Red Is a Neutral ... more blocks

There are not many more blocks, but I put in a couple of afternoons to get these done. Tuesday's work: 
I made these Dutchman's Puzzle blocks. I needed only one but it's an easy block, so I thought I'd make two. As soon as I sewed the final seam on the second block, I realized that I had not arranged all four sections correctly. One was turned the wrong way. What an annoyance!

Once I started ripping the sections apart, I decided to play. Why not? I needed only one block. So now I have two different blocks that sort of match. 

Wednesday's work included these two. When Richard came into the studio for a visit, I told him, "I'm running on stupid." That tickled him quite a bit, but I was not laughing at the time. I cut the wrong size patches. So I cut them again, correctly this time, but I cut twice the amount. 

The one on the bottom is the correct block, but since I had extra pieces, why not? Play I did. I ended up with the block on the top. It looks familiar, but I haven't had time to look it up.


Yesterday I made the Card Trick block. Now that was a mess! I kept getting the pieces mixed up. I pressed seams open and laid them out in the right order, then took a picture. Good idea! I needed it. I think I could make a second one without the visual aid, but I won't.

These five are the blocks I'll have to show on Monday at the guild meeting. I think I should have five different ones but, oddly, I didn't get instructions. As it is, I didn't have the directions for the Card Trick block, so I improvised. Not well, mind you. My center patch was just a little too small, which means my block isn't quite 12". This quilt... I don't know.

So to sum up, very few blocks match in size, some are not blocks at all--just extras from the miscuts, I'm behind on the BOM and don't have directions for the missing blocks. Yes, that's how we do it in "typical Mary fashion." 

A what-not-to-do DIY ~~ finished

Several years ago I salvaged a dresser mirror from certain death in a land fill. It was in perfect condition. Well, it was ugly. The mirror was dirty, but a spritz of cleaner proved it to be without scratches or other problems. The frame was  another thing. No amount of cleaning was going to make the brown, worn-out wood less ugly. 

But I could see potential there. If only I could figure out where, how, when to  use it. I mean, I didn't really need a mirror, ugly or otherwise. So it got put in the studio, where it leaned against a wall for years, a place where it could easily be forgotten. This mirror, it seems, never really had much chance of being truly rescued.

I really liked this decorative edge on the bottom.

Our master bath is getting a remodel. All new everything. Except! I've finally found a home for the mirror--above the vanity in the new/old bathroom. 

So what not to do? Ha, for starters just get to work doing something you've never done before without trying to figure it our beforehand. Or speaking to an expert. Or watching a YouTube video. Or anything that will tell you how you should go about it. 

The bottom edge of the mirror, which 
would have sat on the dresser, had 
so much damage that we removed it.

That's how we started. My sweet husband knows about refinishing, painting, building, fixing, anything mechanical. Still, we ran into a problem with the mirror. He's a  superhero at taking things apart and putting them back together in working order.

In this case he chose to not remove the back panel and mirror to refinish the frame. In our defense we didn't know how old or in what condition the inside might be and didn't want to possibly cause more damage. I liked this frame!

 We decided that since we were only cleaning and painting, we'd slip cardstock under the frame to catch any spills. So the blue in the picture is paper, not tape. Important. 

A first coat of Kiltz primer. Then a second coat. And  things were looking quite positive.

A first coat of the dark gray that is my contrast color. 

A second coat and we were ready to remove the cardstock and possibly hang the mirror. Except.

 The cardstock wouldn't remove. First, the paper absorbed the paint and stuck to the wood. Second, the wood absorbed the paint and expanded ever so slightly making the space tight enough to really hold the paper.  The paper was truly attached. And stuck. Of course, I had wiggled the cardstock deeply between mirror and frame. Maybe I was a bit enthusiastic. 

I tried several ways to remove that line of blue. We solved the problem the hard way: removed the backing and mirror. Then I sanded and scraped the paper until every tiny bit of blue was removed. 

Hopefully it looks like it belongs here.

Then we ever so carefully replaced the mirror and backing and Richard, who had measured the space between the mirror and edge of the frame, stapled it all back in place. I can't tell you how many times he checked that measurement. I wondered if it would change at some point. It did not.

Finished and hanging. Notice that the decorative detail is now
 on the top. Richard built the closet reflected in the mirror.

A kidding aside, I really like the mirror. It was difficult to choosing  between white (like the window and door trim) or gray (to match the other wooden "furniture"). More pictures coming when we finish the bathroom. It's so close!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: neutrals

I've been working on a couple of projects. All of them use neutrals so I've been had neutrals on my mind for the past week. Well, neutrals and Christmas--there's a conflicting proposition. I suppose one sort of offset the other because I wasn't all antsy and worried about getting everything ready. In fact, we have a wedding in Houston tomorrow and other than to clean house, shop, and finish up gift wrapping, I haven't been worried at all.

Neutral quilts

There was another SQI on neutrals back in 2014. I hope you enjoy!

More on those neutral projects after the gift-giving on Christmas. Shhh, don't say a word.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: CLOUDS

Aren't clouds just beautiful? All floaty and soft and colorful. I love to look at the sky. And to enjoy the clouds. Just a few days ago Richard and I were driving through a threatening storm. The clouds were pink and coral on our east and, toward the south, dark purplish gray with lighter and darker grays mixed in. 


Immediately I saw a dragon in the dark grays and Richard found a dog in the east. My dragon lasted for several minutes but his dog morphed into a bunny and then a fantastical flower that surely Dr. Suess drew out. 

Do you share such an imagination? It's a fun way to appreciate God's glory. 

Not as easy as I'd hoped, here are a few quilts that I found that might have a bit of clouds or sky in them. Then ending with a couple of pantos to finish up.