Orchids and more

Several Mother's Days ago, my son gave me an orchid plant.  It bloomed for a long time and then nothing happened for a year or so.  I transplanted it into a larger pot, and it immediately bloomed.  After the blooms were finished, maybe 6 weeks after beginning, maybe even longer, I snipped the stalk near one of the "elbows" (or whatever they are called).  Finally, that branch began to grow and started blooming.  There is still one bud at its end.  

Much to my surprise, another stalk appeared and now has some fairly sizeable buds.  I'm amazed!  My other orchid plant looks awful even though I water it just the same (minimally) and it sits right next to this larger one.  Orchids are fickle!

Our kitchen and dining room were painted during the last three days.  Our painter is just wonderful - very neat, precise, quiet, hard working.   She's a pleasure to have in the house.  Prior to Monday, I moved everything off the kitchen counters and everywhere else I could.  We moved the dining table into the living room and a large antique sideboard into the middle of the dining room under the chandelier. 

The kitchen bench was stashed behind the couch and paintings were stored in various places.  This morning I rehung curtains, removed a slight film of dust here and there, and started moving stuff back into the kitchen.  This afternoon, Chris is coming by to help us move the bigger items back, and life should return to normal, albeit much cleaner and brighter.

Quilting Dear Jane!

I put the last stitches in block M-13 of Dear Jane Friday, and Saturday I sashed the row and added it to the Rows J, K, and L.  Sunday I sandwiched that section and have one more section left to sandwich.  It feels so good to make progress! 

I cut my sashing 1.5" instead of Jane's 1" (or less) because I think that makes each block stand out a little more.  Of course, that makes the center bigger (about 73" square) which is OK since I'm not adding the triangle border on Modern Jane.  I have been cutting pieces for the 3" wide piano keys border when I have gotten a chance, and I'll continue to do that off and on as I quilt.  

Yesterday I quilted the grid of this section, and today I started on the individual blocks.  Each one is being done a little differently, just as it would be if I were hand quilting.  Meanwhile, downstairs, the painter is working hard on our kitchen and dining room.   Our house is a bit topsy turvy this week.

Everything from the kitchen counters is either stuffed into cupboards (watch nothing falls when we open them!) or in some spot in the living room.  We moved all the dining room furniture into the living room except the big sideboard which we left under the chandelier.  My Oma's big painting of Lake Como is covered in and resting on two old quilts in the front hall.

We went out for pizza last night, but I plan to cook tonight.  Actually, it will be a salad topped with left over chicken.  The good news is that she's almost finished, after just two days on the job!   It will probably take a few days to get things back in order, but that's OK.  It's nice to see everything looking bright and clean.

 

Row M has begun

I finished blocks M-1 through M-5 yesterday for my Modern Dear Jane, including the dreaded M-3 which can include quite a few Y seams.  Rather than piece M-3, I decided to applique the pieces which worked OK but required a little hit of Fray Check here and there.  ome of these final blocks seem quite intricate - and difficult!   M-7 looks like it will need to be fused, but I'll worry about that when I get there - maybe today.

Lately, email ads and blogs have been touting patriotic themes as the 4th of July approaches.  I understand and honor the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but today's USA is in such turmoil that I just can't get enthusiastic about celebrating.  I won't be joining others in making anything patriotically quilty this year.   It just makes me uncomfortable.

Here's a quilt I made in 2018 that has the typical red, white, and blue color scheme (which I like very much).   It includes an old UFO center block along with several Dutch folk fabrics from my stash.  It's one of the first quilts I quilted myself using my old Viking.  I'll be changing the quilts I hang at the library soon and think I'll take this one to display along with Cornucopia of Thanks.  

Row L is finished!

This morning I appliqued Dear Jane block L-13 and that leaves only one more row to make!

Tomorrow I will sash these blocks and attach them to rows J and K before I move on to Row M, which has a mix of foundation pieced and appliqued squares.  I think Jane might have been running out of fabric by this point because some of these later blocks are very intricate.    

Once I finish Row M, I will attach it to Row L and perhaps add the bottom border.  I have several sections to quilt before putting all the sections together into one quilt.  This should take me quite a while, and then I'll add borders to the sides.  I've been cutting piano keys sporadically lately to try and get a jump on the borders.  I have a lot of black and white scraps by this stage in the process.

Wednesday, I worked on the "block of the month" for one of my guilds.  Each person received a baggie with some scraps, and we are to make something quilty with them.  Having just enjoyed making a quilted postcard for Diane and Bill's anniversary, I decided to make another post card.  I need to get some stiff Pellon in order to finish it. 

This measures 4" x 5.5", so the pieces are about .75" square.  It was fun to make.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Spring planting

The last few days have been just beautiful - warm, sunny, breezy - perfect for getting the gardens in shape.  My aging knees have been put to the test, but they seem to bounce back fairly well if I don't overdo.  Saturday Chris helped me plant the flowers that I had bought earlier in the week, and yesterday I did a major weed of the garden beds in the front yard.  I planted a bunch of impatiens in a shady spot.  I also now have two garbage bags full of weeds to give to the compost guy when he comes to pick up next week.

Today's plan is to plant some lettuce in boxes out front and some geraniums in a pot.  I decided not to put out flower boxes this year because our windowsills have just been repainted.  I'd hate for Nate's work to be spoiled by the mess of boxes make.  

If I feel up to it, I'll work in the backyard, but if I don't, I'll worry about that flower bed manana.  I have wave petunias to plant there and want to reduce the size of the shasta daisies.  They like to take over.

After my session with the Maze of Mystery Saturday, I decided to take a break and just read yesterday afternoon.  Maria Semple's latest book, Go Gentle, has been highly anticipated by critics but I'm not loving it.  The plot zigzags in time and seems very disjointed.  If it doesn't improve (and I am now 37% into it), I'll set it aside and start reading a mystery set on the Isle of Man.  I halso ave a haircut scheduled and a Zoom gathering with state library retirees, too, this afternoon.  

Spring has sprung!

Yesterday was sunny, warm, and lightly breezy, with trees beginning to flower.  We opened up windows for the first time since fall, cooked outside on the grill, and planted annuals.  What a day!  We're hoping for another today and, if we're lucky, tomorrow, too.  The many colors of green are wonderful to see on our lovely Green Mountains.

Chris came over to help me with some planting and, while I had a tall person around, I took a picture of the quilt I finished last week, It's made with scrappy Kaffe Fasset fabrics and a few other colorful prints and will be going to Bags of Love for kids going into foster care.  I quilted it very simply using fusible batting (which I don't like much but keep trying to work with as it does make it easier to baste together).

Today I'll do a little more weeding and may go out to buy another hose and a longer extension cord so Chris can trim the bushes.  While at the hardware store I may also get a few more plants although there is still a slight danger of frost.  We always waited until after Memorial Day to plant tomatoes and other things, but in recent years, with climate change, we can often plant a little sooner.

This is going to be a busy week with a hair appointment for me and dental cleaning for Paul, quilt guild meeting, lunch and dinner out with various friends, and the opera - Cinderella - on Saturday.  In between I'll peck away at Dear Jane and the gardens.

The Maze of Madness!

It felt really good to work on my modern Dear Jane quilt again.  I hadn't made any blocks since September, but when I got everything out again, I found that I only have two more rows of blocks to make.  That's 26 blocks, however!  I have been quilting as I go, in batches of rows, so I sashed three rows and put them together.  I'll quilt those... eventually.  I then sashed two more rows and put them together.

Here are the six blocks I made this week for Row L.  While I'm not wild about paper piecing, it really works the best for many of the blocks in this row.

Just in case you'd like a closeup of L-6, Maze of Madness, here is one:

It truly did drive me nuts although not as much as L-4 (the name eludes me).  I hope the next few blocks are a bit easier.

All the blocks in rows A-K look great together, and I think I have enough gray grunge for the 1" sashing and stop border for the rest of the blocks.  Instead of the triangle border I'm planning a 3" piano keys border using all of the black on white background prints all the way around.  I will start cutting those scraps up when I feel like taking a break from sewing the blocks.   

We are having the kitchen and dining room downstairs painted the first week in June, so that will most likely be a good time to escape upstairs to sew or outside to garden.  It's been raining a lot lately, so everything is green and growing quickly despite chilly overnights.  Chris is coming tomorrow (Saturday) to give me a hand outside which will be nice.  I always enjoy those mother/son workdays.