More Movies, and Quilting

The sci-fi marathon has continued. I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which was more about wonder--or possibly obsession--than science, and not very thoughtful) and Forbidden Planet (was everything that cheesy in the 1950s?). I also saw Annihilation, which was fascinating, thought-provoking, ambiguous, and beautiful. It got a lot of bad reviews, mostly from people who thought it would be a conventional action movie (with aliens) or who like everything neatly explained and clear at the end. I can see why the trailers try to paint the movie as a fast-paced action/thriller--they want to hook people in--but it misrepresents the film. It is always easier to do conventional genre films, sequels, and re-makes than original movies. You have a built-in audience; people know what they are getting and there is a sort of comfort in that. With Annihilation you definitely don't know what you are getting. And even after watching it you aren't quite sure about what exactly happened--I found that intriguing instead of frustrating, though, so I liked the film.

This week I have been working on more dresden plate blocks. I had enough blocks for more than one quilt, but I wanted to experiment with different shapes so I made a hexagon template and am combining the hexagonal dresden blocks with equilateral triangles.



The triangles form star points and allow you to piece the quilt in rows without a lot of set-in corners. The color seems a bit off in this photo, in real life the triangles are periwinkle (halfway between blue and purple).

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I'm also working on a quilt that uses partial seams to create a herringbone-type design; I haven't tried any patterns that use the partial seam technique before (where you sew part of a seam, then go back later on and sew the rest of it). This is what my sewing room looks like in the midst of a project.



I like piecing this one, it's like a puzzle. There is a pattern to it, it is almost like interweaving strips together. I made some mistakes at first and had to rip out a few seams, but I got the hang of it.