Turkey Tracks: Making Selvage Blocks

Turkey Tracks: January 20, 2016

Making Selvage Blocks

At our last Coastal Quilters’ meeting, member Linda Satkowski showed us how to make blocks using selvages.

Her method is SUPER!

She sews the strips straight down, leaving the edges.

The first thing I do with new fabric coming into the house is to wash it. I then fold it without ironing. When I go to use a piece, I tear off the selvage and iron it. Sometimes I cut it in to strips on the spot–between whatever writing is there. I also always tear off at least an inch of the colored fabric.

So, how to incorporate that fabric into the mix.

With Linda’s method, it’s simple. No more flip and sew and guessing how if I’ve caught the edge of the selvage, which is often on the under side of what I’m sewing.

Here’s my first block–sewn onto muslin for stability. It’s trimmed at 6 1/2 and will finish at 6 inches.

A few years back I made this quilt, “Ain’t This Fun?,” but also used strips of fabric that were too odd to cut into useable squares or strips. I “flipped and sewed.”

BUT, if one surrounds a plain strip of fabric with two selvage pieces, no flip and dew would be needed. Yes!!

Thanks so much Linda!

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: WOOL, Hugh Howey

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: January 20, 2016

Wool, Shift, and Dust

I am so enjoying this trilogy: WOOL, SHIFT, and DUST–thanks to a recommendation by friend June Derr.

June didn’t tell me that there was a prequel, SHIFT, written after WOOL (how did they get into this mess?), and a sequel (DIRT) that ends the story.

So, I was delighted that I could keep on reading about this story.

Hugh Howey started by writing a short story–and it took off. Readers wrote him wanting more, wanting to engage about the characters and the situation. Eventually a publisher picked up what became a book, and it hit the NY Times bestseller list in short order. Ridley Scott has optioned the story for a movie, which I hope he makes. It would be so very visual.

Great characters, great story, good reads!

Turkey Tracks: New Black Winter Boots

Turkey Tracks: January

New Black Winter Boots

For a while there, I was thinking that we had no snow because I treated my self to a new pair of winter boots in the early fall.

You know how that thinking goes…

But, I can now say with the recent snow and cold that the new boots are beyond delightful! Easy to put on, roomy in the foot, warm and warm, and comfortable to wear.

I got them at Renys, which is a Maine store chain.

You never know what you’ll find in Renys, which is part of the adventure of going there. But you can always count on sturdy shoes and boots at a fair price.

Speaking of the recent cold, temps will go back up again next week. Winter events, like ice fishing, are postponing to February as the ice is just not safe yet.

It’s an interesting winter this year…

PS: These boots replaced a pair that were 20+ years old and that are too tight up here in Maine with thick wool socks. It was time…

Unfortunately, worn out boots do not recycle, repurpose, reuse…

Turkey Tracks: First Eight Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Turkey Tracks: January 19, 2016

First Eight Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Along with a group of Coastal Quilters members, I’m making the 99 Farmer’s Wife blocks–as detailed in an earlier post. We’re doing eight blocks a month, or about two a week. The 99 blocks will make a queen size quilt.

I am foundation piecing mine as these are pretty complicated blocks for the most part.

Here are the first eight–which took me some time, though I am getting faster as I do more of them.

I am LOVING the modern/contemporary fabrics I’ve chosen in these blocks.

Here’s how I’ll set them–and you can see that I’m putting on the outer triangles now–mostly as a protection for the very bias edges. I remove the paper backing to stitch parts together as I get more accuracy that way.

This is the setting used in the book: The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt, Laurie Aaron Hird:

Here’s an alternative setting:

Or, one could do sashing with cornerstones. The cornerstones could add a measure of coherence to a busy quilt.

Here are the individual blocks up close–each is named–and each is accompanied by a letter written to The Farmer’s Wife Magazine back in the 1930s.

“Augusta”

“Alice”

“Anne”

“Aunt”

“April”

“Addie”

“Aimee”

“Ann”

There are two more “A” names, and then it’s on to the “Bs.”

February is a SHORT month…

Interesting Information: Officials Cover Up Dangers of HPV Vaccine – Weston A Price

Interesting Information: January 18, 2016

HPV Vaccine Danger Cover Up

Well here’s another crack in the HPV/Gardasil vaccine corruption/scam.

Enough young women have been hurt now that the truth is coming out.

Baseline truth: public/private partnerships DO NOT WORK when the “public” part is staffed by those from the “private” part and who are benefitting financially.

Here’s some quotes: read the story for more details AND for Lee’s letter.

“Dr. Sin Hang Lee, MD, Director, Milford Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, has submitted an official, open-letter complaint to the Director-General of the World Health Organization about the cover up of HPV vaccine risks.”

“Dr. Lee has submitted a lengthy letter detailing communications between health officials from the US, Canada, Japan, and the WHO, which demonstrate that these officials knew that HPV vaccines cause an inflammatory reaction greater than other vaccines, yet reassured the public in official hearings and statements that the vaccines were safe.”

Source: Officials Cover Up Dangers of HPV Vaccine – Weston A Price

Turkey Tracks: Some “Allietore” Colorways: Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 Mystery Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 18, 2016

Some “Allietore” Colorways

Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 Mystery Quilt

One of the really fun things with regard to Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt is the different colorways people will develop.

This year has been no exception.

You can see how people have developed this quilt with colors different than Bonnie’s on the Facebook page feed “Quiltville’s Open Studio.”

Meanwhile, here are just a few that I pulled off over the last day or so.

To remind, here’s Bonnie’s version:

The one below is made “mostly from men’s shirtings.”

Look at this string border!

There are many, many more examples, of course, including lots of pinks and purples. I just grabbed a few to give you an idea.

If you are a scrappy quilter and do not know about Bonnie’s Facebook page for those of us who like her work, take a look at Quiltville’s Open Studio.

Turkey Tracks: Clean Dog Teeth

Turkey Tracks: January 18, 2016

Clean Dog Teeth

Little dogs need clean teeth.

Their health depends upon clean teeth.

My best “go to” method are raw beef bones–and the bones from ribs are the best for a good teeth work out. Marrow bones are yummy for them, but they eat out the marrow and that’s that. With the rib bones, the little dogs go back again and again to work the bone.

In winter, giving them a chew bone poses some problems. For one thing, it’s too cold for them to stay outside for long. So, it’s a supervised inside endeavor.

Here’s Reynolds with a chew bone on paper on the kitchen floor.

She’s learned to keep the bone on the paper.

No No Penny had to be taught, and the skill is still rocky for her, which is where the “supervised” bit comes into play.

Here’s Rey working her bone–and not where Penny is at the end of the video–as she has finished her bone and is…waiting…

The down side for Reynolds is that she works a bone with her front teeth more than the back teeth. When Penny gets hold of a bone like this one, you can hear her scraping her back teeth over it from two rooms away. And, her teeth are shiny clean.

I watched her dig up one of these bones out of the snow yesterday, check it out, and then rebury it.

Dogs are endlessly funny.

Turkey Tracks: Christine’s All-Weather Field Notes: 1/11/2016 – Free Press Online

Turkey Tracks: January 15, 2016

Bear Winter Dens

One of the delights of where I live in Camden, Maine, is reading excerpts from Christine Parrish’s field notebook, which is published in THE FREE PRESS.

Recently, Christine wrote about snow-shoeing in back country and finding a bear den breathing hole in the snow. It’s just an innocuous round hole that emits warm air from…the bear.

This week, Christine fleshed out that earlier post.

Both posts are so fun to read…

So, I offer them to you as a winter treat:

“On New Year’s morning, we broke trail through ten inches of freshly fallen snow on the way to Flagstaff Lake at the foot of the Bigelow Mountains.”

Source: Christine’s All-Weather Field Notes: 1/1/2016 – Free Press Online

“There are times when I have sensed a language of the landscape, a shared communication between its varied occupants, whether predator or prey, tree or shrub.”

Source: Christine’s All-Weather Field Notes: 1/11/2016 – Free Press Online

Turkey Tracks: Quilty Update January 2016

Turkey Tracks: January 11, 2016

Quilty Update January 2016

I am happily enjoying my winter quilting time.

The “mother ship is growing.”

The center is done and I “m moving out to the side flowers. This project is from Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps.

I am using my box of 2 1/2 inch squares and, when needed, 2 1/2 inch strips for this quilt. I am addicted to English Paper Piecing.

The second of the two granddaughter BRIGHT quilts is on the long arm, and is about 1/3 done.

I cut the top and bottom borders down to the size of the purple and blue borders–and I like that better. The center block is one of Bonnie Hunter’s–Criss Cross. The rest are my invention using leftover blocks from other projects and ones I made to go with this quilt.

“Allietore” is growing on my design wall…

I am really loving this quilt. I found a black fabric with little red wiggles, almost like polka dots but much more widely spaced for the outer border. I have a nice gold for the inner border. I want to quilt it in an “old gold” thread–so am thinking of a medium grey for the backing… The binding will be red.

I’ve finished the first two Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt blocks. They are so intricate that foundation piecing is the way to go. I have not foundation pieced in a few years, so there has been a reminder learning curve. Here’s “Addie” and “Aimee.” Each one took at least three hours as I struggled along… Hopefully that will get better. LOVE these blocks in contemporary fabrics.

The camera is distorting “Aimee”; it’s perfectly straight.

We are to do two blocks a week in our little group who are participating…

Thursday will be the monthly “sit and sew” from 9 to 3 or so with Coastal Quilters’ members. I’ve gotten out my Bernina from the attic, test run her, and boxed her up in her carry case for the day. I’m going to spend the day playing with the “crumb” bag–making sashing for the cheddar quilt that is in pieces on the spare bed in my office.

This kind of play is fun, creative, and relaxing for me.

I hope January is bringing such joy to each of you!

Interesting Information: “Denmark Plans To Be 100% Organic”

Interesting Information: January 11, 2015

Denmark Plans To Be 100% Organic

…and the government is putting money behind this effort.

Here’s a quote from Well Being Journal, November/December 2015, page 36–itself taken from Carola Traverso Salibante’s “The Great Denmark Plan to Become a 100% Organic Country, July 16, 2015, http://finedininglovers.com

The Danish government is investing more than 53 million Euros in 2015 to convert the country’s agriculture into organic farming. Denmark is the most developed country in regard to the trade of organic products It will also soon become the first in the world to achieve 100 percent organic and sustainable agriculture production. The export of Danish organic products has increased by 200 percent since 2007.

There is also a huge campaign to get organic food into schools, hospitals, the military and so forth.

Cool!

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