I Think I Need a Serendipity Intervention....

This is most of the latest Serendipity quilt put together -- still very very busy.  Hmmm....


I have spent the better part of the past week trying to shovel through my sewing room and make enough room so that I can enjoy walking around it (couldn't walk through it when I started).  Basically I hadn't done a major clean up since coming back from NC LAST year.  So the boxes with the fabric for the lions as well as the disarray caused by quickly getting projects and fabric ready for this year were all over.  


I have two totes filled with fabric to give away as well as a large bag to sell.  Hopefully, our quilt club will want the large box of 6 inch squares I have to give them -- after making 30 comfort quilts last year, I couldn't face anymore disappearing nine-patches and disappearing four patches!! 

One of the things I have done differently this time is to make up projects into those 2 1/2 gallon Ziploc bags as I go along so that all I will have to do is grab some bags and I will be good to go anywhere!!  However, this has led to the Serendipity "problem".  I love making these quilts and in my cleaning efforts, I came upon several half finished (and even one finished) "stack and whack" quilt tops.  Coincidentally, they were the right size to make these Serendipity quilts (without having to do a whole new set of calculations).  I took one finished quilt top completely apart and the finished blocks of another apart!!!  I had gotten bored with the plain stars or hexagons.  This is the first of the newly found blocks -- these were hexagon stars but didn't even have their background pieces.  I "unsewed" them and then cut the diamonds into two triangles and then made diagonal pieces 1/4 inch smaller.

These were my very favorites and they were hexagon stars all sewn up completely into a quilt top -- I took the whole thing apart!!  It started life as two small tops which I redid into one top last year.  So this year, I took it apart again, cut the diamonds into triangles and then trimmed down the remaining diamonds into the right size!!  So this one will be green, blue, white and a touch of green and navy blue.  I can't believe I did this as my solution to these problems when younger was to just get rid of it so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore!!

This is a closeup showing the brown sides that I have added to the large quilt.  I wish there were some way to separate the blocks even more -- this is awfully busy but it is fun!!

Well, if you look closely at this block, you will see that I finally decided that I would use a small satin stitch to tack down all of the appliqued pieces and I am relatively pleased with how it looks.  Now just to get it basted and quilted.  Will probably follow the face outlines within the face and use an overall design in each of the backgrounds.  I may vary each of the backgrounds -- haven't decided yet as I want the background interesting, but not too interesting!!  This is the  final block in the top and the one with Colin's signature.  The quilt top was derived from a photo taken by Jason Redmond for Reuters in 2009 when Colin was doing an interview about A  Single Man.  It took me forever to find the attribution of the photo and I have tried to get permission from the photographer through his website and through Twitter but he hasn't answered my inquiries.  I really would like to use this top to raise money for Oxfam (in honor of Colin) but would like to have it shown in some regional or national shows. If anyone knows this fellow (he lives in LA), please help me!!

This is my granddaughter Amelia with a pin cushion.  My daughter tells me she is very much a girly girl and loved the dresses I made for her at Christmas so some more are in the works for summer!  Hopefully, she will be starting sewing early!!  She is here in "repurposed" tutu from her mom!