Colorful November

Well, it's been another busy couple of weeks!  I finished my shabby-chic quilt, gifted to my mother's sister who just turned 80.  I bought several packets of precut triangles when we went to Keepsake Quilting this summer, and added a few more from my stash.

 

 

And a niece has just given birth to a baby boy:  hooray, an excuse to finally use those Oceanica panels!  I found this blue bubbly batik in my LQS and practically swooned; I'm so glad it came out as I'd imagined!

The front:

 

 

The back:

 

And because older siblings shouldn't be left out when a new kid arrives, a puppy for Big Sister: 

 

You've seen this before: every year I go to Gozzi's and take the same photos!  Here's my favorite colored turkey from the farm this year: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a group shot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some folks have a good steady hand, others do not.  I always start with grand intentions - in this case Hungry Happenings' adorable pie turkey - and end up feeling like I have the artistic ability of a third grader.  Oh well, it tasted good!  

Hope your days are colorful too!

Bailey Island Hobo - pattern review

You all know Aunties Two and their fabulous patterns, right?  Well, I finally broke down and drank the Bailey Island Kool-Aid!  I had a roll of Tonga batik pretties purchased just for this project; I finished the bag yesterday. 

 

I'm a novice-to-not-quite-intermediate bag maker so my ignorance may shine here; you are warned.  I'm writing this  because I found so few maker reviews; I was unsure and procrastinated a "stoopid" long time over starting the bag.

 

Ain't it purty?!?  It made its debut yesterday and I received many compliments.

 

The pattern itself:

I'd call this an intermediate bag:  the sewing is simple enough, but the first gather nearly brought me to tears - ugh my wrists!  The strips can feel tedious; I broke it up into a few sessions and that helped.  And I did not figure out a graceful way to sew the buttons over the magnet snaps.  I got them in place but it was ugly.  The resulting bag is very, very pretty, feels like it will hold up nicely to abuse, the handles are a good length for my average-height body, and it's a great spot for that monstrous-huge-but-lovely set of buttons you couldn't resist that time. 

 

Where I did not follow the pattern:

The pattern for the small bag has you join 12 tubes (a little like the clothesline Bali Bag but with batting inside) and then cut the resulting quilted piece in half and join the halves to make your main piece.  I joined 24 and cut that in half, leaving me with a large piece I can use to make another bag with different binding and accoutrements or put to another use.  I also added a half-inch to the binding strip to make the handle channel easier to contend with.  The pattern doesn't specify thread type but I used quilting thread, a bright variegated King Tut. You'll need your walking foot.

 

What I would do differently next time and why:

I would cut my batting to 2.25 instead of 2.5, to make the foldovers neater.  I would pull the old Visetti out of the attic for the assembly - it's a LOT of layers and even my reliable Pfaff choked a couple of times (and I broke a needle.) 

 

I would make the pockets a little taller: I shove all kinds of stuff in my bag and these feel a mite small.

 

I'm not thrilled with the magnet/button placement.  I think I would try putting the magnet right at the top, in the binding/handle channel next time.  In theory you could put the magnets in there, cover them up with the binding strip and still place your buttons wherever you wanted them.  I like a bag that's roomy, and I can't fit a good-size paperback in this one and still snap it shut.  The bag has a lot of body and it wants to open if you don't snap it shut - so either carry a big book (always a good idea anyhow) or put your gallon of milk right atop your wallet.  (If you're the kind of gal who thinks putting a gallon of milk in your handbag is a crime, I apologize; in my world a really good bag has to free up my hands.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other thoughts:

The big version is very, very huge: don't jump in to make that one unless you're carrying a LOT of stuff. The strips when assembled would make a fabulous small area rug and I'm thinking of putting my made-on-purpose leftovers to this use.

 

I emailed Aunties Two with a question at one point; their response was fast and courteous.  So they get extra stars for great customer service.

 

 

 

And just for fun, here it is with a creepy lawn elf:

 

Productivity is Good!

I've been quiet here but busy in real life.  The Big News is that I bought a new-to-me Pfaff and am getting to know her.  If she has a name it's probably Doris:  this gal is practical and efficient with little room for tomfoolery.  She has a sure and steady hand and I'm enjoying the learning process immensely!

Also working on my bee blocks and having loads of fun with that:

 

For Mother's Day, my family bought me a lovely handbag.  They all thought it looked like FABRIC until I helped them visualize the end product!  Here it is, already full of Stuff:

Pattern is "Yin Yang" (of course) by Scrap-Bags.  Surprisingly roomy and nicely docile - see how the handles flop down when you set the bag down?  No hardware at all, which makes for quick construction too.  I used fusible fleece instead of batting.  I could see really going to town quilting or otherwise embellishing that lower half of the bag.  One thing the pattern doesn't crow about - but should - is the pockets:  two very roomy and clever pockets created as part of the construction process.  They're angled in such a way that they keep even fairly large items secure and easily retrieved. 

I've got a few more Granny Squares on the wall, have finished my Orange You Glad top and have cut another One Block Wonder - with teeny blocks this time!  You'll see those soon I hope.

Use It Up ...

Use it up, wear it out; make it do or do without.  This is a Yankee refrain, so grossly overused that it has become a family joke.  But I do follow that mantra; I knew about recycling and composting before I started grade school and I married an almost-professional scavenger (it took me ten years to "train" him to come back from the dump with less than he left with!).  If I think there's a potential future use for a thing I rarely get rid of it (see, there's a difference between hoarding and frugality!).
What do you do with your old quilting rulers?  They do get nicked after awhile and the markings do fade.  I have been putting mine in the bed frame to protect the box spring from kitty claws; today I pulled one and put it to a new use.

I've got my Orange You Glad Bee blocks put together; I finally decided to use hourglass blocks as a border.  Well, they need to finish at 4.5 inches and I was having trouble aligning things to get those points centered correctly.  I had a couple of options:  I could go out to the hardware store and buy plastic and make my own template, I could go out to a quilt shop and get a standard 4.5 ruler, or I could scavenge.  Guess which I chose?

I did not take process pics but here are the basic steps - you can figger it out I'm sure.

1.  SO, you take your beat up old ruler in hand and find the 45 degree marks you need; mark your new borders if needed.

2.  Go out to hubby's workshop and find a good utility knife with a fresh blade.

3.  Using a metal ruler (I used a T-square), score the ruler until your wrist hurts.  I used a C clamp with a small piece of scrap lumber atop the ruler to hold it in place.
4.  Re-clamp the piece so the waste end hangs over the edge of your work table; snap it off (cleanly, if you scored well).
5.  Repeat for the other edges.
6.  Find a piece of sandpaper; wrap it around one of your waste pieces or something else that's nice and straight, and sand down your edges until you feel they're good enough for smooth cutting.

See? A nearly-perfect 4.5 inch square template with the 45-degree marks clearly delineated.

It works!

Whether your motivation is repurposing, saving money or a compulsion to use what's onhand so you can get back to sewing as quickly as possible, keep those old tools in mind - they may be useful in new ways!

Lovely Day

I hope you can look someone in the eye and say "I love you" today; I truly believe that love is the most powerful force in the world.  Hokey, I know, but I believe it.

He loves me 2012 - a shadowbox in sheet copper:

My favorite heart:

I love him 2012 - my first mini and first attempt at trapunto (and it looks like my first attempt at binding but it looks marginally better in real life, I promise!).  Embroidery floss and quilting thread for the embroidery work, batting bits used for the trapunto:

The girlchild wanted to tell her boyfriend she cares, so we made the world's best brownies - this old recipe is the go-to for homemade chocolatey goodness!  I used Hungry Happenings' ganache recipe - ohmyGAWD.  It's bliss, and it was terrific fun to make.  I haven't tried many of her recipes yet but so far they are all "keepers."

 

The girlchild was suitably impressed: 

"How did you DO that?!?" 

"Do what?" 

"Take that messy pile of stuff and turn it into THAT?!?"

"I just followed the directions.  Cooking is chemistry, my dear!"

Triple-chocolate fudge brownies with ganache - in pre-6a.m. kitchen light, still atop their catch-the-goopies-so-I-can-eat-'em tray:

Wishing you a lovely day and a full heart.

A Cold Tip and a Win

A Cold Tip: 
I don't know where I first got this tip but I've used it for years - it'd be a Hot Tip if it wasn't December.  Now, ordinarily I share few photos of my home, and I would be horrified if any of you actually *saw* my downstairs bath - aka the Skanky Bath or the 30-Year Bath (as in, the 10 Year Plan is starting to look a lot like a 30 Year Plan!).  BUT:

When you bring your holiday wreath home, fill the tub with cold water and let it soak overnight.  Like so:
(ain't it purty?  It's almost a heart wreath!)


















In the morning, drain the tub and let the wreath sit a few hours to dry, decorate with extras if that's your pleasure, and hang.  I've gotten wreaths as early as December 1 and taken them down as late as the end of January, and I have never once had a wreath drop needles or turn brown on me.  If I could figure out a way to soak the whole tree overnight I'd give that a shot too!

A Win:
Chris from We Love Quilting sent me a great box of goodies!  She does a monthly giveaway on her blog and I was the December winner!  Look at all this cheer!  There are notions and fabric and a magazine and a honking huge quilty bag and notebooks and cards and embroidery transfers and a Kanzashi flower maker and a very cool beaded spider.



The beaded spider looks just perfect with the glass flowers hubby made me.  One of my offspring tried to abscond with the spider but I stood firm - this time.  In this house spiders are my gig; they can take the zombies and steampunk gears and other good stuff, but spiders are mine.

Thanks so much Chris!

We Are Not Alone

...even when it feels like we are. Even when you can hear no sound of the highway or airplanes or the rumble of semis (or the steam train whistle, a sound that's heard regularly here and which I find deeply evocative).  Humans are just about everywhere.

Here's where we went yesterday. I love these markers; I don't recall why I started taking photos of them but it's become a habit. I guess the Geodetic Survey is complete and they don't do it anymore, but we've seen the markers nearly everywhere we've gone in the U.S. The one in Provincetown at the Pilgrim Monument almost got paved over and some thoughtful soul scraped the asphalt away from it; I wonder how many have been buried?













The day turned out gorgeous, sunny and unseasonably warm; so I took the boychild, a friend of his, and the dog for a walk.  There were loads of dogs there, and Cooper behaved far better than he ever did in Obedience class!  He's growing up fast (and BIG!):









Walking with him is exercise: no thoughtful strolling is allowed, every nook and cranny must be rushed to and explored in full.  We've been walking every morning and evening since I got him and although I haven't lost much weight, things are ... shifting in the right direction so we're good. 

Signs of Human Intervention:
Primitive?  Yes, it looks almost like petroglyphs!  Vandalism?  Yes.  Art?  Sure it is.










Really, how upset can you get when the graffiti is this much fun?  We have a lot of painted boulders around here, and most of the time I think they're cool.  This one is VERY cool.












And sooner or later, my mind always finds quilty inspiration.









I also spent the weekend reading Stephen King's new book, "11/22/63."  [Note:  Any time you see a reference to reading a new King book, you can presume several things: the dirty dishes are piling up and the laundry is unfolded, I've not slept enough, the kids and spouse are rolling their eyes because I'm Off Elsewhere and it takes several attempts to reach me, and most time away from the book is given only grudgingly until that first read is completed.]  King gives several nods to the private domain he's built (see my earlier post on Faulkner), adds a fair amount to that domain, and builds a Really Big Tale.  Does he answer the Grassy Knoll question?  Sort of.  Did Oswald act alone?  Maybe.  It's not an attempt to answer those questions, but a look into the great rolling effects of our actions - all of our actions - and the interconnectedness of all things.  And strings.  As always with King the tale is about good and evil, love and hate, but mostly Love.  Always.  Go find a copy and immerse yourself for a few days, you'll come out with your brain energized and some very thoughtful questions that will provide ample material for future mulling.

All in all, a rich and fulfilling weekend.

Look for Me in SLC

I'm off to Sewing Summit tomorrow morning!  I'll leave at an atrocious hour to drive to the shuttle, which will take me to JFK, and thence to Utah.  I'm going alone, first time ever leaving my family for non-work-related purposes for this long, so I'm a little nervous but very excited.  Catch me tonight and you'll see me in full pushing-50-menopausal-manic mode!

I made a new handbag - Marlous Designs' Linda Bag, with cool Origami folding to make multiple sections.  The pattern is a bit tricksy for a beginner but it's a great bag. 

If you don't spot the bag you'll still be able to recognize me coming

or going!

 (yup, still a work in progress and likely to be for some time - please don't yank my needle as you pass by!)

A Saga of Defeat and Redemption

Two years ago I spotted a fabulous crazy-quilt coat at the Renaissance Faire. Lightweight denim with embroidery and light patchwork all over it, coat length, simple shape, perfect fit.  It was too expensive. I grieved (well, relatively speaking).  I went to the other Faire (they have an autumn one and a spring one in another location), and it was there again; I went into action.  I dickered something fierce, but I only had plastic; with the dealer's plastic surcharge my entire dickering-discount went kaput and I dug my heels in and refused to buy it.

So here I am, with a trip coming up to one of the few places such a coat would be genuinely appreciated. I schemed, saved a few expense checks just for this purpose. I took the kids to Faire on Saturday with cash in hand and ready for a battle. The dealer wasn't there! Argh! I made the rounds about six times looking for a coat to replace my tweedy, comfy, I-love-it-but-it's-getting-too-ratty-for-public-view coat.  I looked at all kinds of funky outerwear, most of which was either nonfunctional (who wears a coat that isn't intended to close in front?!?) or way out of my price range. So I went home defeated.

Could I make it myself? Of course I could. Would I make it myself? Probably not.

With defeat and disappointment radiating in waves around my head, I hit the consignment stores yesterday with the girlchild ... and SCORED! Cute black denim jacket, heavily embellished. I spent last evening removing the sequins but leaving the other bits, and now will embellish it my own way. NOT crazy-quilt style, but decidedly fun and funky.  So, for the price of the coat I originally lusted after (and still do, I must confess) I got a funky jacket, a heavier autumn coat that's a nearly perfect replacement for the current one, a dressy overshirt I can wear to meetings and such, and a dress for the girlchild!

sneaky-peek showing the jacket on my bead box (Contrary to my husband's thoughts about intended uses, I believe Plano makes the best bead boxes!): 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[Aside:  While looking at one of the gorgeous custom-made frock coats I said to the dealer, "If I spent $600 on an autumn coat my husband would divorce me!"  His response:  "How much do you like your husband?"]

Laurels and Stupas and Dolls, Oh My!

The Girlchild and I went on a mini adventure today. Several weeks back we were a little bit lost on our way somewhere and we caught a glimpse of what looked like a celebration in the middle of nowhere:

We went back today to get a better look.  The path led us past several very odd signs – I think there’s a modern-day commune next door. I did find a citation online: the New England Farm Institute says “The site holds the first Buddhist stupa in CT, the main dwelling is the oldest bale structure east of the Mississippi and there is a newly-constructed straw bale barn, all off the grid. The farm is currently a gathering place for artists, environmentalists, peace activists and the local Tibetan community.”

(thuper fabuluss!  Ordinarily my Former Lit Major Self would be freaking but I think the polka dots and swirlies make up for it!) 

As it turns out, we were right about the celebration – sort of. I believe this is still Connecticut’s only stupa, a Buddhist shrine The idea is that it’s a place of meditation; you are instructed to walk around it only in a clockwise, contemplative manner. 

  

It’s definitely another of our favorite Surreal Places! The Girlchild likes this one almost as well as the Interdimensional Rift, which I’ll tell you about another time. Here she is with her strange doll. He got his own photoshoot today. 

Late Spring is one of my favorite times of year; this year it’s all pink and white. The dogwoods are exceptionally beautiful; even my dorky tree (which really was just a stick when I first purchased it) looks great – look at those swathes of flowers!

The sweet peas went crazy, I think I need a bigger trellis!

And the Mountain Laurel, our state flower, is also thriving. We found this little stand just North of the stupa. 

Each year I feel compelled to make at least one Lady during Laurel season. It’s pretty basic, a bit like making flower chains. I’ve been making these since I was a small child, but I don’t think I know anyone else who makes them. Here’s this year’s Laurel Lady:

On the way home we had to stop for the local steam train; these excursions are much beloved by the tourists and maligned by the locals, but I love to hear a steam whistle in the distance, it's very evocative.

I hope your day was meditative, contemplative, evocative and filled with gorgeous flowers.  Failing that, I hope you at least got to see a pink unicorn.