March 2, 2023: New blocks; Quilt Con thoughts; traveling!

Greetings dear readers! I’ve been busy making block’s for the basket quilt and the log cabin, as well as doing some hand quilting. Here are my 8 new baskets:

I have 88 baskets, 10 more to go before arranging them and starting to sew them together. I think there will be a narrow green sashing.

The latest 4 log cabin blocks:

I played around one day with a pinwheel arrangement for some of the blocks (upper right corner):

I decided I didn’t like it as much as the “sunshine and shadows” arrangement so changed it back. Before sewing any blocks together, I’ll likely play some more before making a final decision.

I continue to purge, clean, and organize, bit by bit. My needles had been scattered in several places. I organized them into 2 plastic boxes, each 6 X 7 inches, 2 inches high. The one with my hand quilting needles also has my thimbles and cots I use for pulling thread:

I don’t think I need to buy another needle as long as I live!😊

This week on Instagram, I’ve been looking at a lot of quilts from the Quilt Con show. I also looked at the photos of all the winners on the web site of the Modern Quilt Guild. Luana Rubin from equilter.com also posted dozens of excellent photos from the show. Go to any of these places to see some interesting quilts! As a pretty dedicated traditional quilter, I have mixed feelings about “modern” quilts. Some are wonderful and some leave me cold, but I think that’s true of traditional quilts as well. I have a love affair with printed fabrics and love figuring out how to combine them and show them off, but a majority of modern quilts use solids, significantly upping the importance of the design. I’m not necessarily saying there’s anything wrong with that. There were lots of quilts with Big Stitch hand quilting – which is good!! – but I’m not sure I saw any quilts with “traditional” hand quilting. Is the latter skill devalued and dying out? When is a quilt an “art quilt” rather than a “modern” one? I would love to have been at the show to see the workmanship up close. I’m very against the ideal of perfectionism and feel that it, rather than design and visual impact, has been too emphasized by judges in the past so have been happy to see the pendulum swing away from it recently. However, the pendulum could go too far. I have seen erratic quilting lines and visible thread nests called “organic”. Is this OK? In general I like the “big tent” of quilting that holds us all. Those are some of my thoughts! Feel free to let me know what you think!

It’s been either snowing or raining here almost every day for a week now. The snow is always lovely, but Al is tired of all the shoveling and snow blowing 🙁. The view from a window in my sewing room at sunrise:

Later with the sun out:

The snow on branches is pretty:

On my walk yesterday, the elk were running across the field – a sight not often seen:

I will probably take a break from blogging next week because we are traveling – to Costa Rica! Our first flight and first international trip since the pandemic. What a great way to escape from the ice and snow. I’m so looking forward to exploring the exotic landscape and wildlife and not having to wear numerous layers of clothes. We get back late on the 15th if all goes well. It will be less than a week till spring at that point 😊.
Wishing you all a good final 3 weeks of winter!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi