Overdue for an update!
First up, I finished a diamond painting! It was my first one with square drills. I can see the positives of using DPs with square drills. There are more of them per square inch, so you can get a crisper image in a smaller size canvas, compared to the round drills... BUT they do take more precision in placement, and they take longer to complete. I was in no hurry, but it was still good to have it finished.
My technique isn't perfect, but I'm still happy with how this one turned out. The next one's all laid out and ready to go-- round drills, this time-- but I haven't started it, yet.
I'm still crocheting "Oculus of Stars" and will be for quite some time to come. I'm working on round 32, with no idea of how many rounds there are, total. It's a very large doily, and I'm just crocheting as the mood hits me, so sometimes there will be days or weeks with no progress. I'm in no hurry.
I haven't blocked the other doily I finished before this one, either. One of these days!
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There has been progress on the crumb quilt.
I filled up the design wall with rows of crumb blocks, then started joining those blocks into finished rows. Now there's plenty of room on the design wall again, and quite a few crumby bits ready to sew together to make more crumb blocks, which will turn into more rows.
I think I'm going to need a lot more rows to make a decent-sized couch quilt, so I've been pondering what to do.
There are a few options...
1. Make the more-or-less solid strips between the rows thicker than originally planned, to pad it out to the right size.
2. Use multiple (2 or 3) strips of different colors/prints between each crumb-row-- maybe more visually interesting than division with a single, larger strip.
3. Make those strips between the crumb-rows more interesting by piecing words or phrases into them.
4. Pack it away and wait for more/larger crumbs, which will make it easier to work on at another time. (Store with notes to remind myself what I was thinking of doing and save future brain-cudgeling!)
I'm still considering which way to go. I've already packed this away once, and I don't really like the idea of doing it again. I think I'd like it finish it soon, one way or another. I've been meaning to try piecing words free-form (without following a piecing pattern), but I'm not sure how easy I'll find it, and I'd rather not drag this project out for too, too much longer, if it turns out to take a lot of time to piece words.
On the other hand, the idea of using larger solid strips between the crumbs (single fabric, no words in the strips) doesn't really appeal to me...
I guess what I'll do first is just go look again at how many finished strips I have and what I have left to work with, then let that guide me.
I've been feeling drawn in so many different directions, as to what I want to work on next. I've been thinking about scrappy "Around the World" quilts... Something with lots of strings and not too much "fancy" piecing... A vintage sheet quilt for our king-size bed... A quilt using some cute Halloween fabric in my stash... And more ideas besides! It's so hard to decide! Maybe I can do two at a time, using one as a leader-ender project...
Everything else is garden photos!
Purple coneflowers:
Rose of Sharon:
"Lady Margaret" Passionflower:
Each bloom lasts only a day, then the flower twists up like this... And eventually the pod beneath the flower matures and pops open to reveal a bunch of seeds resembling a blackberry, hence their common name. They're also known as leopard lilies, due to the spotted petals.
