MOVED!! (but not yet settled) . . .

This past weekend, Ed and I moved into our new home. It is a 3-story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse. For the past month, we've been packing boxes (or, repacking boxes we hadn't opened in years). Last week, I took a week vacation: three days leading up to the move; the move; then, three days after the move.

The movers removed the front door for ease of moving, and leaned it against the porch. The door fell over, shattering the glass (so much for sneaking out on the landlords, lol). The moving company will replace the glass, but the glass company won't even come to measure the door until next Monday; the glass won't arrive until the following week. In the interim, I've stapled a shower curtain over the opening (it LOOKS like glass, at least).

There's just a carload or two of small things that weren't packed in time for the movers to transport to the new place. Then, I'll put the keys in an envelope with a list of the defects the landlords need to address before attempting to rent the apartment to others, and drop the envelope in the landlords' mail slot. I'll call and leave a message on their voicemail (I ALWAYS get their voicemail) telling them we've moved and the situation with the front door. Then it's "bye, bye slumlords."

The BEST news about the new place is my new studio: I get the entire third floor . . . it's one, big room (15' x 30'). I have room to set up my 4' x 8' worktable (which spent the last three years propped along a wall because the movers couldn't get the table top up to my old studio). I have room to set up a separate dyeing area. There's a great closet for storage. My sewing machine will set between two windows with an eastern exposure (ah, to sew and watch the sun come up).

I would have taken a picture of the new studio, but I packed the camera . . .


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Updated Male Qulters list . . .

A long time ago (or, so it seems), I wrote a post listing other male quilters like myself with an internet presence . . .

I've spent the better part of the day updating that list, adding new quilters, checking links, and so on . . .

I invite you to take a look (or another look) at Male Quilters with an Internet Presence . . .


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Blocks for the Global Quilt Project . . .

Here, in no certain order, are the seven blocks I'm donating to the Global Quilt Project:








The blocks were fun and easy to make, but mind you, I had stacks of the different shapes in different colors already cut and ready-to-sew. In fact, sewing the blocks inspired me to write several future blog posts (but, you'll have to wait to see 'em).

The blocks above are going out in today's mail . . . Amy at GlobalChange.me says going to check the mail is like Christmas every day . . . I can well imagine it is!!


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. . . what was I thinking??

I no sooner pressed "Publish" for my last blog post when I was struck by two flashes of insight. I didn't like the "haphazard" look of the first block I made, but I LIKE the "ordered scrappiness" of these blocks. The first four blocks used 90 degree rotations but I hadn't looked at 180 degree rotations (there are a few more variations to take a look at).

Here's variation 5, with all four patches facing the same direction:



Here's variation 6, with the lower two patches rotated 180 degrees:



Here's variation 7, with the left two patches facing upright and the right two patches rotated 180 degrees:



Here's variation 8, with the upper left and lower right patches facing upright and the upper right and lower left patches rotated 180 degrees:




Thank you for bearing with me during my absence . . . it feels good to be back.

Blocks for the Global Quilt . . .

Last time I posted (has it really been nearly a month??), I told you I had offered to make two quilt blocks for the Global Quilt Project . . .

Well, I got to work on them this weekend.

Since I only sew blocks using my design tile, and since I'm sure the block would not match anything else sent in, I went for a "scrappy" look, with only one piece all the same color throughout. This is what I came up with . . .


I kinda liked the orange star in the center of the block, but I wasn't all that happy with the "scrappy" bits (they looked too "haphazard"). I wondered what the block would look like if I maintained consistent colors for each shape throughout, so I made another four patches. Placed together, they look like this . . .



Now, if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise, they look like this . . .



And if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise, they look like this . . .



And if I rotate all the patches 90 degrees clockwise yet again, they look like this . . .



Which variation(s) do YOU like??

Now, you may know how I am about "pre-coloring" patches--I'm against it. I feel that shapes that adjoin from patch to patch really should be the same color, which you can't always maintain when you color the patches first, then put them together. So, looking at these four designs I see I can color the first and third variations with only four colors; I can color the second and fourth variations with six colors.

I'm off to the fabric store this evening . . .