Category: Low Country Living

Camellias and Glue

Good morning!

It is a rainy Saturday morning, and today I will finish the final top of my series of 3 tops made with the 1920-30’s reproduction fabrics. So, pics tomorrow most likely.

AND, the new and final block, the 6th, of my online class with Tara Faughnan dropped yesterday. It’s called “Wheels,” and I can’t wait to try to make it. My improv project with the other blocks on the design wall could use some round blocks. I have so enjoyed this class. Friend Betsy in Vermont is already at her sewing machine this morning as she sets out to start this new block.

Camellias bloom in South Carolina in the winter months. Son Bryan and DIL Corinne have the prettiest white one in the front of their house, and this year it is loaded with blooms. It is backed by a pink one that is also blooming this year, but there wasn’t an open bloom when I took this picture.

These plants are so pretty with their glossy green leaves.

I have one spot on the shady side of my house. I could put a camellia plant there. Hmmmm…

I listen to books upstairs when I sew. And my little iPod that fits into my Bose speaker started to come apart at the seams. The humidity? I don’t know. Anyway, I thought it worth a try to try to glue it, so off to Home Depot I went and came home with a Gorilla glue gel that would work with plastics.

With paper towels and plastic gloves, I glued around the edges and clamped them shut. YEAH!! It did work and the iPod will keep going for a while now.

With that success I thought to try to glue the top of my cheap sunglasses back to the frame. Clamps wouldn’t work, so I tried a rubber band.

Yep. That worked too. Only somehow I got glue on the lens–probably from the gloves–those baggy thin clear ones painters use–and when I cut the rubber bands off I scratched the lens. Ugh!

Still, the glue did work fine. The glasses were fixed except for the glue and the scratch.

New glasses from the drug store are now back in the car. I do need sunglasses here with the rich sunlight and my cataract/lens eyes.

Now, on to that quilt top upstairs. Then I have to quilt all 3 of them on the longarm and sew down the binding. The hand quilting project on “Happy” is coming along. That will take some time though.

My First “Sit and Sew” in South Carolina

I spent Saturday morning with some of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild members at their monthly Sit and Sew at the very fun fabric store Five-Eighth Seams (quilt fabrics and much more) over in North Charleston.

Cathy Beemer started teaching us how to make an incredible scrappy block that she is also making. Cathy is a MASTER piecer and quilter. This block is 30 inches square, and she will be making a quilt that is 90 by 90 with her scrappy blocks. Each block quarter piece will be scrappy and different.

Here’s an alternative center she showed us.

And a purple “lollipop” pattern.

More strip pattern ideas here–I could have taken more and more pics as Cathy showed us how to start off.

Cathy loves quilter Maria Shell’s work, of course. But she very much does her “own thing” too.

This quilt hung at Houston–I think she told me. And she has at least one quilt in this year’s QuiltCon, going on right now in Raleigh, NC.

I came home to the rest of my seafood chowder–cooked in the oven and made the day before.

And I keep meaning to show this picture of roasted veggies, just because they are so pretty. And, were delicious.

I’ve already color sorted my solid fabric strips and have cut out pieces for my first center. I’m going for the pinwheel!

But first, first…the last 1920-30’s reproduction quilt in the series of 3. It’s coming along.

“Triangles” Blocks

I’ve been having so much fun playing with the 5th of 6 block studies in my online class with Tara Faughnan.

This month Tara taught us a foundation piecing method where one does not sew INTO one’s paper pattern. I learned this method from Tara some years back, but then she used freezer paper. However, today’s freezer paper does not hold its “stickiness” for repeated use past 5 or 6 uses–so Tara figured out how to print a pattern onto regular printer paper and to get the needed “stick” with some glue.

I could not make my Sewline pen’s glue stick strongly enough–so I’m using the washable Elmer’s glue that is purple, but dries clear. I use the SMALL stick, not one of the larger ones. And it does not take much glue at all to get the result I need. Too much glue makes the paper stick to the fabric so that it’s hard to get the paper separated from the fabric–which results in the destruction of your paper patter.

Anyway, here’s my design wall now–after I spent days playing with three different sizes of triangles. I made big ones, medium ones, and smaller fat ones. And I put some around two sides of the “Lines” 9-patch block, which was fun.

The blocks won’t stay this way on the design wall of course. And the final, 6th block coming March 1 will alter things again. But I’m seeing that I do have three big pieces that can anchor a possible improv quilt.

Time will tell.

South Carolina Bird Beauties

DIL Corinne took a picture of this beautiful hawk recently. There was a pair, but one flew off before she could get a picture. I think it might be a red-shouldered hawk, but I could be wrong. Corinne thinks it is a broad-winged hawk. There is a link below if you want to explore further. Two hawks seen together could also be a parent and an offspring? Who knows?

When I walk, I pass two water retention ponds, and they team with birds. I have often seen a pair of hawks here too, and on my last walk, one circled above me and cried as it…hunted? The call is distinctive–a shrill kind of “whee.” 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id

This pond is on school property, is fenced, and is full of Canadian geese. But along the side you can see a big heron ( a Great Blue?) and a Snowy Egret. In the water, a cormorant swims. Often, outside the fence, a flock of White Ibis, with their distinctive long curved beaks, gather to fleece the grass for bugs.

The woods to the right are both firm and wet lands–and are the buffer between these two schools and my neighborhood. A buffer for now anyway–this land could get developed.

I’ve begun to wonder if, when the geese mate and raise babies, how they will “walk their broods to water,” given the fence.

How Cute!

Budgies, as created by a pattern by Bethanne Nemesh and shared on one of the Aurifil thread posts–see link below. These posts are always inspiring and fun to see. I like seeing them each week.

And you all know I love that “Love” fabric and use it a lot–Carrie Bloomston, “Newsprint.” These budgies are made by @ladydisews, or Diana Z on Instagram.

Screenshot

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I am admiring from a distance as I already have enough projects going and planned.

Bits and Pieces, January 31st, 2024

Good morning all!

Tomorrow Block 5 in Tara Faughnan’s “Block” class will arrive. It’s “triangles.” How fun is that?

I’ve walked 5 miles in the past three days–2, 1, and, yesterday, 2. What will today bring? It’s rainy, so whatever will happen will happen when things dry out a bit. But it is cool and that makes for wonderful walking. I play music and sing along some of the time.

I finished this top yesterday, and I love the secondary patterns. There is a feeling of, I don’t know, lace, in this top. I’ll back and bind with the neutral–so next I have to put together the backing and put her on the longarm to be basted so she stays straight while being quilted–and so I don’t have to worry about the needle apparatus catching wrong in a loose edge. I have no idea what pantograph to use on this quilt.

I would not choose to buy these 1920-30 reproduction fabrics today–but as you know, I’m on a mission to use up fabrics in my stash. And I do think these fabrics have worked well in this quilt.

I have a fair amount of fabric left over in all the colors I have–so, I’m playing with blocks on the design wall. When I attended my first Charleston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week, five or six members showed their 3 quilts each in a challenge to “riff” on fabrics and layout choices in a series. Is that what is playing in my head? Maybe… Those series of 3 quilts were really fun and inspiring.

BTW, the talent in this modern group is fabulous. One member has two quilts accepted into the big modern QuiltCon meeting in late February, held this year in Raleigh, NC. And, she had quilts in last year’s show as well. This member is a MASTER quilter–and it was so, so fun to see her work. Plus, she is so generous with her time with fellow members–and has a suggested project for our next Sit and Sew for an upcoming Saturday morning. I can’t wait.

I never get tired of seeing bright vegetable colors combined in a pan and ready to be roasted.

Here’s my main meal yesterday–which I didn’t get to until about 2 pm.

The potatoes with dill, salt, and drizzled with the nuevo olive oil from Organic Roots were leftovers and are now gone. So today I have to cook something starchy to go with the roasted veggies and chicken. Maybe French Fries in the Air Fryer. Now, there’s a treat! But maybe only if I walk 2 miles.

And, later, I’ll play more upstairs with those developing blocks. And still later, I’ll finish season 5 of Fargo and hand quilt on “Happy.” I’m assuming most of you know Fargo is funny, funky, and can be violent. It’s the Coen brothers and Noah Hawley, so be warned.

Cecilia Koppmann

Here’s a quilt from Cecilia Koppmann, a quilter from Argentina. Her work was featured in Simply Moderne magazine, one of two quilty magazines I get each year. (See citation info below the picture.)

I’m especially interested in this quilt, which is 60+ inches big, as I think she may have used the inset method I just learned from Tara Faughnan in the online “block” class I’m taking. That method is Dale Fleming’s “6-minute circle.”

“Eclipse”

Simply Moderne magazine, Issue Number 35, pages 40-47

I think it’s ok maybe to use this pic from the magazine since this quilt image is available to see on both Pinterest and Koppmann’s web site.

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/166773992423906364/

http://patchworkycia.blogspot.com/2014/05/

What I like about Simply Moderne is that it covers the quilting of people from all over the world. There are, also, projects included, and I’ve made quite a few of the over the years. This magazine’s issues are quarterly–so 4 a year.

My other favorite magazine is American Patchwork and Quilting.

More Knitting From Giovanna

Many of my blog readers liked seeing master knitter Giovanna’s recent work. She just sent me pics of two shawls she just finished and that are now blocked and ready to wear. Giovanna is one of my Camden, Maine, friends.

Giovanna is very generous with her work–so these two pieces will likely be gifts for lucky people.

This one below may be the piece I last sent to you–all blocked now.

I can’t even…

…imagine trying a knitting project like these. 

I do ok with fairly plain knitting and have a whole drawer of wool socks I made, but I decided long ago that to get better I had to knit a lot and that that would limit my sewing time. Also, I left all the hats and scarves I made in Maine as they would be way too warm for South Carolina. I also left my really heavy coats.

So, I leave this knitting to Giovanna and admire from a distance.

She is awesome.

Girlie and “Happy” And Me

Yesterday, “Happy” (the quilt I’m hand quilting) and I took Girlie car to my local Toyota dealer so Girlie could get a recall part she needed. It’s about a 30-minute trip to the dealer.

I knew the inspection and installation of the part would take several hours of waiting, so I packed up “Happy” for this outing.

I commandeered a table and two chairs in the expansive waiting room and set to work–and that made the hours pass swiftly. Included were chats with people who were interested in this quilt and this hand quilting process. Some told stories of the quilts their grandmothers made for their grandchildren. ”Happy” is one of the 7 handmade quilts for my 7 grandchildren.

The orange threads you see are the longarm machine basting, which I clip loose as I move along. I am sewing grid lines down the lines of dark centers with darker tread colors.

By the time I got home early afternoon and organized my noonish big dinner, ate, and cleaned up, it was mid-afternoon. The day then turned lazy–no walk but to the mail boxes–but by bedtime, I was almost finishing the last grid line. And that all felt just fine. I must have needed a lazy day.

Next up, the big circles to be done in pastel threads. Then the centers of the circles. 

And today is a rainy day, but I will walk in between, and I’ll sew upstairs on the 1920-30s quilt top.