Lemon Tree Tales

FLQS: Getting closer to the finish line

I've sewn all the white blocks and hand-sewn all the circle appliques for the FLQS1 quilt. Unfortunately the iron spurted and stained a section of the last white block. If it doesn't come out in a soak then I'll have to re-sew it. Now I just have to wrap my mind around starting those black blocks. Maybe I should rethink them. Maybe they don't need to be pieced like the brights or whites and just have a few fused confetti squares here and there?

Remember, this is the sketch (inspired by Carol Taylor's Moonshadows quilt):

 

What do you think I should do?

More FLQS blocks

So far I have seven units completed for the FLQS quilt top. Just four more white units and then I can start on the black ones. I want some texture in the black sections, not just flat solid black. But the black on black prints read more as deep charcoal than black. I'll have to think about this a bit. Not sure if I should add a bit of actual 3D texture to it or not. In the meantime here's what I have so far.

 

For that little green circle I first tried the freezer paper and glue inset technique but it was just too small to work. So I went with a more traditional needle turn applique circle. I used Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles.

Progress on FLQS quilt

Time was beginning to run out, so I finally had to get started on the FLQS quilt. There really wasn't anything to do but to just dive in and go for it. The first block that I made was okay but I wasn't thrilled with how wonky it was. I couldn't stand it anymore and just had to remake it. The second time around I cut the pieces a wee bit bigger so that I could true it up at each step. It's amazing what a difference that made. I'll keep the first bit and use it for something else later on.

First block on the right, second go on the left:

 

I was on a roll so I quickly gathered fabrics together and made a second block. This one had not one but seven paper pieced flying geese, small ones, like 1/2" by 1" small.

 

It was getting late so I just laid out some fabrics for another block. This morning I rearranged and changed out a color or two. It's looking pretty good so all I need to do is to draft the flying geese paper piecing guide and get cracking.

 

Somehow I just can't make myself grab the colors without thinking about it a bit. Guess I'm not the freeform liberated quilter.. not a skill set I possess. That's okay, I'm happy with how this is turning out so far. Already I have plans for the quilting.. that's a good sign, no?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Oh my goodness, I just read a book that has me breathless and oh so eager to create - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries so think of beautiful costumes - bowler hats, walking sticks, long corseted gowns, feather plumed dainty hats - now set this in cities such as London, New York, Basel and finally the playing field is a circus. Oh, but this isn't any ordinary circus, no, this is one that opens at night and closes at dawn. Everything about the circus is black, white, or shades of grey, no colors at all, and the most amazing acts are performed in individual tents. But wait, everything is a bit dreamy, magical and not quite as it seems. For in reality, this night circus, le Cirque des Rêves, is actually the backdrop for a contest between two magicians who have been groomed and tutored from childhood for this duel, everyone else is merely a pawn in the game. But then a marvelous thing happens, the combatants fall in love and that my friends, changes everything.

This is definitely a book up my alley, for it has the magic fantasy and beautiful imagery. Wouldn't you like to attend a circus and meander the circular paths of black and white to sample shows in individual black/white striped tents? Every act is interactive with the attendees, whether by having the shows performed in the round sans a stage, or by directly engaging them with rides or the like.

Half way through the book I almost wanted to take a break to savor what I had read so far, to keep the images dancing in my mind, but I couldn't do it. Instead I galloped through the rest of the story. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept imaging what fun it would be to make a series of dolls inspired by the story... all black and white with grey and perhaps a hint of red here and there. An accent of the color red is how the fans of the circus, the rêveurs, tell each other apart from the performers - a red tie, red rose in the lapel, or a red scarf.

Oh yes, I highly recommend reading The Night Circus. I'll probably wait a bit and then read it again a bit more slowly, perhaps with a sketchbook at hand for any inspirations that may come my way.

"The circus is coming..."

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