WIPocalypse 2015 - July 31 Blue Moon

August 3, 2015: Edited to add: This month's WIPocalypse topic is: "What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece?" My answer is: Practically nothing! I have some (four or five, I think)really long-standing WIPS/UFO pieces (decades, at least, not counting some backstiching on some needlepoint from even longer ago) and I just can't face them. My tastes have changed, mainly... So unless someone on a forum or blog I follow offers up a challenge to finish a certain number of UFOs in a certain period of time, I simply will not ever touch those again!

The question was changed and I didn't notice --- originally it was "It’s a blue moon today. Show us your favorite WIP that features a lot of blue!" And I answered in detail so I'm leaving it in the blog...That one was easy for meto answer because it seems like pretty nearly every big project I've been working on for the last several years is dominated by the same colors of blue, purple and green! Heck, once upon a time a long long time ago in Saudi Arabia, my quilting teacher told me that blue was probably my signature color as it appeared in nearly every quilt I pieced in her classes!

The two current WIPs in my project basket both have blue. "Save the Stitches" (which hasn't been touched since April 9, so if I'm not careful, it could turn into a UFO...) uses blue (and green) as the accent colors in several of the blocks. The thing is, the dominant color is the black blackwork stitchery so it isn't that obvious in photographs. But if you look closely at the blocks, especially the top right corner, you can see a little blue:

The "Roll Your Own" mandala series I'm working on, on the other hand, is blue, blue, blue. It's stitched on blue (and green and purple) overdyed fabric and uses several shades of blue (and green) floss inside the black mandala outlines:

And my crazy quilt pieces for 2015 have a lot of blue (and purple and green! LOL) in them as well:

Very fitting for a blue moon, don't you think?

In my last WIPOcalypse report, I said "my plan is to get caught up on Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal blocks (which means I have to cut and assemble a block for July and stitch on both June and July. Then, if time allows, I will probably take out "Roll Your Own Mandala" and get cracking on the second of the three "brats"."

Well, I finally lived up to my goals - almost! I 

• finished the June Crazy quilt/Bead Journal block
• assembled basic blocks for July, August and September's Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Projects
• finished the outline for "Jan" in the Roll Your Own mandala series and started on the colors (one down, eleven to go)
• started stitching on the July block

So this next month? Well, let's continue as we started - July and August Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal blocks and finish "Jan" in Roll Your Own!

Week Thirty, July 30, 2015, when it finally hit 90 degrees!

It's been super hot here--- we finally hit 90 (327 days since the last 90-or-above temperatures) but the worst of it was the humidity. Heat effect made it feel like triple digits! Shades of Saudi Arabia! Perfect weather to stay indoors and stitch. And I did just that (sort of --- other projects also took up some time)!

My stitching mojo is back! Not at full force, but back nonetheless. 

I got in work on two projects this past week: the crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project block and the "Roll Your Own Mandala"!

I started in on the fifth mandala on "Roll Your Own" while waiting for some time to get away to buy muslin backing for my crazy quilt blocks. I finished the outline during the week, and managed to get one color done and a second started!

On Tuesday, i laid out a grid, selected fabric and cut fabric for three months of crazy quilt blocks (July, August and September). I also selected some embellishments for July, which I hope to get stitching on tonight! Here are the three basic blocks:

July:

August:

September:

All the rain in June and July, to say nothing of the July heat, has made our daylilies bloom spectacularly. My little camera can't do the entire landscape justice but here's an attempt at the front garden:

Here's hoping August doesn't become the traditional "dog days"... I rather liked June and early July when 90 was a rarity...

Week Twenty-Nine, July 23, 2015

After completing my June block for the crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal Projects, I went to my stash to get out the new muslin I had ordered for foundation piecing... and discovered that it wasn't muslin! It was a quality fabric with a pattern, however faint, and I wasn't about to cut it up for foundations, no matter how desperate I was to get back on track! So I decided to pull out "Roll Your Own" again, and work on the outline for "Jan". Despite a few bouts of frogging due to tangled threads, I did make progress:

The last time I had touched this was April 9, 2015!

And today, I went to the quilt shop, bought some "real" muslin (and a few pastries from the coffee shop next door!) and came home to post this wrap-up. Hopefully I will squeeze in some block designing this afternoon, between stages in two papercrafting challenges, one ow which is due Wednesday and so HAS to be worked on...

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, July 17 - 19, 2015

I had great hopes for this weekend, but they were derailed by two wonderful movies on Saturday and horrendous heat/humidity all weekend. However, I did finally complete my June Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project for July. It’s supposed to be a representation of our three week road trip to Florida, Atlanta, North Carolina and West Virginia, visiting friends and indulging in daylily gardens. Silver charms represent each stat along a navy blue-and-white whipped chainstitch highway. Crystals mark the daylily conference in Atlanta and the visit to the Sight Different Nursery in North Carolina. while two fly stitch palm trees decorate Florida, I couldn’t come up with a motif to “celebrate” three days of car trouble in West Virginia, however…

Week Twenty-Eight, July 16, 2015

Another lazy week, this time because I was waiting for some charms to arrive in the mail! They finally came so I could plan out the “road Trip” part of the block, commemorating our three weeks traveling from Ohio to Florida and back through North Carolina and West Virginia. The charms represent each of our four destination states and the road is represented by a woven chain stitch in navy and white. Swarovsky crystals around the charms for Georgia (Atlanta) and North Carolina (Shelby) represent the dayilies that were the primary purpose of the trip (husband was attending the national conference of the American Hemerocallis Society):

Just a few more touches and this block will be completed! Then, on to July! 

I picked up a fabric bundle at quilt guild for our mid-summer “challenge” (making holiday placemats for Meals on Wheels), due in November. So that’s another project to add to the to-do list, along with laying out the Crazy Quilt/Bead Journal Project blocks for July (fabric arrived in the same mail for this), August and September. Hoping to get some fabric cutting done by the end of this coming week… Maybe this weekend’s International Hermit and Stitch Weekend will encourage me to get stitching!  Looks like cross-stitch is going to continue to languish…

Week Twenty-Seven, July 9, 2015

I was lazy this week, or I was trying to overcome throwing my lower back out while loading the dishwasher - take your pick! But I only stitched one night, on my June Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal piece. I got in three seam treatments, one with beads (an alternating beaded chain stitch):

Still have hopes to catch up, but so far, ambition not matching hopes.

WIPocalypse 2015 - July 2: Full Buck Moon

This month's topic is:  Reality or Fantasy. Which do you prefer to stitch? Figures or Abstract?

Well, I'm not exactly sure. I do a lot of stuff that clearly is what it purports to be but isn't exactly realistic, if you know what I mean. Lots of primitives (a la Prairie Schooler) and lots of "sketches" (al la Michael Powell), in other words. I also do a lot of samplers: traditional alphabet samplers aren't my favorites but I really like Quakers. And then there is blackwork, which really isn't realistic, is it, even if the subject matter is recognizeable. So I guess I'd have to vote for abstract even though I have done figures in the past.

Last month, my goal was basically unstated: "There are at least two (April or May and June) Crazy quilt/Bead Journal blocks to do and the ever lurking BAPS ("Save The Stitches" and "Roll Your Own Mandalas") calling to me from the WIP pile."

Well, I never got to either of those WIPs. But I did get in some stitching! I got in quite a bit on my traveling piece, "Palm Tree Elegance", getting all the leopard spots done and quite a bit of the terra cotta filler around them in the border (it is now put back into the traveling bag awaiting our next road trip).  I also assembled two Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project blocks (one each for April and June) and stitched (and completed) the blocks for April and May.  So that's something, I guess.

Next month, my plan is to get caught up on Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal blocks (which means I have to cut and assemble a block for July and stitch on both June and July. Then, if time allows, I will probably take out "Roll Your Own Mandala" and get cracking on the second of the three "brats".

Week Twenty-Six, July 2, 2015

I would have posted this on time for a change, but I had an eye appointment adn he dilated my eys which meant I couldn't focus well enough to read what I was typing! So, rather than burden you with ten times my normal typo count, I delayed until today when I could see again!

A pretty productive week, if I do say so myself.

In addition to assembling two blocks for the Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project:

 

I stitched and completed the blocks for April:

and May (which was started way back in late April, originally intended to be April, but which morphed into May on May 21:

I also stitched quite a bit of "Palm Tree Elegance", completing the dark brown leopard spots and getting roughly 1/3 of the terra cotta background in the border complete:

Hoping to catch up with the Crazy Quilt and Bead Journal pieces in the next week or two and get "Save the Stitches" and "Roll Your Own Mandala" out again. Meanwhile, my productivity was so low this year, I don't have anything to enter in the fair. Maybe just as well... it's pretty pricey to get things framed and to enter, only to hope to break even on entry fees. And winning just isn't enough to get me excited about entering. Maybe I'll change my mind next year but meanwhile, I'm just stitching for me!