The Calamity Club

 

I've taken a deep dive into this book which is 600 pages long!  I loved the author's The Help, which came out years ago and was made into an excellent movie.  I thought I'd read this when it first came out, but I hesitated because of its length.  Finally, a little late to the game, I did start reading it.  And I've been at it for three weeks and am now 75% of the way along.

The book is told from a couple of points of view - an 11 year old orphan, an unrelated sister in her 20s trying to help her family survive the great Depression, and a few others who slip in along the way.  It's 1933 in Oxford, Mississippi.  I kept thinking about that Bob Dylan song Oxford Town as I read:  "The sun don't shine above the ground..."  Segregation, poverty, and social mores are all a part of everyday life portrayed here.

I look forward to finishing, but sometimes the stories are so intense that I just have to step away for a while.  This is a book that will only be read completely by those who can endure its intensity and length.  The Help made much more of an immediate impact on readers - and was shorter, too.  Yet I'm glad to be reading this novel as there's a lot to think about and wonderful characters, too. 

A few gifts in the works

 A couple of months ago I made two phone charger bags out of pre-quilted fabric = one for me, the other for my friend Cindy in CA.  I cut out a few more to give as gifts, and yesterday I made two for Christmas gifts (Mom and sister Jenny).  Someone told me "they're a fire hazard," which I don't believe, but that put a pall on continuing the project.  Guess I'll make zipper bags out of the fabric I cut up.  I still have more of that pre-quilted fabric that's not cut, too, so that will go on the shelf for some future project.  Today I'll go buy a few more zippers for those bags which I can fill with small gifts like candy, scarves, jewelry, etc.

Meanwhile, I got busy working on a "Clam Up Bag" by By-Annie.  It's rather complicated and uses a very long zipper.  The pattern offers instructions for five sizes (XS to XL), so I decided to make the medium one because I had a zipper long enough to fit it.  It seems like a lot of work for a small zipper bag, but I thought I ought to work on something with a little more "style."  I love the fabric I chose for this bag and have lots left for other projects.  I have several more long zippers so if I like the Clam bag, I will make a few more.

In the evening Paul and I went to a "Haunted State House" event in our state capitol.  Spooky stories and a spooky play were offered in various low lit places, including the House chambers.  There were loud screams and things going bump in the night.  Everyone seemed to have fun, and I was impressed by my friend Alan's production which involved a large cast throughout the building.  

Vermonters love their State House, we love to show it off, and this was a new way to see it.  We've been on tours many times, but for some it was a first visit.  I'm sure they'll be back for the historical tour sometime.

Potpourri

 Yesterday was spent cleaning up the quilting room, doing a little here and there.  I took the time to clean my machine which now hums (or should I say "purrs"?).  I used the Sue Pelland Leaves Galore template to make some lemon peels and ended up making a few blocks in various colors.  I may use it as one of the borders of Daylesford eventually.  

This was my first time using the template/ruler, and I can see that it will take some practice to insure that all the pieces cut are uniform.  I used Misty Fuse as recommended and like it better than Steam-a-Seam, but each really has its uses.  I want to try to get better at machine applique because my aging hands are a bit less cooperative than they used to be.  

I used invisible thread to sew the pieces down using a small blanket stitch, and it worked very well.  I think I bought the thread from David Taylor when I took a class in his machine applique method a few years ago.  (I found his method very fiddly and messy - haven't used it since.)

I put this little tree block in a box of miscellaneous blocks, too.  Years ago I made a bunch of these after reading a blog by Amy Smart.  I put the resulting table runner in a craft fair where a friend, Suzy, bought it.  She even brought it to guild to show and tell.  I'd like to make more of these blocks sometime, but not now.  

Next up I'll be working on some flowering snowballs today, I hope.  I have aerobic walking in the morning and a Friends of the Library meeting in the afternoon.  In between I should be able to tackle a few of those blocks.  On my way home from walking, I'll stop at the Restore to drop off some leftover balls of yarn.  It does feel good to clear my yarn stash a bit.

What will I work on next?

I have a lot of projects in boxes and for once I'm at a loss which one to work on today.  Over the weekend I finished the Christmas tree row for the row robin and finished a baby quilt top for Bags of Love.  For the latter, I had a panel and simply added 12" quilt blocks to the top and bottom to end up with a quilt that's 36" x 50".  I'm out of batting, so I'll give it back to the group to have someone else quilt it and add the binding I made for it.  I hate using panels as they are never square and always odd sizes.  I had to cut the outer printed border off of most of the panel in order to make it a size that worked.  That's all too frustrating to do ever again!  :-)

Today, I have my choice of the following:

1.  a sampler of raffle blocks over the years in the Green Mountain Quilters Guild - I have enough for a quilt yet?

2.  a quilt made of selvages - not started, but materials are gathered

3.  playing around with a new Sue Pelland ruler and fusible applique technique - maybe bright orange peels on black and white backgrounds?  Do I really want to start something new?

4.  flowering snowball blocks - I have several cut out and ready to sew

5.  phone charger caddies - I have several cut out and ready to sew for holiday gifts

6.  tote bags - I have fabric and patterns all set aside to make bags for holiday gifts

7.  a miscellaneous project box that ought to be sorted through and, perhaps, discarded or maybe turned into tote bags.

8.  Daylesford  (a Jen Kingwell design) which is sitting on my design wall, waiting for inspiration for the next round.

9.  a batch of charm squares, layer cakes, and other precuts that my neighbor Carol gave me before she moved away,  Maybe I'll use those for the tote bags?  Some are just not my taste but might look good together.

10.  a batch of orphan blocks won in a raffle at the state quilt guild meeting.  

Stay tuned!

Fidget quilt and more

My Saturday guild has been making lap quilts and fidget quilts for Caledonia Home Health in honor of our member Tess's father who received care from that agency this year before his passing.  I had a bunch of stuff set aside for these quilts but finally got around to making one a couple of days ago.  It has been fun, but I'm out of ideas.  I started with some denim a friend gave me and then topped the 6" squares with various doodads.  I interspersed the 6" squares with a few others to provide texture, as that is what many people with memory decline enjoy feeling.  I finished the top and got it quilted a few days ago.  I'm not thrilled with the whole thing, so I doubt if I'll make any more.   I didn't take a picture, either.   I'll drop it off at the quilt shop next week sometime for Tess to pick up.

The yard work I hoped to do actually got done on Tuesday, including taking the hoses in to the garage and moving the planters in, too.  I left a couple of sorry looking mums in pots out for color, but soon they will go into the compost with all the annuals I pulled out.

This morning I started paper piecing some trees for Marie's row robin.  This was our first switch, and I was happy to be working on Marie's.  We switched alphabetically last year on the round robin, so this year we're going backwards.  There are again six quilters in the group which will result in a nice sized quilt.  Marie chose a holiday theme - all the holidays in the year, not just The Holidays.  So I am making wintery trees from Jennifer Chiaverini's Christmas book.  So far so good.  My rows will be anything in fall colors - quite a departure from my usual purples and brights.  I won't see the rows until April or May.

I also started knitting another little hat for Bags of Love this week after learning that they are in dire need of them.  The yarn is speckled, sort of tweedy, light green.  The next hat I make will be a mix of yarns because I seem to have quite a lot of miscellaneous balls hanging around.  I really like the DK yarn I've been buying from Knit Picks - it's called "Hawthorne."  It's a little pricey but I figure I'm handling it so much that I ought to enjoy the feel of it.

Carolina Chain

 I didn't know the name of the quilt I was making, but I later found its name:  Carolina Chain.  It's a variation of a block with the same name by Bonnie Hunter.   My blocks finish at 8" and hers are smaller (of course!  She's the queen of tiny pieced scrappies).  I cut out enough 2.5" strips to make two baby quilts and still had some strips left over.  Those all got cut into 2.5" squares and set aside for some future use.  

The smaller of the two quilts is going to Bags of Love; the other is for my niece Susan in the Netherlands.  She is expecting her second baby in 2027.  Because she had such a hard time bringing young Finn into the world (lots of miscarriages, surgeries, and IVF), we are all excited by this development.  I quilted both on my Elna in a plain square grid.  The quilt for Susan is a rectangle, 4 blocks by 5 blocks, and I used a dark blue fabric for the border.  I will mail it soon even though the baby isn't due until some time in 2027.  I am very upset that the USPS is raising the rates for packages during the holidays.  That just seems wrong - Scrooge-ish actually,  Just another reason to vote blue IMHO.

I didn't get any sewing done Saturday as I was at the state quilt guild meeting in Randolph.  I left home at 8 am for the half hour drive south amid snow showers.  Ugh!  The roads were wet and not slippery, even though I went through an area that used to have a sign reading Highest Point on Interstate.  The highway department took that sign down, but everyone that was here back in the day misses it.

Yesterday, I finished quilting Susan's quilt and will bind it today.  I made an apple crisp for dessert, along with some macaroni and cheese.  We had Paul's sister Pat over for dinner as she is leaving for her Florida home today.  We'll miss having her right across the street.  This morning the cleaners are coming and I'll zoom with state library friends from around the country in the afternoon.  In between, I'll add that binding and, I hope, do a little yard work.  The whole week is supposed to be pretty and not too cold - just perfect!

Time passes quickly

 It's been well over a week since I blogged.  It's been busy around here with out of town guests enjoying the amazing fall foliage.  Paul's brother from Alabama came to visit so I had to clean up my sewing room so that Jim could comfortably sleep there.  I made a few scrappy blocks in the pristine space and cleaned up well after each session.  A week ago Sunday we picked him up at the airport after having lunch with friends who live in Burlington.  Jim's plane was an hour late, but we got home in time for a pizza dinner.

Monday was gloomy, chilly and threatened rain so we didn't do much.  In the afternoon, the sun came out for about half an hour, so we went to the cemetery to clean up Paul and Jim's parents' grave and then on to the maple farm for ice cream.  There were lots of "leaf peepers" there, including a tour bus.  I had a cup of soft ice cream (known in these parts as a "creemee"), and Jim had a cone.  Yum!  For dinner we went to their sister Pat's for lobster, which was delicious.  I took the carcasses home to compost.  I love lobster but it is a lot of work to eat!  Thank goodness the grocery store will cook them for us.

Tuesday was a lovely day, so we took Jim to the granite museum.  He's a geologist and, while he's been there many times before, he is always intrigued by what they've been up to since his last visit.  I wish I'd taken a picture of the life-sized slate and granite truck that's being built out in the parking lot.  It's going to Delaware to sit on the lawn of a business.  I made soup for dinner, and Pat joined us.  

Jim left on Wednesday, and then Pat's son came to visit her.  We had dinner at Pat's again - ravioli with pesto.  Pat owned a couple of restaurants over the years so is a great cook.  It's been fun having Pat around this summer; she returns to Florida for the winter next Monday,  

In between all this activity, I managed to make a batch of spiced pear jam - my favorite flavor.  I also made a scrappy baby quilt top and went to guild to do a little hand stitching with the group,  I have set aside the purple scarf I was knitting in favor of a red hat for a child going into foster care,  At guild I spent about an hour rolling up a huge skein of red yarn I got at Walmart.  I guess I'll be making more than one red hat for kids this fall, but I vow never to buy Red Heart yarn again.  It isn't as fine as the DK yarn I've been buying via Knit Picks.