A Colorful Thread: July 2020
Weaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life.
Best of Stitched in Color {July}
On My Mind
Experimenting:: with edge-to-edge quilting on diagonal.
Isn’t this a fun quilt? Nathalie P. sent it my way for quilting, and I was struck with the inspiration to run the quilting on diagonal. Yesterday I attempted to load the backing fabric onto my longarm machine on diagonal. Well friends, that does not work! The backing fabric kept stretching badly, since even woven fabrics stretch on the bias. Darn.
I had to load the backing fabric and quilt straight, as usual. Still, I had promised Nathalie diagonal quilting, so diagonal quilting she would get!
Quilting on diagonal with the quilt loaded straight was a much more time-consuming process than normal edge-to-edge quilting. Now I’ve learned that I can do diagonal quilting, but I’ll have to add an extra fee for that. Good to know.
Watching:: Stateless, a 6-episode Netflix series that brings to life the complex realities of refuge immigration. This series, based on true stories, is set in an immigration detention center in Australia. The viewer is invited to identify with personalities and motivations on every side of the story. It certainly fosters more compassion for all those involved. I was also moved to research refuge procedures in The Netherlands.
Sponsor of the Week
Quilt Sandwich
Now stocking Paintbrush Studio solids! These are the solids I used for the quilts currently on Aria and Elora’s bed. They still look and feel lovely after lots of use and many washes. Here are some pretty stacks of Painter’s Palette Solids, created by Quilt Sandwich. Yum.
And did you know that Aurifil threads + Painter’s Palette solids coordinate? Yep, you can use this chart to order solids and matching threads with confidence.
Following:: Ingrid @LeukGemaakt. Ingrid is a Dutch vlogger who sews and crochets in glorious color. She makes quite a variety of lovely things, but bags seem to be her speciality. You can even purchase her project bags to hold your in-progress creations.
Anticipating:: A warm weekend! Today will be the warmest we’ve seen yet this summer, with a high of 31 Celsius/ 88 Fahrenheit. Maybe we’ll go to the lake or splash around in our neighbor’s pool. Overall our summer has been rather cool, with most days in the low 70’s. It’s nice to have a few days of real summer weather before we tuck into fall come September.
I feel like this year has been rushing along. I can hardly believe we’ve already had 7 months of 2020. I’m more tuned into the news than ever before and feeling stretched emotionally with all the happening, both for my close friends and the wider world.
Meanwhile, Brandon and I are feeling the strain of transporting Elora by bike to her far-away new school. It’s been a fabulous change for her, but it’s a lot for us both physically and mentally. Over the last month we’ve been seriously looking at moving to be closer to her school, but there are hardly any houses on the market. In fact, zero new house were added to the market in the last month, that fit our criteria. Yikes! So, a move may not be actually possible.
This may be one of those times in the wider world and in my life, where looking too closely toward the uncertain future is just too much. Sometimes it’s better to focus on the day before us. I can be thankful that I can do today. I have a lovely life to live today. And, today, I have much for which to be grateful.
xo,
Rachel
