Winter Blues & Winter Reds!

Karen made her Winter Blues quilt in gorgeous reds!

It was the first thing I opened in my email this morning and it just knocked my socks off!

How perfect for valentine's day and beyond! She writes:

"I wanted to show you my latest finish - Winter Blues (in red).  I LOVE it!  Thank you for the wonderful pattern.

I added 4 additional columns to make it more of a king size. 

I love so many things about this quilt. I really like the small pieces, I love a quilt with “lines” that go through it, two color and the fact that the only fabric I had to buy was the white inner border.  

The red interior fabric was all done with strips that I had leftover from some quilts I made a few years ago. The outer red border was cut from strips from my scrap user system and the white was either from strips already cut or ones that I cut from fat quarters that I had.

I hope you stay safe with the storms that are in your area and I hope that you don’t lose power!  Enjoy having the time to create.

Thanks again,
Karen"

Karen, this is just phenomenal!  And I know how much time went into making these precious little blocks with all of the little pieces!

I simply love a two-color quilt - and it is easy to switch out the light/dark colors for wherever your fancy leads you.

You are not limited to the colors in the pattern. Just remember to keep the enough contrast between what you choose as your light and your dark.

I would also add to watch the scale of the print on the fabrics - remember - the smaller the piecing, the greater the contrast needs to be, not only in the value between the colors, but also the size of the prints. A big green leaf on your red fabric may show up just as GREEN instead of red when you cut it up.

I know you know what I am talking about!

Have you thought of making Winter Blues in a different color way? or perhaps scrappy everything with a neutral background?

Becky's in Blue!

"Wonderful ..love the sashing..I'm doing winter blues..Halfway done..need to add the finished rows and then do the other side..then Scrap Crystals is on my list..if I have any blues left..lol."

This is just wonderful, Becky!  And I love that aqua machine - whoowhoooo!

Before I go on to my day yesterday, I want to remind everyone of the Zoom Meet with the Iowa Quilt Museum TODAY at NOON Central time.

To Join the Zoom meeting, click on the following link, or type the Meeting ID into Zoom:

https://zoom.us/j/94395735155
Meeting ID: 943 9573 5155

We will use the SAME meeting link for ALL of our Virtual Iowa Quiltscape sessions – each Tuesday at Twelve. If you have questions about how to join the Zoom meeting, email or call us—director@IowaQuiltMuseum.org or 515-462-5988.

I haven't done any LIVE video streaming for a while - my internet just hasn't been strong enough.  But we are going to give it a try today - so join me!

I'll be talking about string quilts, of course!

Emerald City Under Glass!

Serpentine Web

Straits of Mackinac

All found in String Frenzy!

My thanks to Paula Thomas who visited the Iowa Quilt Museum in person last week and sent me the photos!

This is what weather is doing around here!

While we have snow guards on the cabin roof, this is the hubster's man shed.  That snow curtain just grew and grew and grew until it finally came crashing down!

This has been an incredible winter for snow - and it isn't over yet.  Temps are severely cold, but it sure is beautiful!

And yes, we will have a celebration when I finally get to park at the top of my drive again.  For now, I'm being shuttled back and forth to where I've parked just a bit down the road from where our 1/4 mile drive heads up the mountain.

Second coat went on last night!

Watching snow curtains grow is about as exciting as watching us add a second coat of cream paint to the storage closet walls! LOL!

But, after this, the tape comes down, the ceiling gets a coat, the trim is to be touched up just a bit, and hopefully by weekend I'll be moving my shelving units back in here and get all of the linens and supplies organized.

And I'm excited about it!  Even if it is about as mundane as watching snow curtains grow or paint dry.

Evening snuggles while mom quilts!

It was after 7pm before we finally rolled back home - neither of us had thought of dinner so we simply doctored up a frozen pizza, cooked it on our Pizzazz (What/ You don't have one? YOU NEED ONE! It makes the best pizza!) and settled in for a round of Everwoord and CSI Miami,

Of course, Ivy has to be right in the middle of everything, usually right ON my legs.  Which makes quilting difficult.

Isn't that hand quilting texture just great?

I know it is taking forever. But hand stitching in the evenings is the most relaxing thing for me - I'd be sitting here anyway, so I may as well stitch, no matter how long it takes!

Along with my busy time getting ready for the Iowa Quilt Museum zoom meet, I've got a drive to town for a Chiropractor appointment this afternoon.

In between times I'm still plugging away at those Snail Trail blocks at the Quiltville Post Office Studio. I counted blocks done last night.  I'm about 2/3 done.  There is still a long way to go.  I can't tell if the pile of small hunks, chunks and cut off triangles is going down that much - but let's just say it's a good thing I love making these blocks!

I hope to get more made today!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Don't throw in the towel!⁣

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If the project seems overwhelming, see if you can break it down into smaller units and parts!

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What seems impossible can be made possible when we take it one step at a time!

That applies to the hand quilting of my hexie quilt, and of this Snail's Trial project that continues on, one block at a time!

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!