Author: louisaenright

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

Turkey Tracks: Second Family Visit July 2017

Turkey Tracks:  August 12, 2017

Second Family Visit July 2017

Hello there!

I have not disappeared totally.  I have just been enjoying the richness of a July filled with family visits.

Both sons came in July, bringing their wonderful families with them.

I posted after the younger son’s terrific visit–with some pictures for family and friends who read this blog.

The older son’s family left last weekend–also after a terrific visit.

All sewing pretty much halted, except for some hand sewing on the millifiore here and there.

So, July life was busy and full of shared experiences.

The children in my older son’s family are older now–so are “up” for exploring.  Some or all of them went on an eco tour on the Lively Lady to learn about lobsters and other Bay life, to Squirrel Island, to Hupper Island, and to Bar Harbor.  They, too, fell in love with the Ducktrap river, where it runs into the bay.  They hunted in the low-tide shallows for green crabs (at one point taking all my kitchen tongs to help in the capture), enjoyed the flora and fauna of this spot which is so different from southern beaches, and swam the river on the incoming tide by using the forceful inner flow to carry them from one side to the other.  (Maine has big tides.)  They can all swim to the float at Barret’s Cove on Megunticook Lake–a rite of passage.  And, one day, they were terrific help with gardening tasks, from mowing, to weed whacking, to pulling and storing this year’s garlic, to trimming trees and shrubs, to weeding crab grass, to dead-heading, etc.  They were amazing.

Somehow I have only these pictures, taken by their parents at Bar Harbor atop Cadillac Mountain.  I was having too much fun to carry around my phone for its camera.

Good visit!

 

 

Turkey Tracks: How to Fold a Quilt to Minimize Creases – Quilting Digest

Turkey Tracks:  August 12, 2017

HOW TO FOLD A QUILT TO MINIMIZE CREASES

Hopefully you also know NOT to put cotton quilts into any kind of wooden chest as a chemical reaction occurs between the wood and the cotton, especially with dyes in the cotton.  Or, on any kind of UNTREATED (as in varnish or paint) wood, like an unpainted ladder.

And, not to put a quilt into a plastic box for storage.

Fold quilts, as below, put into a clean pillow case, and store on shelves, like closet shelves.  Quilts need to breath.

Source: How to Fold a Quilt to Minimize Creases – Quilting Digest

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.

Source: 52 zippers project – a little crispy

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.