Category: Turkey Tracks: My Life in Maine

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

Turkey Tracks: On the Longarm Today

Turkey Tracks:  November 22, 2018

On The Longarm Today

I fell in love with Victoria Finlay Wolfe’s herringbone quilt pattern.  She takes the notion of a braid quilt and gives it a whole new twist and then moves on again to take the pattern into all sorts of formations, including curves.  This pattern can be found in her book MODERN QUILT MAGIC.

I’ve been working on this quilt for some time—I found I need to make what I started longer to fit the wider size after I added additional strips.  The connection piecing is tedious, but once you get into the groove of how to “see” what goes with what, you can zip along.  Figuring length and width also was a learning curve for me.

But, boy do I like this quilt—it’s all low-volume Cotton+Steel.  (If you didn’t know it, C+S has disembarked from its current home.  The five designers have stayed together, have gone to Moda, and are now Ruby Star Society.  Their first collection for Moda will come at the spring market.)

 

Turkey Tracks: AC’s First Snow

Turkey Tracks:  November 20, 2018

AC’s First Snow

We got snow last Friday–and are getting more today.

Here’s a cute little video of AC Slater’s first encounter with snow.

 

As AC is a happy little dog who exudes boundless joy, it is no surprise he’s good in the snow.  Since this video we took a long walk over at Erikson’s and, at first, he was very cautious and stuck nearby.  But by the end of the first mile, he was back running through the woods.  His feet seemed to be fine in the cold snow.

Here are some pics of our snowy path:

We heard the playful voices of children as we walked–somewhere further on from us.  Laughter, shrieks of delight, and the joy of playing in the snow.  We finally saw them–a young mother and her children.

My heart lifted even further.

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern’s Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 1

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Mt. Battie Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 1

What a “Show and Tell” we had this month!

I’ve divided up this rich showing of work into three parts.

Nancy Wright brought her finished Traveling quilt—all done but for the binding.

It’s gorgeous!!

Nancy used this Cotton+Steel fabric (which I love and have used a lot) as her backing.

Tori Manzi brought her finished traveling quilt top:

 

We have been asked by our sister group, Coastal Quilters, to show the finished traveling quilts—and other Mt. Battie Modern quilts—in their February 2019 meeting.  So, we are working to get them done now.

 

 

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 2

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Turkey Tracks:  Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 2

Tori Manzi took an improv class with Kristy Daum last summer, and this quilt top is the result.  Rules included choosing a color family (blue here) with light and dark representations AND a “pop” color (bright pink) AND using solids with a specified minimum number of printed fabrics.  (Daum’s web site is stlouisfolkvictorian.com)

Tori has agreed to lead us in an improv workshop one day soon to try out this process, which she says is very interesting and freeing.

During the summer three years ago Becca Babb-Brott, Linda Satkowski, and myself decided to create “parts department” blocks for a future improv quilt.  We each made blocks and make enough of each block type for each other.  (The “parts department” idea comes from improv books by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, and I’m pretty sure I blogged about making some of the blocks that summer.)

Becca raided her parts department box recently and put this quilt together.  Linda and I had so much fun seeing the blocks we made in this quilt.  We three agreed that we learned a lot about how to make this kind of quilt from doing Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt this past year.  And LInda and I agreed that we really wanted to get into our own parts department boxes this winter.

AND, this kind of project could make a viable project down the road for Mt. Battie Modern.

Anne Bargetz made this jacket in our recent “Stay Retreat.”  It’s the “Women’s Kimnono Sleeve Jacket” from shopwiksten.com.

Anne used a Cotton+Steel print for the outer jacket.  She says it is warm and toasty and that she is using it a lot.  Several members said that they wanted to make the jacket as well.

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 3

Turkey Tracks:  November 17, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Show and Tell, November 2018, Part 3

Vicki Fletcher has been on a roll with her quilts.  This is the third one in recent weeks.  She calls this one “the dinosaur quilt,” and it is meant for a grandchild.

I love the sashing fabric she chose.

Nancy Wright will leave Maine shortly for her Florida winter home, so in addition to her finished traveling quilt, which she left with us to show, she brought the quilts she is working on or has finished.

Here is “Flight Effect,” a design by Dash Maslund of Falmouth Maine.  You can also see Dash featured on Kim Soper’s Leland Ave Studios website.  Maslund has a nice web site (Prow House Quilts) so you can see the various colors she uses for this quilt and other pieces of her work.

Here is Karen Lee’s “Cabin Quilt” (quiltaposy.com), made with Carolyn Friedlander fabrics.

I love the quilting pattern used on this quilt.  It has the feel of the large rectangles on the front and the rectangle’s center openings.

This quilt is Anna Maria Horner’s garden quilt.

Luscious, glorious fabrics…

Alewives Fabric in Damariscotta Mills, Maine, hosted a fairly recent workshop for AMH and this quilt.

So, as you can see, Mt. Battie Modern had a lively, fun meeting this month.  And wait until you see the projects with which we are challenging ourselves next!

On to 2019!

 

Turkey Tracks: Portable Sewing Machine Table

Turkey Tracks:  November 14, 2018

Portable Sewing Machine Table

I have watched how this SewEzi portable table works for friends for a few years now.

I do a lot of sewing outside the house.

This table has an insert and an undertable that makes your machine sit flat against the table’s surface.

It’s easy to fold up, is sturdy, has a heavy cover to protect it during transport, is light to lift, and I could go on.

I love it!

You order the right insert for your machine.

The price is reasonable, and the shipping was prompt.  Very little to put together when it arrived—just the right components for YOUR machine.

Turkey Tracks: Slaty Magic

Turkey Tracks:  November 13, 2018

Slaty Magic

AC Slater is probably the last puppy I will every own and train.  If there is another dog in my future, it won’t be a puppy because it would not be fair to the puppy with all his/her puppy energy.  But I’m so enjoying working with AC Slater, who is now 7 months old.  It’s been magic to be out in the woods with a joyful companion who wants to work with me in some way.  So I beg patience from my readers as I experience this doggie magic.

AC on paper is a terrier/hound mix.  He’s a mutt.  He may be the smartest dog I’ve ever had, and he’s as sweet as he can be.  But there’s plenty of fiesty in that body too—along with some retriever genes.  He discovered this past week that he loves water and wants so badly to retrieve something in the water.  By summer he’ll be swimming for tossed sticks I’m sure.  Right now the water is getting too cold, and he has not figured out yet that he can swim.  I come home with a wet dog after every walk, which is ok too.

He points.  He runs ahead to spots he’s found on our walks, points them, and waits in some sort of frozen position for Penny and me to catch up.  He will not move off the spot until I comment on it.

Here there is a hole in the ground on a downhill slope, so it slants down the hill.  Is it an animal den of some sort?  I don’t know.  AC thinks it is highly suspicious though.

Culverts are another attraction, and there are lots of them along our pathways.  Most are small, and I worry he’ll try to go inside and get trapped.  But, here’s one he’s learned he can travel through.  Needless to say, it’s a favorite spot, and he has to go back and forth numerous times before we move on.

I live in an ideal place for dogs.  There are so many pathways where we can let dogs who behave run off leash.  Yes, we pick up doggie waste—or many of us do.  But a young dog like AC can run out his kinks every day.  And owners can go into the woods and fields, can get close to nature, and do get in a good walk themselves.

A few weeks past I bought a year pass to the Maine state parks—and walked one of the paths with the doggies.  The woods were spectacularly orange and gold and red.  It was a treat!  This time of year and mid-week, few people are on many of the trails.  (I carry a phone, and the trails are wide and beautiful.)  So, Slaty runs free once we are away from the trail entrance.

Penny does not like AC’s puppy energy, but she loves to snuggle with him when he’s quieter.  He is a huge snuggler who wants to be plastered to or on other bodies.  I am on the left of them both in this picture.

Today we have heavy rain, so I don’t know if there will be a break for a walk.  I will miss it, and so will AC.  Penny will be quite happy to stay in her bed.

 

Turkey Tracks: Rolling Your Seams

Turkey Tracks:  November 1, 2018

Rolling Your Paper-Pieced Seams

Here’s a new trick for me, courtesy of friend Tori Manzi:  use a brayer tool to roll your foundation/paper-pieced seams or short seams without having to iron them.  Here I’m putting together strips for Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone braid quilt design.  I only need a short piece of the previous seam to lie flat.

I got my brayer on Amazon, and it was under $10.  It now lives in my travel pack of scissors, etc.

Thanks Tori!!

Turkey Tracks: Blue Hubbards and Fall Food Bounty

Turkey Tracks:  November 1, 2018

Blue Hubbards and Fall Food Bounty

Fall and winter vegetables have been harvested now.

I grew these Blue Hubbards.  The big one on the right is the normal size.  The vines ran all over the place this year, but did not seem to be setting fruit until well into August.  I did not think I would get a single big Blue.  Imagine my surprise when I found these beauties hiding in the mass of vines.

Blue Hubbards are terrific keepers, and I love the flavor.  I will either roast them whole or will cut them into slices, cut off the really tough skin, and will roast the flesh pieces with a healthy fat, rosemary, and garlic.

 

Here’s what I came home with my last pick-up at my CSA, Hope’s Edge.  CSA means Community Shared Agriculture.  One pays a little in the late fall to reserve a place and provide seed money for the farmer.  The rest is paid in the spring—it amounts to about $20 a week and I get much more value than that as the season progresses.  Below is produce worth way more than $20.  These delicious vegetables will keep a long time when properly stored, and I will be fed by Hope’s Edge for many, many weeks to follow.

When I got more greens like kale or beet greens than I could eat in a week, I blanched them and froze the extra portions.  So, now I have some packages of greens ready to be defrosted and eaten this winter.

I started thinking about my own garden and what came out of it this year:  strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, haricot bush beans (filet beans), radishes, lots of gorgeous lettuce, herbs (parsley, rosemary, basil, French tarragon, mint, multiple thymes, multiple sages, chives, nasturtium flowers and leaves), garlic, zucchini, and the blue hubbards.

Despite the cool weather and the drought, it was a good growing year.

Turkey Tracks: More Mt. Battie Tula Pink Quilts in Our October 2018 Meeting

Turkey Tracks:  October 30, 2018

More Mt. Battie Tula Pink Quilts

In Our October 2018 Meeting

Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Quilt Blocks were a challenge started in, I think, 2016.  Quite a few Coastal Quilters and Mt. Battie Modern members made these blocks.  Here are a few more:

Linda Satkowski set her blocks in dark grey—in the city scape format and with color groups together.  I am a bit nutty over dark grey these days, so of course I love this quilt top!

 

Becca Babb-Brott’s top was finished in early spring, but she had a really busy summer, as did I.  So we finally slowed  down and got her quilt on the long arm a few weeks ago.

She chose to do a simple wavy line—not wanting to take away from the setting and blocks.  The wavy lines are like wind blowing against the buildings of the city scape format.

Tori Manzi opted to set her blocks without sashing and with color blocks.  Wow!  What a pretty quilt!

 

Tori used Carolyn Friedlander’s new text fabric that has big letters.  Boy do I like that fabric.