I am doing two rows—one in the rainbow colors Sugaridoo designed and one with Cotton+Steel fabrics I have on hand. As you will see with the C+S rows, it isn’t always possible to replicate Sugaridoo’s colors exactly. And that’s ok by me.
These are the first rows that one could sew together with its adjacent row, made earlier. Sugaridoo may separate rows with sashing strips, but I thought these two rows wanted to be together. I can always take them apart if I change my mind later.
I made my braids the same size, except for the accent pieces—which differs from the Sugaridoo pattern, which used different sizes across the row.
I had “something” that knocked me back for about 10 days, but never developed beyond extreme fatigue and, sometimes, a dull headache. Gradually my energy returned, though I still get tired off and on, and a nap feels good then. I had one of those yesterday.
On Wednesday night and all day Thursday we had a heavy wet snow here that tore up trees and power lines. On Friday, this area looked like a war zone. Again, my generator leapt into the power abyss and ran sturdily for two days and two nights. The worst loss was no internet for an entire day. Folks, we are addicted, aren’t we?
I got about 7 to 9 inches up here on the hill. But by today, Sunday, the spring bulbs are emerging through the snow.
And today, AC and I visited the beach in what was a glorious Easter Sunday. He ran and ran and swam and swam and washed his ball in the water. People waved and enjoyed the antics of the dogs. There was a female rat terrier in the mix. AC and I both fell in love. I could feel the sun warm on my back—and I only wore a wool sweater for the first time this spring.
I finished the knit dress, and it fits well. I feel like I did a really good job on this dress. The learning curve is going down fast. On to the expensive fabric next.
When I was arranging the dress, AC put his yellow next to it. He’s always hopeful. This ball is carried EVERYWHERE we go inside the house—and outside if I don’t stop him.
I’m sewing the Gumdrop rows together now. (Tara Faughnan, from The Color Collective online class.) I don’t know yet how I will stagger the rows.
I have no idea why I started this quilt, but there is something about it that drives me on. It is so far out of my comfort zone, I can’t even…
And then there are some masks…
I’ve tried three different ones—and am not comfortable in any of them, truth to tell. They fog up my glasses, and I feel like someone with a plastic bag over their head and breathing in their own exhaled air, which makes me feel dizzy. The one with elastic ties interferes with my hearing aids, and I worry that I’ll lose one. This one is the MOST uncomfortable, and I thought it would be the best. I’ll try again, as the ties work, and the pipe cleaner nose guard works, but it’s too long I think.
I’ve almost finished the March Sugaridoo QAL row(s). (I’m making two each month—one in the solids and one in Cotton+Steel fabrics I seem to have acquired.) This March row is a braid, which is always fun.
I’ve been deep cleaning as my energy has returned and have culled lots of “stuff” that will be rehomed. That feels good. There is just too much “stuff” in this house. It is hard to know what to get rid of and what to hold on to in case grandchildren setting up houses need “stuff.” As nothing can be dropped off anywhere right now, I’ve put it all on the garage steps in boxes and bags.
I’m getting used to the block editor on WordPress now. It is easier, but like all new things, one needs to slow down to master the “new.”
After his morning trip to Laite Beach at low tide and his lunch, he has put himself in his “house.”
PS. I’m learning the WordPress block editor with this post.
We are meant to get some rain later today, so we may not get an afternoon outing. Thus, extra time at the beach this morning, and AC did a fair amount of swimming.
I am doing fine. Here are some recent pics from recent days.
I finished these two knit tops—the fabric was bought last spring and has been sitting in the garment pile. The brown sweater is the Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater, version 2. I made several tops from an earlier Simplicity pattern, 8529, that is this same idea. Sew House, though, incorporated some really nice finishing touches, which makes the “boat” top much nicer. The sleeve is more sleek in that it does not have a cuff. BUT, the brown version was not as long as the Simplicity, and I liked that longer length. So, I made the blue version longer and dramatically longer in the back. It fits like a dream.
This knit dress is next in line and ready to go. It’s the Caroline Out and About Knit dress from Sew Caroline. My first version was made in a grey jersey—and I did some altering where the bodice meets the skirt. I’ve incorporated that knowledge into the pattern—along with raising the location of the pockets. We’ll see how this goes. I love the grey dress, so suspect I’ll love this one too.
If the above project goes well, then I’ll cut into this EXPENSIVE organic cotton and repeat the dress there.
Finishing the olive knit dress will leave one more garment to make. A summer rayon batik dress. Then I WILL BE CAUGHT UP on purchased garment fabrics. I am wondering if I can get a summer knit top with leftovers from the brown or blue strips. But…that will be play.
Here are quilts all ready to be quilted. The box of thread is Wonderfil’s GalMour, which is a rayon metallic thread that should just be wonderful in the top quilt, Galactic. I started down that path after seeing what this quilt’s designer used—Tara Faughnan for The Color Collective.
Here’s the design wall at the moment. The right hand project is Gudrun Erla’s quilt project, Elvira. I’ve never made a quilt with BIG pieces of fabric, and I have no idea if I will like or dislike or finish this one. There is something catchy about it though, and it is certainly a stash buster. Bonnie Hunter did a version which you can see on her blog. Getting the diagonal line installed was easy after all the 60 degree long cabin blocks I’ve been making with The Color Collective projects, as in the smaller ones on the left of the design wall. The middle project is “Gumdrops” from The Color Collective, an English Paper Piecing project.
AC and I have been out every day. Here are some recent videos of a walk in some nearby woods. Listen for the wind in the trees—it was just roaring yesterday.
AC Slater, my rescue dog, was 2 years old yesterday.
He celebrated with a long walk on the still-icy Erickson Trail. We had about 6 inches of snow Monday night.
Later, he breached his electric fence and went swimming in the beaver lake/wetland below my house and over a BUSY road. When retrieved in the car, he was soaking wet and scared. When we had both calmed down, he had a very nice tub bath and warm hairdryer rubdown. He now smells delicious.
We went to Laite Beach this morning. AC LOVES to go to Laite Beach. He’s very vocal these days—in all kinds of fun ways.
The beach was near high tide, but with enough beach left to throw his hard rubber ball with a chuck-it. The beach is well below the park, so one climbs down a steep set of granite steps.
Here are some videos of AC chasing his ball. He thinks this is his “work” I think. He is deadly serious about chasing down his ball. This pretty girl wanted to play with him, but he stuck to his work.
I am social distancing. AC and I go every possible day to the woods, to the beach, and to the grocery store as needed. I am connected to friends and family a good chunk of each day via technology. Except for worrying about getting the virus in a serious way, about family or friends getting it and not faring well, and about my seriously diminishing stock portfolio, I am peaceful. I am enjoying all my sewing projects. It’s good to see ongoing planned projects getting finished. And working with my hands is, as always, soothing.
I am reminded that life is what it is, that we have to take it as it comes, and we can do that with joy and purpose and some laughter, or we can just let it all overwhelm us. That’s a spectrum, of course. I’m sure I hit the highs and lows of it every day, but mostly I’m…ok.
Here are some of my ongoing sewing projects:
The Galactic wall hanging top is finished, layered, pinned, and waiting for obtaining some Wonderfil GlaMour thread—a rayon with a metallic strand—that designer Tara Faughnan used and loved. Marge Hallowell at Mainely Sewing is going to carry this thread. I am hoping she can mail me some. I LOVE this quilt and this pattern. Tara Faughnan designed it and curated the fabrics in THE COLOR COLLECTIVE online class by Amy Newbold’s Sewtopia.
I am also playing with a two-round smaller version with the extra fabrics I have. I have no idea where this project is going. Play without a goal is important too.
Here is Gumdrops—another Tara Faughnan project from The Color Collective. The blocks are English Paper Pieced, and we learned how to use a cardstock that one’s printer would take to make the six different patterns. I’m making a wall hanging with this one too—probably about 30 wide by 30-40 long, with three staggered rows. I will, of course, move blocks around a whole lot more as each combo gets finished. I hand sew at night while watching tv.
I’ll be layering and pinning the solid scrappy trip/granny quilt from Then Came June (Checkered Garden) today. I want to diagonal grid quilt it on a domestic, but will pin it on the longarm. I loved Then Came June’s version and thought it would be a good use for the solid scraps I have. It’s bright and wild. And maybe that’s it’s name?
I cleaned and oiled my serger over the holidays—and replaced the knives. There’s a blog post on that project. It’s running like a dream. But I’ve been having so much fun with quilty projects that I have not circled back to making garments. There is a pile of knits to be used. I cut out two tops this week. Here is the Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline. I made this top a while back and wear it a lot, so will enjoy this one as well. This top can be hacked to make other interesting tops. There is a short-sleeved version as well. I wear it both layered with a high-neck t-shirt and all by itself when the weather is a bit warmer. This particular jersey knit is so, so, so soft on the skin.
I know that when I get a pencil and start underlining and writing in the text margins that I’ve gotten hold of a book that is making me think, is creating strong emotions, and is engaging me in deeper ways.
BRAIDED SWEETGRASS is that kind of book, and I highly recommend it to you.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a professor of botany AND a native American. In this book, she is calling us to think about a blending of the “objective” dictates of western botany science with the native American view that we humans are part of a complex interrelated world of being. Western botany describes and labels, but Kimmerer, with her enchanting stories, argues that this practice misses the song that plants sing to the world.
Kimmerer’s arguments, told by comparing cultural stories and her lived experiences which are imbued with native American culture, demonstrate how the stories cultures form create and sustain how we act in the world. Western botany, with its taxonomies, creates “things” that can be owned and controlled, while native American stories place people within the web of all that exists. With the latter sensibility comes responsibility for the web and a demand for gratitude for all its riches so freely given to us.
I finally understand why native Americans did not seek to own land, but to share it in ways that support both the land and the people who live on it and all that the land supports. Kimmerer illustrates this principal of strength in shared community with real-world botanical examples.
Today, as humans face how our misuse of the land and its riches has created global warming and terrible poverty for many, maybe it’s time to step back and at least think about the songs other life forms are singing.
Kimmerer’s writing in no way turns its back on science. In lyrical, beautiful prose she takes modern botany and uses it as a springboard to create a much deeper understanding of how various plants’ relationship to the world relates to her own life experiences and to the specific history of her people. She asks “why” goldenrod and purple asters bloom together in the fall—and answers in scientific terms that also shows these plants interrelationships with other life forms at this particular season.
I am fascinated with this book. And, grateful to Kimmerer for her life, her science, and for her writing.
PS: there is an earlier book, GATHERING MOSS, and yes, I will be getting hold of that one as well.
The Snow Drops are here—at least in some warm, sunny places.
I have not seem mine yet up here on the hill, but Lion Jerry Stone has some, which gives us all joy.
He celebrated with this message and picture.
Thanks Jerry!
****
February 29, 2020
Fine friends & friendly foe,
Nothing more excites me as March crawls closer to introduce Maine to spring than the precious, plucky snowdrops along the front cellar wall at Bette’s & my modest Camden home. Few things in life attempt “gilding the lily”, for they are themselves already perfect. And so, annually, snowdrops revive my restless soul & poetic pursuit. Enjoy my early spring welcome with picture & poetry.
And this quilt got mailed last Monday and is now in the hands of the bride, who lives in Colorado.
Tara Faughnan of Sewtopia’s The Color Collective online class designed the block and curated the fabrics. I added more greens as I had them on hand. The quilt is called “Stacks.” I think it looks a bit like a modern, graphic version of stacked mountains. And I love the lines of triangles that form between the rows. I freehand quilted in a medium grey. I wanted lots and lots of movement—like winds blowing and moving air currents.
I knew thia fabric was my backing fabric the moment I saw it.
Yummy!
And here it is, in the hands of the bride, where I hope it will hug and cuddle and warm this special couple.
I am making two versions of this QAL: one in the solid rainbow fabrics (Kona) and one in, hopefully, Cotton+Steel from the fabrics I have on hand.
For the solid version, I printed out patterns on newsprint and foundation pieced the blocks, which then got sewed into the row. The block is BIG, so sections needed to be taped to make the pattern. And, afterwards, the paper had to be pulled out, which is always a pain. But the blocks are perfect—with sewing room above all the points.
The printed fabric row I made with the freezer paper method, which I love. BUT, I think I am not sewing quite close enough to the folded line and that might account for some points being a bit close to the edge.
I also moved the highlight piece (grey, blue) away from the right hand edge, partial block to the block next to it. Given the overall schema, this position will not impact other highlighted blocks in the quilt.
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