Weekend finishes

The weekend was sunny and warm - perfect summer weather.  I potted up lots of impatiens but still have some bare spots to cover in the yard.  Our lilies of the valley are blooming and looking fabulous with a backdrop of blue violets which will be removed as soon as they finish blooming.  Those violets always come back stronger each year.  Guess I'll be going out looking for plants tomorrow - hope there are some left!

I finished two guild challenges today.  First is the Asian panel everyone received this past fall.  I was going to cut it up in some way, but then I decided to use it to try "big stitch" quilting.   I found out that was not really for me.  It's hard to pull a big needle through the three layers of the sandwich.  

I did a little big stitch, and like the way the mountain looks.  For the tree I switched to regular quilting thread and a conventional stitch.  It really gave a lot of texture to the otherwise flat surface.  I also experimented a little with gold metallic thread, another difficult item to work with.  But I'm so pleased with the way the moon turned out that I'm calling this piece Moon Over Mt. Fuji.  

Mainly, I'm relieved to be finished!  And what will I do with this piece?  I'm not planning to hang it on a wall.   Maybe someone will need a gift sometime!  This will be shown at the June guild meeting, and I'm curious to see what others did with their panels.

After attending two talks about mini quilts this spring, I suggested a summer mini quilt challenge to the guild.   Even though I won't be showing my 10" square until September, I was anxious to give it a try.  And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  

I used a paper pieced pattern from a friend, rotary cut the pinwheels, and paper pieced the flying geese from The Border Workbook.  A friend gave me a fat eighth of the print I used for the star points and outer border/facing.   I'm pleased with the way my Turquoise House Mini turned out. 

I noticed some people wearing name tags made of mini blocks at the state guild meeting, and this is something I'd really like to try this summer.

Next on my quilting agenda are a few blocks of the month that I haven't gotten around to along with more Dear Jane blocks.   After that, I hope to put the borders on the hankie quilt and start quilting it.   I have two empty project boxes but I don't want to start any more projects until I've cleared away some more UFOs.

Happy nearly summer

This week, we've been steadily going into summer.  One day it was in the 50s out, the next day in the 60s, the following day in the 70s, and today it's sunny and in the 80s with no real humidity.  Summer is here.   I spent quite a bit of time yesterday planting flowers here and there, and I still have quite a few more impatiens to plant in pots and extra spots around the shady front of the house.  I peeked in the milkjug "green houses" I created in March and only have two zinnia plants worth spending time on.  But those will get planted, too, in a sunnier spot.

The lilacs are going by but still smell pretty good.  Chris came today to do a little pruning as one large branch was touching the house.  He also pronounced our gas grill dead after it was knocked over by a very stiff wind this winter.  So we'll be looking for a replacement soon.

Our upstairs and downstairs halls and stairway look wonderfully clean after being painted this past week.  Our painter was quiet, very neat, and nice; we'll surely have her here again for future jobs.  Now we are busy hanging pictures back up.  I even washed the living room curtains because, as you probably know, whenever you paint in one place, other things look shabby.

And here's a photo that appeared on the Vermont Public Radio website this past week.  Paul, I, and our dear friend Karen were interviewed last winter about how our town got known as "Scary Barre" and if we think that's fair (absolutely not!).  We were pleased to be able to set the reporters straight and show them around our historic Old Labor Hall.

This weekend, I also finished a couple of projects but need to take some pictures.  Stay tuned!

Socks!

 

I heaved a huge sigh of relief at finishing sock #2 today.  I'm not sure I'll ever make another pair.  I started sock #1 in the fall, finished in January and then started on sock #2, using 4 size 2 needles.  I love the yarn (Patons sock yarn), but I would rather not have to think so hard as I'm knitting.  I like to finish sooner than every six months (or more!).

Today I cast on 104 stitches onto size 7 needles to make a hat, and I'm much happier with that.  Sure, I'll have to think while shaping the top of the head, but otherwise, I am free.  I'm using Brava Speckled yarn from Knit Picks (color - cake pop), and it's working out really cute.  This will be for "Bags of Love," for kids in foster care.  I have three more skeins of the speckled yarn that should keep me busy all summer.

Productive day

It was a good day for accomplishing things I've been meaning to work on for a while.  Paul had errands to run, so I was home alone in the morning to rattle around the kitchen making jam.  I had frozen strawberries and rhubarb from last year.  I love the look of the jam in jars after canning.

I'm a little disappointed with this batch because it seems rather runny.  Mental note to self:  drain some of the liquid from frozen fruit before jamming!

I finished adding snippets of batting to edges of the Arboretum quilt I've been working on.  My "Frankenbatting" was just a tad too short in places.  Now I'm quilting the last border before adding the binding.  I really like this quilt.  When that's done, I'll take a short break from quilting and work on a few more Dear Jane blocks.

After lunch, I sat down to watch what I thought would be Quilting Arts on TV, but it turned out to be a delightful new program, Fresh Quilts.  It has a modern slant but is less artsy than the other show.  It was quite good.

While watching TV, I finished working on some I Found a Quilted Hearts I started last week.  I embellished them with buttons, charms and decorative ribbon.  They are now in a baggie for the car in case I go anywhere I can hang one or two.  They are fun and easy to make although I haven't seen any reports of finding the ones I spread around on last summer's trip back and forth to Wisconsin.  I plan to take a few to the town forest this summer.

Finally, I started shaping the toe of the sock I've been knitting.  Maybe I'll finish today if I can remember how to do the Kitchener stitch.  I am looking forward to making a few hats with some variegated yarn from Knit Picks,  These will all go to "Bags of Love" for kids in foster care.  It will be nice to work on larger needles after the tiny sock needles (#2).

Happy Mothers Day!

Technically, it's Mothers Day Eve, but we are celebrating today with a concert at the library.  The Friends of the Library hold a concert every year in memory of Christine, our late president who loved to play the piano and sing.  "Piano Jim" will be our performer this afternoon and will help us draw a winner for our pie raffle.

Meanwhile, I'm making roasted potato salad for tomorrow.  This is my first time trying this.  I hate to skin the cooked potatoes while they're hot.  This way, they are already skinned and seasoned, and I can cool them before dressing.  I find potato salad tastes better made a day ahead.

Tomorrow I'll make a fruit salad and some oven-fried chicken because it appears our grill doesn't want to work.  We need my son Chris to figure out what's wrong.  I hope it's just that it's out of gas and not something that requires our dumping the old grill and getting a new one.  I love summer cooking when Paul grills and I make salads ahead of time.  Then I can sit on the porch and watch him cook while I have a glass of wine.

Chris will join us for lunch tomorrow and help me spread mulch around the garden at the back of the house.   We're expecting the house will be pressure washed this coming week, so I haven't done a lot of planting outside so far.  This week I'll get flowers for various planters and window boxes as well as a few to tuck in here and there among the perennials.  I'll also start quilting on my Arboretum quilt.

Miscellany

Sometimes, after finishing a relatively big project, I just have to work on miscellaneous projects to "cleanse my palate."  Yesterday was one of those days.  I sewed leftover batting together and have enough for a future small quilt and also the Arboretum quilt top that's been waiting in the closet for quilting.  I also made a few quilted hearts for distribution here and there in the town forest whenever I get there for a hike.  I need to attach some embellishments and ribbon for hanging on those.  I also need to stitch down the binding on the reversible baby quilt and hope to get started on that today.  

I also went to Walmart for some more hosta to put in a shady spot in the yard and picked up some corms for planting.  One of the bags reads "Patio Peony," and I have just the planter for it.  Peonies need full sun, and the sunniest place around our house is the driveway, so that's where it will go.   Eventually, I'll have some geraniums and some other flowers out there, too.

My mom sent me a lovely solar lantern (photo copied from website) for Mothers' Day, and I hung it up by the back porch along with the smaller lanterns Cindy sent me.  They are all charged up now, but I won't light them every night as, together, they are quite bright.  They will be very nice if/when we sit out in the evening.   

Mom and I had to laugh to find we were each sending the other a gift from the same place - Wind & Weather - to be hung outside.  I opened mine immediately, but she's waiting until Sunday to open hers.

Busy weekend

Friday was spent getting ready for Saturday's state quilt guild meeting.  We started out grocery shopping, and then I baked some pumpkin bread to take along Saturday.  We loaded the car with coffee makings, a tub for the Quilters Auction, paperwork, and show/tell items.  Saturday, bright and early, I met some of the other board members at the Park 'n' Ride, and off we went to Randolph, about half an hour south via interstate.  It was a gorgeous day, so I worried that no one would come.  I was wrong, thank goodness.

We had a good-sized group, and all seemed to appreciate the day's activities.  The Quilter's Auction made $385, and we signed up a bunch of new guild members.  The morning panel of Vermont pattern designers went well, and the designers sold quite a few of their patterns.  I saw crowds buzzing around them at break time.  

It was hard to get everyone back together after lunch, but they all seemed in a positive mood as the head of the Vermont Quilt Festival told us why and how the VQF board pulled the plug on this year's festival which was to be held in six weeks.  Vendors are retiring and focusing on online sales more these days.  The deficit had been building since before the pandemic.  Fewer people signed up for classes, despite a fabulous lineup of nationally known teachers.  A perfect storm, unfortunately.  But there is an effort afoot to hold a festival, perhaps a little differently than it had been.  We will stay tuned.

On the way home, Robin and I stopped by the former Historian's home to pick up the state guild archives.  There are 40-plus years of papers in tubs for me to go through this winter.  I will try not to think about them until January.  Eventually, I hope, they'll go to the state historical society.

After a few hours at home, Paul and I headed to the library's Spring Fling, complete with cash bar, great hors d'oeuvres and desserts, a magician, and a band.  The Friends sold raffle tickets for a pie, and we all had fun.  Sunday was a catch up day, and I even managed to finish the top of a baby quilt and begin quilting.  That's what I'll be doing today.  It's double-sided so I'm quilting it simply, in a 3" grid.  Looking great so far.  Pictures soon!

Scrappy baby quilt

On Sunday, I finished the other side of the planned reversible baby quilt, sewed some batting pieces together, sandwiched it all, and started quilting.  It's small - 36" x 36" - so it didn't take long to quilt a simple grid.  I chose a simple quilting design because (a) I'm not a great machine quilter and (b) I didn't want to have it look odd on one side or the other.  And it worked out much better than I'd thought.

I quilted from the black and white side, using Froggy masking tape as my guide.   I have been so frustrated with Scotch painter's tape popping up mid-way that I have not used it for a long time.  The green tape actually stays down and I can sew fairly close to it to get a straight-enough line.

This scrappy side used up quite a few black and white strings and scraps, and I even had to cut a few pieces from yardage.  Each block is 4" finished.  After I'd finished this side, I moved on to the duller beige medallion side.   If the baby and his parents want a quieter quilt, I hope this will work well.  It's a little hard to see the design due to the quilting, but I like the way it turned out.  My sister says my nephew's girlfriend seems to favor beige, so I had to give this a try.  It used quite a few beige scraps, too.  

For this quilt, I bought no fabric except a little of the outer border.  I already had some of that but just needed a bit more.  I have the binding sewn to one side and later today I'll sit on the porch to stitch the other side down.  Eventually, this will be winging its way to the Netherlands for a baby boy due in September.