Everyone has their own way of dealing with our recent heat wave. P thinks it is good to wear wool tights when the temperatures are over 90 degrees!?
! Doesn't she look cool?
Our not so beautiful ceiling fan in the sewing room becomes a truly beautiful thing.
Water is also refreshing.
When machine quilting, I usually don't mark the quilt first. I enjoy coming up with designs that I can draw "free hand" at the machine. I thought this quilt called for something formal like a feathered vine seen on many traditional and Amish quilts. I tried to free hand a feathered vine on practice piece and it just didn't work at this scale. These strips are 9.5 inches wide, a pretty big space to fill evenly without marking. I, then, drew out a pattern, a "free hand" vine that is the same distance to each side of the strip. The length of the waves are not necessarily equal but the width is the same. I marked the sides and the center line as a guide on the fabric.
I stitched the center with a double line about an eight of an inch apart. After trying and failing at free handing the feathers on the machine on a sample, I marked each feather before sewing on the quilt.
The template for the vine can be placed four different ways by flipping it around. That will give a little bit of variation in the vines while still having them all almost the same.I am pretty happy with the result. I still have three more strips to do but each one gets a little easier.I plan to do some filler quilting in the areas around the vine. That should make the feathers visually "pop". The thread I am using is a really pretty brown that matches the fabric beautifully. It matches so well that it is almost impossible to see the lines I have sewn when I need to backtrack.
"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself."
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, 1847.
I started this little quilt at Beaver Island Quilt Retreat in 2007.
Less than three years from start to finish - not too bad.In working through my unfinished projects I have noticed that the quilts I start at retreat are the ones that end up not being finished right away.
It is not because I don't want to finish them. It is more that I am so productive at retreat that I start or sometimes even finish three or four quilt tops during the week. I come home energized with ideas that I want to try so I usually keep working on one of those quilts and then move that energy to more new projects.
Right now I am empowered to get things finished so I am going with that.
This little quilt was hand quilted with perle cotton thread and is 22.5 inches by 22.5 inches.
I had better keep busy. Retreat time will be here before long and then I'll have even more quilt tops to finish!
I told myself that I wouldn't start any new projects until I had worked my way through some projects in the UFO pile. Well that didn't last long.
P's new baby doll was cold so what is a grandmother to do but make a socks and a hat for the baby.
I am OK with my rule breaking for the following reasons:
1. It used up all but about 8 inches of the yarn left from Petunia's Rose Dress. (cleaning up the slow way.)
2. The project was finished in a couple of hours and did not add to the UFO pile.
3. The baby is no longer cold and Petunia is happy with the new items for her doll.
4. The little socks are just too cute not to like.
P still wants more items for the new baby's wardrobe but for now these are enough. She has discovered that the new baby can also wear clothes from her other doll. They are a tiny bit big but they work. I also could not believe that in my huge collection of doll clothes sewing patterns I did not have a single one for a 12 inch baby doll. Not a single one. How did that happen?
I really enjoy spending time with P. I love hearing her observations of the world around her.
After our recent rain the weather has been cooler and crispier. The mosquitoes have even been taking the days off.
Yesterday, P and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon outside. We took the picnic blanket, a stack of books, the baby doll, some knitting, the camera, cups of water - you know, the essentials- out in the yard.
There we were, lying under the edge of the plum tree looking up into fluffy white clouds on a sea of deep blue. It was beautiful.
P said, "We are like a couple of raisins on the bottom of a cup."
What?
She went on to explain that the air was the cocoa and the clouds were the whipped cream on top.
Yeah, it was just like that, a beautiful relaxing afternoon outside.
We stayed out until the mosquitoes started to find us.
While scratching the latest bites she said, "Putting bug stick (liquid antihistamine) on bites is a good thing to do... unless they are bites from a crocodile or something like that."
Yes, she is a very wise child.
Do you have any good childhood wisdom to share?
In the mean time, I hope you feel like a happy raisin in the bottom of a cup.
The Princess looked at her more closely. “Tell me," she resumed, “are you of royal blood?''
“Better than that, ma'am,” said Dorothy. “I came from Kansas.'"
Ozma of Oz, Frank Baum, 1907.
I am slowly working my way through my yarn stash. These quick 2 x 2 rib crew socks are made from Mountain Colors Twizzle yarn. 85% Merino Wool, 15% Silk. Size 2.5 needles.
Yay for new socks. Yay for using up some of what I have
.Cleaning up the slow way makes me happy.
I finished the strippy stars top.
Six years ago at a quilt retreat I made this and had the part on the left of the next photo sewn together. I had the brown floral and two narrow blue strips cut so that I could add another row of stars.
I even had all but three of the star blocks made. But, when I got home from retreat the quilt and parts remained in a pile and I never got back to it. I think I had convinced myself that this would be a twin quilt. In the mean time I used four of the star blocks in a doll quilt.
With Project UFO underway I pulled this out again and decided to go back to the queen size quilt plan. I made seven more blocks and had a look at it. There was one block that seemed to stand out as too pale compared to the others and another that was all too dark. I decided to switch the centers on those blocks and sew it together.
I think I may try to quilt some feathered vines in the plain strips.
P said the other day that she wanted to make the space under the stairs a "queenly place" for queens, princesses, and fairies. I have helped her start the transformation.
We went through my bins of thrifted fabrics and linens and found a green toile tapestry of birds and leaves to hang on the wall and she chose a few other fancy items for decoration. We also draped a large piece of red and white damask fabric across the opening.
D installed some hooks for her to hang some "queenly things." and B fixed a lamp for light.
She says she will draw some queenly things to decorate the backs of the stairs.
M has fun getting in there and playing games with her.
Overall she seems thrilled with the space. It is fun to have a doorway to such a magical place in my sewing room.
Eventually it will be a storage space for me but for now, it will be a place fit for a queen, or princess, or fairy, (or maybe even a mermaid she says).
I thought you might want to see some vintage fabric yardage.
I found these long forgotten pieces of fabric yesterday while looking for something else in the sewing room. There is at least three yards of each.
I love that they are all the old narrow width- and just look at that lovely selvedge. Sigh.
Summer has arrived but I still don't spend much time outside because of the mosquitoes. I am eagerly awaiting the day they blow away.
In the mean time I am trying to be productive with my time in the house. I have decided that one of my summer projects will be to finish as many unfinished projects in the sewing room as I can. You know, cleaning up the slow way. I am determined to get some of these piles cleared up.I am on my way with these star blocks that I made today. That is all I need to finish a queen size quilt that I started at Beaver Island Quilt Retreat in 2004!!
If I hadn't put four of the blocks in this quilt and mailed it away I would have only needed to make three more blocks. Three. That was all I needed to finish a queen size quilt.
That is what I get for not finishing it at the time. I have had the unfinished top and fabrics to finish it in a pile for almost SIX YEARS.
Yes, its time has come.
Is anyone else up for a summer of Project UFO? Let's get those projects finished!!
I have a few quilt tops featuring solid fabrics that I want to quilt and get finished. My problem is that I can't decide how to quilt them.
What color thread should I use? How do I quilt them without losing the crisp clear colors of the solid fabrics?
Anything I come up with tends to muddy the overall look of the quilt. I could just quilt in the ditch between the fabric colors but I do like a lot of quilting on a quilt. It just makes it feel right. I also want both of these quilts to be USED.
I'll be using a thin thread to down play the quilting but I don't have color or a sewing design plan yet.
I finished quilting this quilt last night. I was so happy with how it turned out that I raced to get the binding sewn down this morning.
I rinsed it and put in in the fluff cycle in the dryer and it came out with the look and feel that I love in a quilt.
It has the soft drape that is perfect for snuggling a little one.
I love the way the hand dyed blue fabric looks like a window to the sky (I wish that showed better in the pictures) and the secondary blue and green star pattern that happens with the alternate hourglass blocks.
It measures 40 inches by 51.5 inches.
"A seed is wonderful. It grows. Something comes out of the ground. A green stem comes out. Little leaves get bigger."
Seeds and More Seeds, Millicent E. Selsam, 1959.
Look what we found when D took the wall down!
It's a Bonus Room!
I think I could store a lot of stuff in there, although P has her eye on it as a play space. We shall see.
Oh, and the fun never stops with the new sewing machine!
We braved the mosquitoes yesterday long enough to pull the garlic scapes. We added some to our dinner last night but there are still quite a few left.
I'll be making and freezing some pesto today.
I quilted some yesterday and finally got in the groove with the new machine but I ran out of the thread I was using in the bobbin. I will have to wait for more thread to get the whole thing finished but I like the way it is turning out. It is a beautiful thing when the tension is right and the stitches look great on BOTH sides of the quilt. Sigh.
Today is a cooler, crispier day so we are heading out for a bike ride around the block. Our block is over four miles round trip; not that far, really, but considering that I haven't ridden my bike for over five and a half years I think it will be far enough for me.
I would love to spend some time outside, maybe sitting by the garden reading a book while sipping something cool.
I would even enjoy getting caught up on weeding in the gardens. But, sadly my time outside the past few weeks is spent in the following way. I look out the window and think, oh, the flowers look so pretty, I'll go take some pictures. I grab my camera and head outside.
I take a few good shots and then the mosquitoes find me. I hurry to make the complete route around the house but I can't hold the camera still to take the pictures.
I end up with some hastily taken out of focus pictures and run screaming into the house while swatting the biting bugs. Next time I'll have to start going around the house the OTHER direction. I didn't get any pictures of the flowers blooming on the south side of the house. I keep encouraging the chickens to eat the mosquitoes but I think they are eating their eggs instead.
My solution to the bug problem today will be to sit at my new sewing machine and do some quilting while watching the wood part of the wall in my sewing room come down.
The wood will be used for flooring upstairs. Twenty years ago we took up flooring in what will be the new bathroom. We used those floor boards to patch and repair the floor in the rest of the house. We also purchased maple flooring for the bathroom. Since then, we have changed our plan and the bathroom upstairs will not be as big and some of that space will go back to what is now P's room. In working on the new plan we have found that flooring made from yellow pine today is very different from what was made 100 years ago. Today it is all flat sawn. Most of the flooring in our house is quarter sawn. B went to the lumber yard and could not find a single floor board that was vertical grain.
Here you can see a section of our old flooring. Most of the boards are vertical grain with straight parallel grain lines. There is one board here that is flat sawn and shows the face grain as curvy ribbons of color. This is what ALL of the new floor boards look like. A whole floor like this would look like a zebra! So, we are using the old wall boards for a more uniform look to finish P's room. We can use new flooring on walls in the bathroom that will be painted.
(My sewing room used to be two rooms with the wood area being the back of a build in storage unit. This was changed before we moved in. I do wish the changes had not been made before we bought the house. We have found many interesting things as we have done our own remodeling.)
Also, please note that my desk is actually CLEAN.
"I speak quietly,I do not sing,I whisper, for beautyis a fragile thing.""Marigolds," Everything Glistens and
Everything Sings, Charlotte Zolotow, 1987.
We've been keeping busy this week with some very important activities. We have baked and decorated a birthday cake,
Flown a kite,
Enjoyed the flower gardens (I love these salmony pink poppies),
And even worked in some sewing time. I had this top pieced, pressed, and folded just in time to take to my quilt club last night.
We are all looking forward to the end of school on Friday! I know M will be glad to be out of school like his siblings. I hope it will be warm and sunny for our annual Last Day of School Visit to the Ice Cream Shop.
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937.
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