Month: July 2017
Turkey Tracks: Play: Making Little Quilt Blocks
Turkey Tracks: July 18, 2017
Play: Making Little Quilt Blocks
I seem to be “playing” with making 3 1/2-inch quilt blocks.
I am in the process of sewing the next 10 Tula Pink 100 modern quilt blocks–which are all about the fabric. Some of these involve triangles–which have “bonus” triangle possibilities, so this happened.
Here’s a fun one.
This one, too.
Here’s the collection so far. The mini 9-patch is from NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND, Amanda Jean Nyberg, of Crazy Mom Quilts blog/instagram. It is actually 4 inches finished. These are FUN to make.
These will likely wind up in the Parts Department quilt, but who knows. That box of blocks is getting full. As soon as I finish a few other projects, I’ll open it. And, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Works In Progress.
Turkey Tracks: Hope’s Edge CSA Goodies
Turkey Tracks: July 15, 2017
Hope’s Edge CSA Goodies
Tuesday is CSA day–or a visit to my Community Shared Agriculture Farm “Hope’s Edge.” (Hope is the name of the nearest town, and this farm is on the edge of it.)
I stopped on my way out leaving to take this picture of a row of cabbage as the colors were so beautiful. This cabbage must be in the red family, but I’ve never seen this lavender and aqua form before now.
Bryan and Corinne were fascinated with my garlic scapes. I made pesto with mine, and Corinne steadily inhaled it over the next few days. Sadly, I could not taste it as it has aged cheese in it–Parmesan–which would trigger my Histamine Intolerance, which went off the charts this winter. More on that later. Maybe. I am doing much better after eating a low histamine diet since November and have lost 35 pounds.
Here are some Hope’s Edge scapes. And look at the color of that lettuce. I can’t wait to eat it.
My own lettuce in my cold frame is thriving, but beginning to bolt. I has fed so many of us for weeks and weeks now.
I reseeded, and some of those seeds have sprouted. It is VERY dry. The “D” word is on people’s lips, as in Drought.
I picked some of the last strawberries at Hope’s Edge this morning. They are tiny, due to having no rain and being among the last to ripen.
Meanwhile, another BIG HAUL of raspberries here this afternoon.
I will likely get another quart from the bushes with ripe berries. Meanwhile, look what’s coming along:
The garlic looks good. The veggie plantings are light this year in terms of crops as I’m not sure if I can eat beans or not. I have tomatoes for the visitors and squashes (yes, I can eat) planted. And that’s my Georgia grandmother’s mint on the right front. I almost lost this mint a few years back. I’ve had it for about 50 years and in three houses. One of my childhood memories is being sent out to her garden to get mint for the sweet ice tea served at “dinner,” in the middle of the day.
I’m enjoying this summer.
Turkey Tracks: Summer Joys
Turkey Tracks: July 15, 2017
Summer Joys
For me, one of the big joys of summer are my flowers. My whole yard smells so sweet.
A favorite spot in deep summer.
So like New England: shingles, white trim, and flowers.
Back deck:
I’ve never planted single heliotropes in container pots before this summer. The whole deck smells like vanilla.
Lynn Vermeulen gifted me with these yellow daisys a few years ago.
Drought damage in this tree from last summer. Not sure what to do with it.
The flower beds are all doing well. I mulched this year–heavily–so the beds all look pretty tidy.
Turkey Tracks: “Big Star” Quilt
Turkey Tracks: July 15, 2017
“Big Star” Quilt
I’ve wanted to make Jen Baker’s “Grand Vintage Star Quilt” (free on her blog) for some time.
Why not make it with selvages?
Well, for one thing, the blocks shrink up a bit when sewn with selvages. I lost a few star points in that process. But, I also learned A LOT. Next time I’d cut my background (the charcoal) a bit bigger, and I’d draw a line for the first strip that is the true center of my finished block–never mind the extra bit on the edges. Then I’d trim where needed, but keep my center line on target. I think that might work.
I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt. I did the selvage bits on the long arm. I had to rock back and forth a bit as my long arm has an 18-inch throat and the selvage hals-square triangles are longer than that. Rocking worked fine. Then I pin basted the quilt as I unrolled it, which works well to keep everything straight for sewing on the domestic. My Janome 8900 has a stitch that will lock at the start and at the end automatically and does not leave a big knot–IF YOU BRING UP YOUR BACK THREAD FIRST as you would with free motion quilting. You can trim those threads from the front and the end of the line from the back. So, I sewed each line separately, which meant I did NOT have to keep turning the quilt.
Nice, yes?
This middle part, as you can see above, was STRETCHY. But it all came out nicely in the end.
The back has a lot of texture as well:
Thank you Jen Baker.
Turkey Tracks: 52 Zippers Project by “A Little Crispy”
Turkey Tracks: July 11, 2017
52 Zipper Project by “A Little Crispy”
Take a look?
I like so many of these bags/pouches. I especially like the selvage project. Week 20 I think.
Turkey Tracks: Another Bag
Turkey Tracks: July 11, 2017
Another Bag!
I have a “thread catcher” bag with a pin cushion in my travel kit.
BUT, the bag constantly falls off the edge of the table as the pin cushion weight just isn’t heavy enough. Plus, it’s SMALL.
Several of my friends have made this kind of “thread catcher” bag, and one helped me find a free pattern by Marni Weaver. The pin cushion was inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts. She is currently making a pin cushion every day this month
I used Cotton+Steel fabrics. And I stuffed the pin cushion with dried rose petals!!! as that was all I had at the moment. (The lavender would be way too smelly I think.)
I LIKE IT!
Turkey Tracks: Summer Sewing
Turkey Tracks: July 10, 2017
Summer Sewing
Hmmmm…
This kind of thing happens when I lose my sewing focus and spend hours outside.
I start to sew but find myself reorganizing sewing supplies and fabrics.
Yes, I really use all these colors…
They are the result of 20+ years of quilting.
Done–the spools were a snarly mess.
I spent one summer totally redoing my stash–cutting up lots of it into Bonnie Hunter’s stash system of strips and cut squares and rectangles. I have not looked back from that effort.
And I spent another summer making 4-patch squares in an effort to empty the 2-inch square bin which was overflowing. I finished with 1,600!!! 4-patches and still have some left after making FIVE quilts to use them up.
What will this summer bring? Am I finished after organizing the thread spools? Can I get back to actually sewing something now?
I did finish Big Star Quilt. Pics to come.
Turkey Tracks: It’s Summer: Bryan, Corinne, and the Girls Visit
Turkey Tracks: July 10, 2017
It’s Summer!
Bryan, Corinne, and the Girls Visit
Hello everyone!
I have not posted in a while, but…IT’S SUMMER.
And I have been enjoying it!
Summer brings many happy hours outside in my garden. It’s always hard for me to shift gears from mostly sewing to mostly gardening, but that shift has now happened.
Summer brings my family to Maine–in two batches this year.
Son Bryan, DIL Corinne, and their three little girls have just come and gone.
I picked them up in Portland, and we always stop by LLBean on the way home. It is now mid-afternoon, and these folks started out around 4 a.m. to get here. This LLBean is the home store of the chain. If you don’t know, LLBean made its reputation with this boot. When I was growing up, to have a pair of LLBean boots was really special. LLBean would resole them upon request, and these boots wore and wore and wore and wore. As a girl, it didn’t occur to anyone to get me a pair!!! Can I say that I bought myself a pair when we first moved to Maine thirteen years ago now. And I love them.
The girls are 6, 4, and 2. The six year old will be SEVEN in November, which is hard to believe.
I love this series of photos–of a very good daddy with a tired 2-year old in LLBean:
This little one had very clear ideas of what kind of rain boots she might like. She took them from the display wall and tried them on.
Breakfast at Boynton McKay in Camden is a “must do.” They make the best pancakes and serve real maple syrup with them.
Pictures on the harbor green are also a “must do.” Here’s where the July 4th music, picnics, and fireworks take place.
You have to be quick to get the picture:
Here’s one of the bouquets the two older girls put together from my garden. They are both getting interested in “gardening” and liked picking the strawberries and raspberries in my garden.
I’ve picked a quart of raspberries on each of the last three days, and there are many more to come as the bushes are loaded this year. I have no idea WHY.
We had a great visit. I was remiss in not taking more pictures as interesting outings occurred every day. But…I get in the moment and forget to take pictures. These girls live near one of the wide sandy southern beaches, so our rocky Maine beaches fascinated them as they discovered so many critters than were new to them.
The oldest won her “Maine Water Wings” for getting in our cold bay water!! She now has bragging rights with her cousins–who are coming later this month. She also went home a “wounded warrior” from a downhill fall July 4th night. She’s a trooper though, and her face has already healed up according to Mom.
I miss them already!
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