Fiber and Pulp

1874!

In early February I had a doctor's appointment and noticed this forsythia bush on my way out - blooming especially early in this year, even for our fairly warm area. We have had a much-milder-than-usual winter (with the exception of  a ten day period in late December that was _much_ colder than usual).

I took this photo of the daffodils near my front step this morning. We have lived in our house since January 1987. Only ONCE before have the daffodils bloomed this early (the year my daughter was about 11 years old).

It was over 70 degrees today!! It has not been that warm in late February since 1874!! The world here in Maryland was a very different place then. Wow!

The past week has been more than usually blah for me. My stomach/intestines have been giving me troubles. I _think_ it is some kind of developing food sensitivity as I have no fever or other sign of infection (and negative Covid tests twice). Sigh. I took my condo crew grocery shopping on Tuesday afternoon (which was a mistake, health-wise). Otherwise, just filling the two bird feeders in my front yard was a huge effort. :P

Tomorrow is Sewing With Friends day at my friend Barbara's house. I look forward to some zen stitching!

Linda

Flashes of Light

Our skies were very gray today, much like this photo. There were occasionally flashes and patches of sunshine glowing through but it was mostly overcast throughout the day. I did manage to do some sewing:

I finished making my eight extra Chilhowie mystery project blocks ... if you look carefully at the one on top of this pile, you will see why I had to take two of them apart and resew the elements. sigh! Two out of eight were backwards. I get disgusted with myself easily when I make this kind of mistake (one that reveals my basic dyslexia) ... but I whipped out Jack and ripped out some cotton seam guts right then (rather than grumpily dwelling on my errors). Sewed them back together. Now I have 11 blocks ... gotta make one more. My math decisions are questionable these days. LOL.

I took Kim to her first therapist appointment late this afternoon ... then we shared dinner at the local Subway (had a bit of trouble choosing through the new menu; lots of my familiar favorites are gone). 

Tomorrow I have three major to-do items: pay bills, make phone calls (mostly to repair people), and receive/put away groceries I ordered tonight. 

:) Linda

Joy Despite the Drear

Choose Joy! What a lovely idea. :) In practice I have trouble following that advice sometimes. Sigh.

Today was gray, overcast and dreary. Sunshine broke through the cloud layers at times in the middle of the afternoon. I know because I spent several hours in my sewing room, visiting with my modern quilting friends via Zoom. :) We have re-started our Quilting With Friends sew-along sessions and I enjoyed every minute of it today.

I went back to working on my Bonnie Hunter project this afternoon. I have my Dragon Scales top hanging on the work wall at the front of my sewing space to admire when I need a place to rest my eyes.

I managed over the two hours or so I worked on my block bits to finish eight blocks worth of units for more of the Chilhowie:

I ran out of 'go' by the time I had counted, re-counted, piled and assembled all these bits. I plan to work on sewing them together tomorrow afternoon (since, for a rare change, I don't have any Sunday afternoon commitments:).

I am still really happy with this color palette. Makes me think of summer time at the beach. :) What you can't see from my piles is that the prints in each unit are pretty scrappy - they aren't all exactly the same as the surface fabrics. I look forward to making the larger blocks from these units. Step by step does it with this project. :)

I will have 11 blocks when I finish this pile, I _think_. Might have to make one more to get an even number for a quilt design/layout. Hmmm.

Other than sew, I spent most of the rest of my day reading and resting. Getting to be outright lazy! There are plenty of household chores, phone calls and book keeping errands I could be doing. :P

:) Linda

PS. For my own record keeping: as of this evening, I have lost 79 pounds in the past 15 months due to my bariatric surgery and resulting new eating regimen. I have 18 pounds to go to achieve my 'ideal' weight. :)

Dragons

 I have been a reader of fantasy fiction since I was about nine or ten years old. I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time when I was in middle school (and re-read it every couple of years). The painting above depicts the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit, lying on his pile of treasure. If you look very carefully at the lower right corner, you might see Bilbo Baggins, THE hobbit, bowing to the dragon. This particular illustration was drawn by Tolkien himself (author of these books).

What does this relate to in my life (other than my niche reading preferences:)? Several months ago a friend (whose name I have forgotten in the interim) gave me three pieces of silk fabric - weaving samples that were probably rep color/order charts. Luscious, elaborate silks. They've been sitting beside my sewing machine, attracting my eye ever since. Recently I've been sewing on Bonnie Hunter's mystery project Chilhowie pretty much exclusively ... and, even though I truly love the fabrics I've chosen and am plugging away with the effort, I was getting bogged down in the minutiae of piecing the block units. 

Suddenly last weekend I decided to step aside and follow that silk "squirrel" temptation for a few days. :) When I looked at my fabrics, I 'saw' dragon bellies embedded with gems and jewels from sleeping on their treasure piles. :) The project has veered away from my original vision, but that's ok with me - I might even try for a series on this topic and start a new one. :)

Here is what I originally created:

I pictured these quarter-square log cabin blocks as dragon scales - set on point and overlapping like belly scales. You might have to click and embiggen the photo to see the luscious sheen and print pattern of these silks. When I finished piecing the block units, I set them together thinking I would turn the whole thing on point as if I were looking at the scales face-on. The project fought with me, though, and this is what I ended up making:

I could not find a/any fabric(s) in my immediate stash that would suit as the setting-on-point print for the central nine block array ... and so cut up the striped silk print into a piano-key style border. I am thinking to hand quilt this with big stitch embroidery in, possibly, black or some other intense neutral color. To be determined. :)

I went back to work on the BH project today. Faithful Circle quilters have arranged a Friday afternoon zoom for us to sew together on this project. Today I did not feel up to going out (my stomach was grumpy) so I joined the group from home with my sewing instead of going to Barbara's house as is my usual wont. 

I need to rummage through my stash and find something nice for the back of this piece (it's about 26" square) so I can sandwich it. I look forward to doing the hand quilting on it. :)

The weather has been mild temperature-wise but very windy today. Gray the past couple of days. It was sunny on Wednesday - I took my Condo Crew out grocery shopping all afternoon and was grateful we did not have to deal with rain while we were out!

:) Linda

PS I forgot to note that Skip and I went to the lab on Tuesday afternoon for Covid tests. We both tested negative. Thank you, Science!

Damned Virus

The expletive-deleted virus has struck at my house at long last. :( Shortly after I wrote my last post, I got a call from my niece about my brother (with whom she lives, in the condo we bought for them, about 3 miles from our house). He was raving and sick. I drove quickly to the apartment and discovered chaos.

To make a long-ish story shorter, visits from police and firefighters, accompanied by mental health professional, followed by EMTs with an ambulance ... and my brother was on his way to the local hospital (part of the Johns Hopkins University medical system). Of course, I was right there behind them ... and spent a number of hours hovering as Kevin was admitted to the ICU. We didn't know, then, what was wrong with him, only that he was raving and delusional and fevered.

He was in hospital for three plus days. Multiple blood and body tests of all kinds ... eventually it was decided that the only detectable issue was Covid. Sigh. He was released on Tuesday afternoon and I tested positive for Covid, too. :P

I have gone to see to them all three for two afternoons ... but today I woke up with a very sore throat and stayed home. In my nightgown all day, wrapped in three quilts, sitting in my comfy armchair watching the birds and sky out our front patio window. Sigh. Not sick but not well, either.

I expect I will be staying home a couple more days at least. Fingers crossed I don't get any more sick - have had all the vaccinations and boosters which I think must be helping as, other than the sore throat, I don't have any other symptoms. 

I did help Kim hang some of her art works on Wednesday afternoon - she is still unpacking and settling in. I took a photo of this one (about 12"x12" in real life), thinking it would make a spiffy quilt:

I got the first block of the Shoreline Shells block of the month project I signed up for. Am Looking forward to making this quilt:

I am way behind in doing my paperwork (paying bills, posting receipts, balancing bank accounts). Sigh. Too sick to make much order out of the tasks right now, though.

Linda

Chilly Skies

Winter can be pretty here in Maryland but today is NOT it! Chilly (highs in the mid40s), windy, cloudy skies with occasional flashes of blue ... drab and gray is more the usual in my neighborhood.

I spent most of today in a cocoon - nightgown-with-sweater, reading, eating and napping. I had planned to do some sewing and to try some book keeping ... but never achieved anything of note. :P

Yesterday was much more productive. It was the last Friday Zoom of sewing with guild buddies on this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, Chilhowie. Patty and I met with Barbara at her house (the usual happy comfort of Friday afternoons:) to sew along with the zoom. I took Blue (my Featherweight machine) and worked on assembling units to build more BH blocks. I had the pleasure of using one of my happy holiday gifts, too:

I was given this cute little pinnie by a modern guild friend - she was thanking me for the use of my Accuquilt cutter for the guild's charity program (Days for Girls) this year. Along with this adorable little owl, there was a big owl pinnie that is living in my non-traveling sewing room. :) So cute!!! Thanks, Sue. :)

I got quite a bit of sewing done Friday. Sadly, when I got home, I was too tired to bring my bag of supplies and the machine (in its Tutto case) inside. Still out in the back of my Jeep. Maybe tomorrow I'll have the gumption to go get the stuff. Sigh.

Tomorrow is the first monthly meeting of the Baltimore Modern guild (on zoom). I look forward to that.

:) Linda

Day One

Today has been peaceful and quiet. It was sunny and warm-ish at 60 degrees or so for a high temperature. I meant to go out walking but never did get around to it (sigh).

I decided to participate in the Merry Mayhem Mystery for today (held annually on New Year's Day) and I'm glad I did. :) A couple months ago I won a very nice set of color coordinated batik fat quarters from Island Batiks and wanted to use some of that fabric to make at least one donation quilt. Turns out this was a good design to use for a baby-sized top. 

Here is what I ended up with by the end of my sewing day (from about noon until around 4:30 p.m.):

The mystery instructions include an inner and outer fabric border ... but I have decided I like this top as it is, without any border. I will choose a dark pink binding to frame the quilt, I think. 

I made at least one mistake I didn't see until looking at the finished top. Not taking it out, though, as I don't think it detracts. Shrug. :) Now I need to find a nice batik backing fabric and get this quilted. I will donate it to the Baltimore Head Start reading program my modern guild supports, I think.

Other than that sewing - exactly how I want to spend the rest of this year! - I mostly read, lazed about in my cozy armchair and watched the wild birds come to my feeders. Lovely day. Tomorrow I have to take my niece to the doctor and visit with my condo crew for a while.

:) Linda

Happy Block Building

One of my favorite toys as a small child was building blocks. Mine looked like the ones above - with the alphabet on two sides and inked images on the other four. I built tall towers (well, tall to a toddler:) as far high as I could until they collapsed. Eventually I learned to build bridges and such like other little kids, too.

Here I am many years later, still building with blocks ... though the KIND of blocks I use has changed. :) Today, being Friday, is my designated Sewing Day of the week. Barbara is still on holiday so we could not meet at her house. Instead, Patty and I are both meeting with other members of Faithful Circle quilters via Zoom to work on Bonnie Hunter's 2022 mystery project, Chilhowie.

During my sewing yesterday I emptied another 1000 meter spool of Aurifil 50 weight thread in medium gray - my go-to piecing thread. That's a LOT of seams! I generally empty one every year or so and I celebrate each one (can you tell my cutting mat is wearing out?):

This week's clue, #6, built out onto the blocks we assembled last week. Here is how Bonnie's build-out looked - I managed to make one of these with the units I had on hand:

I like where this is going ... this block is about 2" smaller than the one I completed this past week (see my last blog post here for a picture). Here is what setting my second finished BH-sized block into a double-sized block looks like:

I had to add a small 'coping strip' of dark teal to fit the smaller (BH-sized) block into the larger (double-sized) one.

I'm liking the three different blocks I've made so far. I counted up all the block parts I had cut and/or made during construction of the first four clues and figured out what further bits I need to make to finish those parts into completed BH-sized blocks. That will be my sewing assignment during my 'free' time over the coming weekend and next week.

After that, I will figure out which of the three possible larger blocks each BH-sized block will become and construct those. Of course, there are still one or two more weeks of clues to come along, too. :)

I like this project and I'm enjoying the gentle construction. I expect my seemingly haphazard methodology would frustrate some quilters but it suits me. :)

Going to see Avatar: The Way of Water turned out very well yesterday. We could not get tickets to the matinee showing (because of all the holiday people who went to the movies:) so we sat in the 6 p.m. 3D IMAX show instead. Way, way cool!! I really enjoyed the movie and would gladly pay to see it on the big screen again. Beautiful!

The weather today was sunny and a bit warmer (mid 50s). Made my muscles and joints happier.

:) Linda

Flipping

Have you ever seen these? Free standing frost crystals, often called frost flowers. :) Luckily it has warmed up here yesterday and today so there are none to be seen locally! I can't remember ever seeing them display quite like this - usually I have seen them as a thin layer of crystals on windows and such. :) So pretty!

Yesterday and today were rather pleasant with sunshine and warmer temperatures (high of 50 or so today!). I spent most of it indoors but did have to go out this evening for several hours to visit with my niece and brother in their condo (3.1 miles north of me:). My niece is having mental health issues related to her medications and I went to lend her support/stability. I also helped my brother assemble the quilt rack I bought for him:

He has a nice collection of five or six quilts our Mom made for him and wanted a place in his room to keep them for easy access when he wants to use them. The whole thing is metal and quite sturdy. We built it together and I put all his quilts on it - we sat it up just above the head of his bed in the corner so he can reach it whenever he wants. :)

I did some sewing yesterday and am really happy with the results. I have been working sporadically on this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery project, Chilhowie. I had made two of the 'regular Bonnie-sized' block ... now I have completed one of the 'twice-as-big-as-Bonnie's' blocks:

This block is 18" square (well, 18.5" as it is with raw edge seam allowances). I found it much easier to be accurate with this size than the 'regular' 9" block. Shrug. Here's how they compare:

Here I just laid the 'regular' block in the center of the 'twice sized' block for comparison. I am sooooo happy with my fabric choices. My daughter was laughing when I talked to her yesterday evening (during our regular weekly conversation) - she says aqua/turquoise/teal will be the defining color choice for the 2020s for all future quilt (and decorating) historians.

I am going to make as many 'regular' sized blocks as I have cut pieces to construct and then create as many 'large' blocks as I feel like making. When I get done I will think about how I want to assemble to resulting quilt - probably using 'modern' quilt principles. :)

Tomorrow the Condo Crew and I are going to see the new Avatar movie at a matinee showing. I am looking forward to it!

:) Linda

Happy Christmas

Today has been a happy day, despite the bitter (comparatively) cold outside. :) There was glorious sunshine this morning. I got up at a little past 10 a.m. (thanks to my beloved) and went into my sewing room as soon as I ate a small breakfast and put our dinner ham into the crock pot. Yesterday I had taken out some string pieced blocks I've been making with my scraps on a deli paper foundation ... and today I decided to finish the colors I had sorted out (yellow through gold and orange). I ended up with 25 blocks (they measure about 5.5" square so will finish at 5"). 

Here's how I sewed them together:

Next I will start sewing up the assorted green strings ... then blue and gray. I plan to add those going around the ones above until there's at least a single layer of 'border' squares. If I have enough to make this a 6x6 array, I"ll stop adding to it and make a single baby quilt for charity with the piece. This is a long term project approach that will use up the strings in my scrap basket to make a comfortable donation. My modern guild's charity project uses 'baby' sized quilts for donation to the Kennedy Kreiger Institute'sBaltimore city Head Start program.

After I took a shower and dressed, I hunted out my son and we made savory sweet potatoes, mashed white potatoes and peas to go with our ham for dinner. Yum! Sparkling Apple Cider to drink is a tradition here chez Schiffer, too. 

 

Now that my tummy is happy, I am settling down to knit and watch a movie on Netflix. My idea of a cozy winter evening. :) Here is my knitting project:

This is a scarf-let in process. It will get quite a bit larger before I"m done with it. :)

Tomorrow is the federal holiday for Christmas so offices and such will be closed. I'm expecting to pay bills and maybe write some letters. It is supposed to get warmer this week (fingers crossed!!) which I heartily look forward to!

:) Linda

PS. Linking to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday post for today. Take a look at all the pretty projects!