Being Sensible

 Are you sensible?  I think I am (of course) but I suspect there are some who would disagree with that.  My genealogy research documents and notes are starting to take over my desk space and after months of contemplation I think I've come up with a system to organize them but it will require a file cabinet.

So this is the "sensible" part -- rather than buy a new one, there is a two-drawer one up in my studio which would work 

but it's full of pattern design notes and shop newsletters and quilt teaching handouts, etc.  I've been through all these papers a couple times since I closed the shop but not since I quit teaching so it makes sense to do it again.  It's only one and a half drawers full so "how long will it take?"

It will take all afternoon (and then some) because every sheet of paper needs to be reviewed!?!

This is one of my very early handout masters for the quilt I used to teach students how to make half-square triangles -- first we drew a grid on the wrong side of the fabric and then we were delighted with the appearance of "triangle paper" in the late 1980's!!  

I'm going to use those leftover triangle sets from my original sample for a couple cheery potholders . . . . . . . maybe??

The original sample still is alive and well serving as a "slipcover" for an un-upholstered ottoman in the living room under a stack of finished quilts!

Over a dozen of the fatter folders were worksheets, design notes and original masters for a series of quilts I designed as mystery quilts for my shop, Erie Street Quilts, and the original shop hop in Northeast Ohio.  There were lots of memories to be remembered with each folder.  I finished my version of this quilt but I don't think very many of my customers/students did because it was a "bear" -- such small pieces and so many of them.  My version won a ribbon in the regional show and I eventually sold it (I think) -- it's not in the house anymore for sure.  I kept one copy of the final pattern and let go of the notes and worksheets -- just for historical value?

I was surprised to find some folders with teaching notes and step samples -- I thought I had emptied all those out at the beginning of the pandemic and dealt with the samples.  It was delightful to find these three little pieces in the BINDING workshop folder since I need a couple new potholders to replace the ones I burned up last month.  And that little mini-quilt -- I completely forgot it was still  around!  I think I'll use it as a wallhanging somewhere in the house!

When I couldn't sort for another minute or make another decision, I finished the bindings and scored three little finishes!!

Actually, there has been a flurry of finishes over the past couple weeks!!  That's one of the perks on working on several project simultaneously!

This Scrappy Cabins is quilted and washed and ready to gift next week!  It's going to "my" bank clerk -- she is retiring after 35 years and I've been her customer for all of it!

The I Spy quilt is finished and ready to gift to a couple special boys to enjoy as a learning game -- the quilt is loaded with cats and frogs and trucks.  I hope it will be fun for the older one to help the younger one learn colors and objects with this floor quilt.

I also made several of these Modern Japanese Rice Bags.  I've had the pattern from KZStevens (PDF pattern available HERE) and the fabric on the right set aside for it for several years.  It went together so beautifully I found myself wondering why it took me so long to do it?!?  I made one tiny alteration in the depth of the lining (3/8" less) so it fits down inside smoother.  I made two of the one on the right and one is for sale in my Etsy shop!  

The outer shell of the left hand one is four 6" blocks given to me for the 25th anniversary of my shop (in 2004).  I have about 30 blocks and have tried a half dozen times over the years to organize them into a quilt -- I'm always stumped by the challenge and put them away.  So earlier this month, I decided to quit trying to use them together and sorted them out into compatible little sets for smaller projects.  

The rice bag was the first of those little projects and I've been using it as a knitting pouch as I finish up this version of Ysolda's Musselburgh Hat.

Once it's doubled inside on itself, it makes a really cozy hat!!  I made this version with a double strand of fingering wool using one 100 gram skein as the base and adding in an assortment of green, gray, and brown leftovers from lots of socks!  Working with size 4 needles and making an adult large size used up 80 grams of the base yarn and 80 grams of scraps!!

A couple gals are starting a knitalong using this pattern and scrap yarn on September 1 -- you can find the details on Instagram HERE.  It's a satisfying knit with lots of flexibility about yarn weight and needle size!  I think this is my fifth one in less than a year.  

Time to return to the studio and the untidy piles from yesterday -- hopefully I can make more decisions about what goes and what stays.  

I should remind my kids how much I'm helping their future selves by "sensibly"
dealing with this myself, don't you think?

Have a sensible day!!

Mary

Trying for a Restful Weekend

After spending three energetic days with my oldest grandson (almost 14) who came visiting, I've prescribed a restful weekend for myself.  Really, it's just an excuse to sew and knit non-stop!?!

His activity requests were hiking and visiting with his younger cousins, the triplets!  He had three meetups with the triplets including a visit to the Cleveland Zoo.  

One of his aunts and I hiked him up to one of our local beauty spots and on his last day, he and I did a creek hike.  His mom is a biologist who has been taking him along on stream studies since birth and wow, can he spot a crayfish!!  It was a stinky hot day so being in a creek was perfect and I don't think I would have done a creek hike this summer without his request.   This is one of the pictures he took on our adventure.

 While he was here, there was no machine sewing and just a little hand stitching and knitting.  But I did manage to end July with one finish!  After finishing the hand quilting around the central part of each "diamond" motif, I choose this multi-color print for the binding.  I find it's a good solution for quilts with so many colors when I can't decide on the binding color -- unexpected but effective!!

 While he got some quiet time (napping and/or googling), I snuck in a little knitting on the current Musselburgh Hat project.  I'm working with a double strand of fingering yarn combining a few leftovers with one main skein.  Sue Carney just announced on Instagram that she is going to lead a KAL (knitalong) using this hat and scrap yarn.  It begins September 1 and goes for six weeks.  Gives me a goal for finishing this hat so I can start another one!  Want to join?  

Find the details at Instagram -- @smcarn

EDIT: Two days after I posted this, I "frogged" this hat back to the crown and started over again!?!  It was HUGE because I had misread my gauge -- it would not have fit anyone.  It's so hard to make the decision to undo so much work but it will be best in the long run.

I finished another unit for the EPP project I've got going.  This is half of step 10 -- only step 11 to go!!!

And the I-Spy UFO is layered and being quilted this weekend!  I have interlined it with a (much washed) flannel sheet instead of batting -- economical and I think it will make a good floor mat for playing I Spy with kids!

The "restful" weekend started after lunch Friday and found me piecing on two projects -- Homage to Grandmother's Flower Garden continues to grow and I made three more scrappy log cabin blocks as my "leaders/enders" while building chains of hexagons for part 31 of Homage.

I put the finished blocks on the design wall to determine what the last six blocks needed to "be" -- I've learned the hard way when making scrappy quilts that I like the results betters when I stop to evaluate and make the final fabric decisions based on what the quilt "needs".  

I made three more with some dark prints as what was already pieced looked out of balance with so few darks used.  Once I added the new blocks to the group, I moved blocks around to break up the big (blobby) areas of pink.  There are just three blocks left to piece and it would be wonderful to have this quilt top ready to quilt by the end of the weekend.  I'm going to gift it as a retirement present and the big day is September 10 so need to keep moving!!

The color and fabric palette has evolved as I've worked on this project -- I started with a couple old charm square paks, some leftover layer cake squares and strips from my 2 1/2" "sourdough" box.  The pattern writer suggests cutting everything before starting, but I've been cutting as I go -- that means more spontaneity because it's hard to "visualize" what I haven't pieced.  And there is less waste because I'm cutting just what I need as I go.   I also find it easier to achieve a scrap look by just focusing on the fabric palette for a couple blocks at a time -- as long as I like the combination in one block, it will work in the finished quilt.  Each diagonal row (upper left to lower right) is the same block configuration but it's interesting how the "look" of the block changes depending on the placement of lights and darks.

It's a simple quilt and a good chance to stretch my creative brain -- feeling creative doesn't happen without exercising ideas and making mistakes.

So, it's time to head back to the studio for a couple hours of piecing.

Hope you are having a restful and content weekend!

Mary

  

June is History

 I set goals, I share my goals, and then I try to figure out how to meet those goals.  Sound familiar?  It's a behavior we learn from the adults in our lives by their examples and then we spend the rest of our lives measuring ourselves against those examples.  Whew!?!

I moved into my current home when my mother was about my age and as I accept my current age, I often think back to a mental image of her helping me put in a new flower bed.  Somehow we got my Dad's BIG Troybilt tiller over here and were using it to break up the lawn.  The image that sticks with me is I'm sitting on the front porch drinking cold water and mom is guiding that monster tiller across the front lawn.  Sorry I've failed you mom -- I could not manage that tiller at this age?!?

From that point, I turned down her offers of help frequently because I didn't have her drive and I hated feeling guilty about it.  I wish I knew if she really was stronger and healthier or if she was just stubborn?

So what does that have to do with anything?  Four days ago on June 26, I looked at the "log book" and realized while I had promptly eliminated one project at the beginning of June, I had not finished anything off that blasted 2022 list of UFO's and wanna-makes. 

My driven-goal-side kicked into gear!!  I spent the next two afternoons (finally) making a Mini Maker Station designed by Lilyella.  She featured the pattern on her blog several years ago and every now and then she has a make-along for it so I bought her hardware kit (HERE) and added it to my pile.   The pattern is HERE.  It's a clever design with a metal strip inserted in the base and magnets to enclose in a cute fabric box and pincushion so they "stick" to the quilted piece.  I took a couple short cuts -- opted out of the fabric box (which I could add later) and stitched one of the magnets into a pocket on the bottom of this darling pincushion I already own.  

At this point, I have to say waiting so long to make this was "stupid" -- it took me perhaps 3 hours to assemble and I love having it at hand for my evening EPP stitching.

So, if I can get one thing finished quickly, surely I can get two finished (if I pick the right one and drop everything)?!? A quick review of the possibilities pointed me to the Forever Friends scrappy quilt top I layered up with backing and a flannel blanket two weeks ago that was still on the table in the living room.  Just needed pin basting and it was ready to go.  

And I could have made it . . . . . but the simple machine quilting plan morphed into a spasm of pimping-it-up with big stitch hand quilting.  Can you (barely) see the big stitch and a "tie" in the middle of the "cross"?  So I'm close and will adjust by going for three finishes in July??

I did have a knitting finish in July -- this is the Musselburgh Hat by Ysolda, an English designer.  Great pattern because you can use any yarn, any needle size, and there is no swatching needed!!  I don't think I'll do another one with fingering yarn but the plan is that I'll use up some of my yarn backlog and make a few more.  Two strands of fingering would work nicely!!

I've made progress on my hexie projects though I didn't finish the EPP one as hoped -- maybe this month??  This is one of the four sections needed to finish Part 9 (of 11).  The other three are in various stages -- zoom, zoom!!

So while I may not have mom's energy and strength, I do have her drive and determination!

I hope everyone here in the US has a peaceful and refreshing holiday weekend.  You need a break from the bad news so ignore the news for the next three days -- it will still be there on Tuesday, so go "rouge" (after you read this post) and shut off the devices!!

Mary

Hot Day = Sewing Room Hermit

After a morning round of watering and (very little) weeding, I'm retreating to my sewing room for the remainder of the day to wait out a too-hot-for-me day! 90F plus days just wilt me completely so "hermiting" it is!!  Yesterday was pleasant and I had a nice mid-day explore at a local marsh where I ran into two friends doing their weekly butterfly survey.  They counted 72 of these little beauties (least skippers) nectaring on fleabane along the edges of the boardwalk -- wonder how many there were scattered across the rest of the marsh??

A big pot of tea is steeping  (for icing down) and my plan is to do some more catch-up piecing on Homage To Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I'm only a week behind but that is far enough!!  Two more weeks and we'll be at the halfway point.  If you want to check out some of the variations on Instagram -- search for the hashtag #homagetogfg -- there are some stunners!!

I worked on it yesterday getting more background hexies cut and laying out everything for week 23 so I can get right to the piecing today.

Then I think I'll try to layer up this scrappy quilt top I pieced during the winter.  I'll keep the quilting simple either use "no batting" or an old flannel sheet to keep it lightweight for summer evenings.  I guess I didn't take a picture of the finished top? so the quickest one to find is this one while it was still being pieced.  

And I might watch a movie in the middle of the day (?!?) and do some EPP!  I usually reserve handwork for evenings but I really want to finish the mystery mosaic quilt from Jemima's Creative Quilting.  All eleven clues have been released and I just have two more to do before adding borders.  Would love to finish it by the end of June but that might be too ambitious?  Search the hashtag #jcqmysteryqal on Instagram to see lovely variations of this year's and last year's designs.

Ignore the green background -- that's the living room rug.

There's been a lot of partying around here over the past two weeks -- four birthdays will do that!  These three (the little ones) turned three and I finished my 75th journey around the sun.  The Zoo with all the cousins, aunts, and uncle; a barbeque; dinner out and a playground visit rounded out the week!

    

The equinox is just a few days off for all of us and that means the most "extreme" weather of the year -- do you hide from the "unpleasant" weather, too?  

If you are like me, I hope you have productive defaults so you don't feel guilty!

Hermit on!!

Mary

Big Finish for May!!

 Welcome to June!

In spite of feeling like I've been dragged through the last few days (too much heat, not enough levothyroxine in my opinion), I've finished off the month by reaching my quilting goals!

Two quilt tops have been finished for gifting and I eliminated three projects that have never gotten off the ground.

This sweet laprobe size quilt was pieced perhaps 20 years ago by one of my staff as a shop model.  I chose the fabrics and gave the top to her when I closed the shop.  She in turn gave it back to our charity quilt making group and we made a backing and layered it up and then I sat on it for several years. I didn't want it to go to just anyone.  Monday, because it was already layered, I pulled it off the shelf, threaded my machine and quilted it with simple diagonal lines following the design.  As I was quilting it, I thought of a friend who is coming up to the first anniversary of the death of one of her sons.  It's not hard to imagine what a tough year it's been for her and I hope this quilt will lift her spirits just a little.  Knowing that someone remembers the death of a loved one is a blessing.

This cutie is destined for a grand-nephew who will be arriving in August.  He will be growing up in a rural area and while the color scheme definitely does not blend with his mom's preferences,  I hope she will forgive me.  Rural boys need to see Holstein cows and pigs!!

Those of you who have attended one of my many UFO Assault Tactics lectures might recognize the center group of pineapple blocks as my much (maligned) opening UFO.  All those years, I used it to express my dislike for paper piecing which I've avoided steadily ever since making these blocks.  Many of you offered to remove the paper from the back (my main hang-up) but then I would not have had it to fuss about.  It was malingering in a stack of unfinished projects to be donated to my charity group but never quite made it out of the stack.  Then this delightful farm scene print appears and it was perfect!!  I quilted it with the Baptist fan which I think is an excellent choice for pineapple quilts.

Given the amount of time I've spent birding and gardening during May, I'm surprised I was able to stay on goal!!  

Do you see that big tub of plants on the left of the quilts? It's kale and kohlrabi.

Check out that little cabbage white butterfly mobile!  I stumbled across the idea last week on Instagram and the author has a sheet you can download from her website to make your own.  Apparently, cabbage whites are territorial and this little mobile "repels" them?  Right now we don't seem to have any cabbage whites around as they must have been knocked back by the cold spell earlier this month but I hope I'm ready for their return!

You can find it at simplelivingcollective.com and make your own if you want to try it, too.

They work on me (I've started to "chase" it off more than once), so I hope they will work on cabbage whites, too!!

Now if I could just find a simple way to repel chipmunks and deer!?!

Last fall, a friend brought me a large caterpillar which went into a cocoon almost immediately.  Over the winter, it "lived" between a window and a screen so it was outside but safe from predators.  I was beginning to get concerned since it had not emerged but then a couple days ago -- there she was!!

Not a luna moth as I originally thought, but a polyphemus moth.

None of my photos do her justice.  What appears to be a white margin along the black border at first glance is actually a light pink.

Those center circles in each "dot" are clear like cellophane.

Below is an underside view and look how beautifully she blends into the leaf litter.

(Look for the "dots".)

I hope she has found a mate -- I looked up the trees used as larval food by this moth's caterpillars and took to a woodland filled with those trees.

The spring woodland wildflowers are winding down here and it's time to explore meadows and fields to find summer wildflower beauties.  This is one of the most dramatic jack-in-the-pulpit blossoms I've seen this year.

Today, my friends and I are setting up our group veggie garden to grow produce and flowers to share with our church shut-ins -- it will be like a CSA for them.  We doubled our plot size and I hope we haven't been too ambitious.  

Then tomorrow we'll be celebrating the triplets third birthday!!

Hard to believe.  Boy, are they fun!!

I'll close with a Zen saying that is good to keep in mind --

"You should sit in nature for 20 minutes a day . . . unless you're busy.  

Then you should sit for an hour."

Mary

 

Tug Of War

You've all been there -- in a "tug of war" between what you want to do and what you need to do.  It's tough because you are the only person on both teams -- how will either "side" ever be able to declare a win??

Do you stay at the sewing machine even though it's a beautiful day so you don't fall behind?

 I haven't fallen behind (but I haven't finished anything either)!!  I've moved that lovely nosegay UFO forward by using the piecing of the little flower blocks and the diamond borders as my "leaders and enders" while piecing hexagons together for part 19 of Homage to Grandmother's Flower Garden (pattern by Katja Marek).  This weekend when it's raining I need to double down and focus on the fiddly border attachment.

I pulled out another small UFO (maybe it could be a finish for May?)  Thank goodness I left placement notes on the blocks or I never would have figured out what my intention was several years ago when I started it.

It's a rather weird piece for me and I'll show it to you another time.

Yard-sitting arrived early this spring for Northeast Ohio so of course that requires a new easy to carry outside project -- another Musselburgh hat (designed by Ysolda) -- it's such a versatile pattern.  It's set up so you can knit with any yarn, any needle size, and get predictable results without doing a gauge swatch or math.  Doesn't get better than that!!  

 The yarn is a Merino/cashmere blend and I'm thinking it will be a cozy hat for a friend who is going through cancer treatment.

Or do you go outside and do all the stuff????

The weather along the south shore of Lake Erie has made for excellent bird migration over the past week and even though I've seen most of the birds that will come through, I must see them again.  One morning found me perched in my lawn chair under some big oak trees at a local park -- 2 hours later, I had listed over 40 species including 12 warbler and 4 vireo species without any exertion.  The day is fast coming when that will be my primary birding style!

I joined a local native plant group this spring and they are hosting weekly flower walks.

Isn't this wild columbine lovely?  Only comes in this color and will tolerate shade.  

I have one plant in my wildflower bed but there need to be more!

And this was a new to me violet this past week -- common dog-violet.  It is such a delicate shade of blue.  

There are little seedlings all over the house waiting to be big enough to set out

and the front porch is loaded with plants I overwintered getting use to fresh air and natural sunshine.

I transplanted some brassicas into the garden beds and washed some windows today.  My sewing side might lose the tug of war this month again.

I take comfort in knowing that I'm not alone -- we are all pulled in opposite directions because we are dynamic interesting folks who want to do it all.

So carry on!!

Mary