November Monthly Mini and Celebrations

It can't be December yet. I haven't posted my November mini! So here it is.The top was finished a couple of weeks ago, but birthday celebrations and Thanksgiving kept me from getting it quilted and bound until now. This finished at 14". I will link up here with Wendy, The Constant Quilter (she really is), for our Monthly Mini listing.

The color is not accurate here, but this gives you a bit of a look at the quilting. There really needs to be some stitching in the larger HSTs, but I want it to be hand quilting, so that will come later.

The machine quilting shows up better in this photo of the back. I kept it as simple as possible, because I was so far behind. I had thought about feathers, but had to pass on them this time.

The colors in the quilt were inspired by a stunning monthly mini made by Gladi (seriously, all her quilts are stunning) back in September, which you can see on her blog here. I was smitten by her quilt, and knew I wanted to copy her colors. I was just getting ready to join in on Pam Buda's Quilt Archeology doll quilt, Dear Prudence, when I saw Gladi's post, and I knew I would transfer that color palette over to Pam's design. 

Pam's pattern was for a larger doll quilt than this. I cut all the parts for the whole quilt and then realized I had made a major error and had cut everything wrong. That is what I get when I work too late at night. I had to cut things down for each block. After reworking 6 blocks, I'd had enough. I chose 5 of the six blocks and made a smaller version of Dear Prudence.

As I had worked on this little quilt I was sure I had used this palette before. I finally realized where I'd used it when I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. The first quilt I'd made with these colors was hanging in our dining room. This was a SAL at Humble Quilts blog, where Lori had us choose an orphan block and the SAL was the process of adding the borders. It was called "Faithful". Here are the two quilts together, with my hand in the photo to give size perspective.

I hope all my friends in the U.S. had a lovely Thanksgiving last week. We had planned on having 7 or 8 family members for dinner, which is small for us. But Thanksgiving morning our youngest son, who was visiting with us for the holiday, was informed that he had been exposed to COVID the night before. We had no other family come, under the circumstances, and we just had 3 for dinner. But I have to say, no matter how few will be eating, it still makes a mess to prepare it. 

My birthday usually falls in the same week as Thanksgiving, and often gets swallowed up by the preparations. In such cases we try to celebrate a week early. Happily, hubby gifted me with tickets to a Van Gogh immersion experience available in Salt Lake City the week before.

It was incredible. Words can't convey and photos don't quite do it justice, but I will try to give you a taste. I understand there are different versions of this experience across the country, but the idea is similar. There was a photo op just inside, where they offered to take your photo  with your phone. There were four different rooms of this experience, but the last one is where you spend the bulk of your time. You can click on any of these photos to enlarge them.

In the experience on the left, above, all of the water glimmered. In the picture on the right, if you watched closely, you might catch a self-portrait blinking. And in the portraits where he was smoking a pipe, the smoke wafted from the barrel of the pipe.

I took video of some of the experiences, but the files are too large to upload. I'll try to give you an idea of what was going on. Keep in mind that there is effective mood music  going on during the whole thing.

On the left was the beginning of this picture. Then the petals started fluttering around the room until it felt you were in a snowstorm of flower petals, as on the right. Then the petals began to disappear, and there was a whole different painting on the walls behind them.

At the beginning of this painting experience the room was dark. Then the swirls began to move about the walls. They continued to move and expand until it had finally become "Starry Night." Each time the paintings changed, the transition was different. 

I would say if you get the opportunity to attend, it would be well worth it.

I am humbled by the number of "mini-acs" who are participating in my Baggie Challenge. If you haven't seen their amazing quilts, check the links in Wendy's post and see what everyone has made. I haven't made my Baggie Challenge quilt yet, but plan to do it this month--after I get some Christmas gifts made!! Oh, it is coming quickly!

Hope you are finding ways to spread joy, and stay safe.

Until next time, 

Janet O.

 

Leaving you with this sunset from last night. The hazy sky from the inversion provides a bit of a glow spilling over the mountain top. This photo was taken from my sewing room window.