Winter holiday fun

With the library festivities over, Chex Mix made, the Christmas village up, and packages wrapped, I turned my attention yesterday to holiday greetings in the form of cards and letters.   It snowed lightly most of the day, which offered perfect weather for staying in and watching the flakes drift down.  I mail a lot of cards to family in the Netherlands and also to old friends who we haven't seen in a long time (some since college!).  In the course of looking up addresses, I found that one dear old friend had passed away.  That always puts a pall on the holiday, but we know that it's going to happen more and more as we age.

In the afternoon, we walked over to spend a few hours with dear friends and neighbors Mary and Manny who plied us with drinks and goodies.  We all opened presents and were pleased with our jigsaw puzzles.  Paul and I haven't done one in years, so this will be a fun thing to work on during another snowy day.

Because we rarely see our next-door neighbors now that it's winter, Gale and Alan will be coming over to our house this afternoon for more snacks and drinks.  I think that will be it for Christmas gatherings except for Christmas Day brunch with Chris.  On New Year's Day we're planning another First Footing, an old English custom which promises luck to the first person to enter one's house.  We're inviting neighbors and old friends for a relaxing afternoon without football.  

In between all this merriment, I'm hoping to get some sewing in and read a few books.  Right now I'm enjoying The Answer is No, a novella by Frederick Backman who wrote A Man Named Ove.   It's quite funny, especially for anyone who belongs to a Home Owner's Association and has to deal with the board.  I have a Christmas short story by Jenny Colgan to follow, so you can see I'm taking a break from mysteries and meaty reading for a while.

A bonanza of sweet treats!

I got a message a few days ago from UPS saying that a package would be coming yesterday, Dec. 19.  We watched and waited, but by 7:30 pm, hadn't seen or heard a thing.  Then at around 7:35, we got a message that a package had been delivered.  It was from Peter's Gourmet Market, a Dutch store in Michigan that Mom and I shop at regularly.  I hadn't ordered anything recently, but obviously Mom had - and it is wonderful!  Three layers of yummy Dutch goodness!

Paul hasn't had many of the goodies in the box, but of course, I have and am delighted.  

I was going to bake cookies today, but that isn't necessary.  I think we have enough for a while!  I'll put some into a tin for Chris and then serve the rest when/if company comes or we get a hankering for sweets.  

This leaves me with a little more time to work on Christmas cards and make Chex Mix today.  Maybe I'll even get back to sewing on the Bigfoot quilt.  Some additional fabric arrived yesterday, too, so I am ready to add a few more rounds.  This afternoon, we're getting together with some neighbors and tomorrow afternoon with other neighbors.   These are folks we see almost every day when it's not winter, but in winter we all hibernate somewhat.  It's good to get together during these dark months.

Dresden Garden finish!

 I took my newly finished Dresden Garden quilt to guild yesterday, and two quilters held it while I took a picture.

This looks a bit blurry to me although it looks fine on my phone.  I'll see if I can get a clearer one when I show and tell it at my other guild Tuesday night.  I used a pattern on the Riley Blake website for the fabric bundle "Flora" and hummed the tune of the old song while I worked.  But I diverged after making the Dresden Plates, adding the paper pieced butterflies and then the subsequent borders.  

Robin immediately recognized the "potato chip" blocks in the next to the last border.  Those are fun to make although my mom would probably tell me they make the quilt too "busy."   I enjoyed making the pieced binding.  This quilt measures 72" x 72" so will fit a twin bed.  I have no recipient in mind for this quilt - I never do - but I will enjoy having it on the guest bed for a while.

Bigfoot in the sewing room

 

I started working on a quilt for my son who loves Sasquatch - Bigfoot as some call it.  Some people believe the creature hangs around Whitehall, NY, a town we go through on most trips south.  I've never seen him driving through, but the area seems to have captured the attention of locals.  There are even stores with souvenirs devoted to Bigfoot.

Elizabeth Hartman's pattern Legendary had a 10" x 18" pattern for the creature surrounded by tall pines.  I made one big tree and Bigfoot for the center of the quilt, and I've made a bunch of smaller trees to go around the center medallion, as it's turning out to be.  

Last summer I bought a panel of smaller pictures of other creatures called "Legends of the National Parks."  I'm cutting those out and sprinkling them around the outer borders, along with some big footprints.  This was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but maybe I'll have the top done in time for Chris' birthday in January.  I plan to have it longarmed.  

Other than Bigfoot, I've been running back and forth to the public library most days, checking on the Light Up the Library display, attending programs, and helping with refreshments.  There was a musician playing Celtic holiday tunes on the guitar and autoharp (beautiful), a musical group rockin' the house with carols, an author signing his latest book, and a classical pianist who explained the origins of popular holiday songs.  These have all been great ways to get into the holiday spirit!  

Things will settle down next week, and I have a stack of gifts to wrap.  I plan to make some Chex Mix to give Chris and his friend Marad before Christmas.  I've ordered a tourtiere and apple pie for Christmas Eve.  We plan a New Year's open house so I will make some goodies for that after Christmas.

Winter is definitely here

As is typical for December, we've had a little snow every night and we wake up to the sound of the snowplows on the roads.  Living on a corner makes it more apparent that there's lots of activity in the early morning hours.  This was our view a few mornings ago.

We've had more since then, but none of it has clipped our wings much.  We have still gotten out and, yesterday, even took a walk.  Today, though, I plan to stay home, do laundry, read, and sew.  

My brother and his wife have been visiting over the weekend and are leaving this morning before the predicted freezing rain starts.  I hope they don't encounter any on the way home to NJ.  We did have a nice weekend - lots of good conversation and food.  We went to see the Wicked movie which I loved and also to A Christmas Carol adaptation played by local folks.  Our little town may seem like "Maybury" once in a while, but that's when we love it the most.  The holiday lights downtown, sprinkled with snowflakes now and then, make it very cozy after dark.  Hope you're enjoying the season as much as we are.

Lighting Up the Library

I spent most days at our public library last week helping take in donations, assembling Christmas trees, decorating the meeting room, and more for Light Up the Library, our Friends of the Library's big fund raiser.  The library looks gorgeous now, and this afternoon we'll have a grand opening program with music by "Donna Thunder" and her band.   She stopped in on Saturday to plan her grand entry with The Little Drummer Boy.  Should be quite an experience!  Here are a few pictures of the library. 

The local figure skating club girls are always so excited (and so cute!) to be decorating their tree.  This year's theme is "Skating on the Canals in Holland," and all the ornaments are blue and white.

The Friends of the Library's tree includes ornaments made from the pages of old books and some book-related ornaments.

The local jeweler loves to make centerpieces and tabletop trees each year.  This year's includes small Byers Choice figures with packages on Christmas morning.

I have done almost no sewing, but I did finish reading The Gray Wolf by Louise Penny.  It ended in a cliffhanger and now we fans all have to wait another year for the next book.  I started the latest book in the Secret, Book and Scone Society series by Ellery Adams.  The main character is a former librarian and current book seller who specializes in bibliotherapy - right up my alley,

Thanksgiving was postponed to yesterday due to our first real snowfall of the season.  It looks very pretty out, and I did get some wreaths put up outside.  Yesterday Chris got our bird feeders out, too, and I did a little clean up of my sewing room.  I'm still machine quilting a twin-sized quilt but very slowly due to the library project.  Hope to get back to it this week before my brother Rob and his wife Linda come for the weekend.  These are busy times!

Stymied

It's been pretty busy here, even if we had no real commitments this weekend.  I have been working on the list of donors and items for the Friends of the Library's  Light Up the Library project.  Set ups begin tomorrow and continue all week.  The display committee (which includes me) meets donors or picks up items to be set up somewhere in the library.  

We generally let people with floor trees pick their spots, which makes them happy.  We did a walk through last week to figure out where floor and tabletop trees might go.  We have twice as many floor trees this year than last, partly due to donations of used trees by community members downsizing.   At left:  last year's "Inclusion Tree."

I have a huge pile of donations in the living room, but one good thing is that the tubs of donated fabric in the dining room have diminished greatly.  Yesterday, a lady picked up the fake fur, which took almost a whole tub.  That leaves partial tubs in the garage and the dining room, and I plan to consolidate them today.  Phew!  And maybe the person who gave me the four of fabric tubs will come and get the tubs soon, too.   She is cleaning her mother's house out and needs them for storage.

Today we did some grocery shopping, and I have a batch of sourdough bread in the machine now.  I finished the new Louise Penny book last night (it ends in a cliffhanger), so I plan to start something a little lighter today.  It's a take-it-easy kind of day, gloomy and good for napping.  I will try to get some packages ready to mail, too, which will be a load off my mind.   They are heading to Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, and California.  The one for the Netherlands went out last week, and my Dutch sister said she mailed hers to us on the same day.  We always say we live parallel lives.

So... why am I stymied?  My credit card and ATM card were compromised on Thursday, and I'm waiting for new ones to come in the mail.  That means no online shopping!  I had been waiting to do Paul and Chris' shopping until the packages got mailed.  Now I will have to wade through the throngs in the stores or be nervously waiting for deliveries.   

Distracted by food

I have read quite a few blogs and talked to a few people about not getting a lot done over the last few weeks.  The election and its aftermath seem to have taken the wind out of some people's sails, including my own.  One blogger said she was "driven to distraction."  I haven't been reading or sewing as much as I normally do.   When I do sit down and read, however, I am really enjoying Louise Penny's latest, The Gray Wolf.

Although I haven't been quilting as much as usual, I am about halfway around the wide last border of the Dresdent quilt.  It's pretty easy quilting - straight lines down the pieced and plain sections as in piano keys.  It's a fairly big quilt (72" x 72") for using a walking foot, but it's happening.  If I knuckle down I can have the quilting done in another week... but will I?  There's no deadline, really, but I would like to make a few drawstring bags for gifts I should be mailing soon.  Yesterday I wrapped all the presents I'm sending to my sister in the Netherlands, and I hope to get that package out this week.  Last year's package arrived way past Christmas, so I want to get it in the mail sooner.

I also want to start on a Sasquatch quilt for Chris.  I have the Elizabeth Hartman pattern, Legendary, which I plan to modify quite a bit and add a border made with a panel of mythical creatures.  I think it will be fun and fairly quick to do.  If I don't get it quilted by Christmas, I will simply wrap the top up and promise to get it finished by his birthday in January.

Mostly, I've been cooking soup and working with sourdough starter.  I bought the little container of starter at King Arthur Baking a few weeks ago and fed it religiously for a week.  I hate having the "discard" so have been searching for recipes to use that and also have been reading up on various ways to maintain the starter without so much discard.  I have a loaf in the freezer and plan to make another later today using the "no waste" method.   This light rye bread was really good.

Last Friday I spent much of the day cooking a huge kabocha  squash Chris brought from work.   It tastes great but has a very tough skin, so I cooked it in the crockpot for 5 hours.  Then I peeled it, removed the seeds, cut it into smaller pieces, continued on the stove before mashing it.  I have another one in the garage that I'll deal with eventually (before it freezes).

 Chris arrived yesterday with a frozen whole chicken, so I got a loaf of bread out to give him.  The chicken is now defrosting in the refrigerator because there's no more room in the freezer.  I'll cook it Wednesday (if it's defrosted by then) and we'll probably eat it for the rest of the week.

Stick Season

Here in Vermont, we call the time between fall foliage and snow Stick Season, and there's even a popular song by Noah Kahan.   Some oak leaves still cling to their branches, but that's about it.  I don't mind it when it's not snowing.  When the sun shines, the birch and beech trees shine.  Of course, some days are gray and windy, but those are the times I stay inside and quilt.  Or read.  Right now, Louise Penny's latest book is really holding my attention.

Quilting the Dresden quilt is coming along slowly.  I need to make some progress on it this week because next week my brother Rob and his wife Linda are coming for a few days.  My quilting room is also the guest room.  I'm hoping to get rid of more of Sylvia's mother's fabric from the totes stacked up in the dining room.  I put as much as I could in bags and will take them to guild for the free table.  I took three bags to the ReStore yesterday and was surprised at how willing they were to take them.

Saturday's state quilt guild meeting went really well.  We had nearly double our usual attendance which was a shock, with 28 guests who may return in May and join.   People really seemed to enjoy the demos, including Tess' Temperature Quilts one (her example at left). Show and tell was fun, too, and there was a special category this time for Christmas and winter holiday-related items.  Soni does a great job organizing this, and people love gettng fat quarters as prizes! 

Making progress, albeit slowly

 Quilting the floral Dresden plate quilt is coming along nicely so far.  Yesterday, I ran parallel lines around the center plate, and today I'll work on the half plates.  Sorry the quilting isn't visible in this photo.  

After taking the class on walking foot quilting with Beth Ann Williams, I feel a whole lot more confident and comfortable with what I'm doing.  I ran out of basting pins mid-way through on Sunday, but managed to buy up all the rest that Joann Fabrics had.  Where do the pins go?  I should have gotten some more flower-headed pins while I was at it, too, since my supply is dwindling.  

Anyway, as I work my way out from the center, the quilting should get easier.  I will continue going diagonally down the center of each piece of the plates and echoing the center half circles today.  I'll switch to black thread on top for the half circles.  Echo quilting those butterflies will be my next challenge.  Once I move on to the succeeding rounds, quilting should be easier.

Definitely November

Yesterday was as gloomy as a November day can get - chilly, too.  Robin, Marie and I headed to tiny West Topsham, VT, to play Quilt Bingo at Mary's house.  She is closing her online shop and wanted to get rid of all of the fabric she didn't want to keep for her own projects.  I'm curious to know where she keeps her longarm (if she still owns one) as her house didn't seem that big.  

At any rate, the attic where we played was quite cold, and after two hours, we were glad to go home, heavily laden with fabric and other goodies.  I bought a good part of a bolt which will make a couple of backs for $12, and Mary gave everyone three matching yards plus some more in winnings.  I wish I could say I didn't plan to buy any more fabric, but that's impossible!

Here's part of four tubs of fabric a friend from my genealogy group gave me last Sunday.  She has been cleaning her mother's house because her mother now lives in a nursing home.  At one time, the lady made lots of doll and other clothes, so quite a bit of the fabric in these tubs is unusable to me.  

I will take a little at a time to various quilt meetings this winter, and also to the ReStore.  There are silky and large pieces of lacey fabric as well as knits and corduroys.  If I sewed clothes, I would definitely be happier.  The tubs take up a lot of room in our dining room, but I'll chip away at them.  The fourth tub is in the garage because it's even bigger than these.

Sitting next to the tubs are some of the things I'll be taking to the state quilt guild meeting this coming Saturday.  There are two coffee makers and part of a coffee pot for a silent auction, as well as supplies and a quilt rack.   I will put some of the tub fabric into tote bags for giveaway also.  I doubt if I'll take anything for show and tell - all this stuff is enough.

Earlier this week, Paul and I went downtown to visit Marsha at her antique shop's new location.  From there we bought Paul some new boots and then looked at a new monument at Hope Cemetery.  At first, we thought it was a mausoleum, but there is no way that we could find to open it for more bodies.  

It's quite cute, as you can see from this photo of Paul on the porch.  The clapboards and windows are on all four sides.  But there are no birth/death dates of any of the family members.  Future generations will not be happy with that omission.

As you can see, it was a lovely day that day, but it seems that as soon as November came, so did the clouds.  I started quilting a bed-sized scrappy quilt on Friday, and it's just the right activity for these gloomy days.

A lovely day and "Marilyn"

 My Thanksgiving cactus is beginning to bloom!  I call her "Marilyn" because she was owned by my late next door neighbor who went to Florida every winter.  I kept an eye on her house and went over periodically to water her plants, including the cactus.  Unfortunately, Marilyn the neighbor passed away suddenly in Florida about five years ago, and in cleaning out the house, her children offered me any of her plants.  Of course, I wanted "Marilyn," not so much as a reminder but as a very reliable bloomer.  

Sometimes the flowers are more pink than they are right now.  But there are lots of buds, with blooms continuing through the winter.  My orangey cactus tends to bloom closer to Easter, and the hot pink cutting from Chris' Christmas cactus is a bit too small to bloom much.

All that aside, Monday was a lovely day for a drive, even though we woke up to snow on the ground.  It all melted when the sun came out, and by then I was about an hour south, close to Hanover, NH, where my friend Polly lives.  On the way, I took a slight detour to the King Arthur Baking Co. (their new name) shop.  The last time I stopped there, it was so busy that I turned around and left.  This time, it was busy but one could still walk around and - importantly - find a parking spot.  I bought a loaf of yummy bread and some sourdough starter.  I'll work on the starter this afternoon.

Polly and I went downtown for lunch at a burgers/salads place.  We hadn't seen each other for three years, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  When we lived in Montpelier, we belonged to a women's group that met weekly for about ten years.  Through the years, members came and went, but of the core, she and I both moved (me just 7 miles away), Cindy moved to California, and Sandy passed away.  I got Polly interested in quilting long ago, and I miss going to quilt shows and shops with her.   A trip to our favorite shop near Burlington is something we need to do in the near future.  Anyway, we had a very nice time, and the drive home was simply lovely with bright blue skies and, as is usual for Vermont any time of year, beautiful views.

Pre-holiday projects

 In the last few days, I've finished four table runners, three 12" table mats, and 3 potholders, most of which were made with "Snowflake Bentley" fabric.     The two table runners that had other fabric in a disappearing nine patch pattern will be going down to the florist's shop for sale.   I just need to update my written list that I always take along with the items.  I'm wondering, too, if I should take the fall items home or leave them there for a few more weeks.

I'm planning to give the Snowflake Bentley items to various family and friends for the holidays.  My next door neighbors are a blend of religions, so the winter theme might be particularly good for them.  After I finished those gifts, I started making tissue cases, mostly out of holiday fabric.  Each little case takes just a 6" square and an 8" square, so they are great for using scraps.  Here are the first 12 I made - in just an afternoon!

These are going to be given to the library staff at the Friends of the Library's annual staff appreciation lunch.  I'm a little worried that there are three men on the staff, but then I figure they can hide them in their desks or give them away.   It's been several years since I made gifts for the staff, and I always enjoy doing it.  I have run through my repertoire, though, and am already wondering what I can make next year.

Because these were so easy and quick to make, I made 12 more, even though I am out of little packets of Kleenex.  Those are on order and should arrive next week.  While I was online ordering the tissues, I came across several books that family members might like to receive for Christmas.  Almost all of them like to read and also depend on my suggestions sometimes.   The titles are now in my Amazon "shopping list," and I'll review them in a week or two and then pace an order.  I like to get my package to relatives in the Netherlands out by Thanksgiving and, for those stateside, a little after that. 

This morning I did a little sewing with "strings" and this afternoon seems like a good time to curl up with a good book.    Several pre-ordered ones have arrived on my Kindle.  I'll probably be reading them tonight while the World Series gets underway.

Finally - sun!

We had some very chillly, gloomy days this week, but yesterday it started looking very nice, and today it's even better.  I finally snapped a picture of the bowtie quilt which I hope to get to Bags of Love very soon.  It was made with swap blocks from my online group.  Most people made one or two blocks to swap, but Debbie and I decided to swap 10 blocks each.  I made enough extra blocks to make this crib-sized quilt.

I took part II of my online walking foot quilting class on Thursday and, while my Elna doesn't cooperate when it comes to using fancy stitches to quilt, I did learn quite a bit that I can use right away.  In fact, yesterday I quilted two Christmas table runners using things I'd learned in class.  I just need to put the bindings on (by machine of course), and then I'll be able to take them down to the florist's to sell along with some Christmas stockings.   Everyone seems to be getting an early start on their holiday shopping, me included.

I have a few other things I want to quilt right away, but those I'll save until gift giving time during the holidays.  Most were made with "Snowflake Bentley" fabrics .  Wilson Bentley was a Vermont farm boy who was the first to figure out that each snowflake is different from all the others.  Beginning in 1883, he photographed the ones he caught, and his photos are now in the Smithsonian.   Marcus fabrics has a line featuring a panel with 8" individual snowflake blocks.  So far I've made two table runners and several hot pads and potholders with the blocks.  I'm running low on accent fabric, unfortunately.

This morning we took a quick trip over the antique mall.  It's usually closed for the winter right after Halloween, but this year the owner says he isn't reopening in May except to hold a closeout sale.  We wanted to wish him a happy retirement and to see if there was anything we couldn't live without.  I found a "Delft" (made in Belgium) plate that looks nice among all my other Dutch-themed things in our powder room.  I have been looking for a small table for our front hall, but no luck.  The plant stand covered with a quilt will have to continue there, maybe forever.

In my endless quest to lose weight, I started rowing this morning.  The nurse practitioner I saw suggested that I row at least 5 minutes a day until Thanksgiving at which time it will have become a habit I won't be able to stop.  I don't know about that, but today's session wasn't bad at all.

A great class

Thursday I zoomed a class with Beth Ann Williams called "Easy and Effective Machine Quilting with a Walking Foot."  It's a two part class, with more good info next Thursday.  Beth Ann showed a number of marking tools that I have but haven't tried very much, as well as those I haven't heard of.  I'm heading to the quilt shop this morning to see if I can find some.  Here's a link to her blog updating her test of marking tools.

We went over various ways of echo quilting as well as stabilizing the sandwich and moving it without turning.  Her hints were very helpful, and I enjoyed working on the homework.  That involved practicing marking and stitching.  If you are looking for a useful class, I would recommend Beth's.  She is practical and very approachable.  

Beth said that physical limitations have led her to quilt most things with a walking foot these days, and the quilts she showed were really nice.  I have stopped trying the do free motion quilting myself because I find it stressful.  I can never seem to regulate the tension and length of my stitches, but my walking foot stitches turn out great.  When I want curlicues, I take a quilt to a long armer.  Much of what she talked about, I already knew to some extent, but it felt good to dive a little deeper into the subject.  Can't wait til next Thursday!

Fall fun

 It's going to be a cloudy high 40s today, and I see the wind blowing.   That means it's chillier than it looks.  The foliage is still pretty, but I don't think I'll be going outside to do any yard work.  There is laundry going this morning, and this afternoon I have signed up for a machine quilting workshop online.  It's about using a walking foot more creatively, and I hope to pick up a few pointers.

Yesterday we met Diane and Bill for an early dinner downtown.  It was $5 Burger Night, and the burgers were really good.  I checked on Noom before ordering so found that my burger was within my range, thank goodness.  I am finding Noom quite interesting, but I don't know that I'll renew after my three months are up.  I'm not sure I've lost any weight this month.  Anyway, walking back to the car, Paul had to stop for a picture.  If you can enlarge it, you'll read some funny epitaphs.

 

Bow ties

Earlier this year, I participated in a bow tie block swap with some online quilting friends.  Most swapped two blocks, but Debbie and I exchanged ten with each other.   These 8" blocks were incredibly each to make, and a lot of fun to arrange.  I'm curious to see how Debbie arranged her blocks.

I finished putting the blocks together and got them ready to quilt last weekend, and this Saturday I finished quilting the little quilt which is destined for Bags of Love.  The binding has been sewn to one side, and, because it's raining today, I'll probably get it sewn to the other side today.

I have a few small quilt projects to work on after that, but I am nearing the end of a good book, too, so I'm not sure how I'll spend the rest of my day.  Yesterday I tried a new recipe for baked chicken breast which involved brining briefly and a rub.  It was a huge success, and we have quite a bit left to enjoy this week in a chef's salad and maybe enchiladas.  This means I'll spend a little time in the kitchen today, too.

I had hoped to do some more yard work, but it looks a bit too wet out.  I edged a little bed around the birch tree in our front yard.  It was a bit difficult due to all the roots there, but I am hoping to get some bulbs in before mulching for the winter.  I also need to trim the hydrangeas out back.  The tag on the bush said it was a "mini," but it has turned out to be "maxi" and needs human intervention to stay in its spot.  The flowers have surprised me by slowly turning from white to burgundy, so I've been a bit slow to remove them.

Gorgeous weather

 

We are having a lovely fall.  The temperatures are between 65 and 75 almost every day.  Every morning's fog promises and delivers a sunny day, and the night temperatures are perfect for sleeping.  This is why we live in Vermont.  We know it will get lousy out eventually, but right now, it is a perfect place to live.

We try to get out for walks most days, and yesterday's showed some of the fall colors to perfection.  I like the colors best when they aren't quite at peak.  Every view is a gift!

I did do some sewing yesterday - finished quilting the bow tie quilt and sewed the binding onto one side.  I need to sew it to the back and may start that later today.  Yesterday I went to a Calico County Quilters meeting.  It's a small group and we usually bring out own projects to work on while chatting.  I finished my sashiko and now have to figure out what to do with it.  I think I will turn it into a wallhanging with a colorful border since the background is a charcoal gray.

This morning I was back outside, working under the birch tree where I removed some ungainly junipers earlier this summer.  I edged around the area covered with leaves and will get Paul to help me mulch tomorrow.  Here's a view from the tree.  Isn't that red tree amazing!?!  I can see its top from my computer, too.

It's been a relaxing weekend, which is good because the week looks like it will be somewhat busy with appointments and social events.  Not a bad life, retirement. 

Fall foliage

Here in Central Vermont at this time of year, the mornings are always foggy.  The leaves are slowly beginning to turn, and we anxiously await their "peak."  My friend Samantha recently took this photo from Green River Reservoir, about an hour north of us.

There is really no place prettier than Vermont in fall!

Quilt shows and "potato chip" blocks

Thursday I took two quilts with hanging sleeves to the library to be hung where the AIDS quilt panels were.  I'm not sure how they'll get them up there.  The space on the older brick wall of the building and visible from the new art is huge.  They say they have a volunteer handy man who doesn't mind climbing.   

I think the quilts (Harriet's Journey and Hanky Quilt #2) will be a little small for the space, but I had only one larger quilt with a hanging sleeve.  I'll work on another one this week and swap them out in another month or so.  Both are older and used to be on beds in our B&B.

It never rains, but it pours! On Friday, I had a call from the Barre Opera House asking me if I could show some of my quilts in the lobby for about six weeks.    I had a show there one summer maybe ten years ago.  They have a lot of events planned this season and a very empty (dull) lobby.  The catch:  I need to hang the quilts this week.  

Yesterday I got out all the smaller wall hangings and curtain rods and dowels I have.  Paul cut one dowel to fit a small wool appliqued piece.  We will try hanging everything on Tuesday.  I'm excited!  Today I'll get the steamer out to work on one quilt that's very crumpled (shown here without wrinkles).

Meanwhile, I've been cutting 2" x 3.5" rectangles for "potato chip" blocks to go around the Dresden Plate quilt that was in timeout in the closet.  I need 24 for the next border and am having fun putting them together.  It's going to be quite colorful.  The final border will be a wide, plain print to bring the quilt up to about 72" square.  

I told myself...

 ...I wasn't going to participate in the guild Block of the Month this year.  I just end up with too many orphans.  Then I realized I didn't need to put a slip of paper into the bag of names for the drawing.  So today I did make the block and will put it into the drawing at the October meeting without entering.

I did end up with two orphan pinwheel blocks from the cutoffs, and I will use them somewhere - on pot holders or mug rugs - eventually.   I did a little complaining about the requirement that the background fabric be a fall batik fabric, thinking that I didn't have any.  But I did find something in my stash that worked although the contrast with the darker fabric makes that fabric, which was supposed to be green, look blue.

This morning I finished machine quilting Rows D through F of my Dear Jane.  I'll roll it up with the first three rows and proceed... eventually.  I want to work on a few other projects first.  I offered to coordinate a Round Robin or a Block Robin for the guild, with a deadline to sign up of October 1.  No one jumped right on it, but maybe some people will by next week.  I enjoy either type of exchange project   It's a challenge to build on someone else's project, using someone else's choice of fabric.  The last Round Robin I worked on was mostly my least favorite color - brown - but I chose to add a little blue to the border and really liked it.

I received more of the "Flora" fabric from the Cute Little Fabric Shop in Utah yesterday, so I can work on the Dresden top and the lily block, both using parts of that line.  I'm thinking the lily block will end up as a table runner, but I'm not sure yet.

As I write this, I see some guys on top of the house across the street cleaning the chimney.  That's a sure sign of fall!  Our leaves are beginning to change but have a way to go yet.  This morning it was about 45 when I got up and today's high is to be in the high 60s.  I do love fall, but I'm not wild about what it turns into!

Dear Jane activity

Yesterday I finished Row G of Dear Jane.  I'm thinking of calling this quilt Scrappy Jane since that's what it is.  I'm using scraps from stash at whim - no particular order - with black and white backgrounds, and I like the way it looks.  I was torn between working on Row H and quilting Rows D, E, and F, and finally decided to get those three rows together for quilting.  They're all basted now and ready for quilting.

I finished these rows back in May, so it has been fun revisiting them.  I had to piece together some batting and also backing fabric for this long, thin section.  When I finish quilting this section, I'll add it to the one I quilted in May.  This Dear Jane is a slow but steady project.  I'll start working on the quilting today after I bake an apple cake or two to take to quilt guild tonight.  

I'm on the September "team" which means I need to get there early to help set up and plan to stay late to clean up.  I have my Round Robin from last year all quilted, so will take that and the Barn Star Sampler along for show and tell.  It will be good to see everyone - over 70 women and one or two men - again.

Sunny days

Good morning, friends!  Although it's been sunny and in the 70s, I've been recovering from a bad cold so moving a bit slowly.  The cold is finally gone - no more kleenex sticking out of pockets and sleeves, no more cough drops in every room, no more deciding about meds to help me sleep.  Paul had the same cold (or maybe it was COVID?  we never tested), so we've had company at least.  On the occasions when I had some energy, I worked on Light Up the Library preparations for the Friends of the Library - updating the mailing list, organizing committees, and writing the letter to donors.  The mailing list is almost ready for Nancy to generate mailing labels.  This year, I'm hoping to share the load as much as possible so that I can move on to non-Friends projects (like quilting).  Our little committee will get together soon to put the mailing together.

I did do some sewing every day, though.  Most of last week, I made string triangles in blues and neutrals when I felt like it.  Yesterday I went to the Calico County Quilters group for a two hour hand sewing session.  I finished a lily block that may become the beginning of a new medallion quilt and did a bit of Sashiko.  It's always nice to sit and sew with this little group while we catch up on each other's lives.

This past week, I got my Dear Jane background fabrics out and started on Row G.  I have quilted Rows A-C and have Rows D-F put together and now ready to sash and quilt.  I'll do that as soon as the Row G blocks are finished.  This row contains the very difficult G-6 block with a five pointed star and a little star in the middle.  I don't know why Betsy Ross suggested five pointed stars to George Washington - they are so hard to get even!  But, according to Wikipedia, no one really knows how the stars became five pointed.  Maybe it wasn't Betsy's idea after all.

At any rate, I had to add some coping strips to my star block and once again thought about what an amazing seamstress Jane Stickle was.  How many blocks or partial blocks did she throw away during the process of making her masterpiece?  None, I bet, since it was "in war time."  

A little getaway

A number of years ago, Paul and I took a trip to Michigan to visit his sister and her husband who had been dealing with serious health issues.  We had a nice visit with them and were glad we went because just a few years later each of them passed away.  On the way home from that first trip, we stopped at Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL), Ontario, as our quickest route takes us across New York State, through Ontario, and into Michigan.  We had walked around NOTL and found it charming, a place to return to.

This summer we resolved to return, and Paul hopped online to buy tickets to plays at the Shaw Festival Theatre as soon as they were available.  To my delight, my favorite musical, My Fair Lady, is the headline play this year!  We headed over on Thursday before Labor Day (the Canadians also celebrate Labour Day), stopping at Batavia, NY, for the night, and arriving in NOTL at lunchtime Friday. 

I love all the flowers along the streets which were quite busy in the middle of the day with tourists from all over the world.  The town used to draw most of its visitors from theater goers, but now it seems the area's wineries are the main attraction.  We didn't visit any, but several wineries had retail shops downtown and some restaurants had beer and wine tastings.

We had lunch on the patio of our lodgings for the weekend, the historic Olde Angel Inn, centrally located just off the main street.  Being the oldest inn in Ontario has its good and bad points.  The innkeeper, Diana, was very friendly and helpful, telling us about free places to park, good breakfast places, and the bands they have every Friday and Saturday night in the pub, right below our historic room above the pub's door (see above).  We did manage to get a little sleep in spite of the noise.  And we loved being able to walk everywhere.   There were delicious restaurants, both theaters, and cute shops just steps away.

My Fair Lady was absolutely amazing, and everything we'd hoped for.  Our seats, in the first row, couldn't have been better.  We could look into the orchestra pit and hear all of the actors on stage well.  I loved the costumes, especially the dresses at the races at Ascot and the ball gowns.  The actors who played Henry Higgins and Alfred Doolittle were super, "Eliza Doolittle" was a great singer.   The sets moved almost effortlessly.

The following night, we saw Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution in a different, smaller theater, and it was just as good.  Again, the costuming and set design were wonderful.  I had come down with a cold, though, and sat masked with cough drops at the ready.  

On Monday morning, we packed up early to avoid long lines at US Customs, and our wait was only about 30 minutes.  We stopped in Malta, NY, for the night before arriving home Tuesday at lunchtime.  The memories of charming NOTL will linger on for quite a while.

Barn Star Sampler

 I started my annual purple quilt in the fall and finished the top in June.  It's a throw based on Shelley Cavanna's Barn Star Sampler, and it was machine quilted by Marie Gross who always does a wonderful job.  I chose this pattern because, since I became the president of the Green Mountain Quilters Guild, I've been busy encouraging people to paint and hang barn quilts so that we can create a barn quilt trail statewide.  We are well on our way due to the efforts of quilters in Franklin County and classes being held around the state.  I hang little quilts on my front door since we live in a condo and can't affix anything except the US flag to the building.

On to another UFO

I ended up adding a 4" border of scrappy, variable nine patch blocks to Lily of the West and putting it in time out (the closet) for a while.  I'll think about the next border(s) to finish it while I work on Green Beans and Sweet Tea which I started in September.   This is a Jen Kingwell pattern that I was attracted to due to the mix of applique and piecing.  It is really meant for hand sewing.   I have got stalled on this one which may be my last Kingwell design.  There are just too many other quilts I'd like to make, some easier, some more striking, although I do enjoy working on samplers over time.

I had really been struggling to sew the hexies together into an 8" x 12" block, even with my magnifying glasses on.  I finally just appliqued them by machine onto a piece of background fabric using a small zigzag stitch.  I don't think I'll be making anything with hexies any time soon (if ever!).  I like the blocks I've managed to put together, including the cute wool applique.

The piece now measures about 40" x 42", and I'm aiming for a small throw.  I could make a bigger checkerboard of 2.5" scraps around the whole quilt, but I'd also like to frame it all with a darker, more solid 6" (or so) pieced border.  I will play around with a few ideas today - piano keys? drunkard's path? rail fence?

After the morning fog clears, I will take the Barn Star Sampler outside for a photo shoot so I can list it on etsy.  My offerings need refreshing there, and with Christmas on the horizon, I need to make and add a few table runners soon.

The new quilt

I've been working on my Lily of the West quilt this week, using a bundle of fat quarters in the Riley Blake line called "Flora."  I love the fabric with its pink, yellow, periwinkle, green, and black colorways.  They called "Dresden Plate" to me, and the resulting plates worked out well.  I paper pieced (ugh!) some butterflies for the corners, and now the quilt is 30" square.  

My dilemma:  what to do around that 30" square?  Do I just finish it off with a couple more borders?  Do I piece around it?  How big do I want this quilt to be?  

Yesterday, after getting the center square all finished, I made one lily block using a pattern I found at the Fat Quarter Shop's website.  It finished at 14" square and wasn't that hard to make, but I do I really want to make a lot more?  Should I only make one for each corner?  If so, what should I put in between?   And do I really want to add 14" all around?  I'm not sure, but I do plan to applique the stem down.  Maybe it'll find a place on the back, and maybe I'll figure out how to work one in each corner with something in between.

Right now, I'm thinking about adding a 6" border using all of the colors in the bundle?    Visions of log cabin, card trick, rail fence, and other multicolored blocks woke me up at 3 am.   I will play around with those today, and most likely put the lily block on the back burner for now.   Stay tuned!

A great quilt show!

 

Yesterday, Paul and I met our friends Pauline and Bob in Woodstock (VT) where the Billings Farm and Museum is having a summer-long quilt exhibit.  There are 56 juried quilts and 14 commissioned barn quilts on display.  The barn quilts are on the farm buildings and it was fun to wander around looking at them.  

Of course, there are farm animals to pet and watch, too, but I was most excited to see my own Hankie Quilt #2 on display - in a perfect spot right by some glass doors.  I ran into the Curator and thanked him for putting my quilt in such a prominent and lovely spot.  He says the exhibit is going well and they plan to have one next year.

Following are a few other photos I took of the quilts - one was just amazing with very intricate quilting and embellished with over 4,000 beads!

This was my favorite, I think.  So simple, yet the color placement and the vertical quilting were spot on.

Each of the hexies was hand appliqued, and the fabrics are prints and solids.  It's another "wish I'd thought of that" quilt!

Binding is on!

Yesterday I did a few errands in the morning - bank, grocery store - and also some housekeeping.  No laundry for once!  We took a walk in filtered sunshine.  It has been a bit cloudy these last few days, and I discovered it is due to wildfires somewhere up in Canada.  

I managed to cut, sew, iron, and sew on a binding for the purple Barn Star Sampler.   Today I'll start the laborious hand sewing to the back.  Most of my quilts are given to charity so I machine sew both sides.  But this one will be for sale on etsy as my stock there is a bit thin and needs a boost.  I'll do its photoshoot when I'm done.  

It was a block of the month I started in January, but as usual I got impatient this summer and decided to work ahead.  My friend Marie also worked on one but made hers bigger.  The quilt finishes to an odd size - long and skinny - so I made the throw size and added a border.  I can't wait to see hers.

I wanted to make something different and easy for dinner, so I cut up strips of chicken breast, browned it in olive oil, sprinkled a little garlic powder and minced onion over top, and poured a jar of Newman's Own Mango Salso over it all.  I let that simmer for 45 minutes and served it over rice.  Paul said it was a keeper, and we have some leftover for Thursday's dinner.  Tonight I'll make some salmon patties early, and we'll head downtown for the last summer author talk at the library.  We are both reading Gather by last week's author, Ken Cadow, a finalist for the National Book Award. 

Testing out a pattern

My friend Debbie in Indiana is always up for a block swap.  Last spring, she suggested a bow tie block swap, so we narrowed the size down to 8" squares because two fit neatly into an envelope with a first class postage stamp.  She and I exchanged ten blocks each and mailed two to each other participant.  Yesterday I laid the blocks I had out and sewed a few rows together. The swap doesn't end until September, and I'm waiting for one or two blocks from one person.  So I put it on a hanger in the closet for a while.  I may also make a few more to get a twin-sized quilt.

Meanwhile, Debbie and I are testing possibilities for another swap.  More people signed up for the bowties because they were easy.  I saw a very nice scrap buster this week which she and I each made.  I'm not sure the other folks in our swap group will be interested, so maybe it will be a project for just Debbie and me.  But this modern looking block is really easy and addictive to make.

The "Butterflies are Free" pattern includes 6 plain 3.5" background squares and 10 background squares with 2.5" squares sewn on the diagonal for a 12" square.  I had a lot of leftover gray pieces and a growing box of precut 2.5" squares to use and ended up making three blocks in a short time.  These made a table runner with some Tula Pink zebra fabric for the back.  It has a modern feel to it and may just catch the eye of someone at the florist shop.   I'll take it down to sell this coming week along with the blue star table runner I made a few weeks ago.

Debbie also made a very pretty block using a cream background and bright blue and yellow batiks.  We will check soon with the swap group to see if they want to swap these blocks in the next few months.   Postage has been a problem for some, yet we still have active participants from London and Ontario, along with members from the US.  If they aren't interested, Debbie and I may swap all by ourselves, or we may do something else.

I made one more 12" block, and now I'm out of larger scraps of gray except the solid gray.   I'll turn my attention to a few other projects for a while.   Yesterday at the Calico County Quilters sewing session, I applique a couple of half Dresden Plates and almost finished a whole one for the Lily of the West small quilt I'm making using the Flora line by Riley Blake.  Today I'll be paper piecing some butterflies to go with the plates, and I'll probably make some oatmeal blueberry muffins, too.  Hope you're having a nice Sunday!

Another orphan block quilt

I finished the last small quilt in a series using orphan blocks yesterday and feel I have license to work on a few other UFOs.  Whoopee!   I haven't made any Dear Jane or Green Tea and Sweet Beans blocks in several months, and of course, there's the Lily of the West quilt I just started last week.  I also have a couple of scrappy leaders/enders going, too, along with the bow tie block swap blocks.  I always chuckle when people ask me what I'm working on.  They are often surprised to hear that usually I have 10 or 12 quilts going at once.  That's not untypical for a devoted quilter.

Anyway, the quilt I just finished combines various guild blocks of the month with some string blocks.  I usually make my string blocks on an 8" paper foundation.  This time, after removing the paper, I cut each one in half diagonally and sewed four sections together.  Unfortunately, the result didn't measure the 12" of the BOM blocks so I had to border them in order for the blocks to fit together.  

I'll take this 50" x 50" quilt to Bags of Love for kids going into foster care as soon as I finish the little hat I've been knitting for them.  I have a bunch of leftover yarn to make a few more hats this fall and winter.  I decided not to buy any more yarn (I can't resist the lush colors of wool) until I use up some of my miscellaneous yarn.

The monthly guild "teams" decide the colorways for the blocks we bring for the monthly drawings.  I have been making two blocks the same and keeping one.  But this year, I've decided to try and make all of the blocks of the month I keep for myself in the same colorway.  I'm not sure what that will be yet, but I'm leaning toward blue and white to use some of the many blue scraps in my stash.

I am sure that Marie, the long arm quilter, will be letting me know soon that my Barn Star Sampler is ready because when I saw her last week, it was on the frame.  I'll try to cut a binding out for it in the coming week and pick it up next Thurs.  But today Deb and I are scheduled for our monthly pedicure and gabfest in the morning, and, in the afternoon, I'm going to the library to help clean up the booksale room with Pam and Martha-Jean.  By the time I get home I'll be thinking about what to make for dinner.   Black bean bowls?

The Christmas round robin

This year I participated in another round robin with five other members of the Heart of Vermont guild.  I have participated in several over the years and find it fun and challenging.  This time around, I had a nice Dresden Plate orphan block waiting to be used as well as a variety of holiday fabrics.  With six people and nine months to finish, we were able to take two months for the last few rounds.  This was great because, as the quilts grow, we often need more time to work on those rounds.  

I am always amazed at the work people put into these projects, and I enjoy getting to know different quilters through their work on the quilt tops.  While I certainly would not have added the borders group members added, I like the way my quilt turned out.  It measures about 50" x 50" and will look nice on our dining room table during the holidays.

One of the group members, Tammy, owns a long arm machine and generously offered to quilt everyone's quilts for free.  But I wanted to quilt mine myself, using my walking foot.  I find medallion quilts fairly easy to handle because I can anchor the rounds in the ditches and then go back and fill the borders in with quilting.

I especially enjoyed quilting around the "ornaments" border although I didn't go around the smaller cathedral windows.  I just quilted those 4" blocks in the ditch because of their bulk.  There was one green and white "ornament" left over which I turned into a signature block on the back, adding all the names of the participants.  This was a successful group which I'd love to work with on another quilt in the coming year.  We'll see how they all feel about it in September.

Although we had a reveal of all of the tops at our last guild meeting before the summer break, we will be showing our finished quilts at the September meeting.  Mine's all set to go, and now I'm quilting another UFO that's been waiting patiently in the closet.  It's been hot and humid, so the quilting room is the place to be.

Another trip around the sun

I had a very nice birthday yesterday although I did nothing very special.  We went out for groceries quite early, and then I got busy making a blueberry pie.  Paul was picking berries as I was working on it, but we still have plenty left.  He thinks we'll get another quart or so tomorrow.  What neighbor will I "gift" them to?  We've already given some away.  

I used the recipe for Triple Berry Pie that's available at Sally's Baking Addiction, my go-to site for all things baking.   I wish I'd put in a little more corn starch because the all-blueberry filling was still a bit runny, even though I didn't remove the pie from the oven until it reached the 200 degree temperature in the recipe.  But it was delicious!  Not too sweet with a nice crust, albeit made from a box.

We had planned to go to the Asian Gourmet restaurant with Chris for dinner, but in the afternoon we had off and on torrential rain.  The city was preparing sandbags for businesses to use in case Main Street flooded (it didn't), and, since the restaurant is right downtown, we decided to postpone our dinner to tonight.  That was OK with me as we had leftover curry chicken salad and, of course, the pie with some vanilla gelato on top.

I did a little reading and some more quilting on the Christmas round robin quilt, which I will continue with today.  I talked with Mom and enjoyed lots of emails, text messages, and Facebook well wishes throughout the day.  Just a nice way to greet age 76!