True Kona Story

No sewing to show this week. We took time off from our everyday lives last week to do daycare for two of our grandkids. So. Much. Fun. We played and played. We celebrated our granddaughter's half birthday. With cake and 4 1/2 candles! (How did she get to be that old already?) Our grandson seemed to have a new word every minute and kept us in stitches with his physical comedy. Eventually, we had to come home. Sigh. Good thing we have Skype. 

This past weekend, I started planning the colors of a new quilt using my Kona card. You know that I made my own Kona swatch book a few weeks ago. But I don't have a wide range of fabrics, and my book is kind of limited at the time. So I used the card. You know how those Kona swatches are glued down, and you try and try to figure out the subtle differences between the colors so you can pick just the right one? Sure you do. I love my Kona card. But I don't want to mess it up by bending it to make close comparisons, so I pretty much spent Sunday off and on squinting, picking colors and then second guessing myself and starting over and generally driving myself crazy. 

Now I know that lots of quilters cut up their cards. Many a time I have been tempted to cut up mine. But you know, I backed out every time. It's kind of like cutting into a favorite bit of fabric. Finally, before I went to bed, I decided that I just had to cut up the card the next morning. Then I remembered that Lara over at Buzzinbumble.com was having a final post for her month-long blog hop celebrating her new book, so of course, I had to check it out before I logged off the computer. And then I squealed. There in the post was my name paired with a giveway: A KONA COLOR CARD!!!  Right then I knew that I could have my cake and eat it, too. (Is that old phrase even used anymore?) Monday morning, I happily cut up my card. I'm going to mount the chips on a board with velcro and then keep the card from Lara nice and neat for reference. Once my chips were cut, I figured out my quilt colors with only about 15 minutes of auditioning. I can show you a few of the chips from the card, but the color decisions for the quilt are a secret for now. Sorry.

If only I had read Lara's post earlier. Second sigh this post. 

Today, I spent a good chunk of time pressing a zillion eighth-yard cuts of fabric. It was a chilly day, so I didn't mind working with the iron. Can't show you. Now I'll start cutting fabric while I wait for my Kona order to come. 

The other thing I did this past weekend was plant my flower pots. We usually do that on Memorial Day weekend, but we knew that we'd be gone for several days and that no rain was predicted. To avoid coming home to parched flowers, we waited until we came home from daycare. I got the flowers planted 15 minutes before it started raining. Yea! 

So because I have only one fabric/quilt-related picture to show you, I'll finish with some pictures from the garden. And you'll see that Eldin the painter has been at it again. (If you read my blog regularly, you'll get this. Maybe he needs his own label?) We have a lot of sort of floppy perennials. This year I decided to be proactive in helping them stand  So I bought tomato cages and put them over the plants as they emerged. I wanted colorful cages, but because they cost 4 times as much as plain metal ones, I bought the cheaper ones, and Eldin helped me pretty them up with some old spray paint. Also, our hummingbird feeder hasn't done a very good job of attracting birds, so I bought a metal pail, and Eldin painted that, too, so I could hang some flowers instead. 

Okay. Time to go. I'm linking up this week with Freemotion by the River and Sew Fresh Quilts for their linky parties. Buttons are on the right side bar. 

And Thursday I'll link up a post about an old quilt with A Quarter Inch from the Edge. Really. I was going to last week, but Jenn was taking the week off to go to a quilt camp. (The nerve of her!)

I hope you are having a great week whether you're sewing, quilting or picking colors!

Swatches

I'm sort of between projects this week. I just finished two quilts, but I'm not quite ready to share them. I did venture out beyond the confines of my own yard to take pictures of them, and I'll have a post up on the weekend. My next big project will be some secret sewing that I can't share for quite awhile. I do have a wall quilt that I'll work on in the meantime, and I hope to also have some other little projects that I'll be able to blog about for the next month or so. 

At loose ends today, I tackled a little project that I've wanted to do for some time. Homemade swatches. I have a Kona color card, which I love, but I wish that I could move the fabrics around. I know there are nifty ways to cut up the card and mount the little swatches, but I just wanted to do something quick. I also wanted bigger swatches. So today I went through my Kona bin (there are also a few other solids in there) and cut squares of about 4 1/2 inches. Then I pinked the edges and labeled each square with the brand, color name, and color number (if it was Kona) using a permanent marker on light fabrics and a white colored pencil on the darkest ones.

I probably should have pressed my fabrics, but I was in the making zone and couldn't be bothered. I tried using a paper puncher to make holes in each square, but it jammed, so I traced the circles and then just cut the holes with sharp embroidery scissors. So far they are pretty crisp. If they start fraying, I'll put some Fray Check on them.

I cut front and back covers from scrap template plastic (only one shown here) and two card stock flyleaves (only one here) for my little swatch book. 

Then I loaded up my swatches onto a jump ring I found in a junk box. (Kind of wish I had pressed those fabrics.)

Here's how the book looks with the swatches fanned out:

And here it is closed:

I suppose I could decorate the front, but this works for me. The flyleaves give it a clean look, but they are also useful to place behind light fabrics when they're fanned out to ensure that the colors are true. 

This will be an easy swatch book to slip in my purse when I'm shopping or for general planning at home. I only have about 30 solid swatches right now so the 1-inch jump ring worked out fine. If I add a lot to the book in the future, I'll need a bigger one. But hey, this one was free and now my junk box is a tiny bit less stuffed. 

I'm linking up today with Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday and tomorrow with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social. (Click links here or the buttons on the right.) I'll be back on the weekend to share my finishes. (If you want a sneak peek, click on my Instagram link on the right.)

Have a great week with your quilt related projects--big or small.