Author: louisaenright

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

Turkey Tracks: Summer Family Visits

Turkey Tracks:  July 28, 2019

Summer Family Visits

I see I have not posted here since late June.

I’ve been busy!  Summer brings lots of outdoor chores and lovely family visits.

Bryan, Corinne, and their three girlies were here for a glorious two-plus weeks.  I had such a good time with them.

The first stop is always the LLBean Boot.  This year is was getting painted, so no opportunity to get a picture of the girls up on the toe, flanked by parents.

This trip, the youngest was 4, and so the family could hike to all the high places all around us.  They went on a big hike about every other day—many of them 4+ miles up and down.

This little girl below will remember these days all her life.

As will these…

They traveled to see many of our local lighthouses—this one (Marshall Point down in Port Clyde) in pea soup fog.  They love to hear the lighthouse fog horns.

They bravely swam in the Duck Trap River estuary and at the Laite Beach off Camden harbor.

We made “Lazy Day” summer skirts—each helped and chose their ribbons for the bottom hem—a free pattern on the Oliver+S web site).

July 4th at the harbor.

Here’s my very favorite picture of this trip.  Well, maybe, as there are lots of favorite pictures.  But I do love this one as it kind of shows what kind of young women they will become.

My boyfriend, AC Slater, ADORED them.  So I will do a separate post on their pictures with him.

Turkey Tracks: Silicone Products Can Replace Plastic

June 23, 2019

Silicone Products Can Replace Plastic

I’ve wanted to replace plastic baggies and plastic wraps for some time.

A conversation with fellow quilters revealed that there are silicone products that can replace plastic.  Thanks Tori Manzi!!

So this week, I ordered some products to try:  silicone bowl tops and baggies and some grocery bags meant to replace plastic bag use in the grocery store.  These items are available in lots of places, so just google what you might want to try.  I deemed them affordable in the long run.

The three packages I ordered arrived this week, and I’m really liking them so far.

Here are the plastic tops meant to cover bowls—they stretch so can cover differently sized containers.  The pink items are a collapsible funnel and a tool meant to take the skin off of garlic as you roll the garlic cloves inside it.

The tops work well and are easy to put over bowls.  You might have to dry off outside moisture if a bowl has been in the refrigerator.

The tops would not work on a bowl like the one on the right front that has extensions built in.

The silicone bags are awesome as well:

They are air-tight, can freeze, etc., etc.  They will work in a sous vide pot as they can take the heat.  The plastic slides (yikes on the plastic) fit over the top of the filled bag to seal everything tight.  When filled they can stand up on their own.  They came with instructions and a stand which helps support them while you fill them.  Comments online say they hold soup just fine with no leakage.  There are three sizes.  The smallest holds up to 4 cups.  The big one is…big.

In addition, I ordered produce bags that will go to the grocery store with me and that are washable, etc.  They are meant to go right into the refrigerator, are washable, and will work to replace plastic bags.  They are a fine mesh.  I may have to wrap something like fragile lettuce in some damp paper towels, but…we’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted, but…

…I think it’s all going to work.

I can already see I might need more of the silicone bowl cover tops down the road.

Turkey Tracks: It’s Gardening Time

Turkey Tracks:  June 5, 2019

It’s Gardening Time

I’ve been busy in the garden—in between rainy days.  We’ve had a very cool and rainy spring.

But, the container pots are all out and planted—I cut back somewhat on the number of these pots this year.

And the hanging baskets are up.

That sack is for thistle, and the finches love it.  It will come down for the summer when it is empty.  Everything is so green and lush.  The hummingbirds are feeding like crazy.

This year I bought a very different color of petunia—and got all the baskets in the same color rather than mixing up colors.

I like the same color.  I will likely keep doing that.

Front porch plants.  The Lantana and orange plants are going elsewhere.

Eric Chontos is painting the house trim when the rain stops.  He does an awesome job of power-washing the house every spring as well.  Look how he got all the black mold off the end of the garage this year.

I’ve filled in some holes with perennials.  Pics on those as summer progresses.  But the veggie/flower garden looks good.  The cold frame is full of the most delicious lettuce.  The garlic is up.  Strawberries (far left) are starting to bloom.  I will plant haricot vert beans, zucchini, and nasturtiums when those seeds come later this week from Fedco.   I do Hope’s Edge CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) so with just me here, I don’t need a lot of extra veggies.  I can’t eat tomatoes (which I love), but will get plenty from Hope’s Edge for when the kiddos are all here.

Now it’s time to water, weed, edge beds and ENJOY THE GARDEN.

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Making Komebukuro Bags Is Fun and Addictive

Turkey Tracks:  June 3, 2019

Making Komebukoro Bags is Fun and Addictive

These “rice bowl bags/pouches” by kzstevens are so much fun!

I’ve published other versions in earlier posts here.

Kzstevens’ pattern is on her Etsy store.  Just google her name on the Etsy web site and scroll for the “Modern Japanese Rice Pouch” pattern that sells for $6.

Here’s her description of the bag’s uses:

Komebukuro. A traditional pouch used in Japan to carry rice offerings to the temple during religious ceremonies or to hold gifts destined for a close friend or relative.  Komebukuro bags were hard sewn in a patchwork style and individually designed with a mix of whatever fabrics were on hand and closed with a cotton drawstring cord. It is reversible.

Here’s are first two bags, and my first is on the right:

Each side is a bit different as I did piece the top.  First, one constructs an improv top piece that is a large rectangle.  Then one can “decorate” that rectangle with decorative sewing, adding little patches, and so forth.  Then one joins the rectangle to the square bottom.  The lining is constructed in the same manner.  I ordered the leather ties from Amazon.

I used Essex linen (pepper color) in the bag and for the top tie slips and for the bottoms.

 

Here’s my lining, and note that the bag is completely reversible if desired.

Here’s the second bag, where I added the blue daisy square for decoration:

I’ve already ordered more leather ties, but will also look the next time I go to a quilt store for cotton twill kind of ties.  I don’t see why a long shoe lace wouldn’t work either.  And, what about some decorative beads on some bags???

 

Turkey Tracks: The LAST Pillow

Turkey Tracks:  May 29, 2019

The LAST Pillow

Maybe…

Here’s my trial block for the 5th Color Collective block by Tara Faughnan.

I LOVE this block, which one draws on freezer paper and then uses that method to sew the block.  It is different than foundation piecing, and I really like the method.  BUT, I am still grappling with getting the points to stop at the right place.  I am on my third drawn template now, but am understanding how to get the result I want.

I also discovered that I like the bright colors against a dark background, unlike the Lone Star version with the light grey background.

I used green in this last pillow so it would blend with the other pillows I’ve made.

Here is Tara’s quilt made from this block, though she also sent us other versions one might consider:

WOW!  Look at these wonderful blocks!  Each one represents a new method to learn.

The Color Collective (Amy Nebold/Sewtopia) will continue in the fall.  I will definitely sign up again.

And now there are 10 pillows, scattered around the house.  You have seen pics and posts about these pillows already.  All have been made with Anna Graham’s method with an invisible zipper closing and with lined and quilted fronts and backs—from Anna’s book HANDMADE STYLE.  Her shop is “Noodlehead.”

There is one more block in Season 1 of THE COLOR COLLECTIVE though…

I’m playing with it now…

Turkey Tracks: “Parts Department Party” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  May 28, 2019

“Parts Department Party” Quilt

It’s done!

And I really love it…

To refresh your memories, as I’ve been posting about this project for some time now, about four summers ago, Becca Babb-Brott, Linda Satkowski, and I decided to spend some of the summer “playing” with blocks and making enough to share with each other.  We all threw the blocks we made and that were given to us by each other into a bin we each called “the parts department”—following the work of Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston, who pioneered the idea of making fun blocks that would be ready to use when needed.

Both Becca and Linda put together their “improv” parts department quilts this year, so I knew the pressure was on.  It took me a long time to get this quilt together because I had lots and lots of “parts” that needed to be sewn into something useful—like the black/pink stars in the border (made from bonus triangles from a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt one year) or the broken dishes blocks in the border, or the flying geese formations, and so on.  And on, and on, and on…   I had a LOT of “parts”—too many to work all of them into this quilt, which is actually pretty large.  You know what that means…  There will be more play with fun blocks and another improv quilt down the road.

I really like the Carrie Bloomston “newsprint” 108-wide backing and the striped border—an idea I’ve seen used often on the Red Pepper Quilts blog.  And I quilted with Anne Bright’s Simple Feathers pantograph, which I like and use a lot.  I just wanted to lay down an overall curvy pattern.

Here are pics of parts of this quilt—which contains so many memories of parts of other quilts, of gift blocks from Becca and Linda, and of fabrics I’ve used and loved:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Megan Bruns’ “La Passacaglia” is DONE!

Turkey Tracks:  May 27, 2019

Megan Bruns’ “La Passacaglia” is DONE!

I have watched Megan work on this quilt for three or four years now.  The construction time wound through the threads of her life.  Sometimes, when her life events got tough, the quilt got put aside.  But some times, the work on it offered solace and coping.

It was a complete delight for many of us at Coastal Quilters (Maine) when she brought the finished quilt to show us on the same May 2019 weekend she graduated from college.  In the past two years she has held down a full-time job, mostly a full-time college schedule, and the juggling of living alone with two beloved dogs to nurture.  Those of us who know her well knew that when this young woman finished the border and took the quilt to be quilted, she had gone around all the sharp edges life had thrown at her and was in the home stretch and moving full steam ahead.  What followed next was a significant job offer right here in Camden, so we will have her with us for at least another year.

There are earlier pictures of this quilt in progress on this blog, if you care to go back to them.  But to refresh, this is Willyyene Hammerstein’s “La Passacaglia” quilt from her book MILLIFIORI QUILTS.  Megan designed the large border treatment, and Alewives Quilt Shop quilted the top.

 

The quilt has wonderful, organic-inspired quilting.

I love the yellow border.

The back is a VELVETEEN!  I never would have thought to use velveteen.  It’s so soft and yummy…

 

GO MEGAN!!

And congratulations on graduating from college!!

 

Turkey Tracks: Noodlehead Market Bags

Turkey Tracks:  May 26, 2019

Noodlehead Market Bags

I’ve been wanting to make Anna Graham’s Market Bag, from her book HANDMADE STYLE, for some time.

As noted in previous posts, The Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild has challenged members to make something in “handmade style” every other month, using Anna Graham’s book as a kickoff point.  In other months, I have made pillows, using blocks from “The Color Collective” online class with Tara Faughnan and supported by Amy Newbold of Sewtopia.  More on that pillow project later.

Here’s my first bag, which uses all Cotton+Steel fabrics.  This one is a gift.

The leather handles came from the Noodlehead store.  I cut the top binding on the bias and hand stitched it on the inside—as I’ve never been able to sew this kind of closing properly from the outside so that it catches all the inside fabric.  Just can’t do it.  I also hand sewed the edges of the pocket in the same manner.

And I lined the pocket and fused the outer fabric to Pellon’s SF 101.

Here’s the bag I made FOR ME, or “ownself,” as I like to say.  I used Essex Linen in pepper and Cotton+Steel fabrics in shades of teal/acid green.  And I put longer handles on this bag for shoulder carrying.  These handles were bought locally at Alewives Quilt Store some time ago when I first saw the Market Bag.

 

I am organizing making Graham’s Explorer purse for a real purse as this market bag is really meant to carry things loose.  As my purse possessions are not secured in pockets for the moment, I made a little lined phone case in the same way the interior pocket is constructed and by closing off the top side binding in the same way the bottom closes off.

I’m going to make the small Explorer Tote.

Explorer Tote Pattern

Turkey Tracks: Green!

Turkey Tracks:  May 23, 2019

GREEN!

Suddenly, everything in Mid-Coast Maine is so…green.

Spring, as is usual here, creeps in slowly, teasing use each day with bits of promise.  Then, all at once, we realize, the famous Maine lush green is well on the way.  The trees are looking all soft and fluffy with spring green leaves now.

The daffodils have been spectacular this year.  Look at how they have spread in the little meadow I have:

I have completed the “first mow” of the lawn.  You can see the raspberries coming into leaf running alongside the grass on the left.  The daffs in front have filled in with white daffs since this pic was taken.

The cold frame I seeded and covered back in the fall is full of beautiful lettuce.  I never get tired of his miracle.  I uncovered it as the temps are warm enough now.

The garlic is up in the garden:

I’ve been busy—a wonderful quilting retreat over Mother’s Day weekend.  More on sewing projects in future posts.  AC gets a dog park visit about once a day—where he plays with his doggy friends.  (This doggy toddler spreads toys and joy all over my house.)  The woods are too full of ticks and black flies right now, so the dog park it is.

And now it is time to buy hanging plants and to organize planting container pots and to get out ALL the summer yard gear, like the wind chimes.  The humming bird feeders are up, and the humming birds are here.

Both sons and their families are coming this summer, so I am looking forward to a really good summer season.

 

Turkey Tracks: “XOXO” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  April 27, 2019

“XOXO” Quilt

I love this quilt.

The two blocks are from my online class with Tara Faughnan, hosted by Amy Newbold of Sewtopia, and made with solid Moda fabrics.  Each month Tara shares one of the blocks she has designed, teaches us with written materials and how-to videos, and chooses a color palate which Amy Newbold of Sewtopia, which hosts the class, sends to us.    These blocks—Color Pop and Color Cross—are from the first two months of the class.

I quilted with big stitches and used size 8 perle cotton.  The backing is one of the Japanese fabrics that Rebecca Babb-Brott carries in her Etsy store, Sew Me A Song.  I bought it for another quilt, but didn’t use it after all.  I Love how it works here.  I had a time choosing which color binding to use—I actually bought a warm navy and, then, a yellow, but finally settled on the “sage” color that is in the quilt.  It works with the front and the back, so I’m happy.

The circle block is 6 inches finished, and the cross block is 8 inches finished—so the math works to align them at 4 circles and 3 crosses.

I always try to take a picture which I can print out 4X6 size and which I can slip into a photo card.  I use these cards for pretty much all correspondence.

While I sew at night, next to me, someone keeps me company.