It's not the heat...

...it's the humidity, they say.  And it truly has been unbearably warm and sticky for at least a week.  In Vermont, a heat wave is not considered "official" until we have three 90 degree days in a row, but if it wasn't 90 out, it sure was hovering around 89 most days.  We have a heat pump which keeps it cool - sometimes too much so - downstairs, but on the second floor the air conditioner is in our guest/sewing room.  Our bedroom is cooled by a fan, which was pretty effective, but did make sleeping somewhat difficult some nights.  

Well, enough grumbling.  It's summer and very pretty outside.  All of the flowers are at their peak, and the sun has been shining a lot.  Last Friday night, we went with neighbors to a fun Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, The Gondoliers, at a little theater in the country.  We had a very nice pot luck picnic beforehand and managed to keep the bugs away for the most part.  Sunday, I had dinner with my son Chris which was a nice, cool way to catch up.

This week has been quiet, with a whole lot of reading to keep us fairly cool.  I finished How to Solve Your Own Murder which was quite complicated and fun.  I did a little sewing in the basement because our houseguest is still with us and may be here for several weeks more.  She is nice about eating whatever I concoct, and on hot days, that's mostly salads.

Today it is lovely weather - sunny and relatively cool.  We did some grocery shopping and picked up and dropped off more boxes for next week's library book sale.  Now I'm doing the laundry, catching up on online reading, and goofing off.  This afternoon, I'll head down to the basement for some more paper piecing.  I took stock of my progress with Double Date and have around 20 more blocks to make.  They're going to be set on point, so I've had to draw it out roughly on paper.   On-point settings always make me a little nervous, but I persisit!

Double Date progress

One benefit of sewing in a space that isn't my usual sewing room is that I've been confined to work on just one project at this time.  That's not my usual way, but it's my current way since Pat has been in the guest/sewing room for three weeks (but who's counting??).   Not bouncing between projects might be more efficient, but I do find myself reading more instead.  That could also be a consequence of the humidity we've been having, though.  

In the basement, I have a tub of "muslin" which contains cream backgrounds and lots of snippets of muslin-like fabrics, along with a bunch of green fat quarters.  The little Brother machine works just fine with paper piecing the 6" Jen Kingwell Double Date blocks.  Each takes about half an hour to make, so I can get three or four done in a session.  

At some point today I will get the ones I've stuck to my design wall upstairs and do a count.  I had planned to make about 49 blocks, which would be a 7 x 7 layout, but I think I might need 7 x 8 for balance.   So far, I think I have made about 36 blocks and have at least 6 more cut out.  I'll try to lay them out on the basement floor which I recently vacuumed.  It's carpeted and stayed relatively clean until I started sewing there!  

I also need to get into the room to put away some of the fabric I bought from Mary who is moving.  She closed her quilt shop about a year and a half ago and didn't want to take any excess fabric with her.  A huge hodgepodge of yardage was purchased for $50, and I plan to use most of it for backs.  There's 4 yards of a cream print of Mary, Joseph, and a donkey along with a couple yards of light green angel print.  Great for the backs of holiday table runners and tree skirts.

Independence Day

For retirees, most holidays seem to be just normal days.  Sometimes we don't even remember that they're holidays.  We don't have a lot of family to gather with, but we might just have a special meal.  Yesterday was no exception.  We grilled hamburgers and had cole slaw and chips (a treat for us).  After dinner we went downtown for a candlelight vigil with some like-minded folks including our next door neighbors.  Our friend Beth, a retired Episcopal clergyperson, said it best,

We held candles to share light in a dark time. Our unhoused neighbors — 109 folks in Barre alone — were kicked out of the hotel shelter program on July 1, on top of the budget boondoggle, and the fragility of our democratic system) and we decided candles were a good metaphor since their light is fragile (it was windy), requires tending and help from others if they go out.

Some were sad about the end of the hotel/motel program for homeless families, pointing to three people getting ready to sleep on the steps of the Good Shepherd church across the street.  Others were concerned about the signing of the "Big Beautiful Bill" (which our Congresswoman Becka Balint called the "big ugly bill").  I am concerned about the capture and incarceration of immigrants without due process, and the potential removal of naturalization from people deemed "unsuitable" American citizens.   It was a sober event, but nice to be with people who care about more than fireworks and barbecues.

Sewing is my therapy

It has been two weeks since I last blogged; a lot (or maybe very little) has happened in the meantime.  Paul's sister Pat has come to stay with us.  It was to be a few days while she got her cabin on a lake habitable for the summer, but immediately upon her arrival, we could see she isn't fit to be alone there.  And she needs help.   Her husband passed away early this year, and she is both depressed (my diagnosis) and alcohol dependent (everyone else's).  She has been detoxing, and, while it initially was quite tense around here, we have settled into a fairly quiet situation.  Our house is fairly small, so it has taken a couple of weeks for us all to adjust.

My sewing room is also our guest room, so I haven't been sewing much.  I finished knitting one hat and started another.  I have a sashiko piece all ready to start, but we had a few extremely (for us) hot days when I just didn't feel like starting anything.  I'll save it for my next Calico County Quilters meeting July 12.

Yesterday we finally moved my backup machine into the basement.  Earlier in the week, we moved enough stuff so I could cut fabric.  Yesterday I set up my little Brother machine (internet photo above) and went back to making Jen Kingwell Double Date blocks.  I have made about 20 and need 44 more (I think).    I bought a few more green fat quarters one day last week and also discovered quite a few neutral fabrics here and there.  

Ahhh!  What a relief to be sewing again!  I kind of like sewing in the basement where it's cool and quiet.  I looked around and thought maybe I should move all of my sewing stuff downstairs.  That would require getting rid of the trundle bed that we just put stuff on these days.  No one has slept on it for years.  But where would I store my fabric?   And I really do enjoy looking out of the window onto the street when I'm sewing.  

Peace appears to be reigning as we continue to get used to a temporary change in our situation.  I do think it will be a few more weeks before we know what's next for Pat.  Meanwhile, she seems to be recovering slowly, and we are mostly going about our regular routines.  My sanity is returning now that I can sew again.

Progress?

Let me get this out in the open first.  Sometimes, but not too often, I make huge mistakes.  My recent baking of squash bread was an absolute disaster!  I set the timer for what I thought was 60 minutes, put two loaves of bread in the oven, and went off to look something up on the computer.   

It smelled good at one point, and I thought the time was nearly up.  Then, much to my surprise, my oven started making a very odd noise, one I'd never heard before.  When I went to check, the display said "F2" which I took to mean "fire" because the kitchen was somewhat smokey.  I looked to turn off the oven but it had already shut itself off.  I got the bread out and immediately took it outside to cool in the driveway.  Then I opened all the windows and turned on the exhaust fan.  Phew!  Crisis averted.

Later, I got the bread out of the pans and cut all the burnt parts off the loaves.  What was left tasted surprisingly good.  I had planned to make a loaf of regular bread in my bread machine, but somehow I had lost my appetite.  It was time to stop cooking and start sewing.  I have been cutting fabric for Double Date in advance, so it's easy to sit down for an hour or so and work on paper piecing the blocks.

I'm finding these to go together more easily as I go along because I've developed a routine.  Paper piecing can be rather tedious, so I just work on a few each day.  This means the quilt will take some time to finish.  But that's OK.

I like the way the blocks look together, and I hope to pick up a few more green fat quarters soon to augment my stash.  I have made a dent in my larger pieces of green, but I need some lighter shades for variety and sparkle.  I'm not sure exactly how many blocks I will need to make - 56? 64?

My sewing room will be off limits for the coming week, so I'll work on what's cut up today and tomorrow and then put most of my tools, including my ironing board, away.  

The air conditioner will need to go in the window so Paul's sister Pat doesn't roast.  She'll be here while getting her lake cabin habitable for the summer; we aren't sure how long that will take, but it's fine.  I'm hoping she will help me go through some of my quilts to give away to family members at a memorial event for her late husband June 28.

A Leisurely Vacation

Paul, son Chris and I got back late yesterday afternoon from a trip to Golden, Colorado, where my Mom lives.  My sister Jenny lives about an hour north and comes down to help Mom most weekends.  She works like a Trojan on the yard and keeping the house in order, too.  Mom, who will be 103 in a few weeks, is doing fine but doesn't get around as well as she used to.  She has caregivers a a few days a week, a cleaning person, and yard people.  All of these kind folks keep Mom in her house which has a great back porch that overlooks very pretty flower gardens.  Jenny has planted some vegetables in planters there, and it's fun to sit and watch the birds at the feeders.  The hummingbirds are particularly fascinating because, of course, out west, they are bigger than ours.

We spent a lot of time sitting outside, reading, talking, and, in my case, sewing.  I read two books and almost finished the Kawandi piece I brought.  It just needs one last small piece and three of the little corner triangle thingies ("phula").  I am now wondering what I'll do with the piece - maybe use it as the front of a tote bag?

We did a little sightseeing, ate well, played several rounds of "Rummikub" with Mom and Jenny, and watched some of Mom's favorite old movies.  She loves ones on TCM (Turner Classics) and can invariably recount most of each plot.  Her mind is pretty sharp still.

One morning, out of curiosity, we visited the Mother Cabrini Shrine, just outside Golden.   We had to drive up a steep, winding road about a mile from the main road.   But it was a lovely day and the views were amazing up there.  We didn't walk all the way up to the statue of Jesus, but we did hear voices up on the trail that leads there.

We visited the little chapel with stained glass windows that tell the story of her life, a grotto with holy water, and a small museum with memorabilia and a timeline about Mother Cabrini.  The atmosphere was very serene and, even though we aren't religious, we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it there.  Paul and Chris even drank the holy water.

Our week went by much too fast, and now we're back to our old routine:  laundry, grocery shopping, handling the mail, charging our devices.  Our flights were OK although our flight to Denver encountered bad weather and had to be diverted to Grand Junction until the storm passed.  I didn't mind that much because I had the window seat and loved looking at the mountains from both east and west.

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

We are already back home after a nice week in Golden, Colorado, visiting my mom and sister.  Mom will be 103 on June 27, and we in the family are spreading her birthday out so we can all enjoy each other to the fullest.  We took Mom out to breakfast at Denny's one morning - that's her favorite place to go with us.  Another morning was spent at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, just a few miles from Mom's house.   There are usually two exhibits going on, and this time there was large selection of modern quilts and a smaller room of sampler quilts by Japanese-American women.  Here are a few of the contemporary ones.

First is one with a pieced background, topped with applique and embellishments.  The "grass" is a grayish silk thread.

This is a fairly traditional string quilt made of 16 blocks, half cream and half strings in mostly blues and greens.  What was interesting is that it was closely quilted with a serpentine stitch.

I liked the blend of colors and the quilting of this beach scene.  It's hard to tell, but the waves include small stitches made with white perle cotton.

This was Paul's favorite.  "The End of the Rainbow" shows an appliqued trout colored with fabric pens or pencils.  Out of its tail are gold beads pouring into or out of a pot of gold.  There's lots of texture created by machine quilting in the background.

The museum shop is slated for expansion so it's bursting at the seams.  There doesn't appear to be a quilt shop in the area, so this may be the only in-person source for local quilters.  I love to look at the related items, and because there was a gallery with Japanese-related quilts, there was a nice selection of sashiko kits.  

I would like to do more sashiko but instead decided to buy this panel which was designed especially for the museum by David Taylor.    I don't usually buy panels, but this one called to me, especially with the sun and trees.  It will make a nice throw.  The picture shows a wide border, but the panel really stops before the thin brown border, which is fine with me.