Rainy days

 It has rained every day for at least a week.  Our grass is "as high as an elephant's eye" (and this ain't Oklahoma!).  But it is a lush green, and plants outside are growing fast.  My tulips look lovely.

I spent a lot of time sewing this week and yesterday was spent at the library.  Paul and I went to set up chairs in the reading room in the morning, and after lunch we returned for a concert.  This picture doesn't do the concert justice.  The pianist was a retired high school music director, choir director, local performer, and artist, who played, sang, and encouraged us to sing along.

57 people attended, and all seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was the Friends of the Library's fourth annual concert in memory of our late president and our good friend.  Christine would have loved the whole event which ended with one of her favorite songs, America the Beautiful.

I had made a "Death by Chocolate" bundt cake and there were other goodies served after the show.  There was no cake to take home, much to Paul's regret.  I made sure he had a piece after the concert, though, so don't feel sorry for him.  I was so glad the afternoon was a success, and people who came all pitched in to clean up the chairs before I even knew what was happening.  

It's raining again today, so I baked some healthy muffins, a variation of "morning glory" ones, went to the bank, and did a little preparation for Saturday's state quilt guild meeting.  Tomorrow I have a doctor's meeting early and then will bake some brownies for Saturday (leaving one for Paul, of course!).  I'll load up the car before evening so that I can get a nice early start.

Green Up Day

Yesterday was "Green Up Day" all around Vermont, a day when folks get out and pick up any trash along the roadsides that's accumulated over the winter.  Paul and I went to the playground down the road and picked up a small amount.  On our way home, we picked up a little along the road behind our house.  We left two basketballs and a black hoodie at the playground, hoping the owners would come by for them.  The telltale bright green bags make it easier for town crews to find them now and give me a sense that all's right with Vermont (in sharp contrast to the country and the world).

It started raining soon after we got home, so we were glad we went when we did.  I got busy finishing this month's blocks and then remaking a block I'd made a few months ago for the Optimism monthly quilt along.  I'm using fairly basic colors for that quilt - red, yellow, blue, green - from my stash along with a beige-y Liberty print background to tie them all together.  I'm not sure what I'll use for sashing yet.  I suspect I won't know until October or so when the quilt along ends.  It may be another neutral, but probably not the same one I'm using for the background since I expect to run out.

In the afternoon, an unexpected phone call sent me to the quilt shop to meet Beth who had a carload of quilting books to give away.  Her mother isn't quilting anymore due to Alzheimer's.  Judging by Beth's age (thirties?), her mother must be fairly young, poor thing.  I will take the books to the state guild meeting and sell them for $1 a piece.  There are some great books in the bunch, and I allowed myself to take four.  I will need to weed out a few from my own collection to make room.  One has a great variety of setting ideas for blocks which might come in handy as I try to tackle my "orphan" collection.

Today, I'm not sure what I'm going to do!  It's going to rain so much-needed gardening is out.  I should finish sewing down the binding on the Exploding Heart quilt and knitting the shawl that has been languishing for a few weeks.  Maybe I'll turn on the Hallmark Mystery channel and knuckle down on those two projects.  I might also cozy up with a good book...

Spring has sprung!

These last two weeks have flown by.  Last week my brother Rob and his wife Linda visited, and we spent a lot of time just catching up on our lives.   It was great to see them.  There was a lot to do before and after their visit, and then there was catching up on things not done.  I spent some time outside on nice days, picking up sticks in the yard, edging the front flower beds, and simply enjoying nicer weather.  I did snow - hard - one afternoon, but it all melted within a couple of hours.  We hope not to see that again until November.  

Our daffodils and tulips are blooming, and every day I see something new peeking out of the dirt.  There will be violets and lily of the valley soon, as well as flowering crabapple trees.  Spring is always a surprise around here after the long winter.

This week I finished Row H for my modern Dear Jane quilt and then caught up on some blocks of the month.

The block on the left is going into the lottery at my guild meeting later this month.  The other two are for me, with the one on the bottom being blocks for the quilt designed by Kristin Laura.  She has given our guild permission to make her quilt as a block of the month.  We will only have 9 guild blocks and 12 Kristin Laura blocks, so I decided to make them in the same colorway and combine them.  Hope it works out.

Then I made the "rows and pathways" (?) block for the lottery at the state quilt guild meeting May 10.  I initially wondered if it would turn out OK, but I like my block and assume the other quilters' blocks will turn out just as nice.  It will definitely be a scrappy quilt when they're all together.  It's supposed to look like garden paths.

I've spent some time in the last few days getting stuff together for the state guild meeting, too.  This will be my last meeting as president, and I'm looking forward to "just" being a participant and not responsible for anything.  We'll see how that turns out!

A friend and I are doing a short program on Dear Jane-type quilts at the meeting.  That's how Ginny and I met long ago.  We each have stories to tell and variations to show.  I have encouraged others in the guild to bring their variations along for show and tell, too.  One person has a mini that I think is just amazing.

And speaking of amazing, the other day as I was watering my indoor plants I noticed that my orchid, which I repotted a few weeks ago, is sporting two blossoms, with more on the way!  It hasn't bloomed in years, so it just goes to show that it needed a bigger pot.

  

Dual duty

 

I had this quilt top (53" x 55") hanging in the closet since early fall.  It is a variation (as most of my quilts are) of Jen Kingwell's Green Tea and Sweet Beans pattern.  I got tired of working on it over the summer, so set it aside until fall when I added the striped Australian fabric as the border.   All of the appliqued blocks are wool applique which I hope will not run when washed.  I like the quilt's cheerfulness.

During March, I made a block a day of Pat Sloan's quarter log cabin blocks.  Of course, I had to catch up some when we went on vacation for a week, but that was OK.   I used my basket of strings for most of the blocks, and used the plain mottled black for all the centers.  

Strings weren't the best choice as the seams don't match up.  Other people posted photos of quilts they made with fabric they had bought for the project, and they really looked nice.  Nonetheless, my top turned out cheery but not enough to be anything but the back of the Green Beans quilt.  Hence, the name Dual Duty.  

I plan to wash the quilt first and then, perhaps, give it to Bags of Love for foster kids.  Now that it's quilted, I do like a bit more.  I chose most of the strings at random, based on their length.  I ran out of longer pieces, so I used some leftover binding pieces as well.  

My strings have all been sorted by color and put into bags in my string basket.  I plan to see how they work out for my next Dear Jane row.  I have neglected that quilt for months and would like to get back to it.   But it's a very satisfying feeling to have no quilts hanging in the closet, waiting to be quilted.  It won't last - I have several blocks of the month that will no doubt be finished this summer.  

This leaves me with hand sewing the binding down on the Exploding Heart.  That will take a while because I have quite a few meetings and other events this week, and I don't like to overwork my wrists with hand sewing.

A busy week

I've been quilting here and there on the Green Beans and Sweet Tea quilt and also hand sewing the binding down on the Exploding Heart.  Nothing got finished, which is OK, really.  We had a very nice week, and today we're meeting for a taco bar lunch/meeting at the library with the Democrats.  I also hope to shop for some chocolate Easter bunnies for next Sunday and maybe do a little reading on the new Jennifer Chiaverini book.

Thursday, we went down to White River Junction to see the musical Waitress at Northern Stage. It was fantastic!  We had never been to this theater and were pleasantly surprised by how nice it is.  The town, has been working hard to upgrade itself, and there are some very nice little shops and restaurants within walking distance.  Even the bus station is much improved and squeaky clean.  We had lunch at home before driving down, but when we go again, we will be sure to try one of the eateries.  I was pleased to run into an old friend and her husband at the show.  We became friends in library school and then worked together for over 30 years.  We've lost touch in retirement, so it is nice to reconnect.

Yesterday we went to Montpelier to pick up a banjo Paul was trying to sell at an instrument exchange.  That chore done, we visited an art gallery/antique shop to see a friend's recent show.  Cara is a professor in the architecture program at a local university and also paints.  

These paintings were inspired by the quilts of Gee's Bend, and I loved the muted colors she used.  It was a little gloomy inside, but the colors are fairly true in the photo.  I liked all of the paintings, though the architectural detail in this one caught my eye.  There was another painting with the dome of our State House prominent.

Then in the afternoon, I called my cousin Jeanne and then my mom, which took up the rest of the day!  Both are great talkers, but I love them.  Good thing I had a leftover casserole to pull out of the refrigerator.

Quilts, etc.

 It's been sort of gloomy out with drizzle and cloudy skies.  Good days for staying inside to quilt, cook, and read.  Yesterday I made some muffin-sized quiches and a simple salad with black beans, roasted corn, and mango (very good!).  Both recipes were recommended for diabetics.  Today I'll make some bread as we're almost out.

Quilting on the Sweet Tea quilt is going OK, albeit slowly.  There's a lot of marking and turning (or should I say "wrestling"?) so I do a little at a time.  I cut purple grunge fabric for binding the Exploding Heart quilt but didn't get it ready to use, so I may also work on that today.  I can then hand sew it to the back when I want a break from quilting.  I could also cut out the binding for the Sweet Tea quilt if I feel like it.  That's the great thing about quilting at this stage of life - no deadlines, just do whatever you feel like whenever

I'm reading The Women by Kristin Hannah, a book about nurses during the Vietnam war.  So far, it's a little like MASH although more realistic, of course, with a smattering of romance.  I can understand why it's been so popular, because it does tell a good story of war from the woman's point of view.  Beyond the operating room, the interactions with the locals are very interesting, too.  A week from tomorrow, the library is sponsoring a talk by a woman who was a nurse in that war, and it will be interesting to hear her take on the book.

Last night I stopped into the library's Spring Fling fund raiser and helped sell a few tickets for the Friends' gardening raffle.  There was a band, casual food, and a cash bar, but it looked like there were fewer people than usual.  

Maybe they bought tickets but were too tired to come after the protest in the rain at the State House.  Officials estimate 10,000 people stood in the rain there, which is quite an impressive turnout.  (Photo by Daria Bishop - copied from Facebook group 50501)  There were 20 protests around the state which is pretty good for our little state, right on the border with our friends in Canada.

Blocks of the month

I wanted to make all the blocks of the month for April right away so that I could concentrate on (1) finishing the Exploding Heart which came back from quilter Marie and (2) quilting the Greent Tea and Sweet Beans variation that's been hanging in the closet since September.  The latter has the weird quarter log cabin flimsey on the back. 

First, I worked on the Heart of Vermont guild's BOM as well as the one designed by Kristin Lauren.  The "attic windows" one I made for the guild lottery is on the left.  I'm using the same fabrics for the guild BOM and the Kristin Lauren quilt because neither provided enough blocks for a bigger quilt.  I think it's going to end up as a very nice one with a black speckled background. 

I used an 8" block made with cut offs of previous months' blocks for the center of the attic windows.  The attic windows blocks were very easy because, every month, a different guild member chooses or designs it.  That means that it may be difficult or simple, depending on that person's interest or skill level.  This month's was chosen by a begnning quilter.   The half-square triangle was a stretch for her, but made for quite an easy block.  I noticed that very few people made Dresden Plates the month it was my turn!

After I finished these, I turned my attention to the Optimism blocks designed by Aby Dolinger.  I'm going for the queen-size so am making two 15" blocks each month.  I'm using a consistent beige floral background for each block and am dipping into my stash for a scrappy look.  I thought I'd make these quilt-as-you-go, but now I'm thinking I'll wait due to the various colors.  I'm not sure about sashing anyway although I have a very large piece of teal I'd like to use.  

I picked up my knitting again yesterday and worked away at the shawl I started in January.  I'd like to finish and go back to making hats for kids in foster care.   I really don't enjoy using circular needles and the shawl is wide enough to require them.   It was more or a long term commitment than the hats are, but nice for watching TV on a winter's afternoon.

Our weather has been typical for April - warm, cold, rainy, snowy, sunny.  It's hard to know what to wear, especially jacket-wise, but I have put away my warmest jacket.  I still have gloves at the ready, though, along with my puddle jumper Bogs slipons.  Tomorrow night the library is holding its Spring Fling, and I sure hope it doesn't snow!  I'll be joining Pam to sell raffle tickets for a gardening basket - what to wear will be determined by the weather.  My friend Sally says she's wearing a dress, but I will probably drag out the old faithful black pants and a top, along with a sweater if needed!

March block a day

 I have a small laundry basket for strings that I throw stuff in while I'm cutting other things.  Recently, I sorted the strings by color and put them in plastic bags.   All the neutrals and all the bits of leftover binding are in separate bigger bags.  I thought that would make them easier to use.  And I guess they are.  I made two table runners out of string-pieced equilateral triangles, and then I started on Pat Sloan's block a day challenge.  Wish I could find the link, but it seems to have left her website.  

Pat offered two different quarter log cabin blocks, each 12" finished but with differently sized centers.  I cut out a bunch of 4.5" mottled charcoal black squares to give the quilt some unity and proceeded to use my strings for the blocks.  I noticed "everyone else" cut even strips from fabric, but I was determined to make this a scrappy quilt.  Our little vacation got in the way of my making a block a day, of course, so I spent a few days this past week making more blocks, ending up with 25 before I decided to stop.

Yesterday I put all the blocks together and, while the result isn't awful, it isn't great either.  The different widths of the strings make it awfully busy.  But it's 60" x 60" so it will make a nice pieced back for the Green Tea and Sweet Beans flimsey (at left) I have had waiting to be quilted since September.  Sandwiching the two for quilting will be my project for today.  

I hear freezing rain tapping on the windows which I hope will melt the 6" of wet snow we got yesterday.  The roads were very iffy in the morning, so we had to cancel the library book sale.  But we did OK with the sale the day before, and everyone got a nice day off.

Because of the freezing rain today, I guess I will make some bread, too, rather than venture out on the roads.  I just started Kristin Hannah's The Women so I'll spend some time reading, too.  Happy Sunday!

We found spring...

 ...but it won't appear in Vermont for some time.   We drove down Interstate 89 from Wilkes-Barre, PA, where we usually overnight when we head south.  We drove through Maryland in the blink of an eye, over the Potomac River, and into West Virginia.  Almost immediately, we had a change in climate with redbud trees (or were they plums?), daffodils, and forsythia blooming everywhere.  The sun was shining and we took off our winter coats in favor of lighter fleece.

We spent a night in Harrisonburg and visited the Green Valley Book Fair (a warehouse full of books!) and the Virginia Quilt Museum in its new quarters.   The renovated mill was a nice backdrop to display antique log cabin quilts, "micro" pieced quilts (smaller than mini!), and modern quilts by Kevin Womack.  I'll try to post photos of a few of the quilts tomorrow if I get a chance.

From there, we headed just 25 minutes south to Staunton and the American Shakespeare Center where we had tickets to two plays, The Comedy of Errors, and Little Women.  Both were excellent!  We love that theater, and the actors are amazing, playing multiple roles throughout the season's three plays.  We ate well, too, and enjoyed our stay at historic Hotel 24.  

My favorite part of the trip was the backstage tour of Blackfriar's Theater, a recreation of one of Shakespeare's two London theaters (the other was the Globe).  Here we are on stage during the tour.  We went upstairs to see the balcony and downstairs to tour the rehearsal and costume areas.  Our guide had a few activities for us to try as well.

The ride home was somewhat nerve-wracking as there was a great deal of noise emanating from under the car.  Could our suspension be failing?  I'll find that out when I take it to the garage on Thursday morning.  

In addition, it started to snow when we arrived in the Adirondack region, and it continued almost the rest of the way home.  Driving over Mendon Mt. was tricky, but we made it.  We were home by noon yesterday, and I even got a load of laundry done before dinner.

Today we are back to our old routine, more or less.  It's great to get home even though we had fun on the road and during our brief time in Virginia.  It was nice to get a taste of spring, too, although our yard seems to be a gathering place for robins today.  They are everywhere, so I hope they are a true sign that spring will come here soon. 

Cooking and planning

We had a very nice day yesterday, but it didn't involve any sewing at all, unfortunately.  We did some grocery shopping very early so that I could spend time cooking for today's Indonesian dinner with Pauline and Bob.  It's actually a lunch so this morning I'll be doing last minute cleaning and cooking.  They are bringing their two little dogs, which should be interesting.  It should be nice weather, so maybe we'll take them for a walk after dinner.

After some intense work in the kitchen, Paul and I went out to lunch at Azteca, a new Mexican restaurant, with four friends, Bill & Diane and Fiona & Chico, for Chico's birthday.  At Bill's urging, our group tradition has become that the birthday person tells a little biography, and Chico's is quite interesting since his family left Cuba when he was a boy and the Castro regime was just beginning to take hold.  He knows firsthand what an authoritarian government is like.  The waitstaff sang a Mexican Happy Birthday which was quite fun, too.  The food was great and plentiful, so we had a snack for dinner.  Our weather has been super

Tomorrow, I hope to get back to sewing, including making a couple of blocks for the Pat Sloan March block-a-day project.  The blocks are easy and great leftover scrap busters - 12" quarter log cabin blocks.  I'm using the same black fabric for the beginning 4.5" locks and dipping deeply into my string basket.  30 blocks will make a nice quilt for Bags of Love.  When we get back from Virginia, I want to start back on my modern Dear Jane quilt.  I have quite a few rows (six?) left to make.  I also have some smaller projects to work on, including a small duffle bag.  I don't enjoy making three dimensional items, but it's nice to have a project that gets finished sooner than my usual bed quilts.

We have been monitoring the weather, and we shouldn't run into snow going south or returning, so we'll leave here on Wednesday and make it to Harrisonburg on Thursday.  Friday morning we'll visit the new Virginia Quilt Museum and then continue on to Staunton for two plays and a backstage tour at Blackfriar's Theater.  Even though our snow here is melting, we'll surely get a little more before winter is truly over.  It will be nice to have a bit of a break from it all.

Two projects finished!

Saturday I finished sewing the binding down on a little wall hanging (or baby quilt?).  It uses some of the same fabric as the Dresden Plate quilt I finished last fall.  The star blocks were paper pieced and sure took a long time to make.   I could only stand to do a few each day so it took longer.

I finally took a picture of the second landscape I made after the class I took with Beth Ann Williams.  This one shows the mountain in a more realistic and recognizable shape.  

I'm glad I took the class because it helped me figure out how to make a pattern from a photo.  I hope to make a few more quilts using Beth Ann's technique.  Putting the freezer paper on top means that you don't have to work backwards.  It makes it a lot easier to trace a picture.  I don't have a light box so I use a window which works well if you tape the original to the window and then the freezer paper over that.  Now when I go shopping for fabric, I will keep an eye out for fabrics that might be used in landscape quilts.  

I don't really care for applique using invisible thread, though.  I'd rather use cotton or polyester thread.  With Beth Ann's technique, you applique and quilt at the same time.  I used fusible batting for the landscapes, and it is stiff.  If you wash the quilt after quilting, it probably softens up, but these little things are wall hangings and will probably never get washed. 

Today my attention has returned to the Exploding Heart.  Not a lot of parts are left to stitch together, but then I'll stitch all 6 sections of 3 rows each together for the top.  After that, I'll add some borders.  My book (Murder at Highbury) may distract me, though!

Decluttering

Seems like wherever I look online, I am exhorted to get organized, declutter, spring clean.  What a drag!  I am already a fairly clean and organized person, but that guy I live with is not.  He has been talking about buying a new computer but has been procrastinating.  He has been backing up files, but his "office" is a minefield with piles of books and papers everywhere.  I can't vacuum in there at all!  Even dusting is out of the question, and you should see his keyboard.  The other day Paul finally admitted that he will need to clear up the floor if he has someone come to the house to install the new computer.  Hallelujah!  Isn't recognizing the problem halfway toward fixing it?  I hope so.

My sewing room isn't all that organized either, right now, because the parts of the Exploding Heart have been laid out on the bed.  Everything else that might be on the bed is on the floor right now, mostly tucked behind the bed so no one can see it from the doorway.  But I know it's there, and the cleaning people will be here tomorrow.  So I'll have to do a little decluttering today myself.  If I can get all the parts of the quilt together before Thursday, I can take it to Marie for quilting.  The remaining three rows should be fairly easy to put together, and then I have to put all the sections I've made together and add a couple of thin borders.  

First, however, I'm going to make some shu mai - Chinese steamed dumplings - which I will freeze until next Saturday when Bob and Pauline come for an Indonesian rijsttafel to celebrate Bob's birthday. Friday will be spent cooking most of the other dishes.   I've spent a bit of time this week planning the meal and checking with Mom who approved the menu.

Ours won't look exactly like the picture (from the Smithsonian website).  With four people, one needs only about six dishes, one of which will be a large salad (gado gado) with many vegetables and peanut sauce. Shu mai aren't really Indonesian, but they will be a nice appetizer for others to enjoy while I do some last minute cooking of fish.   I'll try to take a picture before we eat.

A few projects

Friday night I attended the second of the two part landscape class with Beth Ann Williams, and Saturday morning, I was back at my sewing machine, appliqueing and quilting.  I thoroughly enjoyed her class and, while I'm still not sure I like freezer paper on top (when it sticks too much it's quite messy to remove), I do like the result.

This is my first attempt at my class project.  Beth Ann gave us a pattern but also showed us how to adapt a photo into a pattern.  I have had a similar photo cut out of the newspaper hanging on my wall for many years.   This class helped me develop a quilt based on the photo.  Some people in the class found just the right piece of batik for their skies, but I pieced mine to be more like the photo.  I made a second landscape, very similar, but more like the actual shape of the mountain in the photo.  I have a little hand sewing to do but will show it when finished.

Over the weekend, I also started working on Pat Sloan's daily blocks.  In March she is challenging her readers and fans to make one 12" log cabin-like block a day.  I cut out some charcoal centers and am using scraps for my "logs."  Each block is a little wonky in my case, but together they will make a nice quilt after 30 days.  This being the 4th of March, I have four blocks so far.  I may have to cut some strings by the end of the month as a lot of the ones in my string basket are a little short.  So far, I'm just grabbing fabrics at random.

And then!  I made the next two Optimism blocks of the month, designed by Abigail Dolinger.  They are 15" so a year's worth of blocks will end up as a very nice sampler quilt.

Phew!  In between all this activity, I continued putting together the Exploding Heart pieces.  They are looking good so far but take a lot of concentration.   I hope to have the top finished by the end of the week, but I need to remind myself not to get distracted.

Vermont in the news

 

I am proud of my fellow Vermonters who braved near zero temperatures to protest the VP's ski trip here last weekend.  The line of protestors was a mile long, on both sides of the road leading to the ski area.  No matter - it was really too cold (below zero at the summit) to take little kids skiing.  Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when they left earlier than planned.  I'm not sure where the family stayed.  Their initial choice was in a cozy little village, very inappropriate for Secret Service and their entourage.  It's about 45 minutes from our house over winding country roads.

Like many people, I found Vance and the President's behavior earlier in the day toward the heroic Ukrainian president disgusting and embarrassing.   While I am not Ukrainian, my stepfather was on both sides, and my last name reflects that heritage.  Dad's parents came to the US around 1900; his father was recruited by a coal company to work in the mines at a very young age.  Growing up, relatives said the family was Russian on one side and Polish on the other.  Both families attended the Russian Orthodox Church in their small Pennsylvania town.  They were really all from the same area near Lviv on land which switched "ownership" between Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire over the years.  They actually all spoke Ruthenian, an ancient form of Ukrainian.  The area was also in the Pale of Settlement which accounts for my siblings having a little Jewish blood.

Blocks of the month

I worked on blocks of the month Sunday and had fun doing them.  The red one is for the guild lottery.  It will make a nice quilt.   The other two blocks are for me.  One is the guild lottery block but not on point, and the other is by Kristin Laura designs.   I bought (at a greatly reduced rate) a half bolt of the polka dots and am using them in every block and probably on the back, too.  I hope I have enough background to finish - it's black with tiny white specks.  Guess I can always dig out a plain black to go along if I run out.

Now I'm waiting for Aby's two March blocks for the Optimism quilt which should arrive on Saturday.  After working on the landscapes and all those hourglass blocks for Exploding Heart, I need a little break from quilting.  Besides, I still have to sew the binding down on the back for the Lily quilt.   I have an e-book due back at the library on Friday, so I'm spending more time with that.  Lula Dean's Library of Banned Books is rather poorly written with a silly plot, but I do want to find out what happens.

Landscape quilt

I really enjoy Beth Ann Williams' Zoom classes, and Friday night's landscape class was very interesting.  I got right to work on Saturday, drawing my little landscape, cutting out a freezer paper pattern, and gathering fabrics.  Here's the simple pattern I drew.

And here are the fabrics I chose.

That was all well and good, but I ran into several problems.  First was that my freezer paper stuck to the front of several pieces of fabric.  I had to unglue with water and then remove the old so that I could put into a new piece.  We had been warned not to press our freezer paper for too long, but when turning the top seam under, you can barely avoid doing this.  The second thing was that my mountain in no way resembles the very famous Camel's Hump mountain.   Very few Vermont mountains are as pointy as the one in the little quilt.  Despite cutting little slits along the ridge line, I just couldn't get the hump to appear.  And finally, I thought the green blob to the right of the mountain was just too big.

It's perfectly fine, and I'll use it to learn Beth Ann's invisible applique and quilt at the same time method.  I will try my hand at some embellishments, too.  But, ultimately, it's not what I really wanted.  So...   I made another one.  This time, I appliqued (with Steam a Seam 2) the mountain and adding another green hill.  And I like it a lot better.  I streamlined the sky a bit, moved the mountain up into the lightest sky, added a plain green below the other green.  And I eliminated the bright blue "river."  Both pieces are about 6" x 9".  

The last time I took a landscape class - with Jo Diggs back in the 1990s? - we sewed everything by hand, and I enjoyed it.  After Friday, I will give the machine method with invisible thread a try and, maybe, find out if I still prefer the old fashioned hand applique method.  Stay tuned!

Nothing much to show yet

I spent much of the week cutting out fabric and making hourglass blocks for the Exploding Heart quilt.  There was a lot of trimming since the initial squares were all cut oversized and all needed to be 4.5" square when ready to sew.  There are six different variations of the hourglass with 3 color families.  Today I started putting the quilt together, but it's slow going.  There's a chart to follow but each row has 18 different squares.  It's easy to become confused, so it's good to take it easy.  I did put together 3 rows so far, and I hope to do a few more each day.  Maybe I'll be finished by the end of the week?

Yesterday was a genealogy group day, so I headed down to the library for our meeting.  One person came via Zoom (which unfortunately cut off after 40 minutes), and six others came.  The low turnout was probably because of the cold.  It was 12 below zero at around 8 am.  It did warm up to about 20 with the sun during the day, but after lunch Suzan and I delivered invitations for our neighborhood ladies' luncheon using a car rather than walking like we usually do.  It took just as long to drive as it does to walk, but at least we could warm up a bit in between houses.  The luncheons are at a restaurant downtown, and usually 15-20 people come.  It's a nice way to connect with neighbors, especially during the winter when no one ventures farther than the mailbox and back.

This morning, after sewing on the Exploding Heart for a while, I gathered what I'll need for a landscape quilting class with Beth Ann Williams via Zoom tonight.  I'm looking forward to it; I really enjoyed her machine quilting class last summer.  We'll learn her machine applique techniques which involve turning the seams under.  

Mostly, though, I would like to use a picture from the newspaper that's been hanging on my wall for years as a jumping off point for my landscape.  Camel's Hump is a very familiar view in our part of Vermont.   We can even see it from our neighborhood.  This sunset photo is one I copied from an online search of images.  The one from the newsletter is a bit different, but both will offer a good starting point.

"Exploding Heart"

Did you have a nice Valentine's Day?  Hope so!  We went over to Burlington to have dinner with our old friends Pauline and Bob.  They used to stay with us every year around Valentine's Day when we had the B&B.  We're reviving that tradition, and this year went to a Turkish restaurant for a delicious dinner.  We could see the sunset over Lake Champlain while eating, and that was definitely a plus.  We spent the night and drove home in the morning when the roads were surprisingly quiet.

Before leaving home on Valentine's Day, I started cutting pieces for Exploding Heart, a pattern I've wanted to make for a long time (that's a photo of the pattern at left).   I don't usually cut all the pieces ahead of time.  Most of the time, I cut enough to make a few blocks and then cut as I go.  But then I don't usually follow a pattern but go off the page quite a bit, adding "design choices" as I go.  

This time, it seems necessary as it's somewhat complicated.  There are a lot of 4" (finished size) hourglasses of various configurations.  Even though I thought I'd bought extra background fabric, I found I didn't have enough.  Hope I can get more at the quilt shop, but if not, I think I can mix in some other whites here and there.   The finished quilt measures 72" x 72".

I'm using fabrics similar to the ones in the picture - purples, pinks, and a small number of turquoises.  These are all favorites of mine.  So far, the sewing seems pretty straightforward, but it will take me some time to get all the hourglasses sewn.

When I'm not piecing, I'll be hand sewing the binding down on the Lily quilt.  I added a hanging sleeve just in case whoever ends up with it wants to hang it on the wall.  I know that's what I'll be doing with it.  I like the way it turned out and will show a photo when I get a chance.  It's snowing today and a bit gloomy for photo taking.  But snow days = sew days in my book, so that's what I'll be doing today.

Sashiko is finished

I finished the long-time sashiko UFO Saturday at quilt guild.  I really enjoy working on sashiko and will look for another project soon.  I finished the embroidery some time ago and added batting and a border.  I decided to hand quilt it, but the quilting is pretty invisible.  It will hold it together as it hangs on the wall over my desk.

Next on my list is sewing the binding to the back of the Lily wallhanging.  I finished quilting it yesterday and immediately sewed the binding on.  But I thought it would look more finished with the binding hand-sewn, so I'm taking my time, doing one side a day (or so).   I'll take a picture when I'm finished, but it measures around 39" x 39". 

I also made three mug rugs out of the scraps of the Lily quilt.  I decided I would make a few this year out of scraps from various quilts I finish.  

Next on my list is that set of placemats made out of a green and beige quilt I made my brother Axel in 2005.  I have eight 12" x 18" placemats and four mug rugs to bind.  He can give some away to friends or hold a dinner party.  That last seems pretty far-fetched as he has a small apartment.  I'll mail some when they're ready and keep the rest for when we visit him this summer.

Meanwhile, the purple shawl I'm knitting is coming along, albeit slowly (on #4 needles), and today I went to the library for a bit of aerobic walking in a group and baked a blueberry buckle when I got home.  After dinner tonight neighbors are coming over for a little poker, and we'll cap the day off with the buckle.  I have tons of blueberries in the freezer, so I will bake another one Friday to take to friends in Burlington where we'll celebrate Valentine's Day together.

Working on this and that

 This morning's roads were icy-looking so I decided not to go to aerobic walking.  Naturally, the sun came out later and melted everything, but I wasn't taking any chances.  I ended up working hard in the sewing room.   I sandwiched and pin basted the Lily quilt, which I started quilting after lunch.  Before lunch, however, I made two blocks of the month for the Optimism quilt designed by Aby Dolinger.  They are all 15" finished so the quilt will go together pretty quickly in the fall.  I'm shopping my stash (as some say, "inventory") for this one.

My last quilting thing today was cutting up my brother Axel's green and cream shoo fly quilt that I made him in 2005.  It was beautifully quilted by my friend Mary with feathers throughout.  When we visited him in Wisconsin a year and a half ago, I took it home to see if I could repair it.  Alas, it has too much damage - I think he sat on and washed it a lot.  So I cut it apart and will make him some placemats.  I thought I could salvage the center, but it is too far gone.  The center looked salvageable, but it has some very weak spots.

I have made Axel two other quilts, so I don't feel that bad.  One he has on his bed, and the other is in his storage closet, protecting a painting he moved three years ago.  I hope it's OK.  If (when?) we go to visit him again this summer, I'll see if I can find it.  Meanwhile, I'll make miles of binding and bind off sections of the green quilt and mail the "new" placemats to him.

Another finished top

This isn't the best photo, but I'm so happy it's finished!  This little quilt measures 39" square, and I put it together yesterday.  I really like the way it turned out, especially because I started it at the beginning of August.   I'll take a better picture once it's done.  I plan to quilt it with my walking foot, very simply.

The paper pieced threaded star blocks were fun to make although I still am not a fan of taking the paper out.   I still have lots of snippets of fabric left and, because I have so much, I am keeping it in a baggie all together for now rather than dividing it up by color.  This is the second quilt I've made using the same fat quarter bundle plus a charm pack and two yards of the large floral.  I do love the soft colors.

After putting the quilt together, I went down to Joann Fabrics for some batting (Warm and White).  The store was fairly quiet and all the stock seemed to be there, even though rumor has it that it's closing in the middle of the month.  I guess I'll be going to Walmart for notions after it closes because I refuse to shop at Hobby Lobby.  Or I'll buy things I can't get at my local quilt shop (e.g., Guterman thread, insul-bright) online.   I will miss the people who work there and hope they can find other jobs, too.  Since it reopened after the 2023 flood, they've been very service-oriented.    

At the checkout, I ran into a woman who used to come to our yoga class and to the state quilt guild meetings.  It was good to see Dolinda again.  We were just beginning to become friends when she stopped coming.   I was reminded once again how nice it is to live in a relatively small community, "where everybody knows your name."

Truly the "frozen north"

We've been on a roller coaster of weather lately - warm and snowy vs. bitter cold and sunny.  Today, apparently, we'll have a little of both.  Paul is heading out for lunch with a friend, and I will be sewing away on the threaded star blocks.  I have five left to make for the border of the lily block.  

Yesterday, I took a break and puttered around the house.  I worked on Friends of the Library paperwork, sent sympathy cards, knitted while watching Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting, and read a new mystery.  A neighbor stopped by late in the day, and we even had leftovers for dinner.  Everyone needs a "no agenda" day.

While taken a year or so ago, looking out our front door, this is what it looks like almost every day - pretty but very cold.  I watch people walking their dogs, and all are bundled up, even the dogs.  Today I  a cream-colored standard poodle (or maybe a labradoodle) had on a red coat with red booties on.  Very colorful!  Rather than walk outside, I've been rowing in the basement, and on Tuesdays, weather permitting, I head down to the library for aerobic walking and on Wednesdays, yoga.   Spring can't come soon enough.

Keeping up with BOMs and UFOs

Over the weekend, I worked on some guild blocks of the month.  I generally make one to enter into the lottery and the rest for me in a colorway of my choice.  This year's personal colorway is various shades of orange with a black background.  I have half a bolt of the polka dots so it figures prominently.

The green and purple block will go in the guild lottery.  I often don't enter because I don't want another UFO to worry about.  But I usually bring a block anyway.  The second row is another block of the month designed by Kristin Laura.   I don't know who she is, but our co-leader asked for permission to share them with the guild, so I'm doing them, too.  I may combine the guild and Kristin Laura blocks into one quilt.  Or I may make two quilts.  I'll decide this summer.

Next, I started working on some paper pieced threaded stars to serve as a border for the lily block I made last fall.  It's a UFO that has been on my mind for quite a while.  The block on point measures 20", so I will need to add a plain coping strip around it before adding the 6" blocks.  

I bought the papers from the Fat Quarter Shop, and I can see that it will take me quite some time to make the 20 I need.  I have lots of scraps from the Dresden Plate quilt I made with the fat quarter bundle a few months ago.  I hope I can squeeze out all the blocks I need for the border, but if not, I will add some matching fabric from my stash.

Taking the papers out of the back is my least favorite quilting job, especially in winter when static electricity makes it very difficult.  I'm going to try to rub the paper with a dryer sheet to see if that helps.  I usually do this annoying project while watching TV in the evenings. 

Organizing the fabrics (labeling them A, B, C, D) and marking the papers really helps me keep them straight.  These little blocks sure are cute!  I will end this small quilt with a plain border - perhaps the same dark floral one I used for the Dresden Plate quilt.

Quilts for Bags of Love

 Monday was a difficult day for me.  I avoided the news and the inauguration hoopla by staying in my sewing room with my old ipod turned on to favorite songs of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  And I made a little quilt for a child going into foster care.

I used some strings from my seemingly endless basket of strings for the center strips and cut a partial charm square set diagonally.  I trimmed the result to 5 inches and arranged them.  I added two plain borders and pieced some batting left over from the Bigfoot quilt.  I used a piece of very bright fabric I didn't know what to do with for the back.

After show and tell at guild on Tuesday night, I gave this quilt and the little purple rail fence quilt to Marie to take to Bags of Love.

Today I'm going to work on some blocks of the month for guild.  Some of us are working on a BOM designed by Kristin Laura and brought those to guild for show and tell also.  Mine are on the bottom row.

The colors are a little "off" here - the top row's blocks (Diane's) have deep red accents although on my computer they look brown.  I see Marie shared my idea of using orange.  I like the black background I chose and look forward to making more of these blocks.

Hanging at the library

This summer, our public library displayed a section of the AIDS quilt.  A lot of people came and really were moved by it.  In order to hang the quilt, the library had to install two sturdy rods on what used to be the outside brick of the building.  There's a relatively new two story addition with a balcony on the second floor over the circulation area.  Luckily, a volunteer handyman stepped forward to install the rod.  Miche isn't afraid of climbing tall ladders because he repairs chimneys all over the area.  In fact, he inspected ours a few summers ago.

After the AIDS quilt moved on to another site in the USA, the spot looked very empty, and the library staff asked me if I knew of any quilter who might have two quilts to hang in that spot.  Did I know any quilters?!?  I said I would be happy to hang some quilts, but I found that of my bed-sized quilts only one had a hanging sleeve.  I added a sleeve to another favorite and took them to the library where they were hung last weekend.  They look great although they are difficult to photograph from below or above.  Paul went down to the library yesterday with the camera as I thought my phone wouldn't do a good job.

Both quilts were made around 2000-2001 and graced beds in our B&B over the nine years we ran it.  

The purple one started with a pattern from a book called Stars in the Garden by Piece o' Cake Designs.  I liked it but didn't want to make any more appliqued blocks of that size, so I added borders in various purples.  I asked a long arm quilter in a town about an hour east of us to quilt it.  I never minded the drive back and forth because she did such a great job.  At that time machine quilting was mostly free motion.  Mary used to quilt all of my quilts, but then she started the Machine Quilters Expo and got way too busy.  

At any rate, after she finished quilting this, Mary encouraged me to enter it into a quilt show in her area.  It was the first show I ever entered, but I couldn't attend because we were very busy with fall foliage guests.  On Sunday night, after the show ended, Mary called to say that she noticed I hadn't come.   "I would have liked to have seen your face when your quilt won the Viewers Choice Award," she said.  I remember hopping all around the kitchen in amazement!

The heart quilt was part of a swap with an online group.  Each person put together a batch of fabric and told what theme she'd like blocks to be.  Then the blocks and fabric went from person to person around the country until they returned to me.  I had chosen red and pink fabrics and asked for heart blocks of any size.  When they all came back to me, I put the blocks together, adding other blocks and strips as needed.  I love the background fabric of this quilt; it has little hearts on a cream background.  

The way Mary quilted this freehand is just unbelievable.  Here and there she wrote words like "love" and "be mine."  It's very sweet.  My favorite block is the one in the upper right which I did in broderie perse, cutting out red cherries and arranging them in a heart shape.

I don't know how long the quilts will hang at the library, but I of course have several more than can go in their places!

Nearly finished

I quilted the two string table runners on Monday and then turned my attention to quilting a baby-sized rail fence quilt made of strips I found on the "free" table at guild.

When finished, this will go to Bags of Love along with the red hat I'm almost finished knitting.  I'm quilting straight lines in variegated purple thread on either side of the blocks, going both vertically and horizontally.  This leaves nice squares and makes the quilt secure for what will most likely receive a lot of machine washing/drying.  In putting the top together, I didn't do a whole lot of precision measuring or arranging.  Now that it's almost done, I see things I should have done a little differently, but oh well!

The back of the quilt is white flannel with medium blue stars, so I will need to find a binding fabric that goes with all the colors, probably a light cream solid.  I pieced the batting, too, so this quilt did not cost me anything.  All through these last few days when I've finished quite a bit, I thought about what I want to work on next.  Will it be the Exploding Heart or more Dear Jane blocks?  The former is purple, too, so I'm inclined to take a breather with Jane,  But first Bigfoot's Forest needs a binding.  As they say, so many quilts, so little time!

Blocks and strings

 I made a few blocks of the month on Friday and also worked with string triangles.  Basically, just refreshing my "sew-jo" after finishing the Bigfoot top and before starting a real project.

Here's the guild December block of the month, a nice Ohio Star.  I'll take it to guild to enter into a lottery.  Maybe I'll even win the batch.

Then there are the first two Optimism blocks for the quilt along devised by Aby Dolinger.  I'm using colors she suggests in her very clear instructions.

I also made a bunch of triangles out of my seemingly endless string basket and then created two table runners.  These are both basted and ready for quilting.

Both are 12" x about 20".  I'll take them down to the florist's to sell and take any Christmas items that haven't sold home this week.  Luckily, we are having "seasonal" temperatures in the 20s but with little bursts of snow daily.  The snow plow guys are probably happily getting overtime.

A long stretch of dreary weather

It has been snowing off and on for over a week now.  The sky has been mostly gray/white, and I'm glad not to be working on a temperature quilt this year.   January's blocks would almost all be the same.   It's beeni in the single digits and the snowplow guys seem to be working overtime.  Thank goodness for them!  We have been able to get out most days if we want to.  Friday we stocked up on groceries and yesterday I even went to sew with one of my guilds although only three of us came.

Now that Bigfoot's Forest is at the quilter's, I've been working with my string basket the last few days.  At some point this fall, I sorted them all by color before paper piecing 6" high triangles with them.  Now I have two table runners to quilt and a lot of varied triangles still to work with.  Today I'll spend some time with a batch of purple strips that I found on the free table at guild.  They belonged to Kathy T, who told me she was sick of them.  I don't know why - they are beautiful and will make a nice little Rail Fence quilt for Bags of Love.

Other than sewing somewhat mindlessly lately, I've been baking bread a lot.  Other baked goods are off the table as I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake these days.  I use my bread machine to mix, knead, and rise the dough which I then shape and rise to bake in the oven.  This is a plain white sourdough bread using starter I've been nursing for a few months.  It makes wonderful toast and sandwiches.

To avoid cabin fever, which can set in during these cold, gloomy days, we've been trying to gather with friends and neighbors more.  Last night friends down the street came over to play cards.  It was fun.  Next, they said, we should learn to play "Rummy Cube."  I have no idea what that entails, but we'll be doing it soon.

First finish

Bigfoot's Forest is all together and ready for quilting!  Measuring about 65" x 72", it will be a nice size for Chris, and I hope to get it to Marie for long arming tomorrow.  She is fairly speedy, but I am sure it won't be ready for his birthday next week.  I made him a card which I'll give him along with an Amazon gift card ("One size fits all," he always says). 

The scrappy checkerboard border took me a long time due to the variety of greens and neutrals along with some 2" squares from the panel I cut up for the previous border.  The center figures were taken from Elizabeth Hartman's Legendary pattern.  I have enough of the green print left over for the binding once the quilt returns home.  Green has always been Chris' favorite color.

The weather here has been typically frigid (in the single digits) with blowing and drifting snow.  I haven't left the house - not even to go to the mailbox - in three days due to icy roads.  If the roads are OK, today I hope to go to the post office to mail a small package and to yoga.

The weather is supposed to moderate a bit tomorrow, and then I'll get out to the quilt shop and maybe Joann Fabrics for "notions."  We are running low on fresh vegetables here, too, so I'll probably shop for them along the way.

I always feel a little let down after finishing a quilt top, so I keep busy with blocks of the month and some scrappy string projects until I feel ready to work on something more seriously.  I have the fabric all ready to cut for an Exploding Heart quilt which I may start later this week.  Meanwhile, I will try to take a nap after yoga today and then read more of the latest Number One Ladies Detective Agency book.  Nothing much is happening, but somehow it's cozy enough for a winter's read.

Thinking about the new year

Projects!  That's what my life has always been about, whether I've been working or retired.  Projects seem to keep me going.  A member of our quilt guild posted a great worksheet for the year's planning, and I think I'll give it a whirl. 

Over the years, I have been keeping a little notebook of details about each quilt I'm working on - size, date begun/finished piecing/finished, some info about the techniques.  I can stuff the worksheet into my notebook although I doubt if I'll fill in the section called "did I sew this week?" which is totally absurd for me.  I sew almost every day!   

My main project right now is the Bigfoot quilt for Chris' birthday January 15 when I hope to have the top ready to show him.  I will ask Marie to quilt it since it's going to be bigger than I like to quilt on my Elna.  I am halfway around the scrappy checkerboard border now.  I know it's risky to add one side at a time, but I decided that, if it doesn't work out evenly on the last round, I will put an appliqued Bigfoot corner on instead of finishing the checkerboard.  Then there will be two plain borders and then I'll be finished. 

After I get the checkerboard done, I may take a day off and work on a few blocks of the month, for the first blocks of Aby's "Optimism" quilt and the guild's BOM.  After I finish the Sasquatch quilt, I will try to return to Dear Jane for a while.  I have made and quilted half of the interior rows and would like to make the other 7 by the end of the year.  There will be distractions, and that's OK.  

I watch more TV during the winter and like to knit while doing so.  I'm working on a red hat, teenage sized, for Bags of Love while I figure out what to make with the gradient bundle of fingering yarn my sister gave me for Christmas.  I would love to make a small shawl for myself, so I'll spend some time rolling these lovelies into balls while I decide what to do.