The Paisley Bug

Turns out I'm not the only one with the Paisley Bug - Sharon has it too. (And unlike me, she actually does research!)


(Random paisley fabric above is from FreeSpirit's "Fleurish" line.)

Ooh! Sale!

Don'tcha love sales? Chronicle Books has 30% off everything (through Sunday), which means that both Sublime Stitching and Amy Butler's In Stitches are on sale. I may be buying both.

Added: Denyse Schmidt's book is in there, too, if there's anybody left in the quilt-blog world that hasn't bought it already. And when I started adding items to my cart, I found out that orders over $40 get free shipping.

(Found via the always-fun Daily Candy.)

Flash!

Protozone pattern
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I love little flash applications you can play around with, and this is a good one - it's not really terribly flexible but you can do some fun things with it. (Try hitting the red button - which I guess is Autodraw - and then switching back & forth between "repeat," "reflect" and "rotate.") Good for inspiration purposes!

(My brain immediately breaks into the Flash Gordon theme when I look at that title. Hope everybody else doesn't have the same problem!)

Water Quilt

Water Quilt: Reflections
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

The quilt above is from Mayfest. There's a link to the online show back an entry or two. (It bugs me not to give the maker credit, but that's guild policy. Go figure.) Added later: After a conversation with one of the guild members who was present for the discussion of the "picture policy" I am going to start posting names again. Apparently it was not their intent to keep people from posting names; that was my misinterpretation when I read it. (In my own defense, it's not very clearly written.) Quilt above made by Cyndy Martin (and the full name of it is "Water Quilt: Reflections").

In other news, I made a myspace profile for no good reason - it's here. Now will somebody tell me what to do with the thing, please? (I already had to delete one random guy that wanted to be my friend - possibly because your profile defaults to single. I did figure out how to fix that, at least!)

In other other news, I have enough subunits to finish the swap blocks, and I have three weekend days left to work on them. (Two Saturdays plus Monday of Labor Day, I'm figuring.) Hopefully it won't take that long, anyway! Then after that I have to finish whipping together my little leaf wallhanging, which also needs to be done very soon. Then maybe I can go back to normal quilting. I have promised myself not to start any more swaps until after such time as I make quilts out of the swap blocks I have already. That ought to keep me out of them for a good while!

Alexander Henry "Rose Tattoo" fabric

Alexander Henry "Rose Tattoo" fabric
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Hey, I posted an entry with no pictures yesterday, did anybody notice? Can't have that! So here's one of the fabrics I bought for your viewing pleasure. (I have no idea how these fabrics are going to fit into the Muertos quilt - I just thought they were awesomely cool, and they fit in with the ideas I have so well. They may end up being on the back.)

One reason I bought the two fabrics with the roses is because I realized I have to put red into this quilt. One of my grandmothers just adored red, and I can't see how I can do a quilt that's a tribute to my grandparents without having red in it. (I was originally thinking of a palette with really pure brights - that is, cyan/magenta/yellow - but I have already backed off of that.) I was talking about putting marigolds into it already, so I was thinking that I would just add a red flower to the mix occasionally. Red goes well with yellow/orange, anyway. So now I am thinking black background, yellow-orange-red flowers around the edge, and inside that, anything goes, as long as it's bright!

(No, I have no clear idea what's going in the middle yet. Pictures, and of course there has to be a skeleton in there someplace, this is Dia de los Muertos we're talking about. But exactly what it's going to look like? I'm not there yet.)

(More of my skull-print purchases here, here and here.)

Linkorama

Pictures from the European Patchwork Expo! (Lots of them!) (From Jerrianne.)

And that reminds me, the Mayfest Quilt Show gallery is online - here.

I added a link to the last entry, too, so it'd be with the picture - I found the patterns for that quilt online.


As far as the swap update - I concentrated on making subunits last weekend; I think I made enough for about 3 blocks. So that means if I can do that again next week, I will have enough to finish, and I'll just have to sew them together!

I've been buying fabric for the first time in a while - first I bought some Christmas fabric at Hobby lobby, then I bought retro Christmas fabric from Contemporary Cloth (which probably doesn't match the first fabric at all), then I bought skulls from Virginia Quilter (several different prints, actually). Everything I got is for specific projects, at least - I've stopped just buying stuff for my stash, I have quite enough in my stash as it is, thanks! - but I may have to make two Christmas quilts to reconcile the traditional fabric with the retro one. Oh well, you can never have enough Christmas quilts, right? (And at the moment I don't have any Christmas quilts, I gave the one I had away!)

Summer Rentals

Summer Rentals
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Martha Walker of Arizona; entered in the category Mixed Technique the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Added: QNM has posted foundation patterns for this quilt - here.

I have been slacking on the exchange blocks, and I'm running out of time. I have six more blocks to do and only 4 weeks or so to do them in - although there are a good many more subunits made than that. I have got to get seriously going this weekend - or else I'm going to have to break my custom and work on them at home. (What a concept.)

I have been doing some planning, and even a little bit of research, for the Day of the Dead quilt. I looked at several webpages about how it's celebrated in Mexico (rather than, you know, in Austin) and that gave me some ideas. For example, it's traditional to make floral arches out of marigolds, so I want to work marigolds into it somehow - I'm thinking either as an arch or some other kind of a surround for the quilt. I have no idea whether I'm talking applique flowers, or beaded flowers, or what, though.

In the Beginning "Julianna"

In the Beginning "Julianna"
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Oh, this fabric looks so much like something my mother would love. I'm going to have to track some down for her.