I did it. I said no new projects, then went ahead and made something new again. Whoops. I have a new group of friends, and as part of the group chat a few weeks ago they were all sharing their plans for the Peach Fuzz 2024 Pantone challenge, hosted by Sarah Ruiz. I said “no”, I wasn’t going to enter. 5 photos and 15 minutes later I had a full plan, and was eager to get back to my stash in New Jersey to do a peachy pull. It is way more fun to do challenges when your friends are playing, too.
A kawandi was an obvious choice – I’ve been working hard and deserve a little treat, right? I pulled a selection of peachy fabrics from my travel stash, and planned to supplement when I was back in NJ. Apparently I neglected to take photos of most of the process. In my defense, I was supposed to be packing for a trip from Florida to New Jersey to teach at the Lancaster/Lebanon quilt show.
I started my piece on my machine, and used it as a step out for my Kawandi by Machine class. I usually start a piece from scratch in class, then skip over to a few different step outs, so I can show folks quickly, rather than in real time.
After class was over, I started sewing by hand, on the airplane back to Florida.
Here are the first couple of rows of stitching, during a break in packing up my dog and clothes to drive back to NJ. That’s right. Our schedule changed, and in two weeks I flew from FL to NJ, drove to Pennsylvania for three days, drove back to NJ to unpack, flew back to FL, packed up my condo and dogs, and drove back to NJ over 3 days. I did all of the driving, as my co-pilot still doesn’t have his driver’s license. If I have seemed detached lately, that is why.
Corner close up! This Space Dye fabric from Figo is incredible. It’s soft and light, and just a dream to stitch through. And so pretty!
Here it is, almost done. I often do handwork while attending meetings on Zoom. The light makes it look so orange.
Here it is, all finished. Again, the lighting is making it look more orange than it really is.
Here is a better photo, taken outside, where sunshine makes everything look better.
The best part of this one is that I have two! (Mine is on the right, Mom’s on the left.) When I was prepping for class, I set up two different bases, in case I needed another. Sometimes I need to demonstrate starting again, if a student doesn’t understand me the first time. (It happens – everyone has different learning styles, and I try not to leave anyone behind.) Anyway, Mom came to Lebanon to keep me company, and she got bored during class. She pulled out the second kit and made one, too. So here they are next to each other – isn’t it interesting how different they look, even though they started with the same fabrics?
CJ and I are still working on our timing for “photo shoot”. Oscar is much more skilled, but he was enjoying a nap when I decided to take photos.
Now that I have two peachy pieces, I’ll have to figure out something to make with them. Making things from my small Kawandi has become a bit of a passion. I’ll share my new messenger bag soon.
Thanks to Lissa LaGreca, Cassandra Beaver, Isabelle Selak, Marisa Wilhelmi, and Karen Bolan for instilling the FOMO for the 2024 Pantone challenge in me. They should all have some killer quilts finished up soon.