2018-2019. That involves crochet as well as piecing, quilting and binding. Part two of the current Blockhead project just started up, and I'd really like to finish off one of my existing blocks each week of the current Blockheads. I don't know if that's a doable goal (didn't get one done last week), but hopefully I can at least make a bit of progress on what I think will be a stunning quilt when done.

I designed my 800th snowflake late last year. I guess I have a goal now of 1,000. I don't know if I can make it that far. However, especially during times of crisis, I've discovered snowflake crochet is my solace. My goal for this year is a new snowflake each week (or finishing up the pattern for one of my unpublished patterns in my shrinking stash).

Because my ability to complete an actual Block a Day quilt is impacted by Lizard's health struggles, I instead would like to design a new crochet snowflake design each day I am able. I would LOVE to do a Flake a Day, but I know I cannot reach that goal in our current circumstances. If I give myself wiggle room and don't put as much pressure on myself, my Flake A Day When I Can project can stay fun, and hopefully I won't get discouraged if I get too far behind. I have all these wonderful snowflake photography books (plus my own snowflake photos), and I'd love to be able to pick one photograph each day I'm able and create a crocheted version. We're already on Day 9, and I've started only one. So, as I said, I've got to keep this fun and not put too much pressure on myself. Just do what I can when I can.

Goal setting for me is fun and motivating, as long as I keep my expectations realistic. I can't set goals like Ride the Rockies anymore, and I doubt I will get any more 14ers. But that doesn't mean life can't be rich and rewarding. I made myself so proud last year with my digital snowflake temperature quilt. My goals this year are to keep caregiving, and to keep creating, even if I can't create every single day. The end goal is a smile at work well done, and I think I can do that!

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