LAST ROUND OF THE ROBIN?

Before...
Requirement: Some aspect of triangles.

This was tough, because the last thing needed was triangles. I thought I'd just slap some broken dishes together in black and white, excluding green to calm things down a bit, but it was just horrible. I couldn't do it, no matter how much time I put into it and despite the fact that I had no idea what would work.

Then I thought, the last round was my favorite one, why not ignore everything else and just continue some of the details?

So I did. First there were the cornerstones, subtle from grey to green and blended with appliques. I wanted the eye to continue outward, so I made mine bold. The appliques had triangular but organic shapes sticking out of the oval, so I figured that was triangular enough.

The results...

Close up...
The only green added was the thread design which tacked down the pieces.

I'd love to know what you think. I don't think it's amazing, but I'm proud because this was a major hurdle, and I learned to trust my instincts again. Major lesson here: symmetry, repetition, simplicity can't fail, and repeat agreeable colors or aspects of the design. Hmm, that sounds like book material! I hereby reserve it as mine.

BAY RIDGE, CONTINUED

Doesn't this picture make you hungry (to create)? Aren't they delicious? $3 a yard, people! I'm trying to buy fewer patterned fabric and more solids because I have a lot of art quilts brewing inside me. Oh, and that's a buttery soft warm cotton knit on the right, in the perfect neutral stone color. Last time I found black and made a great skirt that I could sleep in it's so comfortable. When I saw this I grabbed it. Angel said there might be more in some unpacked bags so you better believe I'll be checking back. $8.75 is the total cost of the skirt!
As promised I am posting pictures from my most recent trip to Bay Ridge. I made yet another trip to retrieve my sewing machine (which appears to be purring like a kitten finally) and figured I'd make a detour on the way home to visit Angel again.

I wanted to take a picture of the inside but how would I explain that? How do you, fellow bloggers, explain it when you click pics?

Here's one more for good measure. I love driving home and seeing the Verrazzano Bridge at the end of the avenue. That's why they call it Bay Ridge, see? Because it's at the bay's ridge.... Some of you may think it's silly to point that out but I find myself very interested in the way places come to be called. Most interesting to me to date is Intercourse, Pennsylvania! I'd love to hear your favorites - bring it on!

BLAH BLAH BLUES

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but there's been no sewing activity because my sewing machine is on the fritz! It is so frustrating! I've already made 2 trips to the repair man (who is no where near me, by the way) only to take it home today and see that there is more wrong with it than before! Somebody hold me back because I'm ready to clock him over the head!

I hate posting without pictures, because I'm so visually oriented, as I imagine most of you are. So sorry, all I have are words for you, hence the name Blah Blah Blues.

So what would you do when you can't sew, but are dying to? OK, besides reading over your quilting magazines for the 30th time? I explored a little bit, because I keep hearing how in New York I have access to all these fabrics and specialty stores. Truth be told, I've still never been to the City Quilter, although I've driven by it once or twice - and even entered into their challenge 2 years ago! I didn't do anything that ambitious - those of you who've been reading this blog know I don't make it into Manhattan much. Ellen's been after me to try "Angel's" in Bay Ridge Brooklyn for some time. $3 per yard on even brand name quilting fabrics, home dec silks, knits, woolens, you name it! The place is small and packed - you can't see the fabrics that well, but if you know what you're looking for Angel can find it for you. It wasn't that easy to find - because it's not called Angel's, but J & A Fabrics or Trimmings or something. I'll get you the details, and even take some pics next time, OK?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bay Ridge, it's a funky neighborhood. It's a tough ethnic mix, historically Italian. As a matter of fact I think it's the setting for "Saturday Night Fever" with John Travolta. My neighborhood is very casual and beachy, friendly and relaxed. Bay Ridge is, well, just tough! It's not a poor neighborhood, the shopping's pretty good, and it's always busy.

I know you're thinking, what the heck is she talking about? I'll give you an example... My husband and I bought the laptop I'm working from on black Friday just after Thanksgiving at a Circuit City in Bay Ridge. It was one of those specials for just a few hours and yes, there we were on the street in the dark in the early morning hours waiting. It was the first and last time I've ever done that. Now, when you wait for any amount of time with a high concentration of New Yorkers congregating somewhere (the line went on for BLOCKS), things tend to get interesting. For one thing, I heard Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, and oh yeah a little English being spoken. In the 2 hours it took to get into the store, the police drove up, ate their donuts, and left, just in time for a drunk Mafia hit man (well, he looked like one with his long coat and highly polished shoes and hair) to walk up and down the line yelling at us how we all had "issues" and should re-evaluate our lives. My husband could barely contain himself, laughing, "OH yeah, WE'VE got issues" under his breath but loud enough that I elbowed him. Then there's the lady at the front of the store, when we finally got there, one of many who tried to eek their way inside with some lame excuse. She approached the bouncers - you didn't think they'd just trust us to behave did you? - one big burly guy who clearly does this for a living, and one older tough guy who clearly is a cop or ex-cop, claiming to have someone inside that she was just joining. When that didn't work, she blurted, "I'm a cop." "Oh yeah," said the off-duty cop, "show me your badge and I'll give you the courtesy." Now, if this lady was a cop I'd be pretty surprised - maybe the mother of a cop, but not a cop. She whipped out a bunch of cards, "Nah, nah, c'mon," she was busted. Sigh, it's true, we New Yorkers - some of us - are quite pushy.

Finally in the store, we had the good fortune to get the right employees to tell us the right line to wait on, only to have a girl insist that she was in front of us. And I thought I was gonna get away without a fight! Oh no, chickadee, I SAW you get on line after me, and I'm right behind this guy, and you're not even on line, talking over there with the techie. Well, chickadee wasn't one to admit the error, and started the encroachment. We see your encroachment and raise you one squeeze. She proceeds to bad mouth us in Arabic to her parents, as if we don't understand (we don't) but it's sooooo obvious. My husband starts making fun of that to me in Hebrew, and well, middle east conflict comes to Brooklyn. We could tell her parents were telling her to calm down and leave it alone, and in the end they asked us for some advice on which computer to buy and the tension fizzled. Turns out her (very lovely) parents were just visiting from Egypt - the way she was carrying on she clearly lived in Brooklyn!

Well, there you are, more than you ever wanted to know about the birth of this computer. I ended up bringing back that one because of software issues, only to receive one with hardware issues, only to return that finally for this one. And now I just found out that my husband signed for the computer twice as the return was rung up incorrectly. I really hope I get the money back, but if not, this episode will go down in history as the single biggest thing my husband gets to rub in for the rest of my life!