A day at home

It's been a busy week, and it is very nice to have a day at home.  I did two loads of wash, took two walks with Paul - it's gorgeous out - baked a loaf of bread, read a little, and made some of my grandmother's beef stew.  It's called Hache and is a simple stew of beef and spices - bay leaf, boullion, cloves, and red wine vinegar.  It's usually served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable or over rice with a vegetable.  I'll make the mashed potatoes tonight and maybe the rice another night.

Yesterday's state quilt guild meeting was good although the turnout was a bit lighter than we'd hoped.  The short demos seemed like just the right program, and they covered Manx quilting, English paper piecing, flange bindings, and fabric covered coiled rope mats and baskets.  

Even though I knew how to do the last two and have tried EPP, it was good to get some new tips and hints.  The way Wendy fussy cut her shapes for EPP using Tula Pink's method was just amazing, but I'm not sure my eyesight will let me do much.  The Manx quilting with the big stitches seems more my speed, so I'll give it a try soon. 

Blocks of the month

 I haven't done a lot of sewing this week due to other activities.  But I did manage to make this month's guild block of the month, a 12" snowball.  I made one to keep and one for the monthly lottery.

This year, every block will have a white background, and each month's block will feature a specific color.  I like this month's choice of orange and, since the snowball is pretty easy, I decided to piece my blocks rather than use one large piece of fabric.  I had lots of orange scraps, both in my Halloween box and in my 2.5" squares box.

Tonight I'm heading to a monthly quilt bingo session at our local quilt shop.  The cost is $5 and a fat quarter.  We play a dozen or so rounds of bingo, with small prizes after each round.  The final game's prize is all those fat quarters.  Last time I didn't win anything, but I can always hope!  It's fun anyway.

Tomorrow is the state quilt guild's fall meeting in Randolph, about 1/2 an hour south of here.  I have a lot of stuff to take along and am looking forward to seeing everyone again.   Sunday I'll collapse as it's been a busy week.

A look back

This morning, my cousin posted a picture of the family assembled for Mom's 100th birthday back in June.  I'm not sure if someone took it with her camera or where it came from, but we are all there, making it a super memento.

I'm on the end, in the first skirt I've worn in quite a while.  I enjoyed wearing that cool skirt throughout the summer.  Paul is next to me, and Chris is way over on the other end.  Mom had hired some ladies to take pictures, but I haven't seen any and I'm not sure she has either.   It would be fun to create a photo album of the event for everyone, including those who couldn't come.

It's a busy time around here with meetings, gatherings, and chores.  There's a mountain of laundry to do since I did none while Paul's brother Jim was visiting.  Today I'll shop for groceries and head over to Burlington for lunch with Sonia, an old friend from my Syracuse days.  She and I were beginning librarians in towns close by each other.  We gave each other lots of moral support in our 20s and kept in touch all these years, through moves, divorces, various jobs.  She has retired to the Albany area so we haven't seen each other much in recent years.  I can always count on her for a laugh, a strong opinion, and a cool head while shopping for a winter coat (which I don't need right now).

The coming week will be busy:  pedicure, Friends of the Library meeting, yoga, baking cookies for an author program at the library, neighborhood ladies' lunch, quilt bingo, and the fall state quilt guild meeting.  In between I'll try to do a little sewing.  I laid out the first section of Austen Jubilee yesterday, but I probably will continue with the Scrappy Mountains quilt when I get a chance.   I'm looking forward to a quieter November.

Fall's next phase

 

We made another trip to Green Mount Cemetery Thursday to find what we hoped were the last three monuments for Paul's book.   Unfortunately, we had to return on Saturday for two more.  I help with the GPS coordinates, and he photographs them.  As I told my mom, you have to be a mountain goat to roam around that place.  Thursday was a warmish but gloomy day, but sometimes that makes the waning foliage shine better.  

It rained Friday and was windy, too, so I many leaves started falling and the colors began to fade.  The tour buses and RVs started moving south, following the color.  Our restaurants will again have room for us.  They had been posting on Facebook that they were booked up - which is good - but cautioning locals that they might have to eat at the bar after long waits.  The restaurant at the country club closed until spring over the weekend.  We like to go there to eat on the patio and look at the scenery but didn't get a chance this summer.

Soon it will be "stick season" in these Green Mountains.  We are hoping for a winter getaway, after three winters at home.   We're not sure how far south we'll go yet or even when we'll head that direction.  Our road trip this summer made us realize how much nicer it is to drive than to fly.  We enjoy seeing new places and having food and gear along.

Meanwhile, I've been cleaning up the quilting room for a guest arriving today.   Whenever this happens, I turn my attention to handwork and knitting.  I'm halfway through knitting a striped scarf and almost finished appliqueing melons in a starburst pattern onto a string pieced background for a wallhanging.  Maybe I can finish that this week.   I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until the next issue of Quiltmaker arrives with the last "clue" for the mystery quilt.  Austen Jubilee is my biggest UFO from 2021-22.

On the design wall

I've had a productive few days in the sewing room, after several days with unexpected company.  Paul's brother-in-law came out of the hospital Thursday and really couldn't go back to his remote island summer home with little or no heat.  We have had some very chilly nights, and Jay needed rest.  They stayed with us for a few nights and then headed south to Florida where their condo had no hurricane damage.   The warmth should also help Jay feel better.

We were happy to help, but I'm glad to have my sewing room back, too.  I was in the middle of making some log cabin Christmas stockings when they arrived, and I finished them on Monday.  I started out by making a small log cabin quilt top which I then cut the stockings out of.  I use batting in the front and quilt it, but the back is simply two layers of fabric.  This makes the stocking a little more flexible.   These stockings are going into a Christmas raffle at the library in December.

On my design wall now are some test blocks for a quilt to hang at a senior nursing/rehab center that recently renovated its courtyard entrance.   I'm going to see if the Calico County Quilters group would be interested in working on a group quilt which only needs to be 4' x 5'.  I chose Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties for its ease and "Vermontish" feel.  It's an easy pattern - these blocks only took about an hour to cut and sew - and I hope it will make a fun group quilt.

I'm not totally sold on this colorway -- green scrappy quilts tend to be a little blah.  I thought the light blue "sky" backgrounds would work, but now that they are together on the wall, I see some brighter skys might help them stand out better.  The quilt will hang over a door and shouldn't fade into the beige wall.  I'll see what the group thinks.  

After I got these blocks made, I decided to break out my Go Baby and start cutting out scrappy Hunter's Star pieces.  I'm using various colors and various gray backgrounds for this quilt.  Stay tuned!

Fall is showing its beauty

A drive to the mall on Friday revealed absolutely no fall color.  It's always a nice view, but it was still green.  On Saturday morning, it was chilly and foggy, and when I drove down to the grocery store, the colors had popped overnight.  Everywhere we turn, there are reds, golds, and more.  Yesterday's drive up to the mall (I rarely go there; this was to pick up Paul's new glasses after his appointment Friday), an overwhelming amount of color.  

And the tour buses and RVs are everywhere!  Local restaurants are warning folks about reservations made by tour groups and some long waits to get seats.  But the weather has been so nice that we've been getting some last grillings in before we put the grill away for the winter.  

I got the little yoyo quilt bordered and sandwiched and then started quilting it yesterday.  These yoyos have been appliqued to squares so quilting has been in the ditch and then 1/2" away from the ditch on both sides.  Pretty easy.  I should be able to finish today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm buried in Robert Galbraith's Ink Black Heart, a 1,000 page mystery.  Galbraith is the pen name for J. K. Rowling who can always tell a good story, but, while this is absorbing, I am getting impatient and want to find out whodunnit!  When I took the hard cover copy back to the library (it is very heavy), I suggested that they allow borrowers to read it over six weeks, rather than the month they've been giving them.  I'm reading the Kindle edition now which is a lot easier to hold!