The Tara Faughnan online block class released the 5th of 6 blocks February 1st, and I’ve been having such fun playing with this “triangles” method Tara teaches. But more on that in a few days when I make myself…stop.
When I visited the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild a few weeks ago, I was entranced by a guild challenge that many had finished and showed that night. They each made a series of quilts: fabric and units from the primary quilt then were used to make the second quilt, followed by the first and second quilts being used to make something creative for the third quilt.
Ah, I had finished this as yet unnamed and unquilted quilt top using reproduction 1920-1930 fabrics I had in my stash (for 20 years). And I still had a lot of fabric left.
So, this smaller top happened. It’s a good baby size, 48 by 48. I’m calling it “Bubbles.”
What to do for the third quilt in my series?
This, I think.
I’ll likely keep it to a baby quilt size, but you never can tell. There is still a fair amount of fabric left.
I can’t wait to show you my design wall whenI finish up with the “triangle” project in a few days. Then I will return to the above quilt project until I can “call it a day” for using up these fabrics.
This post will be my last post in Maine. Next week, after getting to Charleston, SC, hopefully on Sunday, I’ll work on changing the name and regional focus of this blog. I’m thinking of something like “Living in the Low Country” or “My Low Country Adventure.” If YOU have ideas for a catchy new blog title, let me know in the comments?
The movers will be here Wednesday and Thursday, and I am mostly ready. I will leave here Friday to meet my two sons in Portland. They are flying in to drive me to Charleston. With my mast cell disorder, it isn’t wise for me to try to drive myself. What if I get triggered along the way and have a bad reaction? I will bring my own food in a cooler, but triggers can happen with chemical smells created by too many people sharing in a small space all their body and laundry products. Or, in a hotel room that likely gets sprayed to control insects and/or has residues from cleaning and laundry soaps.
The second contract on my Maine house failed late Tuesday last week. But I’m moving anyway. I have an excellent house caretaking team here, and all agree that I should just go ahead and leave the house in their capable hands–so I don’t have to hang around here all by myself (again) during the upcoming holidays. Thus, this Christmas I will be with family after many, many years of being alone in these winter holidays.
I want to be with my family–and I’m very much at peace with this decision to go. The house will sell when it sells, and it will sell at some point. It is a beautiful house–and I have loved every minute of living in it and living in Maine and living in the Camden community.
Somehow I’ve erased by mistake my favorite picture of the house and garage. Oh my! But I used my favorite fairly recent picture as the wallpaper on my iPad Pro, so I was able to at least get a screenshot of it, though I could not get rid of the time stamp from last year.
Here’s the house from another angle.
I will miss the lush green of a Maine summer, hikes through beautiful woods filled with ferns and the smell of fir trees, the cooler temps, the SNOW, the bracing sharp clean air, the very different and beautiful light changes in a place so far north and east, the stunning sun rises and sunsets, the dark sky filled with a huge moon and bright stars, many vistas from high hills that look out over the bay… I can go on as Maine has been a gift of the soul.
But I’ll be regaining family and a kin network that is much closer, access to a beautiful beach, a place filled with parks and nature walks, a new house to make a home, and a whole new adventure. I’m excited about the change and the new explorations to come.
Here’s one more picture, but there are many on this blog taken over the years.
I have been so busy since Tuesday doing the last packing and organizing. But here’s the progress on the 1 1/2-inch blocks from the Cotton+Steel project of the last two years. The two patches have all been sewn into four-patches.
And here are the four-patches being joined into strips that when sewn together will make a 4 1/2-inch (unfinished) block.
Four blocks make an 8 1/2-inch bigger block.
But then what?
I can set these blocks with sashings. Or, even, wonky-sashing settings. Perhaps that solution would depend upon how many blocks I wind up with–though I can augment somewhat from the bin of 1/1/2 C+S strips.
Or I can set them all together–or at least some of them–to make some sort of medallion center.
However, due to the lack of CLEAR darks and lights, the above bigger joining seems somewhat incoherent to me. So I’m NOT going to go this direction.
Right now with the move, I might be able to carve out enough time in the next few days to make all the 8 1/2 inch blocks, which I’ll put back into the bin holding the leftover C+S pieces and blocks, like a good pile of Churn Dash blocks, the 2-inch squares, and some other odd leftover pieces–some sewn into pieces that can be used somewhere.
I’ll try to post again when I am in Charleston. Meanwhile, enjoy this season of dark nights and starry skies and all the gatherings you might have that hopefully include good food and much cheer.
I’ve been working for some days now–when I have time between packing, organizing all the “moving” parts of the move (pun intended) to South Carolina, and the general upkeep of the house and cooking–bringing order to the 1 1/2-inch squares created by trimming in the Cotton+Steel project of the past years.
The pile is going down–even though I have had to cut more neutrals in order to make a 4-patch that has neutrals and colors. On the right, you can see layered blocks ready to sew.
I’ve reached the point where I can organize better by color.
Here’s a picture of strings of sewn two patches on the ironing board that are ready to be ironed.
Next I’ll sew two 2-patches together to create a 4-patch that when used, will form diagonal lines in this project–as can be seen in this picture, which also includes the 2-inch 9-patch blocks that will also form diagonal lines.
I’m not sure how I’ll use the 8-in blocks I will create with the 1 1/2-inch squares. Maybe I’ll surround them with sashing so each block is set off by itself and can shine. Maybe I’ll just but the finished blocks back into the C+S “parts department” bin.
In any case, the time spent organizing, piecing, ironing, and planning is soothing to me–so I try to make some time each day for this project.
It is a sunny, cold morning here in Maine. And I have been steadily working away this morning at organizing all the moving parts involved in my move to Charleston, SC, in mid-December. And, with catching up with emails and messages to friends. I am making great progress in crossing off items in my many “to do” lists.
In just a bit I’ll stop working here and make a stir-fry with a package of gifted deer meat that I’ve been hoarding. I love deer. And lamb. I find that one either does or does not like these stronger, gamier, meats.
I’ve been able to carve out a bit of sewing time in recent days. I now have made four rows of the Traverse Block-of-the Month project designed by Tara Faughnan and hosted by Sewtopia. I did not want to fall behind during the move, and I’ve taken four of Tara’s The Color Collective classes and made her astonishingly gorgeous wedding quilt pattern, so I did not have any trouble with making these rows–once I got over the exacting flying geese rows, which I seemed to have made much harder than they needed to be.
The green and yellowish row of little squares is surrounded by its two sashing rows as I had those fabrics on hand, and it will sit at the top of the quilt. (See the previous post for a picture of the whole quilt).
So now what? I opened the box of what’s left from my year(s) long Cotton+Steel projects. There are bags of 1 1/2 and 2-inch squares, some rectangles of two blocks, and the long strips cut for the Churn Dash blocks (only a few of those left now). Sewing the small squares into blocks is fairly mindless and soothing, so that’s what I did yesterday.
The 2-inch squares will make a good size lap quilt. The 1 1/2-inch block measures 8 inches finished–and I’m not sure where that one is going yet. And I will need a few more Churn Dash blocks to make a good lap size quilt, but not many.
It’s good to have this sewing time while I wait for the Due Diligence period of the contract to finish on December 5th. After that, I will do the last of the serious packing and cleaning.
Time is moving fast, even during this quieter period.
The contract about which I last wrote fell through. But there is another one now, so I have a new closing date (December 28) and a new moving date (December 15). The due diligence time (8 days this time) started today and will end December 3rd. And a formal inspection will be done tomorrow. During due diligence buyers can back out of the contract if an issue is found that they feel makes buying the house not a good idea for them, for whatever reason.
The great news is that if this contract holds, I’ll be able to buy “my house” in Charleston after the December 28 closing here. I am trying not to get completely giddy over that possibility.
Both sons are coming on the 16th (we are meeting in Portland near the airport) to drive me to Charleston as I cannot fly and don’t feel like I could drive myself down the I95 East Coast urban corridor for 20+ hours. But what a gift to be with both sons at once in a car for 20 hours! My life in Maine has not included driving in urban traffic or for long periods of time, so at almost 78 I feel so grateful for all the family support I am getting to make this move not only happen, but to be a happy occasion.
During radon testing in the failed contract due diligence period, it emerged that there is an air/radon problem here, but that knowledge emerged only after the contract fell through for some other reason. Plans are now in place to mitigate that issue asap.
I have learned a lot about air radon and radon mitigation over recent weeks. It takes 48 hours for a machine to test for indoor radon, while doors stay shut except for going and coming. It’s winter, so all the windows are already shut. The mitigation will involves drilling down through the utility room slab to install a vent pipe (powered by a fan) that takes the radon air outside and over the roof–and that drilling is complicated by the radiant heat pipes in the lower floor. But there is a very nifty infrared camera that can show where the pipes are–but shows the pipes clearly after the heat is turned off overnight and restarted the next morning. Brrrrr!
Since I can’t do any more packing until the due diligence period is over, I got bored. I unpacked the Janome 6600 and its Sew-Ezi portable table–which positions the machine so it is flush to the table top–and set up a little sewing station in the quilt room that is now full of packed boxes and items that “will move” from other parts of the house.
I have four monthly fabric packets from Sewtopia for the Tara Faughnan designed block-of-the month Traverse quilt project. Each month’s fabrics makes one of the rows in the quilt–and some months have multiple rows of the same design that are repeated on the quilt. I am working on row 4 now, and it has 3 rows. It’s the row at the top of the quilt with the small green squares.
Here is a picture of Tara Faughnan’s sample quilt–done in the Windham Artisan “shot” cotton solids, which I chose. Other choices were Kona solid cottons in colors or neutrals or the Artisan cottons in neutrals. All of these quilts are beautiful, and the rows are fun to make, though the two flying geese rows were super challenging for me as each row needs to measure 72 1/2 inches.
Sooo…
I will be less anxious when the due diligence 8 days are over and the air/radon problem is mitigated, but I’m getting much better at just letting what I cannot manage go. All is just going to be what it is, and I am flexible with what life puts in my path for the most part–even when disappointment occurs.
I will miss Maine, for sure. But I miss my family much more. And I’m truly excited about living close to them again. The years since John died in January 2013 have been so good for me as I learned I can live on my own and that I can cope when life gets messy.
I suppose in that way I am choosing to be happy, no matter what. And I have so much for which to be happy.
PS: I learned this week that Jackpot has been adopted by a local family–after he visited them with his foster caregiver to see if JP and the family were happy with each other.
Raspberries, Japanese Beetles, and ”Wyoming Stars” Quilt Top
The raspberries are coming in strong these days. I pick every day, and I get more and more berries every day. I have frozen some, eaten a lot, and given away a lot. Here’s what I picked late yesterday:
And here’s the beauty the flower garden provided yesterday:
One more row is needed on the ”Wyoming Stars” quilt. The secondary patterns are fascinating. It will be a good lap size: 60 by 60 inches. So far. I’ll see what is needed after I sew this part together.
Japanese beetles love raspberries and roses and will eat leaves until they are like lace. They emerge in the summer, about the time raspberries are starting to fruit.
What to do?
I think working with nature is the best answer—as there is a small grayish fly, the ”Winsome” fly—Istocheta aldrichi—that is a parasitoid and which emerges alongside the beetles. Winsome females lay eggs on the Japanese beetles back—on the thorax, which is just behind the head. You can see the little white dot which contains the eggs on the back of a beetle that Winsome has attacked. AND, these attacks occur BEFORE the JB lays its own eggs (40-60 eggs yearly). One larva hatches on the beetle and penetrates the beetle, which drops to the ground and tries to dig into the dirt as it is already sick. The Winsome’s larva eat the beetle, but stay with the carcass, and turn into a pupa, which emerges in the fly form next year, which seriously alters the beetles presence over time.
When I had my raspberries in the front garden, before I started over as the plants were too hard to harvest on the steep hill, I used to see a lot of the JBs with the white dots—and the number of beetles DID decrease over time.
The JBs mostly do not fly in from elsewhere, like other insects. They stay with their food source for the most part: raspberry bushes and roses. Control the numbers, and you control the problem.
I sweep a batch of beetles from a leaf into my hand and fist them. Then I release one at a time and check to see if I see the white dot. If so, that beetle goes free. If not, I kill that one with my thumbnail. I’m not squeamish about this murder, but if someone is, they could drop that beetle into a jar of soapy water and when they are done, cover the jar.
“Wyoming Bear Paws” is the 9th quilt made from my winter project of using up the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabric stash. The 10th quilt is growing on the design wall: ”Wyoming Stars.” And it has astonishing secondary patterns happening, which is so fun.
I was able to make a scrappy backing, but I don’t think I’ll have enough big pieces of fabric to make a scrappy backing for ”Wyoming Stars.” Of course, Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society are still making delicious prints. And I might fall into that pit. BUT, I might also use up existing stash of other fabrics. To remind, though, all of the C+S/RS fabrics use the same dyes over the years, so the fabrics ”go together” well.
Many of these bigger pieces of fabrics in this backing were ones that didn’t cut into small quilting pieces well. They needed bigger blocks, and I tend to piece with smaller pieces. That’s not true for the tiger print though. I love that print and tend to hoard it. And it comes in lots of fun colors.
I used the ”Bayside” pantograph and a soft grey thread (Signature).
As I’ve said before, it takes a deep stash to get this kind of scrappy variety in a quilt. It’s been so much fun to work with these fabrics all winter. Hmmm…and now most of the summer.
There is an adorable little girl out in Wyoming who will also need a quilt from me.
Astonishing Secondary Patterns in ”Wyoming Stars” Blocks
I totally didn’t foresee these astonishing secondary patterns forming in the ”Wyoming Stars” quilt blocks I’m now making from the leftover 3-inch strips I cut for the Churn Dash blocks—out of the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society stash I had. (This traditional block is just 1/2-square triangles and 3-inch squares at the corners—but I’m calling it ”Wyoming Stars” as this quilt is going eventually to a great-nephew who lives in Wyoming.)
I went back and forth with whether ot make the block’s center dark or light—and so it is very fun to see the larger star in the secondary patterns with a light center. And what about those dark strips that are forming? My goodness! I’m loving this project.
I’m out of pinks and oranges now, so I rooted in my regular stash to find some that will work with the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society color ranges—which have remained consistent over the years.
Son Bryan and family are coming tomorrow—so postings may be a bit light for the next two weeks.
I have not seen most of my two Charleston, SC, families in TWO YEARS! So I am very excited about tomorrow’s reunion.
Yesterday was a rainy day. I diddled away the morning with this or that, ate the last of the chicken salad for lunch (and had enough to make my salad dinner which got topped also with a fried egg), had a nice coffee visit with Giovanna McCarthy, and then finished the pieced backing for ”Wyoming Bear Paws” and have begun the process of putting it on the longarm and basting it.
While I’ve made many quilts over the years using only Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star fabrics, this top is the 8th from this winter’s project of cutting up and using my apparently considerable stash of these fabrics. I will be able to get one more lap-size top for sure—“Wyoming Stars”—and maybe random Churn Dash blocks from the strips I cut for that purpose. All the big pieces that could be used for backings are now gone. There are, however, two big shoebox sized bins of cut 3 1/2 inch squares. Maybe more of the “Pot-Pourri” series? And I now have lots of smaller squares all cut to use in something (2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2)—which is the way cutting quilting fabrics rolls.
You know, it takes a deep stash to have so many fabric offerings in one scrappy quilt.
While these scrappy quilts are going to family children, I’m keeping the last Churn Dash quilt for my grandchildren down the road. Right now it is living in the downstairs big room folded over a chair back.
I have had such a good time with this Churn Dash series of quilts I made starting last winter. I love seeing these Churn Dash blocks butted up next to each other—as the secondary patterns that form are very pleasing I think. I used sashing between blocks on the first 3 quilts.
Again, all the fabrics are from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics I had in my stash.
Here’s a close-up of the mostly ”fussy cut” block centers.
I quilted with a slightly darker grey and used the pantograph ”Bayside.” And I had enough of the clear red fabric to make this lively and perfect binding.
The back is pieced with some of the larger pieces from my Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabric stash.
The larger pieces are seriously depleted now—but there are at least two more planned quilts to be made yet—and two bins of cut 3 1/2-inch blocks to be used for, maybe, the ”Pot-Pourri” quilt series. I can easily use other fabrics from my regular stash to piece backs.
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