Mr. Golden Sun
Quilt No. 187
13″ by 16″ tall

We had a great time on Monday, watching our partial eclipse.  I’d made eclipse cookies, people brought lemonade, and we all cheered when the timer went off telling us that we were at the “most” partial.  What an event!  What a day!  I loved best the idea that all of us were focused together on the celestial happenings, uniting us under the mantle of the Great American Eclipse.  Mark your calendars for the next one on April 8, 2024.  See you then.

So in trying to find something else in my sewing room, I ran across this partially finished mini quilt.  What you are seeing is the very first free-motion quilting that I ever tried…

…along with the most recent free motion quilting.  You can’t really tell much, but I’m glad this partially-finished quilt is now in the finished category.  Check that off.

You are also seeing a “Photoshop-free” image.  I’ve been dependent on Photoshop for years and years, having learned it in college when it first came out.  But I decided the best way to learn new software is just to try new software.  Yes, having some knowledge of what does what in these digital editing programs does help, but a new companion book is coming out in October, and they have help forums, and there is always Professor Google, if you can articulate your problem.  Affinity Photo is also cheaper than Photoshop (Affinity Designer is the Illustrator equivalent).

I recently finished listening to Graham Moore’s The Last Days of Night, a book about the feud between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison.  I recommend it highly.  There are lots of quotes about failure, and success, and about how, as Leo Buscaglia says:

We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure.

That book taught me that through multiple failures, America gained electricity, that even an early failure can be made into a finished quilt, and even though some might think my eclipse was a bust (because it was not “totality”) even a partial eclipse can be magic.

Since I am completely ga-ga over the 2017 Solar Eclipse, happening August 21st (and I already have the next on penciled in on my calendar–April 2024, if you must know) when searching for decorations to put around my house, I came across a rendition of the Mosaic #19 block (originally published in 1897 by the Ladies Art Company) that is said to commemorate the 2017 All-American Solar Eclipse (who thinks up these names?).

After I read the above blurb,  I searched Google for her and found that not only has she redesigned an old block to celebrate something fun and exciting in our century, but that she’s also done a whole series of blocks to commemorate the National Parks.  I first saw them when a nephew’s wife showed me teeny screen grabs on her phone at a family picnic, and was happy to know who to give credit for those cool blocks.

Here are some other posters I discovered while search for eclipse-related images:

I have more eclipse-themed posters and info on my Pinterest Board: Eclipse.  If you want to make your own eclipse block, here is a PDF file that you can download, in 12″ finished size: Solar Eclipse Block_12. (Click on the blue print.)

The arrival of the eclipse also seems a fitting ending for our Book Giveaway of Summer 2017.  Thanks to all who were interested in these books.  I’ve contacted the winners of by email; books will go out as soon as I receive their mailing address.

UPDATE: I’VE SINCE MADE A FULL-FLEDGED PATTERN FOR ECLIPSE QUILTS. IT HAS DIRECTIONS FOR TWO DIFFERENT LAYOUTS, THAT MIGHT GIVE YOU MORE IDEAS. HEAD HERE FOR MORE INFO.

Happy Eclipsing!

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This month we are doing blocks for Debbie, who requested that we make blocks from the  Moda Be My Neighbor quilt, from 2016.  I found all the free, downloadable blocks on Sew Let’s Quilt It website, and enjoyed figuring this out.  My advice: lay out all the pieces as you cut it out, so you don’t get confused with what goes where.

I was the designated mailer for two other Gridster members who are close by, and was able to pose the blocks together.  A lot of the blocks are showing up on Debbie’s Instagram feed, so head over there to get some quilty eye candy (and not only the Gridster blocks!).

One fun thing I did in Utah last month was to take a tour of the Hand-Quilter factory.  It’s an impromptu tour — you just show up — but it was interesting to see how things are put together.  I wanted to take a picture of the table that shows them “testing” out/breaking in the machines, but they asked me to wait to get this one, from above:

They also had a series of quilts, with lots of interesting texture and of course…free-motion quilting!  Click on the circles for a close-up.

Continuing with the “What I Did On My Summer Vacation,” we left Handi-Quilter and had a Kneaders’ Seafood Sandwich, which unfortunately, I can’t get near me.

I arrived home a day or two early from that trip, in time to hit the 7th Annual Good Heart Quilters Retreat, organized and hosted by the amazing Lisa J. who helped found our group nearly twenty years ago. It was a day of fun and very cool cookies (thank you, Simone!).

I wish I’d taken a photo of me on that bench, but it’s unfortunately placed, behind the traffic light pole.  Still.  It could have been cool.

Even though it is a couple of weeks away, I can’t end this without reminding you to set your alarms on your phones to watch the eclipse, coming up on August 21st.  Vox prepared this nifty celestial calculator that shows you what you’ll see in your part of the U.S. and what time it will show up.

Congratulations to Sandy A., who won the latest book giveaway.

I’ve sent her an email and will get the book sent off shortly.

Only two books left:

Since summer feels like it’s fast coming to a close, I’m doing both of them this week.  At the end of this post, leave a comment to win either Kathy Doughty’s Mixing Quilt Elements, or Kim Diehl’s Simple Christmas Tidings.  Both are exemplar books by women at the top of the quilting world.  Thank you to all who entered these past few weeks!