Turkey Tracks: August 26, 2019
Wow!
What else could one say about this amazing EPP (English Paper Piecing) quilt top?
The pattern is “Can Can” by Willyene Hammerstein. It’s in one of her newer books, MILLIFIORI QUILTS 3.
Karen plans to put on a border to set off the center. She’s thinking about what color now. Options she discussed were black or the dark magenta.
Turkey Tracks: August 24, 2019
First, I finished AND HUNG the 6-pointed star project—designed by Tara Faughnan in the class I took last winter from Sewtopia, called The Color Collective. I called it “Geometric Explosion” since you can see so many geometric forms in it as you look at it for any time and from different angles—from big hexies to tumbling blocks—in addition to the stars.
I quilted it with size 8 perle cotton and kept to the dark colors as I didn’t want the brights to disrupt the geometric “explosion.”
I hung it in my bedroom, replacing an older quilt that has been hanging for some time. It’s good to refresh wall hangings (and pillows!) every so often. It’s good to let an older quilt get a nice washing and to “rest” in peace for a while.
I finished and trimmed this big Lone Star block (30 inches unfinished) yesterday.
Oh my!
I have to make MORE of these. I have to.
Maybe 4 of them, which would make about a 60 by 60 lap quilt. And, possibly, one more that will hang on the wall at my quilt room door? The older quilt there needs a rest as well.
I’ve always been terrified to try a Lone Star block. No more.
Turkey Tracks: August 24, 2019
All the kiddos are back in school now—in both families. But all of them had some really good time here in Maine. And I had a really good time having them here. Their visits replicate what I experienced as a child when visiting my grandparents in Reynolds, Georgia. There was time, there, just “to be.” There was time for reading, for watching a movie all together, and time for a nap. And lots of time being able to spend time in nature.
Here are some pics of the older crew:
Barrett’s Cove, for a swim.
Picking lavender at a local farm. My whole utility room smells of lavender as the strands dry.
They visited alpacas, up close. I bought a sweater!
We played LOTS of a card game called “Hand and Foot.” And drank lots of Irish black tea.
The morning they left—on their way back to their busy lives.
How did they get so big so fast?
Watching them grow up is such a pleasure.
Turkey Tracks: August 2019
Who knew?
Apparently it is a Jack Russel terrier trait.
If there is a stick involved, AC is on board.
Turkey Tracks: August 2019
Summer vacation can provide time for lots of reading. We are a reading family. When we moved to Maine, I lost count of how many trips I made to the local library with my Jeep filled with books to donate. We just could not move them all.
Mike takes advantage of some quiet time.
Above, he’s ripping through the new Tana French, which is a stand-alone novel, different from her earlier detective novels which are set in the Dublin, Ireland, area. I read it and saved it for him. I also finished French’s BROKEN HARBOR and am now reading her THE SECRET PLACE.
He also brought:
Tami was reading and really enjoying this one, which she highly recommends:
The girls:
And the fellows: Kelly’s book provided some good conversations that involved many of us. He started high school last week!
And we kept losing Bo to this one:
Turkey Tracks: August 16, 2019
They are gone now, but you might get a kick out of this art effort…
The girl kiddos love crafts/art/painting. Talula set up an art station on the front porch—which stayed for some days. First there was a painting, using John’s acrylic paints and his easel. Next, collected rocks to paint and put all around my garden.
Lined up and ready to go.
The painters—just back from a swim at Duck Trap estuary.
Turkey Tracks: August 14, 2019
Mike, Tami, and the 4 kiddos just returned home Monday.
Boy do kiddos grow up fast!
I got good bows and arrows a number of years ago (and a target), and getting the equipment out and having a morning of practice has always been high on the boys’ agenda when visiting.
So, we had a delightful morning over at the baseball field early in their visit—before Mike had to return home.
The girls arrived and got a quick lessone from their big brothers.
While parents watched…
Turkey Tracks: August 14, 2019
And it is already mid August as I post this update…
The vegetable/flower garden is thriving. We are still eating lettuce from the cold frame patch I seeded and covered last fall, but the heat of this past week is making the lettuce bolt now.
Here is part of the right side of the veggie garden—the fence is there because there is a sheer rock wall drop on that edge. I have started planting flowers along this edge as I don’t need so many veggies these days. Oh, I eat a LOT OF VEGGIES every day, but I have the Hope’s Edge CSA and there is, most of the time, just me to feed. Plus, I want to have more plants that will feed the bees.
The garlic is ready to harvest now. The zucchini is fruiting. The daffodils have dried up. The strawberries were so good this year.
That’s a row of Haricot Vert (filet) beans to the left of AC. I need to pick them now.
I have not wanted to cut these garlic scapes because they look so light and airy. Something about them took myl fancy. This bunch of bulbs volunteered in this spot, which is fine with me.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many people have helped eat all this lettuce, which has been going strong since May.
These raspberries are huge with all the rain. They are turning a dark purple though. Years ago I planted some dark raspberries on the other end of this row of fruit, and now, via cross pollination, most of the raspberries have turned various dark shades. I had no idea the dark ones could change the red ones.
I’m planning to replant raspberries next spring and to put them in the veggie garden where the garlic is growing at the moment. This current bed was planted with plants that would deter small grandchildren from getting near the rock wall/sheer drop. The youngest is 4 now, so it is time to rethink this bed—which is a nightmare to weed. I have fallen down this sloping bed several times with one mis-step into a hole or just loss of balance. It’s not fun to tumble into Rugosa Rose bushes……even if they do stop your tumble.
So, I’ll pull out all these dark raspberries this fall, sheer down this bed, and start over with raspberries (and more blueberries) next spring. I’ll replant low plants in this bed: day lilies, hostas, and the like. With black plastic and heavy mulch, things will go better.
Turkey Tracks: August 4, 2019
Karen Martin and I loaned Fiddlehead Artisan Supply (Belfast, Maine) some quilts for their booth at the recent state quilt show (Pine Tree Quilt Guild). That’s my Katja Marek Millifiori to the left of the Fiddlehead sign. Below it is a Katja Marek 54-hexigon quilt—all based on Marek’s book THE NEW HEXAGON. The blocks are all Cotton+Steel.
Karen’s wonderful Tula Pink (greys, blacks, whites, and yellow) is to the right of the Fiddlehead sign. This quilt is from Tula Pink’s 100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS.
The quilt behind the service desk is my Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone method from her MODERN QUILT MAGIC book. This quilt is all Cotton+Steel low volume fabrics. I’m assuming that most of you know that C+S has moved to Moda, taking their designs with them, and are now known as Ruby Star Society. Their first fabrics from Moda are shipping this month.
Here are close-ups of these quilts.
Turkey Tracks: August 3, 2019
Of course I’m sewing. Of course I am.
Look at this crazy design wall!
I’ve been playing with blocks for one thing. I usually have time to make a block or two most days, except when family is visiting.
The Granny Square/Trip Around the World block at the top (posts about it earlier) from Then Came June is growing. I think this one is going to be 4 by 4. Maybe a bit bigger. I’m using leftover solids for this block. They make up pretty fast and easy.
The quilt in progress is more rows of Amanda Jean Nyber’s “Slopes” quilt using Cotton+Steel fabrics. I had a dedicated sewing morning with the Mt. Battie Modern quilters about two weeks ago and got more of these blocks doine.
To the right: Bonnie Hunter’s funky stars—the colored fabrics are Cotton+Steel. There is a BH pattern for this funkiy block, but it’s also a block that has been around for ages.
The pineapple blocks are being made with the Creative Grids large ruler—they are 8 inches. Right now they are Cotton+Steel, but that might not stay that way. The bottom green one is WAY, WAY too busy. But the center kind of shimmers, so I might leave it within a larger selection of these blocks.
The long skinny blocks are Jen Kingwell’s “Glitter” blocks. I was thinking to hand piece them, but they are not that hard to sew… So, as I finish one, I organize another. And the trees (below) are her “The Avenue.” This block is way bigger than I realized when I bought the templates.
The “bird” blocks are an improv project that I’m not sure I like all that much. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but sometimes life moves on and old projects fall away. We’ll see. I have been picking out fabrics for another block. And one goal here is to use solids to surround the birds.
I had thought to use “the avenue” trees in the bird quilt, but the scale is wrong. They are too large. I was thinking that I would do sets of seasonal colors. I have one more organized and will make it. Then they are going into the “Parts Department” bin for an improv quilt to be made probably this winter. I do like the way the neutrals around the trees are making interesting forms. Maybe I will make some with other colors and mix them all up?
I’m quilting (big stitches with size 8 perle cotton) the “6-pointed star” quilt from Tara Faughnan and Amy Newbold’s The Color Collective project on Sewtopia. (Season 2 is coming in October—and I’ve done other posts on this project which uses a TF-curated color palette in solids.) I continue to be fascinated with how geometric shapes can play off of each other. I am using all dark thread colors for this one as I don’t want the brighter/lighter threads to distract from the geometric shapes.
I finished the VERY FUN freezer paper technique Tara Faughnan calls “On Point.” How cool is this? The camera distorts, of course.
It’s pinned and ready to go for hand quilting. I will use the brighter thread colors in this one.
These are leftover pieces sewn into a tumbling blocks form—from the 6-pointed star. NO! JUST NO! It’s intriguing, but its going into the Parts Department bin—and maybe will be surrounded with neutrals down the line in the next improv quilt. I want to circle back to the Lone Star and Radiating Log Cabin projects—you can see those in the pillows on the bed.
So, yes, I am sewing and creating. Always!
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