Our Life in Maine, My Craft Projects, Quilting, Recipes, Book and Media Reviews
Turkey Tracks: October 9, 2018
She’s finished it and is putting on the binding!
It’s a spectacular quilt!
The longarm quilting is awesome in both the sashing and the individual blocks.
Here’s her backing. I also like the darker binding she chose. It’s making a really nice final framing.
Go Lynn!
Turkey Tracks: October 9, 2018
It’s done!
And it’s another quilt that has surprised me in that I really like it.
Jen Kingwell designed this improv quilt, which uses traditional block forms but in an improv setting.
I quilted with a light grey thread and “McTavished” it. I really love the texture formed with this dense quilting method.
The backing is also a Cotton+Steel fabric. I wanted something where the quilting would not show all that much. A colored fabric just wasn’t working for me. The first fabric I chose was orange (one of the big butterfly prints), and I didn’t like how the grey thread was looking on the orange. I bound with the same backing fabric.
Here are some random pics of blocks on the front:
I like how the black and neutral fabrics are working in this quilt, which is another reason that kind of backing was better for the quilt.
Slater helps with everything I do. Everything.
Turkey Tracks: October 7 , 2018
I am so lucky here in Maine to have access to gorgeous “wellness” and other woods paths where one can take one’s dogs and walk them off-leash, providing they are well behaved and that any waste is picked up. Even having to walk a dog on leash is better than village streets and sidewalks. There is so much more for everyone to see, and a dog like Slaty can really work out his kinks.
Here’s the start of one such trail.
To walk a dog free of a leash, the dog must come when called. Every time. Slaty does, thanks to the training method I learned years ago: Peter Loeb’s SMARTER THAN YOU THINK.
The woods are beginning to show the advent of fall. The ferns are all turning color now, and some of the trees are as well.
The woods are becoming a fairy land of gold, orange, and red.
While No No Penny and I stick to the path, Slaty is making big circles out to our right or left, running at full bore through the woods, underbrush, and over rocks. He often finishes a circuit by coming up behind us on the path at full speed.
I can see him up ahead of us, but sometimes I lose him in the dappled shadows of the woods. “Slaty where are you?” Always makes him pop back on the path so I can see him.
The underbrush can be dense in our woods.
At times he waits for us in the bends of the path. He always knows exactly where we are.
After some recent rain, the woods are full of brightly colored mushrooms. Here are pictures of the yellow Amanita muscaria, whose common name is Fly Agaric. Yes, it is poisonous, but it is so pretty. As it ages, it turns deep orange near the center. It often has sort of scaly patches over the cap, remants of a covering (voluval) when it begins to emerge from the soil. I saw patches of 40 or more in these woods.
Here mushrooms work to degrade a rotting tree. This particular kind of shelf mushroom is not poisonous, but not really edible. Some are, though, like the delicious Chicken of the Woods and Oyster mushrooms.
A spur of the path crosses a stream:
This huge old beauty is on the down-hill swing:
And now Slaty comes, even when he’s tired.
This path, with its spur, is about 2 miles. It’s a joyful gift.
Turkey Tracks: October 7, 2016
I’ve seen him raise his right front foot numerous times now if he thinks “there’s something in those bushes” when he’s out in the woods with me.
He’s mostly Jack Russle terrior, for sure. There’s some hound—his big old bark is hound. But somewhere, there’s some hunting dog pointer. His tail does not go out straight. Instead it curves over his back. But the point is there. You’ll see it at the end of this little video.
This dog is so much fun!
Turkey Tracks: October 4, 2018
Lynn Vermeulen has completed her New York Beauty quilt.
Next to Churn Dash, this block is my favorite quilting block. Lynn’s quilt is AWESOME!
Tori Manzi’s Katja Marek millifiore is taking shape now. Tori and Becca Babb-Brott have figured out a way to sew these blocks without using paper piecing and glue sticks or thread basting. They swear it is much faster and easier on the wrists.
Margaret Elaine Jinno’s medallion center to a Jen Kingwell quilt is almost done.
Sarah Ann Smith showed us her new lupine quilt. Check out Sarah’s blog for more of her work. Sarah is a nationally recognized quilter and teaches at the Houston Show, among other places. She had her own exhibit there this past year. Sarah is known for her quilting, in particular, and has published at least two major books.
Turkey Tracks: October 3, 2018
Mt. Battie Modern challenged members to make Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt, starting in January 2018. We set up a schedule to make the separate blocks and allowed enough time to put the quilt top together. At our September meeting, quilt tops started showing up. Each is different, and each is wonderful. The makers really had fun with how they chose fabric for the blocks, and many makers changed Kingwell’s scrappy block format to something else.
Here is Karen Martin’s quilt top. She chose a srappy format. And note that her border features Kaffe Fasset “coin” fabrics.
Tori Manzi chose to use Moda’s “Grunge” fabrics. And you can see that she had a whole lot of fun with her pineapple blocks in particular. She is going to add a border, and we talked about what she thought she would do next.
Lynn Vermeulen’s top pieces are done, and she is sewing together the sections now. We were able to lay it out though. Lynn chose to use solid fabrics, and look how sparkly her quilt is. Right now, Lynn is saying she’s going borderless.
My top is now off the long-arm, and I’ve got one more side to bind. So, look for pics to come soon. I used all Cotton+Steel fabrics and changed the border treatment to a piano keys format.
I’ve included a selection of blocks from various quilts to show some of the variety in the quilts. Tori gets th eprize for altering pineapple blocks.
Becca Babb Brott is putting her quilt together now.
Betsy Maislen has been volunteering on the J&E Riggin windjammer for the past month and is off to a river cruise in Europe. Her blocks are mostly done, and she will finish when she gets home.
Linda Satkowski is also traveling, so we will see her top soon I’m sure.
Turkey Tracks: September 19, 2018
I wrote this post last week as well. I’ve since finished quilting this quilt and am sewing on binding now. Pics to follow in a few days.
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Yep! It’s been done since early September.
But as I said, I’ve been really busy.
To remind: this quilt is “Long Time Gone,” a Jen Kingwell pattern. This quilt was a challenge issued by the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild, and we started making blocks in January.
I did not use Kingwell’s border treatment, opting instead for the piano keys border.
The quilt is 100% Cotton+Steel fabrics, and I like it a lot.
I’ll likely get it on the long arm any day now, especially as I finally settled on a backing. I had a backing that didn’t work with a light grey thread, which I need for the front I think. That’s how that goes. The discarded backing will find a new place. And I’ll show the one I chose when I’ve finished the quilt.
Turkey Tracks: September 20, 2018
I wrote this post last week, but am just getting around to posting it today.
Tuesday is Hope’s Edge CSA pick-up day.
And this past Tuesday I picked up my year’s supply of local raw honey: Sparky’s Honey. The back of the car was filled with local goodies. You can see a description of the kind of food I get from Hope’s Edge in an earlier post.
AC Slater continues to be a honey lamb. Here he is on his “perch.” The rock wall houses numerous chipmunks, and AC is “on the job” with regard to anything that moves or makes noise on my property.
I am loving how this strip by the path is looking–so cheerful with the zinnias that replaced earlier daffodils. That Blue Hubbard squash vine has not produced a single fruit this year. It’s been a kind of strange squash year in my area.
I like this zinnia variety.
I let the early pansies stay too long in the barrels–just could not part with them. When I finally overprinted, the plants took off. I am especially liking the purple salvia (?) and the small asters that are just starting to bloom.
I am breaking down spent pots and starting to put summer things away. The hammock has been stored. And the porch pillows. I can’t let go of the hanging baskets or the wind chimes yet. Soon enough…
Not much sewing happening what with AC Slater, but he is settling really well now, so I’ll have more time. I am excited about winter sewing projects.
October 3, 2018
A friend sent me a post on this art/quilting project by Adriene Hughes.
I thought you might enjoy the creativity involved.
Turkey Tracks: September 30, 2017
I now have two co-pilots in the car. I can’t believe how far AC Slater has come in just a month. He may be the smartest dog I’ve ever had, and No No Penny (Penelope), seen here on the left, is super smart.
He comes EVERY TIME he’s called now—running to me with joy and delight. He’s learning the boundaries of the radio fence. (See his pink collar in the picture—it has been through 2 dogs now and used to be red.) He is learning to walk beside me without a leash to the command “Stay by me.” He’s learning language really fast. We had about a week of no potty accidents, then a poo accident yesterday, but at the door to go out—and I caught him in the act—so he knew it was bad, bad. He was embarrassed and immediately regretful. He is just 6 months now.
With the radio collar, I can let him outside as often as he wants. He is “on the job” with the squirrels and chipmunks. I had an infestation of these this year, so that’s great. Hoping no skunk episode. Or porcupine.
AC wants to help with anything and everything outside. If I’m removing a spent plant from a pot, he helps with the pruning by pulling at plant pieces with his mouth. If I’m digging, he helps. He follows me everywhere, looking for work connections with me. I think that spending the night with him in an inn near where I met Casey bonded us. That was a good move.
I would also note that I train with Peter Loeb’s method, from the book SMARTER THAN YOU THINK. This method is not punative in any way, but relies on getting a dog to hear your voice no matter what, making you the dog’s “safe place,” and does not use treats to reinforce behavior. The dog works with you because s/he wants to bond with you and be with you, not because of any punishments for bad behavior.
I love his tremendous energy and his happiness and his sweetness. I have access to woods/fields walks where he can go unleashed. We ran across a really sweet man and his dog the other day on one of these trails, and I called out to him that “he doesn’t bite; he’s a new rescue” as AC had run ahead of me. (When this happens, he always runs back to me as I am his safety place.). The man said: “well, you hit the Jackpot, didn’t you?” Hmmmm. Jackpot may be the new nickname as both of us hit the Jackpot.
On this same walk, we met two women with four small dogs, one a female Jack Russel terrier. She was the miniature of AC, who was taller than she was. So, yes, there is a LOT of Jack Russel in him. They ran in circles around us in sheer joy.
AC runs ahead of us, but waits for the two old ladies (me and No No Penny) to catch up when the path curves and he cannot see us. He takes circular side trips out into the woods, running full bore, but never loses knowing where we are. Thus, he gets in the running he needs. And NNPenny and I are moving faster each day and increasing our distance. Thus, I have not needed to use the dog park so much—and there are some problems with the other dog park dogs, where there is a lot of humping going on. That’s a whole other topic.
I love this boy to pieces! Thank you Casey Carter of Rock City Rescue in Arkansas and foster mother Ashlyn for doing the necessary work to get such a fine dog to me. I am forever grateful.
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