Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!
Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project
so they don't stall out in UFO-land!
(Linky at the bottom.)
So, in 6 days I will be an official Badass. ;D
Black Belt testing gets closer and closer, classes get longer and more intense, and somehow my system is still just hanging in there. The bed rest stuff along with specific and strict dietary strategies seems to be working well enough to get me through it all. And that makes me happy. I really didn't know if I'd make it this far!
We had to go through our old pictures so they could put together a class video. It's been a fun memory walk.
Here I am at my first belt test, breaking my very first board:
Board breaking quickly became a favorite event for me, even when I was on crutches.
This was at the US Open Hanmadang when I was a Brown Senior. Being recently injured and not knowing what I could do since I had to start from a crooked, off-balance crouch instead of a full-height downstroke, I broke only one board in the Downward Power Knife Hand event. I ended up getting first place (snicker), because no other women in the 45-50 age bracket for upper color belts registered to do it. You can break your hand if you do it incorrectly, and many folks our age don't want to take that risk. But hey, without that actual break I would have just been thanked for competing. :)
And this was at our Master's Challenge later that year when I was a Red Belt.
Check out that capture of the wood starting to break!
(Yes, I broke all 3 inches):
All that down time that my body requires for the six-week testing gauntlet for Black Belt is great for my quilting hand work projects, though!
These are all needle-turn applique, using the back-basting technique.
I finished Block 3 for my Octopus Garden quilt. So many *skinny* legs for the lobsters!
These are 12" blocks:
And then I finished the next stage of Block 6 for my Fiesta Mexico quilt.
This block is like a Round Robin quilt in its own right, and is currently 22 inches square. It has one more round of substantially appliqued white corners to be added on:
Both of these quilts also have embroidery on each piece, but I'm doing that later when all the blocks are appliqued and I can keep some good consistency on the stitching.
~*~*~
How about you? Have you done any BOM work recently?
Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,
and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.
Wow, I'm impressed. Be careful with that hand that makes these stunning applique blocks!!!
ReplyDeleteThat’s a pretty awesome skill! Hope the next competition goes just as well!
ReplyDeleteAs the mother of a son who got his black belt at age 17, I know how hard those boards are. My son started Taekwondo when he was 10. The first day of class, the instructor put out several boards and a brick for the kids to "practice" on. Well a few boards were broken and then I heard, "He broke it. Master Ben, he broke it." I'd been reading and looked up to see the brick was indeed broken in two. The kids were all lined up and Master Ben asked. "Who broke this brick?" My son's hand slowly went up. Yup, that's right. The first day of class and he breaks a brick. We were told to ice his hand but he didn't have any problems. He never broke another one but did break several boards at one time through the years. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think you're already a Badass! I doubt there was anyone else in your class that could break a board AND do fine applique work like that :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm in awe. That was a great action photo. Your blocks are divine.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilting projects! I'm in awe of the board breaking. Hope you training is going really well for your black belt test.
ReplyDeleteI like your lovely blocks a lot and am totally in awe of your wood breaking skills. Good luck with achieving your black belt.
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