Author: louisaenright

I am passionate about whole, nutrient-dense foods, developing local markets, and strengthening communities.

Turkey Tracks: January 5, 2018

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2018

January 5, 2018

I’m not sure how it got to be January 5, 2018, already!

Where does the time get to so fast?

We survived yesterday’s “Bomb Cyclone” up here in Mid-Coast Maine.  I’ve seen much worse in terms of blizzards.  Maine coastal areas flooded, however.  Just north of Camden, Lincolnville Beach flooded.  I’ve never seen that kind of winter flooding before this storm, and many old timers here are saying they have not either.  It is not an exaggeration to say that we are in unchartered territory in terms of big storms and rising waters.

I replenished bird food and Louisa food before the storm.  The bags are so boldly colorful.

After this storm, we have a fair amount of snow on the ground.  The winter sports folks are delighted.   Here’s my back deck, so you can see what’s accumulated now.

The turkeys stay with me all winter now, but these males stick very close.  They spent the storm under the big white pine and their backs were often were covered with snow.  Did it help insulate their bodies?

I’ve had a lot of intense sewing time in recent weeks, which I love.  The Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt “reveal” came just before New Year’s, along with all the finishing “clues.”  “On Ringo Lake” is an intense, very scrappy quilt.  I am enjoying seeing all the different color ways and different settings people have used in this quilt and look forward to seeing my own different colors playing together.  You can see the finished quilt on Bonnie’s web site:  quiltville.com.

I don’t know.  I think in recent years Bonnie Hunter’s designs have gotten more and more busy.  Or, modern quilts have changed my own tastes.  But I often feel that all the busyness in sashings, especially, is detracting from the clever, innovative blocks she designs.  I know that opinion is a very personal taste take on my part, but I think my own challenge with her work that I attempt will be to scale back some of the elements.  The eye, I think, needs resting places.  Too much is…too much…and robs the work of its specialness.  The cleverness is getting…lost.

Here is a picture of some of the small quilts in my sewing room–made over the past 13 or so years:

I cut out a fleece top yesterday.  I’m working up my courage to sew it mostly on the serger.  Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie December 2017 Meeting

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern December 2017 Meeting

We had a very pleasant gathering a few days after Christmas.

We set the meeting calendar for next year, organized the “Long Time Gone” (Jen Kingwell) challenge for 2018, and celebrated completing our FIRST YEAR of membership in the Modern Quilt Guild.

Becca Babb-Brott brought her completed Tula Pink 100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS top.

Note that Becca staggered her setting rows on the bottom as well as the top.  And, that she made the sashing between rows different widths.

It will be fun to see this one quilted and finished.

Next month we see the Traveling Quilts again.

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Monthly Challenge–December 2017

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Monthly Challenge–December 2017

We are showing our traveling quilts every other month, which gives us two months to work on them.  In the off months we are doing one of the Lucky Spool exercises from the MIGHTY LUCKY QUILTING CLUB 2016 workbook.  As always, members can participate or choose not to participate.  We are working our way though the workbook.

This challenge asks one to design a quilt from a photograph–but a modern quilt, not a literal landscape quilt.  One is to look for shapes and, perhaps, greyscale impact.

I took this picture of my Tula Pink blocks (100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS) at the last Coastal Quilters retreat in October 2017.  And I could not get the idea that formed in my head out of it with regard to this mini challenge/exercise.  It kept just hovering and hovering there.  (The Tula Pink challenge ends in December, and next year the challenge is Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt.)  These blocks are on my design wall now, and have been moved around a lot.  I think I’m ready to sew now though, and I have sashing and backing organized.  I am using TP’s suggested “city scape” format.

So, I had a lot of fun the other day cutting tiny pieces and making a kind of greyscale version of the city scape idea.  It is a bit literal, yes.  But I loved playing with the greyscale.  I quilted just using the walking foot.  Here’s “Greyscale,” which will go into my collection of small quilts hanging in my quilt room.  I seem to be in a grey/neutral/black moment in my quilting.  It’s about 17 by 18–roughly.

I like it.  The squares are “shedding” a bit though.  I probably should have glued them more thoroughly before sewing???  On the other hand, they have texture…

It is what it is.

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Clue 5 and Quilty Play Time

Turkey Tracks:  December 28, 2017

Clue 5 and Quilty Play Time

I finished Clue 5 yesterday.

The pile of units is looking healthily large:

I will be interested to see how my colors will work in this mystery quilt, “On Ringo Lake,” by Bonnie Hunter.

Instead of working on the LAST THREE blocks of the big star quilt…based on my design from Amy Friend’s Improve workshop and her book IMPROV PAPER PIECING…

…I played.

I think it is really important to have play time with sewing.

And, like many quilters, I have the ongoing battle of using scraps so as not to waste too much fabric.  Plus, I like scrappy looks in a quilt.

I pulled out some old blocks–because I wanted to see how the very modern fabric I chose for their sashing would actually work with these blocks.  The blocks are a riff on Bonnie Hunter’s “Nine in the Middle,” from her ADVENTURES WITH LEADERS AND ENDERS.  Instead of the 9-patch middle, I am using “made fabric.”  The sashing fabric came from Rebecca Babb-Brott’s Etsy store, Sew Me A Song.

I like it.  I like, too, the neutral block.  I have A LOT of neutral scraps, so will kind of dot those around this quilt like polka dots.  I will use colored squares on most of the neutral centers.  The all-neutral one is a bit stark.

We learned in one of Bonnie’s mysteries, to use the Companion Angle ruler to cut the big triangle in the outer block.  With a 2-inch strip, one can line up on the 4-inch line so as to get the top of the triangle cropped off.  This technique would combine with the Easy Angle ruler for the outer triangles.  No waste that way.  You could also use the new corner cutting ruler and lay a 2-inch square over a rectangle and cut.  More waste, though.  And, of course, Bonnie always shows how to draw a line on a small square, lay it over the rectangle, and sew a scant seam.  So many ways to make a unit.

Friend Linda Satkowski is making these “made” fabric blocks by using the same colors, like all the reds, all the blues.  I think that’s very interesting too.

Right now I have TWO leader ender projects:  The above and this one:

Garlic Knots, from Bonnie’s QUILTMAKER magazine column:

I THINK Bonnie made this quilt, and I suspect it is in her upcoming new book.  Here’s a picture. If anyone knows where this quilt appeared, let me know so I can credit it??

I think I would NOT do a border…???  I seem to be in a borderless moment.

Finally, I played around with Amanda Jean Nyberg’s idea of making birch tree trunks from scraps.  She made a small block, starting with a 5-inch square and making thin tree trunks–for a pincushion.  I started with a 7 1/2-inch block and used 1-inch trunk columns.  It so does not work:  the block-size math isn’t right, it isn’t square, and I don’t like how the trunks lean.  Will continue to play around with this one though.  Clearly the beginning block size needs to be much bigger.  Meanwhile I’ll throw this block into the Parts Department box and will probably frame it somehow to make the math work with other blocks.

I had a fun afternoon and emerged relaxed and ready to enjoy dinner and, later, to watch tv and sew “Valse Brilliante” English Paper Piecing blocks (Willyene Hammerstein, MILLEFIORE QUILTS).  I have quite a lot of those blocks now, but that is a story for another day.

Turkey Tracks: Turkeys in Trees and Clue 5

Turkey Tracks:  December 26, 2017

Turkeys in Trees and Clue 5

It snowed all day yesterday.

I have about a foot on the ground up here on Howe Hill Road.  It’s pretty, very light, and very sparkly snow.

The plow/shovel guys came early, followed by Kelsey’s Appliance.  There is no way a van truck would be getting up my drive with a foot of unplowed snow on the ground.  The dishwasher is fixed–after a very nice conversation with the repair man.  Thank you Tom Jackson for sending the plow team.

The male turkeys spent most of the day in the trees out front yesterday–which is interesting because they usually roost in the big pines to the side of the house.  Why the bare trees, I wondered?  The tops of these trees were whipping around like crazy in the worst of the snow.  Are they safer than the big pines in a storm?  Or do the turkeys like the ride?  Who knows.

Four of the usual six that hang about here are in this picture–two on the left and two on the right.  One of the dark shapes on the left is a huge squirrel nest.

I spent some portion of the day working on Clue 5 of Bonnie Hunter’s 2017 mystery quilt, “On Ringo Lake.”

This clue wants flying geese units–in the dark fabric and neutrals.

I really love the new corner ruler Bonnie surfaced for this quilt.

The angle piece helps cut the side triangles, and the square side measures units. The ruler t is especially nice for cutting units from strips.  The orientation lines are wonderfully accurate for all the tasks..

Here’s a close-up:

I have not had to sliver trim one of the MANY flying geese units we have made now.  Of course, I fiddled with the needle position to get the needle sewing in the perfect place first–before chain piecing.

OOPS!

One does have to pay attention to WHERE one is making the angle cut though.  Or one gets this kind of unit.

Fortunately, as I’m working in piles of ten, I only did this ONCE.  I was too engrossed in my downloaded book I guess.  Or, it was time to STOP and WALK AWAY.

 

 

Turkey Tracks: White Christmas!

Turkey Tracks:  December 24, 2017

White Christmas!

The Camden Snowbowl opened for business this week.

There is snow all the way to the top of the mountain.  We have a good base AND we are expecting a foot of snow tonight and tomorrow.  All day tomorrow.  Cold temps will ensure it sticks.

It’s kind of odd, really, after such a long and warm fall.  Since I have lived in Maine–going on 14 years now–it is not usual to have this much snow in December.  We’ve had three or four storms now (I’ve lost count until the plow bill comes in-$$$$) this month alone.   What will the REAL winter bring?

I’ve had a band of six male turkeys for some weeks now–begging for food.  They whine until I throw some black-oiled sunflower seeds to them in the morning.  They practically follow me around when I go outside and have taken to coming up on the side porch and looking in the windows.  The hens showed up this morning–getting ready for the coming storm I imagine.  The males are already displaying to them.

Here are views from the house:  you’ve seen these views many times on this blog of course.  I never tire of them.  Here’s the side toward the woods.

The front and down the hill:

I love snow, and I love the peace of winter.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to One and All of you.

Turkey Tracks: Flannel Dress Finished

Turkey Tracks:  December 24, 2017

Flannel Dress Finished

100 Acts of Sewing, Dress No. 3

I chose a very subtle flannel for this dress.

It’s plain.  I like the flannel fabric a lot.  It has nice lines.  I like the open edges on the hem–will look nice over leggings.  It will be a comfy treat.

It can be layered for the winter, but looks best, I think, for fall or spring with maybe a lighter cotton sweater.  I can’t really wear a wool sweater next to my skin.  My cotton turtleneck t’s are a bit heavy for it, but will work.  Maybe it needs a very thin knit top underneath??  Will think about that possibility.  But would like one with a bit of a mock turtle neck.  I could also make it a bit shorter for a kind of long tunic look.  I thought about pockets, but decided not for this dress in this fabric.  I do love pockets though.  Seam pockets would be better, but I do not know how to do that.  Yet.

The neckline came out really well and was great practice for me.  I made my own bias strip:

I am having so much fun!

Turkey Tracks: Comfort Food: Pad Thai Noodle Soup

Turkey Tracks:  December 22, 2017

Comfort Food:  Pad Thai Noodle Soup

Ah yes!

Comfort food on a cold night in Maine is…a treat.

Rice noodles are a special treat for me, and I keep various kinds on hand.  They are always good as a base for putting leftovers on top.

This QUICK soup uses Pad Thai noodles; skinless, boneless chicken breasts; and some veggies (celery, local carrots, thawed CSA Hope’s Edge greens blanched last summer, Hope’s Edge onions, yellow pepper, my garden garlic).  I also drizzled in some sesame oil as this soup is very low-fat, and I know it won’t hold me if I don’t add more fat to it.  Thus I also put a good amount of real cream in my dessert coffee.  Add salt to taste–or soy sauce, which you can eat and I cannot.  And grated ginger would be a nice addition as well, now that I think about it.

Dessert is thawed local organic wild blueberries sourced by Hope’s Edge and raspberries from my garden,  and a drizzle of local real maple syrup.  Just put berries in a bowl, drizzle over the maple syrup and let the bowl sit on the counter until thawed–about an hour.

It’s dead easy, this soup.  And as it cooks fast, I don’t have to worry about histamine levels.

First put the noodles in cold water in a large bowl to soften, which will take at least 20 minutes.  Read package directions, as some rice noodles soften in hot water.

Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces.  Put some water (about 3 inches deep) in a wide pan and start heating it.  You don’t want too much water as it will water down everything.

Throw in the chicken.  Throw in the veggies.  You might have to skim the top of the soup at this point.  Add salt or soy sauce.  Add any herbs you want.  When the veggies are close to soft, drain and noodles and add them to the broth.  Cook until the noodles are soft and white–about 3 to 5 minutes.

Scoop ingredients into a large bowl.  Tongs help with the noodles and a big ladle helps with the goodies and the broth.

Let the rest of the soup cool thoroughly and refrigerate.  Heat leftovers gently as the noodles will start breaking apart easily now.

ENJOY!