Month: May 2022

A Productive Sunday

Turkey Tracks: May 9, 2022

A Productive Sunday

What a nice Mother’s Day I had yesterday.

Family all called in during the day, and we had such nice visits. I always treasure calls from my family.

I got out my little electric mower and did the first mow. Look how pretty the grass is now.

Deeply embedded in my person is a need to bring order to chaos, by using my hands. That certainly includes spring clean-up gardening. And it includes cutting and making quilt blocks, watching a quilt grow on the design wall, and continues on until the last stitch is sewn into the binding. Cooking and chopping veggies, working puzzles, household cleaning and laundry—for me that involves bringing order and banishing chaos. I could go on…

LOL. And today, trimming AC doggies nails, cleaning his teeth, and brushing him with the Furminator tool falls into this pattern. He’s now shedding his winter coat like crazy.

Look at this amazing patch of daffodils that has naturalized over the years from one bulb.

A late summer task is going to be digging up the daffodils that line the front walkway in order to divide them. They aren’t blooming as much as they used to this year. I’ll spread the extras around the garden—probably putting a lot of them into the bed at the front of the house—on the far side of the lawn where the hill drops down.

Meanwhile, the Churn Dash quilt is growing on the design wall. I’m getting there.

And I’m thinking that I can take the off-cuts from the 3-inch strips and make a VERY scrappy Bear Paws block that finishes at 16 inches square. Here’s my trial block—which I will take apart to spread out the color. I think it will work. The side sashings are a bit wider than the block sashings—so I’m not sure I’ll have enough of that cream Cotton+Steel Dottie fabric. No worries. I’ll just make the sashings scrappy. And, horrors, I may have to use some non C+S neutrals!!

All of which means that I am close to calling it a day on this huge project to use up the Cotton+Steel stash as much as makes sense—before I just put what’s left into the regular stash.

And, the projects from this year’s The Color Collective are calling to me.

Have a great week everyone!

Daffodils in the Front Meadow

Turkey Tracks: May 6, 2022

Daffodils in the Front Meadow

I planted daffodils in the front meadow in the fall of 2004.

There is a drainage field below the rock wall which I suspects nourishes the daffodils. There are also day-lilies just below the wall as well. Both are thriving.

I can never get a picture that makes me feel like I have captured the glory of these daffodils, which have spent the last 18 years naturalizing and spreading.

Here’s a picture taken from the road and blown up a bit to isolate the daffodils.

They are so cheerful. And, many of the ones doing the best are the ”exotic” ones, so of which look like tiny peonies as they have so many fluffy petals.

I love our long, cool spring here in Maine. Spring can be such a tease in northern New England. But the grass is lush and green now, the trees are leafing out, and I’ll have to mow now some time over the weekend.

I found a smelly rotten egg concentrated mixture I’ll mix up and spray today or tomorrow. I hope it works to deter the deer and porcupine.

Eating and Sewing the Rainbow

Turkey Tracks: May 5, 2022

Eating and Sewing the Rainbow

Eating the rainbow at lunch today: roasted chicken and all kinds of veggies.

When I feel I’m getting full, I stop eating and put the leftovers into a bowl for my dinner meal. Sometime I just add more meat and veggies to the bowl and call it a night. Sometimes I add a tortilla heated over the flame on top of my stove—and add some butter when it is done. Sometimes I’ll also have a little dessert fruit. Mostly, I make an herbal tea, but sometimes I’ll have a coffee.

I am enjoying having my main meal in the middle of the day.

But speaking of rainbows, I just signed up for Tara Faughnan’s 10-month long Traverse Block of the Month—hosted by Sewtopia and starting in July. The project comes in two manufacturer choices (Windham Artisan Cottons or Kona cottons ) and two color ways. I chose the bright in the Windham Artisan Cottons. I love shot cottons. They have so much depth.

My experience with the ”Sugaridoo” quilt showed me it’s easy to make one row a month of a block that is fun.

And I fell in love with this colorful quilt.

“The Peace of Wild Things”

Poems: May 4, 2022

“The Peace of Wild Things”

It is a rainy day.

That’s ok. I needed a rainy day.

Rainy days often cause for some reflection—and this day is one of those.

A friend sent me this Wendell Barry’s poem the other day—and today seems a good day to read and think about it. I had not read it in quite a few years.

The Peace of Wild Things 

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

—Wendell Berry

“Pot-Pourri 3” and ”Eye Candy 3” Quilts

Turkey Tracks: May 3, 2022

“Pot-Pourri 3” and ”Eye Candy 3” Quilts

Here’s ”Pot-Pourri 3.” It went to a great-niece—so the blocks are meant to be ”girly” for this little toddler.

And remember that all the fabrics are Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society from my stash. It takes a lot of different fabrics—in a deep stash—to make a quilt like this one.

I pieced the back from bigger pieces of my Cotton+Steel stash, and isn’t it fun?

I used the pantograph ”He Loves Me” by Anne Bright—and you can see how it works in the solid deep rose ombre fabric below. I ordered a pale, pale pink thread to use.

Below, you can see some of the fabric variety.

AND, here’s ”Eye Candy 3,” which is meant for my niece’s little boy, who will arrive in mid-June. I had such fun making these Churn Dash blocks with their fussy-cut centers. And I had enough of the sashing fabric to separate the blocks.

Again, the backing is scrappy.

I used the ”Bayside” panto from Lorien Quilting and a pale jade colored thread—like a sea foam color.

Below is a close-up of some of the blocks. I will also print this picture and the close-up of the quilt above to use in the cards I make.

Winter and early spring are fading away now, so I will have less sewing time. The lawn already needs mowing and I need to organize spray as the deer and porcupines have eaten the newly emerging perennials down to the ground.

But, I made 7 baby/toddler quilts this winter—and I still have a lot of strips cut for Churn Dash blocks out of the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star stash. So I’ve been making a bigger quilt from these blocks, with no sashing. Six rows of 10 are done. There are enough big pieces left to piece a backing. So, this project continues.

Blocks will, of course, move around. I’m liking the secondary patterns. It is VERY scrappy and VERY busy. It is also very fun to make.

Today is cleaning/laundry day. And AC doggie needs a good run. But tomorrow will be a rainy day, so maybe there will be some sewing.

Two Cool Kitchen Tools

Turkey Tracks: May 2, 2022

Two Cool Kitchen Tools

I posted a video of this apple corer/peeler/slicer last November, but I’ve been using it a lot of late to make baked apple slices. It is just the coolest and funnest tool.

First you use the lever to stick the unit to the counter. Then you release the handle so you can draw it all the way back. Next, spear the apple’s center on the prongs.

Here’s a little video of how it works—note that it was clumsy to turn the crank and video the action at the same time—which caused part of the peel not to be…peeled. That doesn’t usually happen. And it is easy to just slice off that bit of peel with a sharp knife.

I cut the apple in half and then separate the slices. The core will pull off the unit easily.

The baked apple slices were and are delicious.

Next up: a new compost pail. This one is stainless steel so it won’t rust. And it is made from one piece of metal, so the joins won’t rust. The handles are really sturdy and won’t come off. And in that big top, there are TWO carbon filters: a square on in the very top, and a round one at the edge. Reviewers online say the filters last 4 months and longer.

You can see the depth of the top here.

The round filter fits into groves on the inside of the top—so it will stay put and not fall into the compost.

AND, the unit holds more than my last one, so there are fewer trips out to the compost bins back of the garage.

There are daffodils EVERYWHERE in my yard, and they are so pretty with their bright, happy flowers dancing in the spring breeze.