Pineapple Log Cabin Therapy: Block 34 of 42, etc.

Greetings from the midst of Advent!  "Busy" does not even begin to describe all the balls I've got in the air right now, but I blocked out some stitch therapy time and managed to complete another pineapple log cabin block this week.  That's 34 blocks completed, 8 more to go, in case anyone's keeping track.

Pineapple Log Cabin Block 34 of 42

Here are the four most recent blocks up on the design wall.  Each block finishes at 17 3/4", and the fabric strips finish at 3/4" wide.

Blocks 31-34 On the Wall, With Bear Paws

Christmas caroling is in full swing, so the Giant Green Dress has been out and about.

Caroling With Cecilia

I'll be practically living in that dress all of next week.  It's such a pain to put on, and I'm sick of wearing it, but the little girls LOVE IT...

My New Buddies

Speaking of little cuties, I ran across a couple of Oldies But Goodies on my computer the other day.  Check out Lars, helping to decorate the Christmas tree on Black Friday nine years ago:

Lars Hauling Out the Holly in 2008

...and here is that very same child, on Black Friday of this year, snuggling with our dogs on a break from stringing lights on the tree:

Lars Snuggling With Rottweilers on Tree Decorating Day 2017

Back in 2008, my son Anders used to smile sweetly for the camera, too.  Here he is showing me a reindeer ornament that he made in preschool:

Anders Showing Off His Reindeer Ornament in 2008

Fast forward nine years, and I am lucky to get a picture of him at all.  I just went through my phone and this is seriously THE BEST recent photo I have of him.

Anders in 2017, Too Cool for Mom to Take His Picture

But in the midst of cooking and entertaining, I managed to get a cute Thanksgiving picture of me and Bernie:

Me and My Sweetie, Thanksgiving 2017

This turned out to be the year that I accidentally dumped ALL of my gravy down the drain (forgot to put a bowl under the strainer!), but no one seemed to care.  

Time flies, doesn't it?  The holidays are definitely different with teenagers than they were when I had little ones in the house.  I would wrap this post up with a pithy observation about the passage of time and seasons of life, but alas, my brain is too tired.  I need to hop in the shower and get dressed for the boys' Christmas show at church tonight.  I'm looking forward to seeing what all the high school kids have been working on for the past few months.  :-)

I'm linking up with Esther's WIPs on Wednesdays.

5 Days 'Til Christmas: Advent Eye Candy from the Art World to Set the Mood

"Saint Joseph Seeks Lodging in Bethlehem," by James Tissot, 1886-1894

Notice that I did not say "five SHOPPING days" until Christmas.  The shopping is finished, the homework and projects and tests and classroom parties are finished.  The decorating is finished, and the cookies have been baked.  Now all that's left to do is "watch and wait, which is what Advent is really all about.

So, I thought I'd take a moment to share some of my favorite depictions of the Christmas story in religious art.  It's interesting to me how differently artists imagine and interpret the Bible narrative, filling in the blanks and injecting much of their own culture and perspective into their portrayals.  My favorite is "Saint Joseph Seeks Lodging in Bethlehem" by French artist James Tissot.  I can almost hear the innkeeper calling down the stairs, "There's no room in the inn!"  Joseph seems frantic, Mary looks nervous, and Tissot achieves a fairly realistic background of what Bethlehem might actually have looked like two thousand years ago.  The depth and perspective in this painting really draws me into the scene and into the story.

"Adoration of the Shepherds," by Angelo Bronzino, c. 1540

Next, we have the "Adoration of the Shepherds" by Angelo Bronzino, a 16th century artist from Florence.  I really love the idyllic, pastoral landscape in the background of this painting and the rich jewel tones of the garments -- even though I know it's preposterous.  Prior to the invention of synthetic fabric dyes in the 19th century, vivid colored textiles could only be achieved through laborious processes requiring thousands of tiny bugs, mollusks, or plant materials, and vibrant fabrics like these would have only been available to the wealthy and powerful.  Actually, the artist probably chose these colors for symbolic reasons rather than attempting to imagine what the holy family was actually wearing when Christ was born.

Which brings me to the last painting I'll share tonight (this morning?  How did it get so late?!):


"The Star of Bethlehem," by Edward Burne-Jones, Watercolor, 1890

Burne-Jones, a Pre-Rafaelite Aesthetic artist, has reinvisioned the nativity in an idealized medieval European forest.  The magi who have come to pay their respects to the Christ child are bizarrely dressed in what appears to be irridescent silk dupioni and an exquisite jacquard tablecloth -- I know this is ridiculous, but I love how this artist depicted these unlikely fabrics so skillfully, with such a high level of detail and realism.   They called it the "Aesthetic Movement" for a reason -- this is absolutely gorgeous.  Can you believe this was done in watercolor? 

Well, I set out to write a nice post about Advent and focusing on the "reason for the season," but (typically) I ended up right back where I always do, obsessing about FABRIC!  Ugh! 

Ta Da! Paper-Pieced Star for my Advent Table Runner

I finished my 12" paper-pieced star block for my Advent table runner!  Isn't it pretty?  I doubt I'll have any more time to work on this between now and Christmas, but at least it's started.  I played around with fabric choices for a LONG time before I started this block, and I think I achieved exactly the effect I was hoping for.  Hooray!

And now I'm off to bed.  At 1:45 AM, on a SCHOOL DAY.  Morning will be painful, but that is why God in His infinite wisdom has blessed me with espresso beverages, n'est-ce pas? 

Sneaky-Peeky: A Paper-Pieced Star for My Nativity Table Runner

First Quadrant of my First Ever Paper-Pieced Block!

I have to leave for church in 10 minutes, but I'm so excited about the project I started last night that I had to post a quick preview.  I have a narrow console table behind the sofa in my kitchen/family room area where I display my nativity figures, and I'm currently using a store-bought quilted runner beneath them in reds and greens, but that table runner doesn't do anything for the muted colors of my nativity figurines.

Auditioning Fabrics with my Nativity Figures

I got an idea that I should make another runner in deep blue for Advent, with a gold star right in the center where the baby Jesus in the manger goes.  I've had Carol Doak's book 40 Bright and Bold Paper-Pieced Blocks (available from Amazon here) for several years, but had never gotten around to attempting paper piecing until now.  I spent several days reading and re-reading Carol's instructions, trying out different fabric combinations with my nativity figurines, and going back and forth between the different star blocks in the book before I finally settled on "Chris's Block."

I made four copies of the 1/4 unit that makes up the block, using special paper for foundation piecing (also already in my stash) that is supposed to be thin, strong, and resist transferring printer ink onto my ironing board.  I planned out my fabric placement with my sons' colored pencils, selecting colors as close as possible to my fabrics to get an accurate sense of how the finished block would turn out.  I wrote the color names of each fabric on the corresponding section of the paper foundations, lined up my pre-cut rectangles in numerical order, and sat down at my machine for some very weird upside-down sewing with my fabrics completely hidden by a piece of PAPER that I was sewing through.  This gave me ANXIETY, and I probably held my breath while I was sewing each seam.  However, I followed the instructions, kept the faith, and when I was finished I ended up with what appears to be a correctly sewn quarter of my star block.  (Note: my camera was crooked; the block is actually perfectly square).  Yippee!

I've got some gifts to wrap up for shipping and homework to supervise this afternoon, and my boys are singing in our church's Christmas concert this evening -- Lars even has a solo -- so I'm not sure whether I'll have a chance to work on the remaining three quadrants of my star today.  I only have a vague idea of what the rest of the table runner will look like, but at least I've made a start.

Happy Second Sunday of Advent to all of my Christian friends and family, and Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends!

By the way, I'm linking up to SewCalGal's Quilter's Christmas Party today.  If you have a moment, please pop over to join the fun, see what holiday projects other quilters have been working on, and learn how you can help make a difference by supporting Operation Homefront.