Yes, the umbrellas are continuing to take up all my free time and I can easily say that I've become addicted. It's been so long that I've done this much hand work its so much fun albeit slow....I mean really....slow....so slow that I've only gotten about 12 blocks done. Still the collection is starting to shape up!! I have really love playing the pattern and color. Some umbrellas make bold in your face
statements while others have soft edges that kinda just melt into the background. Funny how this little block becomes an exercise in value and color.
I decided to do each individual block at a time that way I don't get sick of doing them. It's taken a while but my fingers are remembering all my many hours of hand applique. It's gotta be over 15 yrs since I did any real applique even though I really love it. I absolutely LOVE using my collection of Bottom Line bobbin because it does work amazing on making the stitches sink in. Not to mention I have a TON of Bottom Line that I don't use often enough.
Speaking of which....that brings up a topic that came to mind while I was stitching....
Guilty Pleasures!!
Everyone has them and this week mine really showed themselves.
CHILDREN'S MUSIC!
I love children's music. I became addicted when we listened to XMKids every morning during our school commute. The more I think on the quilt design, the more I want to base it on one of my favorites...It's Mary Kaye's Rain. (Take a listen - its less than 2 min) Listening to the song again....also reminded me that I always wanted a good pair of rainboots. I bought those too since they were on sale !
Anyways....I decided I'm going to design this quilt as I go basing it on the song...and since Rebecca Grace is exactly right....I will show all the ups and down of the design process. Also this song is on my spotify Playlist.... Kid's Music Adults love too! in case anybody has kids in their lives!
ROMANCE NOVELS!
So what has kept me going through all this hand stitching??? I rediscovered romance novels where the girl always has great sex and gets her man in the end. I haven't read them in so long, it's like revisiting a long lost friend. I ended up getting Audible Escape so I could listen to some of the older romances I loved (a lot of the romances today are just a bit too wild for my tame self). Don't get me wrong, most are ridiculous but they make me smile and what more can you want during a global pandemic?
FABRIC COLLECTIONS!
If you let me I would buy every print of my favorite fabric collections in every colorway. I'm not quite sure if this obsession with the Umbrella quilt is because I love the handwork or it gives me an excuse to play with Sue Daley's Abbie collection! It took a while but I tracked down another set of fat quarters plus yardage of some of the other prints so I have plenty to work with. I'm quite sure I won't NEED all of this ...but I WANTED it all! Not to mention I want ALL the colors of my favorite thread collections
(hence my TON of the bottom line thread!)
Normally, I live a pretty discipline life but this week it seemed all my guilty pleasures collided!!
Okay 'Fess Up....WHAT ARE YOUR GUILTY PLEASURES!?!?!?!?!
8 comments:
Your umbrellas are so cute!
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
I always love a good simple romance - sometimes there is a little mystery thrown in, or it is just plain stupid, but I like them!
Those umbrellas are so cool! I love the variation in contrast and colors after my own heart. I also like kids music- my favorite is the uninvited parade by Sandra Boynton, (and the redux), cracks me up everytime I hear it.
I understand the Bottom Line issue. I have every color and it's used as bobbin thread, applique thread and quilting thread as needed. Love it.
I'm tempted to get every thread in the Bottom Line collection. Haven't caved yet. I did fill in a few missing hues and values recently. Like you, I love it for hand stitching as well as in the bobbin. My guilty pleasures are two fold, mysteries and chocolate chips. I always have an audio book I'm working my way through. Listen to two or three a week. Since I listen to them as I get dressed in the morning and undressed at night and of course in the studio, my husband catches snatches of each book. He loves hearing the body count. Mysteries should include at least one dead body in the first chapter.
Nothing like small patterned fabric to remind me you of how value with fabric can be tricky. The fact that there is little contrast between the umbrellas and the background, gives an overcast, drizzly day effect.
Your umbrella quilt is utterly charming and I love that soft color palette.
Okay, I need to immediately get business cards printed up that say "Rebecca Grace is Exactly Right." And mugs. And T-shirts, especially in size men's Large for my teenaged sons, and size XL Tall for my husband. Ooh, and my MOTHER and my SISTERS need this shirt, too... Do you think I could get my pastor to wear one?!
That fantasy that I just shared with you was a guilty pleasure.
Other guilty pleasures? Hmmm... Thread, long arm rulers, sewing machines and sergers... Overflowing mending basket where ripped garments languish until their wearers have outgrown them, or they go out of style, and then and ONLY then does anything come out of that basket. It is like the Black Hole of the sewing room. My husband has asked me to mend or darn things before, and I have LIED to him "Oh, I don't have the Bernina Mending Attachment. I think it costs a thousand dollars." He probably knows this is a lie, but I'm sure it's still a wicked sin.
I'm loving your umbrellas, and your rain boots, and your love of children's music! We used to listen to the kids' channel on Sirius XM when my kids were younger, and I still have a couple of those songs in my phone playlist. I love "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" by Kristen Andreassen, and "I Think I'm a Bunny" by Todd McHatton. :-).
Guilty pleasure? I read cozy mysteries every single night. The best ones have yummy recipes at the end for food that was mentioned in the story.
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