Sunday Sundry 5-21-23

It's been awhile since I did a Sunday Sundry post, a smorgasbord of this and that.  I have been sewing, too, so let's start with what I'm currently working on.

This four-patch quilt is coming along nicely.  It started with a pull of some fat quarter remnants and similar scraps I've accumulated over time.  These muted colors don't typically resonate with me when I'm fabric shopping, but somehow, by gift or thrift, I've ended up with enough of them such that they can all now live their best life together in a quilt.  I'm happy to do the honors.

When I saw this pattern on Mary Quilts, I decided it would work well for this project.  It's called Four Patches on the Diagonal. 

I actually have the top mostly together now except for the outer border, so you'll see it soon.  The more I work on it, the more I like it!

Happy Mail!

A few weeks ago, I got a happy mail package from The Joyful Quilter!  She sent me some nice John Deere themed fabric, as well as a couple bags chock full of blue and green scraps.  I was oohing and aahing over the green ones here.

I may be putting these to good use soon, as Jo's Country Junction is doing a YouTube tutorial series on a scrappy star block quilt she is calling Picadilly Circus.  It looks like fun!

Joyful also included a fun mug rug.  The happy colors make me smile! :)

Like Another Hole in the Head

I had my ears re-pierced a few weeks ago.  Yay!  Since I quit in-office work a dozen or so years ago and thus didn't wear earrings regularly, one of them had completely closed and the other needed way too much effort to shove a post through.  So I met my daughter at the tattoo and piercing salon and we made an afternoon of it, shopping and having lunch after the deed was done.

We even stopped at the thrift store and made a pretty good clothing haul.  Dear daughter spotted this colorful shirt on the rack and waved it as I was getting ready to check out, and I gave it an enthusiastic nod (under $4, I think it was).  It's a Lands End rash guard with UPF 50. 

I tried it on at home and it fit perfectly (always an iffy proposition with my long arms).  Having had my first skin check in February this year (and the scars to prove it; nothing cancerous, thankfully), I probably need to get serious about protecting my skin.

Suddenly Spring!

It took forever for spring to arrive—or feel like it was sticking around, anyway—but it finally seems to have made up its mind.  I planted flowers this past week, mostly in pots scattered here and there around the house.  

Lily of the Valley always reminds me of my grandma.  She had a patch of it in one of her gardens, but she also had some kind of scented powder that smelled like it.  

I did battle with it in the flower bed on the north side of my house, but it persists in finding a way through the cracks.  Ah, well.  I pinch off a sprig and inhale and am transported back to Grandma's house on Hubbard Street all those years ago.

Today was also my first bike ride of the season.  We did a respectable 15 miles with a couple rests stops along the way to give my knees a break.  The idea of an e-bike is looking better every year, but I'd like to keep pedaling under my own power as long as I can.  We tend to bike fairly flat trails so it's still doable for now. 

It was about as perfect a day for biking as there could be!

It's rhubarb season, and I picked a fresh batch a couple days ago.  Earlier this month, I used up the last of the frozen rhubarb and some mulberries from last summer in a rhubarb-berry crisp.  Delicious!

~Paulette

Scrappy Rail Fence is a Flimsy

The scrappy simple rail fence quilt is now a flimsy.  I actually thought it was done a week or so ago, but after laying it out on the living room floor, it looked like it need some additional length if I was going to use it as a throw.  So I added two more rows and that brought it to around 54 x 72, which seems just about right.

There is quite the eclectic mix of fabrics in this thing, which isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I quite like it!

This was my "easy enough to sew one-handed" project while my left hand was in the splint after surgery.  I got my stitches out last Monday and now only have to use the splint at night for another month or so.  The two rows that I added were good therapy for my newly-freed left hand, and I was able to gently use my ruler again to cut a few more bricks.

I still have a pretty scabby area in the crease of the finger joint, so I'm  bandaging it until that heals up a little more.  The pinky is straight, though—woo hoo!  When I change the bandage, I gently massage some Vaseline on it to keep things soft, and then I run through my hand exercises.  Things are coming along.  I have one more therapy appointment on Wednesday.

My sister-in-law came over with her chainsaw yesterday and helped my husband remove an overgrown shrub (tree?) that was obscuring one of our front windows.  It was probably planted at least 25 years ago and had grown to about 8 feet high and 6 feet across.  Now that it's gone, let there be light!  My living room is brighter and already the houseplants seem to be standing a little taller.

For all her hard work (it was such a hot day, and to further complicate things they ran into a metal spike in the center of the trunk!), I had her pick out a quilt from a few I thought she might like.  She chose this one.

I made this several years ago, but had never used it.  I'm glad it now has a new home where it can be enjoyed.  She says it looks great on the back of her sofa in her living room.  That makes me happy to hear, and it's so much better than languishing on a shelf in my quilt closet.

* * * * *

I've had some luck at the thrift store the few times that I've been there this summer.  The other day, I bought this bag of fabric.  It was sealed so I couldn't look through it in the store, but it seemed totally worth a shot for two bucks.  

Look at these sweet scraps!  A pretty watercolor batik, modern and reproduction fabrics.

Firehouse dogs!  Pirate cats!  Hee-hee!  Those will go into kennel quilts.  There were a couple half- and quarter-yard pieces, but most were fat quarter size or less.  All totally usable stuff.

Several weeks back, at the same store, I had another good haul, including a brand new t-shirt for yours truly with the tags still on it. I don't usually use poly batting, but I will use this for kennel quilts. 

I seem to have the best luck on fabric and sewing notions at that particular store.

This large zipper pouch was in brand new condition for $2.  Check out those super cute llamas!  It has a waterproof lining and can carry anything from makeup to lunch to sewing notions.

* * * * *

I'd like to start a quilt for a nephew, my sister-in-law's adult son.  I've made his sisters and their babies all quilts, but would like to make one for him, too.  He has his own place, which is decorated mostly in neutrals (tan, gray, etc.) and his mom says he'd probably like something along those lines, nothing too wild.  If you have any ideas for that kind of a quilt, feel free to share them in the comments.  I'd still like to make it scrappy, but in neutral or natural tones.

 

Sewing Therapy

I watched my 20-something occupational therapist, Kylie, make my splint yesterday. She traced my hand and then cut and molded the plastic in what looked like a steam table and with a heat gun. The way she custom tailored it with such ease, I asked if she sewed. She did! Said she learned to make baby quilts during 2020 when she had downtime due to the pandemic. 

We had a nice conversation. Then we went over my home exercises, which look a lot like the chicken dance.  :)

There was some bleeding when she removed the bandage to redress the finger, so I have to keep it elevated a few more days and basically walk around like I'm hailing a cab.  

[I don't know why my font size is smaller in some places and not others in this post, but I haven't the bandwidth to figure it out today. My apologies.]

One-handed sewing continues.  I sewed some more light/dark pairs together.  I ran out of 3.5-inch strips that I'd cut before surgery, but I found some my friend Marei had sent in a goody box of scraps a couple years ago.  I'm freehand cutting some of those into 6.5-inch long bricks.

Here's what's on the design wall so far.  

This is meant to be a utilitarian quilt, and it is not exactly pretty.  That's okay.  The point was to use up what I had cut into 6x9 pieces for mask making this past year and other scraps.  Secondarily, it's something I can sew easily one-handed while the other heals, and keep my mind occupied.  Sewing therapy, truly. 

Many of the novelty fabrics were given to me to make masks with, so there's quite the eclectic mix, including sugar skulls, tattooed ladies, Disney characters, red pickup trucks, peace signs, cupcakes, and Star Wars.  As a result, it will be a  memory quilt of sorts, and I'm actually kind of digging the crazy mishmash.  

Working close up with all these different prints, I was concerned about having enough light/dark contrast.  I ended up having to set aside a bunch of medium value strips because of that.  

Looking at this photo in black and white, I can see a block or two on the right side that I'll have to swap out.  Otherwise it seems to be going okay so far.

 

I've got to wear shades...

I was working/procrastinating on the Hands2Help quilt a couple weeks ago when I got sidetracked by a baggie full of something good.  Not that kind of baggie full, something totally legal in all 50 states.  Quite possibly as capable of inducing a chill state of mind, but without the paranoia.  Not even of the quilt police.

My friend and fellow quilter Marei and I swapped boxes of scrap fabric a while ago, but to call what she sent me a box of scrap fabric is an understatement.  It was a treasure chest!

Among the rolls of strips all neatly cut to usable sizes were a couple of baggies with notes inside, to the effect of "Have fun!" and "Maybe you can create something with these."

Happily, I did!  I made THIS wall hanging from one bag of bitty-bits.

Recently I rediscovered the other bagful—two-inch "bonus" half-square triangles: the corners you cut off some other project and, if you're like Marei and me, and maybe you, you set aside to use some other time. 

I started pulling the pieces out and arranging them in groups of 16.  They were so cute and colorful!  So I sewed those groups of 16 together into 6.5-inch blocks, as many as I could make.

Now what? 

Well, I could sash them or border them, I thought.  What might I have in the stash for that?  Here's a pretty bundle of fat quarters I won in last year's Hands2Help giveaway.  Let's just open these up a bit and see if any of them might do, color-wise.  

Yes, all of them!  Okay, maybe not the ivory one, but all the rest.

Hm, what if I stagger or offset them?  Then I would only need to border three sides instead of four, and isn't that interesting?

Let's make the two side borders a bit narrower and the longer border wider.  If I cut the side borders 6.5 x 3 and the longer border 11.5 x 3.5, that will make the block finish at 9 x 11 inches.  Seems like a workable size rectangle to make a baby quilt or wall hanging.

And that is the story of how friendship, farting around, and flimsies come together.

It is bright, and I like that.  In real life, it's not quite as eye-searingly bright.  I tried to correct somewhat for the dim light of the basement with so-so results.

Now I'm in the process of making a scrappy back.

How have you used your small bonus half-square triangles?  Do you have some lying around, waiting for inspiration?  Do you toss them or give them away? 

Sunday Sundry 2-28-16

This little wall hanging is now quilted and bound and hanging on the sewing room wall.  I may not have gotten it done by Valentine's Day, which was an arbitrary deadline, but a couple weeks later is fine by me.

As usual, what stalled me was how to quilt it.  I finally began with some circles or pebbles in the red sashing and curlicues in the black and white inner borders, then went back and did straight line ditch quilting in the whirligigs and a meander in the outer border.

(Quilting as seen from the back)

You know what I have a problem with?  Quilting exactly over the same line or curve.  I can do it, sort of, but I really want to wander.

I don't know if it's a lack of attention, some kind of neurological thing that makes me a little shaky, a contrariness about following rules, or a general reluctance to go over the same ground I've already covered. 

(I don't always overthink things, but when I do...)

Anyway, the struggle is real.

But what ultimately went through my mind was remembering to just "embrace the shake."  If you've seen this TED talk by artist Phil Hansen, you know what I mean.  If not, it's definitely worth a few minutes to watch it.  It's about working creatively within your limitations.  Limitations in function, limitations in resources can inspire an abundantly creative life.  I love that kind of thing.

And that also relates back to this wall hanging, because it started with a baggie of scrap pieces.  

There was only a certain number of dark red pieces with which to make the whirligig blocks, and then there were some red and white print pieces.  Those lighter bits made three whirligigs that recede into the background.  You have to look at little bit harder to see them, but they're there.

* * * * *

The Joy in the Evening quilt has been donated to an upcoming local fundraiser for Badger Honor Flight.  The Honor Flight Network flies WWII and terminally ill veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials erected in their honor. 

I wish my father-in-law would have been able to participate in an Honor Flight, but he passed away a few years before the program was begun.

At any rate, it makes me happy to be able to participate in a very small way so that another veteran can be part of an Honor Flight experience.

* * * * *
I've had a cruddy cold this past week, which zapped my energy.  Things are starting to feel more normal again, finally.  My voice still sounds pretty ragged and gravelly, but it's getting better.

My face is healing too.

PSA:  A few days into a cruddy cold with frequent nose-wiping and blowing is NOT the day to decide to Nair your upper lip.

I'm just sayin'.

* * * * *
So let's talk about food, specifically, cookies.  More specifically, using a mashed avocado in cookies.

An avocado?  Oh yes!  The mushy green fruit of a mashed avocado makes these cookies delightfully delish.  Well, that and the chocolate.  This is one of the keepers in my recent experiments in gluten-free baking.

Now if you like a crunchy cookie, this is not the droid you are looking for.  But if you crave a cakier morsel with a tender chocolatey crumb, then read on, my friend.

Chocolate Chip Avocado Cookies (Gluten-Free)

Blend together dry ingredients in a small bowl:

3/4 cup almond meal (almond flour)
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I use raw cacao powder)
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl:

One-half avocado, mashed
1 egg
1/4 cup melted coconut oil or melted butter (I used ghee)
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.  Stir in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Let the cookie dough sit while the oven preheats, or about 5-10 minutes.  This gives the dough time to absorb all of the moisture and become scooping consistency.  Then scoop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, pressing down slightly if you want them more flat than fat (they don't spread much with baking).  Bake for 11 minutes.  Let cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to rack to continue cooling.

Enjoy!

* * * * *
Linking to:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get A Whoop Whoop!

Rays of Light

I tell you what, these first six weeks of my husband's retirement have been an adjustment period.  I am not retired myself yet; that's not on the horizon for at least a half dozen or more years.  

One of my jobs is done from home, and both jobs are somewhat flexible.  Nevertheless, I used to have my own weekday routine, of a sort.

Now?  Not so much.  It feels pretty boggy and nebulous to me.

These days I wake up and smell the coffee, literally, and wonder what day it is (used to be I only woke to the smell of coffee on the weekend, when Norm made it).  There is a sameness to each day, and although I've tried to maintain some of the former touchstones, the days seem to blur together and slip by, one into the next.  Also, it's midwinter, and I'm sure there's some cabin fever that factors into that equation.

One thing I continue to do is throw open my bedroom window first thing in the morning and let all the heat out of the room the direct sunshine warm my face for 15 minutes or so.  There's science behind that strategy, with sunlight and seratonin and Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.  When the sun's not shining, I park myself in front of a light box at breakfast during the winter months.  Have for years.  It definitely helps keep the winter blues at bay.

[Icicles on the river birch outside my window]

One of the upshots of Norm being retired is that he's been going for walks with me on milder days, i.e., above 30 degrees.  I'm not a particularly cold-loving gal.  Mostly, I don't want to wipe out on an icy sidewalk.  It's good to be able to grab a supportive arm as I totter over the slippery bits.

And so we're finding our new groove, little by little.

Speaking of sunshine, this lovely little runner brightened my day when it arrived in my mailbox recently, a gift from fellow quilter Marei.

What a lovely surprise!  Wonderful piecing and quilting, isn't it?  I love it!

The news from my sewing room is that I finished the Joy in the Evening quilt this past weekend.  

The multicolored thread I ordered came in, looking somewhat different than the first spool, but close enough that I don't think anyone will notice.

I really like how it turned out.  It makes a cute kid's quilt or lap quilt.  I will probably be donating it, unless someone in the family makes a claim.  (Edited:  Donated to Badger Honor Flight fundraiser.)

Also worked on the Quilty 365 circles for February.  I'm enjoying using various reds and pinks from the stash and scrap bins.

I've also managed to temporarily sidetrack myself with another task, sorting through several decades' worth of old photos which belonged to my in-laws.  They've sat in a big storage box since 1999, when my father-in-law passed away and the house was sold.

[Father-in-law Ed on the far right]

I was looking for an old photo of my sister-in-law the other day, to surprise her with on her birthday.  Didn't find the photo I went searching for, found another instead, and one thing led to another.  

[Ed in the Civil Conservation Corps, late 1930s; mother-in-law Marion, 1940s, lower right]

Pretty soon I had my whole cutting table covered in piles of old photos.  Why this job has fallen to me is another story, albeit somewhat of a mystery.  I think every family has its "keeper of things," and/or its family historian.  Perhaps it defaults to the person who shows anything resembling an interest.  I bet you could name the person who holds that honor in your family.  Is it you?

[Ed was a tank driver in the 7th Armored Division at the Battle of the Bulge in WWII]

Anyway, it may take a while to dig out.  

If you don't hear from me in a couple weeks, send reinforcements.  Or cookies.  That works too.