Frog Crossing

Frog Crossing, a photo by drobnikm on Flickr.

Once upon a time ago (as in 20-ish years ago) I saw a sign like this in Germany! I even took a picture, but that was back in the days of film & it would be quite the miracle if I still had the photo or could still find it!

Happy Leap Year!

My big helper!

Untitled, a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

Why yes, I am still working on a taupe UFO or 2! & a black & White & solids UFO.

Value

Let's talk about value. First, did you know that there are 18 ways of defining value? I'm going to stick with the "fine arts" definition. (I can hear the audible sighs...) That being the degree of lightness or darkness in a color.

So when you have a pile of scraps & want to divide it by value, how many piles do you end up with? Three (light, medium, & dark)? I've read about systems that divide value into 7 (very light, light, medium light, medium, etc.). Me, I fall into the 4 piles group. & that is exactly how I spent President's Day - dividing a pile (& making more charms for those piles) of charms into light, medium light, medium dark, & dark piles.

Project A - snow balls will use the darks. It could also use the medium darks - I'm not so sure about the medium lights, because some of the light corner pieces are medium light.

Project B is a quilt in one of my newest quilt books. Where I am trying my darnedest to figure out transparency. The lights & the medium darks "work" & I hope to find a suitable dark at Mid-Atlantic this weekend & in the end I hope that the resulting quilt will show some transparency.

That of course leaves me with a pile of medium lights that do not have a project perse... I am o.k. with that because these piles are all from my Japanese Taupe collection & I have saved scraps that from lower valued fabrics would have been tossed. (I spent upwards of $20 per yard on some of these...) Now I have 1 old UFO in action, 1 new WIP and some scraps & charms & a couple more ideas brewing...

The question for those of you playing along - how do you divide your scraps when dividing using value. (I have previously divided by color &/or theme.)

Old Man Cat

Untitled, a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

He made himself quite comfy in the pillow on our bed!

(The photo effect is in my cell phone... I wonder how those effects would look if witht he exception of the cat the photo wasn't purple! Wall & all of the pillows!)

Yeah, I know...

How I spent my weekend. Cutting 10.5 inch squares for scrappy backgrounds., a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

I've used this photo before...

Well that pile has grown by an inch minimum & I have more fabrics ready to be cut!

I am posting this again, because I keep thinking about that red strata. Well part of that inch, is RED! & I pulled my RED UFO - red is on my mind, no idea why. But I better go with my muse. Know what I mean?

Round robin...

Round robin..., a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

Do you or probably did you ever round robin? They can be fun - I like the challenge. Most of the time.
This one was challenging for me, my first two ideas had a lot of math issues for me, but this last idea worked "perfectly." (I had some piecing/cutting - Can you tell I used templates? - issues, but nothing I couldn't over come.
The best part, I am happy with how it turned out!

Original FMF vs new FMF

Original FMF vs new FMF, a photo by filminthefridge on Flickr.

Is it o.k. that I am completely jealous that some people got this (or just get in general) fabric before it is available to the general public?

Am I alone?

Meanwhile, I have a gift cert. (birthday present) to a shop that will carry this line - but with my luck it will be sold out before I have a chance to place my order...

Doubt it? I was going to buy Parson Gray (new line of fabric by David Butler - yes, he is Amy Butler's husband, for Freespirit fabric) most of it is sold out at the shop where I have a gift certificate.

Watching puppy bowl

Watching puppy bowl, a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

He liked the puppies well acting like puppies - but he had no tolerance for the kitten half time show. Lucky for him that coincided with bed time!

My motivation.

My motivation., a photo by aviva_hadas on Flickr.

Am I the only one who is motivated by how much trimmings they can get into the bag?

It seems that as long as I have a place for the last trimmings (& the straightening cuts) that I am motivated to cut.

(My scrap bag has gained in this process as well. Which is just as well because I have two scrap projects planned that use 2.5 inch squares.)