Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Despite the fact that our snow is all gone and we are anxiously awaiting the first blooms of Spring I just had to share this amazing quilting inspiration with you; a friend of Anne's sent it to her and she has passed it along to me. It was too beautiful not to share.

Artist Simon Beck's love of winter provides an amazing medium for him to work in. Along the frozen lakes of Savoie in France he plods through the snowy countryside in snowshoes, creating sensational art.

Working anywhere from 5 to 9 hours a day, each piece is typically the size of three soccer fields!

His efforts result in stunning designs, sometimes with a three dimensional effect when viewed from higher levels. How long these magnificent geometric forms survive is totally weather dependent. Beck designs and redesigns the patterns as new snow falls, sometimes unable to finish a piece if there is significant overnight accumulation.

Problems with his feet started this creative journey. No longer able to run properly he turned to snowshoeing since plodding about on level ground proved much less painful and still provided him with a way of getting his exercise. Gradually, his interest in photographing these works has become the main reason for his efforts. Spectacular art for the sake of exercise.

I guess the real question for a quilter is, are they one- or two-colour quilts??...M

Duh....

You know how sometimes you just don't see the obvious? Well, that happened to me lately. I've been trying to figure out how large to make Martha's Star and what to do about borders, if anything. I've decided to make it 5 stars wide by 6 long and not put a border on it because I don't think it needs one, but also because the quilt will be plenty large without a border.

Anyway, I was on a bit of a roll making the red & white Irish Chain blocks when I came to the realization that if I wasn't putting a border on it then it would be best to end the half blocks in the centre of the block rather than two thirds of the way through, like I had been planning (like the two half blocks on the bottom right as compared to the block on the left - like my slippers?). I was bummed out about having to rip out a portion of about 14 blocks, but it was doable, so I undid one just to see how long it would take.

Then I went back to sewing full blocks, which was a good thing, because my brain had time to process things and I realized that rather than rip out what was already sewn I just need to make the existing 2/3 blocks into full blocks and make all new half blocks. No need to rip. Sheeesh! Amazing how your brain works sometimes (or doesn't!), isn't it? Anyway, I'm back at it, and sewing rather than ripping.

And, since it is going to be a big quilt me thinks that I'll need to make more stars before this is all finished too. I do like the way it is filling in though, don't you? Still targeting Easter for completion but that might just be completion of all the blocks and not necessarily having the top sewn together since I've just realized that Easter is NEXT weekend. Yikes!...M

Technical Difficulties and Signs of Spring

It was bound to happen. Just a matter of time. And last week it finally snapped. The ribbon on my scissors, that is. I like to keep a small pair of scissors on a ribbon around my neck when I am hand sewing because they are easier to find. I've had this salmon ribbon for years and loved both the colour and the weight of it. So when the ribbon finally broke (I believe that the initial fray was caused by an accidental snip...), I auditioned a few options that I had on hand but nothing seemed right.

That got me to thinking that maybe I'd go solo for a while and see how I liked it but I have to admit that I was finding it harder to keep track of those little scissors. So, when I was in a paper shop on the weekend it didn't take much to convince me that this gorgeous green and blue ribbon had to come home with me.

It is a little narrower, but isn't it just fabulous? Blue and green are a favourite combination and this ribbon is to die for - definitely the right colours to welcome Spring. I'm hoping that it is tough enough to stand up to a fair bit of handling, but if not, for a few bucks I will have enjoyed the unadulterated pleasure of having been able to use it, even if for just a little while.

And, as luck would have it, my new ironing board cover for the laundry room comes in the same colour combo, and is a lovely match for the wall colour. I broke it in ironing the latest block for the Candied Hexagon quilt, which brings my block count up to 60. Not much has been happening with that one for a while because I need to sit down and cut more diamonds and much of it is fussy cutting so I've been spending much of my time on Martha's Star and the Postage Stamp quilt.

The Gardener's Hand Scrub on the counter is just another sign that Spring is on its way. Soon it will be time to get into the dirt and clean up the beds but it won't be this week. After the incredibly great (but unseasonably warm) weather that we've enjoyed we are very much back to seasonal temperatures. Apparently only for this week though and then things will warm up again....M

Stars In My Eyes

Lately I've been doing daily trips to Ottawa but before I get into the car I try and fit in a bit of this...














And then some of this...

As a result, Martha's Star is really filling in nicely. Happy, happy, happy! (If you want to see a larger photo just click on it.)

I really do need to get a design wall so that I can get a better perspective and take better photos, but for now this will do. My sewing room also happens to be the one room in the house with no natural light so all the pics come up dark. Who did that planning???

I had hoped to have this top finished by the time the snow melted but Mother Nature has pulled a fast one this year and the past week to ten days have been incredibly warm, sunny and beautiful - mid summer weather rather than late winter/early spring - so the snow left us a few days ago. Oh well. Maybe I'll target Easter. Either way I'm really loving the way that this is coming along. I need to do some measurements to see what the final dimensions will be; I suspect that it will be 5 stars wide and 7 long, but we'll see. I have lots of star blocks so I might make up a second small quilt with just blue stars but I want to work on something brighter between then and now...M