Batik Drunkards Path - Section 4

Batik Drunkards Path - Section 1
Originally uploaded by i_bugsy.

I just finished the fourth of the four sections to my batik quilt.
That means I have section 1 left to complete.

My plan is to quilt these in sections and then sew them all together. I've done this once, hopefully, this will go faster and smoother.

The Spouse and I went to the book store so I could checkout their selection of home insulation books. Got one as I'll be doing the attic at some point. At least that's the plan.

Batik Drunkards Path Quilt - Section 03

Just completed section 3 of this quilt. Only 2 more to go!

I've been listening to PRI - Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk, and now Bob Edwards Weekend.

Trying to improve my mind while quilting!

Batik Drunkards Path Quilt - Section 2

After playing with the layout of my batik drunkards path quilt, the Spouse said, "There are too many circles. Put the blocks in a bag, draw them out and lay them down."

So that's what I did. Here's the top right section of the quilt. There will be 4 sections and the quilt will be 9 blocks X 13 blocks, or about 63" x 91".

I'm trying to get the 4 sections done so I can get them off the basement floor. Can't leave them all week!

Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog

Go here, now! Neal Patrick Harris (grr!) and Nathan Fillion (grr!!). Go before July 20th! Or its gone! Two of three episodes posted. Go now. Really.

Presenting An Award

I have awarded he following blogs/bloggers a Brillante Weblog award, if they so choose to pick it up! ;-)

Tales of the Sissy - Mark got me started on blogging. Plus he has some interesting stories to tell!

Campus Crafts - to say he is crafty, doesn't do his skills justice!

The Way I See It - Always something insightful to say.

Cabin Cove - Lots of pretty pictures and yarn!

Bliterhing Knitiot - Love the title of the blog and seem to keep going back!

Now all of you need to post a picture of the award on your blog, see the image in the previous blog entry, and choose 5 other bloggers to give the award.

An Award!

Well, I've gotten a nice surprise from Myra - an award!

I'm supposed to pick 5 other bloggers that I deem worthy and give them an award. I'm very thankful to Myra, I'm glad that I was able to inspire her. And she has inspired me as well.

It'll take me some time to figure out who to award. I already have a few in mind.

Out And About Video

Here's the video photo montage that I created from our trip to DC.
The music is "Elektronaut - Life Is On A Loop" by binerpilot.

I'm still trying to find a balance with the quality of the video and the size of it. Currently, it is 27MB! It took forever for me to upload. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but I'll figure it out.

Enjoy!

Portrait Gallery Fountain Video

I've underestimated the amount of work involved in making a video montage of my pictures from yesterday's outing. So, here's a little video I made with my camera of one of the fountains at the Portrait Gallery.

The fountains are located in the center section of the Portrait Gallery which had just been redone. So this glass ceiling courtyard is new. There were 3 of these fountains. Near the end of the video you'll see people walking in the fountain and the second fountain in the background.

Out And About

"What do you want to do today?" asked Spouse.

I really dread this question. Personally, I could stay home and quilt, blog, clean house, read, go for a walk/gym, or just veg. However, I did most of that last weekend and if Spouse doesn't get out, he gets a bit cranky. Please don't tell him I said so! (That includes you too, Spouse!)

Also, Spouse makes all of our travel plans and hotel arrangements. He does a really good job. So I feel that this 'coming up with something to do' is doing my part in our relationship.

Fortunately living near a major metropolitan area, Washington DC, makes it somewhat easy to come up with something to do. So I whipped out the Weekend section of the Washington Post and came up with this set of activities.

We started out at the Hirshorn Museum to see the The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image Exhibit. This was Part II, Realism, which means we missed Part I. The exhibit was pretty cool and really makes you wonder about what you see on TV.

Then we hoofed it over to the National Gallery of Art to see the Martin Puryear exhibit. This was pretty cool too. I found I liked his works that were round in nature and made of wood. My favorite piece, called Cerulean, is a big ring of wood painted a bright teal. This is part of his Ring series.

We almost had lunch at the Cascade Café which is in between the West and East wings of the National Gallery of Art. It has a view of the cascade waterfall. I should have gotten a picture. However, Spouse decided to go elsewhere. So we ended up at Austin Grill.

After lunch we headed over to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Zaida Ben-Yusuf exhibit.
She was a famous New York photographer in the late 19th and early 20th century. Personally, I never heard of her before until I found the exhibition information in the Weekend part of the Washington Post newspaper. My interest was in the portraits, as my sister-in-law wants me to play photographer at her parents 50th wedding anniversary.

While we were there we also saw the following exhibits:

• Edward Steichen: Portraits


• Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture


• Herblock's Presidents: "Puncturing Pomposity"

We also saw a cool fountain that is on the floor and water flows from the high side to the low side. People would walk barefoot through the fountain. Little kids loved it. This area also has a really cool ceiling - all glass - you can see the sky.

The next stop was E Street Cinema to see the Werner Herzog movie/documentary Encounters at the End of the World. Excellent flick - go see it! It's about the Antarctica and while it has some penguins in it, it's not about penguins.

After the movie we went to dinner at Matchbox. We split 3 mini burgers and Spouse had some gispatcho soup (ick!). Spouse also had the prosciutto white pizza and I had the sausage & onion pizza. We both took half of our pizzas in a doggie bag box.

That's it. I hope to have a video montage of the places we visited.

Well It Looks Like Ennui!

For the past week I've been experiencing ennui! I can't tell you what a relief it is to know that others are suffering from this emotion. Those persons would be my friend Mark and a 'weird lady' named Java. I'm sure if I searched some more I'd find more people. But...

Earlier in the week I felt that I just wasn't myself. Feeling a bit bored and restless. Yet it wasn't depression. I suffer from that and know how that feels, and this just wasn't it. The word 'ennui' floated in my head and I let it just float around.

It wasn't until I read Mark's blog at Tales of the Sissy that it really crystallized in my brain and anchored home. This must be what I'm feeling/experiencing - ennui!

Then I followed a link on his blog to Java's at my life, or something like it! I read it and was thoroughly enjoyed the blog entry about ennui. She also issued a challenge to use the word ennui in a blog entry. That would be this entry!

It's nice to have a name to an issue (even if I might be wrong!). Now just to wait it out.

Mmmm.....

And Then There Were 105

Now I've got 105 Batik blocks. Although this photo only shows 64. That's all I could get on my design wall. There would be 66 except for the air vent in the wall.

I've rearranged some of the blocks since the last picture and added a few more rows across. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

Here are 16 of the 105. These were a bit bright, although the picture doesn't really show this, for the rest of the blocks. I'm going to call this one Solar Energy.

Winners Bouquet Block II

This is the latest winners bouquet block that I've completed. I'm still having some issues with the second half of the inner portion of the block.

I know I can get halfway around the melon without stretching, so its something about sewing the second half. I must be stretching the fabric some. So I'll be focusing on that until I can perfect it.

You can't really see it in the photo, but the block doesn't lay flat. It does measure a little closer to 8-1/2" square than the previous one, but still has a few areas at the edge of the large petal gets to 8-1/4". I'm thinking this will be a wall hanging.

Here's a picture to help clarify the different parts of this block.

The other thing I'm thinking has to do with the small petal. I think that I've also stretched this a little more and tried to compensate by easing in the fabric near the end of the seam. This might explain why the block doesn't lay flat.

Have any suggestions?

And Then There Were 62

I have been working on making more batik drunkards paths blocks. So far I have a total of 62 made! The picture only shows 47 of the blocks on my design wall.

I've laid it out similar to the Around Tuit quilt. I was curious how it would look.

I'm not certain if this is the layout I'll be using. I need to move the blocks around and see. This is the part that takes a long time.

Also, I'm not certain if I'm making one big quilt (twin size) or making two throws.

Ah the decisions!

I still have time as I have at least another 40 blocks to do, maybe even 50! They are so easy to make. I can make 6 of these in 30 minutes!

I'm so stoked that at times I just dream about making more and how to lay them out!

Winners Bouquet Block

In an attempt to add extra creativity in my blog, I added a border around the quilt block.

Last week I took a class at Capital Quilts called Winners Bouquet. Its a bit odd to sew, but fun in an odd sort of way. I used no pins while sewing the individual components of this block. It doesn't quite make a 16" square block, but its close. Its composed of 4 8-1/2" blocks, although the blocks came out to be 8-1/2" by 8-1/4". So I've some practicing to do.

Here's a single block that I just did today. I'm finding that using some sizing/starch is one way to help reduce the likelihood of stretching on the bias edges.

The blue flowers really pop out of this block. Ah blue! My favorite color!

Happy 4th Of July

Our community has an annual 4th of July parade. It starts down the block at the fire station and ends at our community center. We had a fife and drum team, firetruck, police officers, and parents and kids of the community.

Its kinda quaint, but fun. Also, there's ice cream and hot dogs!

As R, the spouse, and I were sitting on the curb waiting for the parade, he mentioned that the ice cream was free. I asked how he knew that and he said because he came last year. I asked him why he didn't bring me some ice cream last year and it was because he was cranky at me for staying in bed! Who knew?!

Here's a 5 minute video of the parade. There's a fire engine at the end. I know one of my nephews is big on fire engines! You'll also hear some commentary from myself and R. In fact, if you look close enough you may see R's hand as he is waving to someone. Enjoy!