Category: Turkey Tracks: My Life in Maine

Our Life in Maine, My Craft Projects, Quilting, Recipes, Book and Media Reviews

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ 2011 Challenge Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  May 23, 2011

Coastal Quilters’ 2011 Challenge Quilt

This year’s Coastal Quilters’ Challenge asked quilters to create a quilt that evoked a packaged product in the grocery store.  Called “The Grocery Store Challenge,” we had to use the colors in a label–all of them if less than four and at least four if more than four.  We could add black or white if we wanted.  And, we had to use some motif from the label in the quilt in some way.  The size was to be bigger as well:  20 1/2 ” square.

I do not buy many packaged products, if at all, so it took me some time to settle on using one of our local honeys as my product.  We buy it by the case.  I posted a picture of Green Hive Honey Farm earlier on the blog, but I printed my first ever fabric label from that picture for the quilt back.  Here it is on the back of the quilt:

Here’s the jar–which continues to entrance me–close up.  See the hexagon shapes embedded in the glass andn on the lid?

And, here’s the front of  “A Thousand Flowers”:

I wanted the flowers to literally be exploding from the honey jar.  The hexagon block is, of course, taken from the same motif on the jar, the label, and from a honey comb.  The green at the top of the quilt (see the tiny bees in the print) symbolizes the top of the “green” hive–and a green hive literally sits in the yard of the Green Hive Honey Farm folks.  The darker blocks at the bottom symbolize thousands of flowers being turned into honey, contained by a jar shape.  I stamped the bees at the top, the flowers in the pink borders, and some of the words.  I sewed in some of the words on the quilt, like “unheated” and “raw.”  I machine quilted long lines in the honey jar and curving lines around the jar.   Like the label, the binding is a darker pink.

The hexagons are made with the English Paper Piecing method.  One buys or makes paper templates, wraps the fabric around each one and bastes it down, then whip stitiches the blocks together.  Here’s what that process looks like:

Here’s a detail of the stamping (with acrylic paint), of the loose blocks appliqued to the quilt, and of some of the bee buttons, large and small, sewn to the quilt:

I had forgotten how the whip stitching of the blocks pulls, so that one sees those threads.  On the dark honey blocks, the lighter threads were disconcerting, so I painted them with fabric paints that came in pens.  It looks much better now.

I love this quilt.  This little thing took me FOREVER to make.  Many, many hours.  So, now it is done and will hang, with the other CQ Grocery Store Challenge Quilts in the Pine Tree Quilting Guild show in Augusta, Maine, in late July.  After it comes home, it will hang on the wall outside my quilt room.

Turkey Tracks: Sunny Saturday

Turkey Tracks:  May 23, 2011

Sunny Saturday

 For a brief shining few hours, we had some actual sunshine last Saturday.  John and I dropped everything else we had planned and worked in the yard.  He mowed, and the chickens loved that.  Four of them decided to take sun baths in the newly mown grass.

That’s the fenced garden in the background.  Soon enough now we have to fence the chickens instead.

I planted more peas, radish, and, for the first time, CUT SOME ASPARAGRAS spears.  This year is the third for the asparagras bed, and we’ve had three meals so far.  Asparagras cut fresh bears no relationship to what I’ve ever bought in a store.  It’s dead sweet and so tender.

We dragged down all the seedlings from the upstairs porch.  They’re more than a little leggy–still not enough light for them on the porch.  I’m hoping a few days in full daylight will green them up.  It’s probably wishful thinking for the tomatoes, at least.  The cabbage, broccoli, and Brussel sprouts may fare better.

Penny started barking madly on the driveway.  I thought she had cornered a garter snake.  But, here’s what she had:

A snapping turtle is not a thing with which to trifle.  When we called Penny off, the turtle moved out with astonishing speed.

You can’t see the claws on the front feet, but they’re pretty long.  Clearly s/he had followed what s/he thought was a waterway only to land up in our driveway.  When left alone, s/he redirected and headed for flowing water downstream from our hill.

Turkey Tracks: Running River and Returning Birds

Turkey Tracks:  May 23, 2011

Running River and Returning Birds

We’ve had a lot of rain this spring.  Last year this time I was planting beans, so the soil was already 65degrees.   This year is cool and wet.  So far.

Here’s a pic of the Megunticook River down by the Megunticook market.  Look at the white water!  And the many shades of green and orange/red.

 

The hummers have been back for several weeks and are delighting us with their crazy antics.  The Baltimore Orioles and the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, often called the Northern Cardinal, showed up this week.  Here’s a site where you can see what they look like if you don’t know:

http://www.northrup.org/photos/rose-breasted-grosbeak/

They’re pretty spectacular.  As are the Baltimore Orioles:

http://www.northrup.org/photos/oriole/

I’d put in pics, but I updated the browser, and how I do things (like pressing pictures) is momentarily part of a new learning curve!

Turkey Tracks: Charleston, SC, in May

Turkey Tracks:  May 22, 2011

Charleston, SC, in May

 We spent late April and early May in Charleston, SC, with our family performing grandparent tasks.  This trip we kept our four oldest grandchildren while their parents (Mike and Tami) had a little vacation–their first for longer than two nights in almost eight years.   These four children range from 7 1/2 to 3 1/2 years, and this is the first time we felt we could safely keep them all by ourselves, especially as they are all in school now and can, mostly, dress themselves.  Of course, we had to get them to two schools every morning for four days–thank heavens for Tami’s GPS system and the schools’ lunch programs.  And, pick them up mid-afternoon.

We immediately complicated this endeavor by keeping each one of them at home for a “special day”–which proved to be immensely enjoyable for everyone concerned–especially as we featured a trip to Hominey Grill as a part of each’s child’s day.  Talula holds the record for eating ALL of her pancakes, which she smothered with butter, honey, syrup, and jam!  I LOVE the fact that Talula is so adventuresome with food.

We were going to be backed up by our younger son and his wife, Bryan and Corinne, who also have a new baby, their first, Ailey, born last Thanksgiving.  The notion that B&C were nearby provided more than a little comfort as we had nightmares about broken bones, emergency medical issues, and the like.  We also had four chickens, a new bee hive, and an African water frog to keep well and alive.  (Fortunately no one got poisoned by the water frog, which I’ve read since carry pathogens that are causing the CDC to issue dire warnings about NOT handling these frogs.)

The children were fabulous, and just about the time we were all getting into a groove and Talulah stopped crying for her mother at, especially, bedtime, their parents came home.  Here is the only decent picture I took of the four of them.  And I can’t even remember when I took it as by the time they all went to bed, with clothes for the morning laid out, I went to bed too!

 Before I go any further, I want to put in a picture of Ailey, seen here with her grandfather, whom she is, at the moment, looking very like:

Here’s one of my favorite pictures of Talula.  I raised two boys, and let me tell you, girls are different than boys!  And this girl already has a sense of style that is unique.

 Here’s a pic of the four new chickens and their coop and yard.  The coop is MUCH smaller than Tami and I thought when looking online, but it’s quite nice and perfect for four chickens.  The milk bottles on the gate were an emergency measure to keep the chickens from flying out of the fenced area.  These chickens are red stars, or red sex links, and they are legendary for being gentle and sweet.  And, for being escape artists.  When Tami returned, we had to clip their wings, but they can STILL get out, I think, by jumping onto the fence bar at the top.

Here’s a pic of Tami and her friend, Kay, checking out the bees in the new hive:

Look at Kay in shorts!  Yet, it’s Tami who got stung.  My hat’s off to Tami, who while still a little nervous about the bees, has taken on bees as a project.  I’m not sure I could, and I am fascinated with bugs of all kinds.

And, to close out pics from this trip, here’s one of Ailey on her snuggly monkey and holding her own bottle!  Here she looks a bit like me.

I forgot to say that the jasmine was blooming and that it was warm enough to swim!

Turkey Tracks: The T-Shirt Rug and Rags

Turkey Tracks:  April 23, 2011

The T-Shirt Rug and Rags

On a very pretty and warm day last week or so, I switched out my winter clothes for spring/summer ones.  (I’ve been freezing practically every day since!)

In the process, I realized I had accumulated way too many stained t-shirts put aside for yard work or painting.  What to do with them?  I couldn’t bear to just throw them away, and I have a lot of rags already.  Or, so I thought.

I found myself wondering if I could weave strips of them into abraided  rug or placemat on the hand-looms.  But, I didn’t think I had enough for a rug, and I don’t need placemats right now…  Then, I remembered making Kelly’s rug out of potholder loops linked together.  So, I took the t-shirts to my sewing room and began cutting the thrunks, up to the arm pits, into strips with a rotary cutter, which slices right through the double layers.  I used a long ruler for stablity.  I cut the short sleeves off and realized I had a pretty nifty doubled rag of a nice size.  (I threw the long sleeves away once I realized they were too bulky to loop like the potholder loops.)  That left the armpits to the neck, which I slashed in half for two more rags.  (Cotton t-shirts make such nice soft rags.)  I divided the rag pile in half and put one-half in the laundry room and the other half in the kitchen bowl with the white washcloths I’ve been using.  (See earlier posts about NOT using so many paper products like paper towels.)

Connecting the loops like potholder loops made too bulky a knot.  So, I opened the loops, slit the ends, and looped the lengths together like I would while making a rag rug.  Since I wasn’t sure I would have enough materials for a braided rug, I decided to knit the strips on big needles (13s).  If you knit constantly, you get a garter stitch, which has interesting texture.  Here’s the start:

Here’s the finished rug:

It’s stretchy and endearingly rough looking and very sturdy.  It will work fine near doors for muddy, wet shoes/boots coming into the house.   It only took me a few nights to make it while watching movies.

Here it is in use–the mud/garden shoes came from Tara Derr Webb when she moved from Reston to California over…10 years???…ago.  I release and feed the chickens first thing in the morning, so I need a pair of mud shoes or winter boots very near the back door:

Now, here’s the fun part.   I’ve been looking for ways to cut down on paper towel use, and dripping out bacon strips was one of our last uses for paper towels.  I took two of the short sleeves this morning, put them on a plate, and used those.  Afterwards, I just threw them in the laundry.  I usually wash kitchen towels, etc., separately any way, so I think this use of the sleeve rags will work just fine!

Turkey Tracks: Noro Iro Sweater

Turkey Tracks:  April 19, 2011

Noro Iro Sweater

It’s finished.

And, it’s quite wild, isn’t it?

The color mixture is not really “me,” actually, but I’ll have fun with it next winter nevertheless.  I can see it worn with a VERY plain top and VERY plain pants/skirt.   I made a bubble hat with leftover yarn that, believe it or not, tames everything down a bit.

I like the buttons that Helen of Heavenly Socks in Belfast helped me pick out:  http://www.heavenlysocksyarns.com/.  Helen is the best!  She will order more yarn than SHE needs just to get what you want.  And she always encourages you to buy extra “just in case,” which she takes back if you don’t use it.   The buttons pick up the lime green bits in the yarn.

A reminder:  Noro yarns are variegated in brilliant colors in ways that are impossible to “match.”  They just knit up the way the color wants to arrive.  I was successful at some matching up though…

Turkey Tracks: Notebook Covers and Fabric Boxes

Turkey Tracks:  April 18, 2011

Notebook Covers and Fabric Boxes

 NOTEBOOK  COVERS

On Friday, April 8th, Barb Melchiskey of Coastal Quilters organized a workshop with Carol Boyer, who came to us from New York with Marty Bowne, the founder of Quilting By the Lake, to make notebook covers using our overflowing button collections.   Eight participants started at 9 a.m. and quit about 3 p.m.  Some of us went home (me) and sewed even more as the projects were so much fun.  (The workshop enrolled 10 participants, but two could not come last minute.)  You might recall the blog entry I made last year during Carol’s visit.  We learned to stamp and paint on fabric, and Carol brought some of the many dolls she also makes to show at the Saturday meeting. 

 Here’s a picture of Carol with the first prototype cover she made:

 

Here’s a picture of completed notebooks as Carol and Barb refined the method Carol taught, which used bias tape to edge the covers. 

 

 

Here’s a picture of a Carol Boyer cover in process:

 

Here’s a picture of the possible variety with these book covers—from plain to decorated—that I did. 

The fabric and buttons on the “Bloom” cover–and the idea for single blooms–came from People, Places, and Quilts in Summerville, SC.  Here’s their number:   1-843-871-8872.  They sell kits with the fabric, buttons, and a colorful array of embroidery floss.  Their focus is pillows, and they sell books with the most adorable “sayings” one could embroider on a pillow and then decorate with buttons.  Carol Boyer taught us to use buttons as both single blossoms and to make multiple button “petals.”  And, she taught us to use embroidery thread–the whole six strands–in some of the creative ways you see above. 

I beaded the central leaf in the reddish cover fairly heavily–yet the effect is still fairly subtle.  – And the navy cover is of a Japanese indigo fabric, so I’m playing off the idea of Sachiko. 

FABRIC BOXES

On Saturday, April 9th, Coastal Quilters hosted Cheri Raymond, who taught us how to make fabric boxes. 

I’m afraid I did not do a good job of taking pictures of the amazing color combinations of boxes being made all around me as I was obsessed with making my own box.  But, here is one Beth Guisely made (green box) that I bought at our auction last year.  And, the one I made (pink pigs) at the meeting, so you can see what we did:

I glued the silk cord into the box top on the pink pig box and attached the cord on the inside of Beth’s box.  I experimented with beading the top of Beth’s box, and that worked out well.  (The boxes are gifts for two of my granddaughters.

And, here are the elegant insides of Cheri’s design:

It turned out that Pat Vitalo has been making fabric boxes for some time.  Here’s a picture of Pat’s very clever boxes:

The large open one folds up and is held together by its top.  I think it’s intended to be a sewing kit…

Anyway, you can see the Coastal Quilters had an intensive sewing weekend!

Turkey Tracks: First Freedom Rangers

Turkey Tracks:  April 16, 2011

First Freedom Rangers

Here they are!

Our first Freedom Ranger chickens!

All 77 (75 plus two extras “in case”…) arrived at the Lincolnville, Maine, post office bright and early on Friday morning, April 15th.  Pete went to pick them up, and I met him at the house.  Margaret was there, too, as she was taking 15 of them.

As you can see, they are big, and lively.  There wasn’t a frail one in the bunch.

.

Freedom Rangers are good layers and good meat birds.  We will have some of each.

Freedom Rangers DO NOT HAVE any Cornish chicken in them, which makes them unique for meat birds.  The market, as I discussed in Tipping Points 9 on meat chickens, settled on meat birds which are all, virtually, Cornish or Cornish crosses.  The Cornish breed grows to over 5 pounds in 6 weeks and has a HUGE white, tasteless breast–produced for a market that went crazy about fat-free meat.  These chickens grow so quickly and are so heavy that their bones and organs won’t support them.  They are Frankensteins.  Their flesh has no texture and melts in your mouth.  Their bones don’t have the minerals they should have, so bone broths made from these bones aren’t as healthy as they should be.

Last year we tried Silver Cross’s–a cross between a barred rock and a Cornish.  The meat texture was lovely–like chicken I remember growing up.  The taste–was wanting.

Freedom Rangers are the same bird as the French sell under their Red label–which is highly sought after in France for taste and texture.

We’ll let you know in about 3 months.  Meanwhile, on Howe Hill, we have one frozen chicken left in the freezer.

Turkey Tracks: Spring Peepers

Turkey Tracks:  April 16, 2011

Spring Peepers

There are still a few patches of snow here and there, but the grass is greening up and bulbs are sprouting.   This past week, a clear herald of spring came:  the peepers started singing.

Peepers are tiny, tiny frogs with big, big voices.   They seem to live in wet lands, and we have one down the hill from us.  A little cold snap has silenced them for the past few days, but they’re stirring now.  I brought on the cold snap since I switched out my winter clothes for spring summer ones.  Unlike the peepers, I cannot crawl back into wherever it is that they winter.  Mud?

Here’s what they look like:

Here’s what they sound like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SM6leUVorY

Turkey Tracks: April 1st Blizzard

Turkey Tracks:  April 1, 2011

April 1st Blizzard

 

It’s no April Fool’s Joke.

We got over a foot of snow up here on Howe Hill today.

It’s very wet, very dense, and our power went out mid-morning.  Hooray!!!! for the generator we installed a few summers ago.   All in all, it’s been a very peaceful day, and most people stayed at home.  I am making notebook covers to decorate in a class I’m taking next week.  I use those old-fashioned composition books–which have come back and are quite popular now. 

 

 We had a flock of finches at the feeders all morning.  The males are turning yellow, so their breasts are now pale yellow–a sure sign of spring.  They will be neon yellow by summer.  I tried to take a picture of all of the flock–at least a dozen birds–but they kept spooking when I pointed the camera at them–except for this brave, or hungry, fellow:

 The chickens are lonely today.  They were so happy to see me when I checked on them mid-afternoon.  Three eggs!