I'm Repeating Myself

I ordered another triangle ruler from one of my favorite online stores.  This one has a 90 degree corner.  I saw a pattern that I want to use my green bali prints to make a quilt for our cottage bed.  I could use a regular ruler and work with the diagonal line, but having a special ruler seemed likely to work faster.  At the same time I saw a pattern book for making strip quilts, so I ordered that too.  Yesterday both orders arrived and I was surprised to read that my book is all about making quilts using the kind of ruler that I'd just bought.

I have a jelly roll and honey bun of Oh Cherry Oh by Moda.  So I've started sewing them into strips to make a scrap quilt of my own design using a combination of the patterns in the book.  I think I'll use a page from my friend's book and keep building the quilt until I run out of fabric; it's that or make two.  I'll keep you posted.

After I finished sewing the Max and Whiskers quilt I paused to clean up my sewing room.  You know, get rid of the dust bunnies and bits of fabric and thread.  That also means reorganizing the stacks of fabric, like put some away and pull some others out.  It's like rotating the stock.  It never ceases to amaze me that I've got so much fabric waiting (hidden) in different places.  It's then that I vow not to buy anymore fabric until I reduce or use what I already have.  

I know I've said that before, but it bears repeating. . . it's so-o much fun to buy fabric.

Chip Chip Chipping

We rented a wood chipper machine for the weekend.  The deal was if we picked it up at 3 PM on Saturday we didn't have to return it until first thing Monday.  So off Patrick went to pick it up with the little truck.  Only they wouldn't let him tow it home with the truck because it was too light.  Patrick came back home to get the Toyota and had to wait until I came home from shopping.  Luckily I don't shop for hours and returned in time for him to go back to the shop before they closed.  The plan to have the chipper for a longer period of time without having to pay for two days rental went out the window because by the time he got the machine back to the house it was after dark.

The next morning Patrick had the chipper up and going and we dragged sticks, more sticks and branches to feed the machine.  Each time we thought we'd cleaned up an area we'd find another patch of rubble to work on.  By 1:30 we'd cleared three piles of branches away from the woods in front of the house and Patrick moved the chipper down the lane and into the woods.  The rest of the afternoon continued the same way, move and clear, move and pick up some more.  

There were at least 10 piles of branches on the property.  Some have been there for a few years, others are more recent because we had several trees fall during the October snow storm.  As the afternoon was nearing the end, darkness was fast approaching and there were still several piles left to get to.  Our neighbor appeared with his safety gear on and pitched in to help finish the job.  He and Patrick finished the next to last pile just before 5:30.  The last pile, way out back, will have to wait another year.

Now that we know how much chipping we can do in a day we can plan ahead and have our piles ready as soon as the rental machine arrives.  This will save hauling everything to the field for a burn pile and waiting for a breezeless day to light it.  We figure on renting once a year.  I hope this means we'll be able to clear up our woods at a faster rate than we've been doing.

I tell you there's an adventure and a new experience waiting around every corner.  We're quite pleased with the clean up job we did.  We're also quite tired today.

Disappearing 9 Patch

A couple of Charm packs and a bit of extra matching fabric and I was off on to a challenge of possibilities for a new quilt.  I found a pattern called "Disappearing Nine Patch" and made up as many blocks as I could from the two charm packs.  In order to make a decent sized quilt I decided to alternate solid fabric blocks of the same size.

The blocks can be placed in different directions to form repeating designs, but this wasn't working so I randomly joined them while spreading out the darker patches.  The end result wasn't exciting until I added a 1 inch black border around the center.  It still needed to be bigger so I decided on a patched border using red and orange, black and gray.

The gray was left over from a pilgrims costume for Halloween from eons ago.  I was so tired of seeing it still in my stash and was looking forward to using it up and seeing the last of it.  While using it for the border I had to be very careful because I didn't have much left and wanted to make it work.  Finally I'm down to the last side of the quilt and can see that I'm going to be short by a 1.5 X 2.5 piece.

I've looked high and low through all of my scraps hoping to find one tiny little scrap that would save me; but no such luck.  In the end I chose a flowered, gray, tone on tone, fabric that was pretty close to my costume fabric and stitched it in the border using the wrong side of the fabric.  I think it's going to work.

Coming down the home stretch.  I've shopped for a fabric for the backing that will complement the Max and Whiskers collection by Moda.  Bingo!  I found some with a black background with colored dog paw prints in many of the colors in the patchwork.  In fact, I'm thinking I like the backing better than the front.

No matter which side stays up a quilt is a good thing to have for a warm nap.

Backyard dentistry

Our friends, who we often meet for lunch, just got back from visiting their relatives down south.  Frank gave us a call to chat and see what's new.  We got on the subject of dentists and their costs.  He and his wife are very frugal with their money.  When I cited some of the costs for our dental visits he said we should go to his dentist.

Their dentist is a nerdy, strange guy who has his office in the garage of his mother's house.  He answers his own phone and books appointments.  He charges very little for his visits, but insists on a cash payment, payable on the day of the visit.  He does no billing, has no payment plan and doesn't deal with insurance claims.  His charges vary according to the cost of the materials that he uses.  

Frank broke a tooth and his dentist offered to put in a "Perry County" crown.  Not the kind I'm used to but a cap using the materials they use for fillings, if they hold -- that's good, if not maybe the tooth gets pulled later.  His wife once had a tooth pulled and a few days after found that he'd pulled the wrong tooth.  Oops, (I hate it when my dentist says "OOPS!) can that one be reinstalled?

If you'd like I can get the address for this guy.  Even though my dentist is expensive I think I'll stay with him.  I keep picturing traveling down a dark, overgrown walkway in the back yard of an old house to find my eccentric dentist waiting.  Maybe his dental setup includes an old lawn lounge chair with garden variety tools and oil stains on the floor from when mom used to park her old buick.  I can be adventurous, but I'll pass on this one.

Confessions of a quilter

I AM A HAND QUILTER.  The word is very few quilters are hand quilting their finished projects these days.  Most are machine quilting them.  I know the reason:  If you want to get started on your next quilt this is the faster way to complete one.

I'm afraid to tackle quilting by machine using my own sewing machine.  I've had a few quilts done by a quilting service but they just lack the finished look of a hand done one.  And of course I don't let an unfinished quilt stop me from beginning another.  In fact, more than likely I'm working on several quilts at the same time.  It's silly to think I'm the only person who does that.

I have many projects in different modes of completion.  There's piecing, sandwiching, and quilting.  I used to take my projects to the cottage with me during the summer and hand quilt them there.  That was because there was no electricity for a machine, so lots of quilts were finished over the course of a summer.  My husband wired our cottage for solar energy and now I'm spoiled.  I can now sew and piece, however, that sure has cut down on my quilting.

I make myself a list of my projects so I don't lose track of what's to be done, but golly that list is long.

A recently completed quilt--don't you just want to snuggle with it?

Comforting Chocolate--Uhmmm!

I went to bed last night thinking about my chocolate quilt.  The photo of it looked a bit out of balance because there was so much white in the center.  So I made another decision right before I dropped off to sleep to convert the corners into white blocks with diagonal squares leading to the center. 

This afternoon I worked on the last part of it and finished it up, sandwiched it and now it's ready to have some quilting work done on.  I'm thinking that I'll post it on The Quilter Magazine website.  It was their magazine that I found the idea to begin my project.  Of course I changed it a bit to my satisfaction, but then that's what you're supposed to do, right?

Forget Love, I'd rather fall in Chocolate

It won't be long before the binding is applied and the quilt will be put into use.  


My next piecing project will be using a pattern called China Girl from the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Love of Quilting.  I had started piecing it back in the spring and then moved onto other things.  I'm using a honey bun of Moda's Gobble Gobble.  Gotta work fast before I get the urge to buy, buy, buy.  Maybe I can catch up with my list of planned projects if I hurry.

Miscalculation--Revised plans

Things were going just great for a while and then . . .

I began putting all of my blocks together and then noticed that the strips weren't going to match up.  It was time to set things aside and go back to studying my plans to see where I went wrong.  I spent the evening looking for my mistake and revised the design to make things work.

Today I fixed the problem and am ready to add the last two borders.  Tomorrow will be the day that the top is finished.  All together there are four borders (not shown here) a pink print that is the same as the backing, a black print with mouth watering bon bons, a marble pink and then a four and a half border of chocolaty swirl.

I can't imagine putting this on a bed, but it certainly will be yummy to snuggle under, like vision of sugar plums dancing through my head.

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol 4

Just ready in time to make a few quilts of your own design for the holidays.  It's ready to hit the racks in your favorite quilt store.  Inside are lots of beautiful and fun quilt blocks to pair together or just choose the same one.

I volunteered as a tester for Volume 4 and once again had a great time sewing blocks and using my own color combinations.  Some of them were sewn at the cottage where there was just enough electricity to run my little featherweight machine and not quite enough to heat an iron.  To use an iron I had to plug into the generator.  That meant I was ironing on a make shift board in the workshop or standing out in the woods under the trees next to the generator.  Where there's a will there's a way!

While paper pieced blocks are truly not my favorite, I did manage to construct this one and was quite pleased with my efforts.  It's very Christmasy, although it was not my intention.

 This block was so easy and very fresh looking.  The bit of applique changed it from simple to exciting.

One of the blocks is going to become a partnered project between my summer time friend, Sharon and myself.  We've decided on a pastel, flowery fabric and will work over the winter each making 24 blocks to exchange 12 and then complete our quilts in time for show and tell next summer when we both arrive back on the island at our cottages.  I'll keep you up to date as I work on it.

Pick up Sticks is not a game

I remember my mom and brother and me gathering around the kitchen table to play a game of pick up sticks.  It required a steady hand. Mom was pretty good, after all there were only two kids in those days and her nerves were kind of steady.  Years later with five active kids running around the house I bet she could never have beat us at the game again.

These days I play pick up sticks with another Mother--Mother Nature.  I worked a long afternoon or two just picking up sticks that she'd thrown to the ground on our lawn.  I piled them in bundles along the edge and Patrick would come by with the tractor and cart and remove them to the fire pile.

I was quite proud that we were finally getting the upper hand on dead fall on our property.  That's what I thought anyway.  Mother Nature has a way of putting things in perspective.  You just don't mess with her.  Apparently she likes the way she decorates and if you should choose to redo her designs she'll just do them over.

Last week she decorated in frosty, snowy white.  She rearranged the shapes of the trees bending some of them all the way to the ground.  She even pruned one of the big trees by the side of the yard.  Bringing down a huge branch the size of a grown tree itself.  Peeking through the winter white were bright colors of yellow, orange, and red; leaves that were still on the trees celebrating fall.  And to top off her new theme and put me in my place she threw down a plethora of sticks.

The white theme was gorgeous, a blanket covering everything in sight; making a tent all around us.  At times it was impossible to see beyond the fluffy flakes that fell for hours on end.  Flakes that accumulated and took away our electricity for two days, leaving us to live with warm fires in the fireplace and candles and flashlights to light our way.  

Don't mess with Mother Nature.

Chocolate rules

Many moons ago an idea popped into my head.  It appears after a lunch date with friends at our favorite Cracker Barrel restaurant.  While perusing the gift shop area I found a cotton hand towel with an embroidered message in pink and brown.  The message:  "Put the chocolate in the bag and no one will get hurt."  My creative side said that could be incorporated into a quilt.

For the next few days I searched about the internet looking for chocolaty browns and pinks to complement the embroidered design.  That adventure was fun and fantastic because it brought new fabrics to my door via the mailman.  Since those days my idea has gotten lost among other fabulous ideas and the fabric has been forced into the background, but certainly not forgotten; after all I really need another quilt, especially a chocolate one.




This week it's time to bring those fabrics to the table because I've found the perfect pattern to use.  I will place the fussy cut sayings into 6 inch squares and create two more panels to balance them in the center and then surround them with 8x10 blocks.

These blocks are all made from the delicious and colorful fabrics I've collected.  Just working with them makes me want to load up on Hershey bars or Whitman Samplers.

The backing is a busy print with trays of bon bons, lollipops, stars, flowers and little ribbons on a pink background.  It's all so delicious looking.  I'm thinking about quilting it with hearts and swirls.

And when it finished I'll snuggle under it and dream of visions of mouthwatering treats that could add pounds to my hips just thinking about them.  Then I'll go back to the internet and see if I can find fabric with runners and weight lifters so I can work off those added pounds while I snuggle under that one.  It's all about the dream!

The Stove Saga

Our oven project is a hoot and could be exasperating if we let it.  It's an adventure and a continuing saga.  The first one has been returned because apparently somewhere in its lifetime it's been dropped and the insides are sheared off and damaged.  We've had three service calls on it and weren't even been able to use it.  Patrick went to see Lowes and it was returned with a loaner until a new one can be ordered and delivered.  Electrolux didn't want to replace it, just repair it, which would have meant another few services call at best.

The loaner arrived early in the morning on Saturday just as the snow storm was cooking up.  The men took away the first one and left us with something we could use.  Patrick mixed up a batch of lemon poppy muffins for breakfast and popped them in the oven.  They were in there for about 5 minutes when the storm took out the electricity for the whole neighborhood.  We thought it would be back on in a short, reasonable time ( since we live in a modern world).  The muffins continued to bake in the heated oven.  With a bit of patience we eventually had nicely browned muffins, but it took over an hour to get to that point.

That night we sat in darkness, lighted by a few fragrant candles and warmed by a blazing fire in the fireplace.  Lucky for us we have lots of quilts to keep us cozy.  We napped or played with our computers.  When they got low in power Patrick took them to the car and plugged them into the converter and recharged them.  We were comfortable and happy while watching the neighbors houses to be sure we weren't alone in the situation.  Dinner was cold roast beef sandwiches.

Sunday morning arrived and still no electricity.  By noon we thought we'd go out for lunch.  We tried a new place called Benny's.  It's an Italian restaurant that always has a full parking lot, a sign that food and service are good.  It was, I had a delicious cheese steak sub on a paninni roll and Patrick had a turkey club on flat bread.  We'll be going back in the future and they have carry out too.  Evening and darkness arrived and still no electricity--so our loaner stove wouldn't work either.  I thawed out some homemade soup using the fireplace and we ate by candlelight, not that we had a choice.  Patrick continued to charge his computer in the car.  Finally, I went off to bed and left Patrick sitting in his chair ready a book using his headlamp.

Around 1 AM the power came back on and life was back to normal --as we know it.