Month: February 2018

Turkey Tracks: Treasures

Turkey Tracks:  February 28, 2018

Treasures

Margaret Elaine Jinno recently gave me this adorable little chicken.

I’ve put it near my hand so you can see the scale.

It’s weighted with what feels like sand, but I don’t think I want to pierce its tiny body duly with a lot of pins.  I attached it to another treasure:  the pin cushion Linda Satkowski gave me some years ago now at a Coastal Quilters (Maine) retreat.

This little hen watches tv with me at night.  And, she’s good company too.

She sits next to other treasures I have on the little table next to my sofa.

There is the Longaberger basket Jill Bruns gave me.  Jill sent Coastal Quilters members, via her quilting daughter Gus Bruns, all of her Longaberger basket collection.  There were enough baskets for each of us to chose one.  I keep mine close and can feel Jill’s energy nearby.  My little basket holds the odds and ends that I use almost every night–you can see my needle book–made from a pattern Becca Babb-Brott found.  And, the top of my fabric glue pen I use for English Paper piecing (EPP).  You can see the little zippered pouch Becca made for me.  And the tin of thread wax (Unicorn Thread Gloss handmade by Robot Mom Sews) gifted to me by Gus Bruns.  The thimble came from a collection left by Gina Caceci’s mother.

So you can see I watch tv at night and sew with a community of friends and the magnifying head piece I also treasure.  I use the latter when I need a much more close up view.

Speaking of sewing at night, my current EPP project is moving right along:  the “Valse Brilliant” quilt by Willyene Hammerstein, found in her book MILLIFIORE QUILTS.  I used brights and text for each of the 99 blocks I made (11 rows of 9 blocks):

I have pieces to finish the edges, and I’m thinking I will use text neutrals for the edges.  I think neutrals will let the blocks stand out–moreso than a color.

 

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Some Modern Quilt Guild Swaps

Turkey Tracks:  February 27, 2018

Some Modern Quilt Guild Swaps

Some of our Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild members have participated in mini quilt swaps hosted by The Modern Quilt Guild.

Recently, Linda Satkowski sent off her quilt…

…and received this quilt:

And Tori Manzi sent off this quilt..

…and received this quilt:

Aren’t these quilts delicious?

I may have to think about these swaps…

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild February 2018

Turkey Tracks:  February 23, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild February 2018

Last night w all brought our January blocks for the Jen Kingwell “Long Time Gone” quilt we have as a challenge.  What’s fun about this picture beside the color is the variety in our blocks.

Vicki Fletcher has finished her January blocks and is working on her February blocks.

Karen Martin has joined the group making the quilt.  Here are her January blocks:

Go Karen!  I especially like her Star in Star block.  So happy you’ve joined us in this madness.

Some of us can’t stop making the blocks.

Here is Tori Manzi’s February “trip” block, made with grunge fabrics:

Linda Satkowski (blue block) and Betsy Maislen have started their March blocks.  Both had some advice about how to assemble this challenging block–which is assembled in strips.

Karen Martin shared her Katja Marek “Millifiore” progress:

Linda Satkowski shared the quilt she got in a recent online swap.  This one makes all sorts of optical illusions.  What a cool project.

New member Anne Bargetz (welcome Anne) shared a quilt top she designed:

AND, Margaret Elaine Jinno asked if we could have a local 2-day retreat in the Lions Club.  We CAN and we ARE.  How fun is that?

Next month we see the traveling quilts again.

 

Turkey Tracks: Quilts By Friends: Betsy Maislen

Turkey Tracks:  February 23, 2018

Quilts By Friends:  Betsy Maislen

Betsy lives in Vermont and comes to MidCoast Maine to sail on the windjammer J&E Riggin, out of Rockland, Maine.  Last summer, after retiring in June, she volunteered to cook with Annie Mahle, co-owner of the Riggin with Jon Finger, for six weeks in September and October.  She stayed with me between trips, which was so much fun.  She also attended the May 2017 Coastal Quilters retreat at the Franciscan Guest House.

Annie and I roped her into making the Bonnie Hunter 2017 mystery quilt with us, and here is her finished top.  I really love the neutral borders she chose.

Next, I suggested she sew along with Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild’s challenge to make Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt over the next year.

Here are her January and February blocks–and one of the March blocks.

I love her use of color in these blocks.

 

We all did different variations of this “star in star” block.

 

 

 

And, here is the March “crosses” block:

 

Yep!  Making these blocks is addictive.  Go Betsy!

Turkey Tracks: Taxes and Sons’ Visit

Turkey Tracks:  February 22, 2018

Taxes and Sons’ Visit

The taxes are done!  The taxes are done!

Whoo Hoo!

I’ll drop off the package tomorrow to the tax preparer.

And I’ve had a lovely visit from my TWO sons, up from Charleston, SC, for a long weekend visit.  Do you know how rare it is for a mother to have visits TOGETHER from sons, both of whom have intense lives at home and work.  I so enjoyed this rare gift–facilitated by my wonderful DILs and my seven grand kiddos.

Both sons love lamb, so I cooked lamb shanks one night for them, with smashed Yukon Gold potatoes, roasted beets. and roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Yummo!  My secret for tender braised meat is my covered Creuset pot.  The cooking liquid included defrosted Hope’s Edge CSA tomatoes from last summer–smashed through a sieve–and local leeks and onions and my garlic.

It was a delicious meal!  And a delicious visit with those special, special people.

Turkey Tracks: Sewing Knit Tops

Turkey Tracks:  February 10, 2018

Sewing Knit Tops

It snowed last night—just enough to trap me on the hill until the plowers come for the driveway.  I’m a good snow driver, but the problem here is NOT going out, it’s coming home up the hill and the steep, curving driveway.  I’m missing the Coastal Quilters monthly meeting.  Bah Humbug!

So…  I’ll just have to cut out another knit top.  Once the pattern is made and the top is cut, it does not take long to sew it on the serger.  And I’m doing great with matching fabric patterns.

Here is another, more polished, version of the Linden Sweatshirt—in an Art Gallery fabric I instantly fell in love with some months back. My sewing teacher, Cheryl Rodriguez, who has a studio in Belfast, encouraged me to go DOWN a size with knits.  This top can be layered in the winter—which I need to do as I can’t bear the collar of a wool sweater on the back of my neck.  Too itchy!  This fabric feels like silk next to the skin.  So nice.

 

 

This Turtleneck top is from Paper Cuts patterns, the Fall version of the Rise/Fall knit shirt pattern.  I made it in Cotton+Steel knit fabric I got on sale from Pink Castle Fabrics.   I LOVE IT.  I made the medium, and it fits like a dream.  Perfect.

I’m really enjoying making these tops on the serger and feeling much more competent with that machine.

On to the next…

Poems: Walking Haiku 19 and 20

Poems:  February 7, 2018

Walking Haiku 19 and 20

It’s often warm in Maine this winter.  And it’s often really cold.  We have yo-yo weather these days.

As I write, we are expecting a major snow storm, but here on the coast the snow may turn to rain later today.

No No Penny and I had a lovely walk on Monday, the first in some time.

 

19.

February 5, 2018

Hard rain all night long
In February, in Maine
Global warming comes

20.

February 5, 2018

February thaw
Sunshine brims from blue sky and
Sparks fire on the lake

Turkey Tracks: Quilts by Friends: Kimberly Moran’s Tree Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2018

Quilts by Friends:  Kimberly Moran’s Tree Quilt

Kimberly and Becca have been friends for a long time.  Becca taught Kimberly how to make these funky trees, and the rest is history.

That’s a pretty advanced project for a newbie quilter.  Go Kimerly!

Turkey Tracks: “Long Time Gone” Quilt Blocks

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2018

“Long Time Gone” Quilt Blocks

Some members in the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild and the Coastal Quilters (Maine) are making Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt this year–a few blocks each month with three months to put the finished blocks into the finished quilt.  The design of this quilt is “improv.”  Kingwell’s blocks are scrappy.  You can google it to see.  This quilt is lap size, so it isn’t a daunting project, but a fun one.  Most of us are finishing up Tula Pink’s 100 Modern quilt blocks now, which was our challenge last year.

Here is a pic of “Long Time Gone,” so you can see where our blocks fit into the whole:

 

Our blocks are as different as we are as quilters—and all of them are gorgeous!

Tori Manzi got us going with her beautiful blocks, made with “grunge” fabrics. As near as I can tell, grunge is a solid with a marbled pattern.  The polka dots are new grunge that just came on the market.  We decided to do these three block forms for January to get a kick start on the project.

Tori manipulated color to get that center star, which also got us to thinking.

Love her all-white centers.  These little 4-inch blocks are so fun to make.

Here are Linda Satkowski’s blocks so far.  Note that Linda chose Kingwell’s pattern version for the star in star block AND that makes the white stars shine out.  But she kept to consistent color arrangements.

Here are Lynn Vermeulen’s blocks==also in solids.

Here are Becca Babb’Brott’s scrappy versions:

Here are mine.  I am using all Cotton+Steel because that bin is overflowing.

These are the February blocks.  I manipulated these Jacob’s Ladder blocks for color.  Kingwell did not.

 

Here is Linda Satkowski’s Jacob’s Ladder block:

 

And here is my Trip Around the World block:

 

Both Linda and Becca are working on their “Trips” now, so I’ll post them as they come in to me.

 

Turkey Tracks: Quilts by Friends: Becca’s Spider Web Fun and More

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2018

Quilts by Friends:  Becca’s Spider Web Fun and More

Rebecca Babb-Brott recently finished this amazing spider web quilt made with selvages.  Becca is an amazing designer, and I love her creativity.

So next she started to play with the way this design could be manipulated.  Here she unconnected the spider webs from each other and put them into a strip.

Here she wondered if partial webs could make an interesting border.  Yes!  They do.

What about stripping what are the neutral pieces in the original design?  Here’s what:

What if you stack them up?

She recently finished this improv quilt made from striped fabrics, at least in part.

And here she finished a quilt top she started with some Gee’s Bend quilters who teach in Maine every other year.  No scissors were used in this quilt.  It’s also an improv form.  Becca used mostly solids, including Pepper Cory’s marvelous peppered cottons—whose colors are made by weaving together different cotton colors.  These solids shimmer with life.

Oh my.  I’m always hoping that some of her creativity will rub off on me.  So far, a little has.  Maybe that’s a goal for this quilty year.  More improv…  More play time…  More creativity…