Fiber and Pulp

Photonic Increase

My life definitely needs more sunshine. :) Today I managed to capture quite a few photons when I went for a walk with my son. I can now stroll to the intersection of Windharp Way and Cradlerock Way. Maybe double or even close to triple the distance I could comfortably walk last fall. Things are certainly improving (slowly) in my physical  life. :) I actually have two pairs of pants that I will retire from wearing because they are too big!

The sunshine was warmer today than yesterday (up to the mid 50s in temperature). Supposed to get warmer yet tomorrow. YEAH! :)

I managed to finish the first (bottom) half of the border to my daughter's Morris quilt today. Here is a very abbreviated photo of what I made:

I took a page out of my friend Barbara's play book and made four string blocks with random widths of the new Morris prints. I actually recycled a flimsy paper bag to make the foundations (all the phone books we once had have long gone off to be recycled). I had one additional Criss Cross block so that became the center of the border, too. I _tried_ to plan out this quilt but it has quickly morphed into an intuitive design project - as has become my favorite way to work.

While I chatted with my Wednesday night Sit&Sew modern buddies this evening I decided on a block to make for the two side borders. I want those borders to be narrower than the two end ones already made (which are each made of blocks that are 9.5" square, finished). I am thinking to make the side borders 6" wide, finished. Once those are done and attached, I can think about whether to make any more borders, use a fabric border, or finish the whole thing off. Right now it measures 72" in length which seems like a fine size for a sofa/nap quilt. :)

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Wonder whether I will do anything else while I'm out?

:) Linda

 

Cold Wave

March is definitely going out with lion-ish noises this year! Cold and very blustery today - harder to bear after the pleasant mid60s weather last week. :) I went out to fill my bird feeders this afternoon and was glad I wore my winter coat and hood. Had intended to take a short walk, too, but gave that up after the wind gusted around me while I did my chore. Brrr!

I did manage to get some sewing done today after a pretty unproductive weekend. I finished the last of six border blocks for my daughter's Morris quilt and then sewed them to one end. Well, I did some measuring first and discovered/realized that my reading of the pattern for the body design had been faulty. I _thought_ the thing would measure 59" square but it is actually 53". Sigh. Sewed some narrow separation strips on all around and then attached the first border to one side.

This quick pic shows how one end of the border worked out. I don't have enough space to get a decent full photo as yet. When I get the other end's blocks added (and assuming the weather cooperates), I'll take a picture of the entire work-in-progress outdoors. I am pleased with the way this project is developing. :)

Tomorrow is my grandson T's fourth birthday - Happy Day coming! :) I sent him a selection of books for his gifts and have an ISpy quilt to mail to him, too. Gotta go out to send it pronto. 

Otherwise, nothing but the usual daily life going along here. Grocery ordering, meal making, dishwashing, reading and sleeping. I have been feeling under the weather in a vague, chilled way the past few days. Need some sunshine to pep me up!

:) Linda

Spring Rains

Spanish Moon Moth

Madagascan Sunset Moth

 

Eyed Hawk Moth

 

Part of my admiration of artists who use fiber to evoke their visions - Max Alexander uses knitting to create bigger-than-life sized entomologically-accurate moths. You can read about her work in this article or visit her website to see a staggering array of her works. I think it is a good joke that's she's making MOTHS out of wool. :)

Today has been coldish (mid 40's) and very wet with pretty much continuous rainy drizzle. Supposed to be wet all day tomorrow and maybe the weekend. :P The birds are flocking to my feeders so I don't think they like the weather either.  Myself, I have had a hard time getting moving today and spent most of it cuddled under a quilt reading. Brr!

I did manage to choose a new block for extending my daughter's sofa quilt - called 'Crisscross' in the source where I found it:

I like the use of squares and rectangles again, mirroring the design in the quilt's body. The blocks make up to 10" (finished) in size so there will be six across each of the top and bottom rows of her quilt. I have actually made four out of the needed twelve blocks so far - even though they are easy to cut, I find them tedious to sew and have only been making a few at a time. Shrug. It's not a race. :)

I have also been working on the surprise cross stitch project and have gotten this far, to date:

I find the scale of this embroidery somewhat tiring for my eyes so I do it in one or two hour bursts and then have to rest. Again, not a race ... though I would like to be done with it sooner rather than later. :)

I expect tomorrow to be a quiet day again. With the cold rainy weather, I have no inspiration to go out very much (though I have been trying to go walking at least a little each day for the past two weeks; trying to build up my stamina).

:) Linda

Muddling About

Here we have a very ancient (3000 years old) example of pants - maybe the first era in which pants were actually made. These were worn by a steppe nomad member of the tribes that lived in the western Chinese deserts and apparently show cultural connections to several different areas of their range. You can read the particulars here. I think the several different patterns woven into the fabric are beautiful! :)

Today was another gloriously beautiful very early spring day with mild temperatures (a high of 71 degrees F) and blue skies. Lovely! Hugh and I went out for a short walk and then I had to run errands.

I dropped the last three finished baby quilts off to my modern guild's charity collection person. That brings my total contribution for this year up to five small quilts which makes me happy. I have two more tops finished that need to be quilted and a collection of enough scraps for at least three more. Hopefully I can get those done sometime this year, too.

I also had a visit with a dermatologist this afternoon to check out some growths on my back - turned out to all be benign skin tags (yeah!). Sadly, my stomach started bothering me about the time I got home so I spent the early evening horizontal, resting. :P Lost my track of time and missed attending the weekly Sip&Sew zoom meeting with my modern buddies. Sigh!

I did get some nice mail today - I won a completion prize from my Snowflake BOM program which came in my box:

I'm not sure if this is a complete jelly roll (40 strips) or a half roll. In either case, it is bright happy fabric and I am looking forward to making something pretty with it. :)

Tomorrow should be a stay-home-and-sew kind of day, I hope!

:) Linda

Melting

Are these not beautiful pieces of artwork? These animals are decorated in Zentangle patterns and I think they are glorious. :) If you would like to read about the artist and others of her works, you can go here. Once upon a time several years ago I played with Zentangles and learned quite a lot ... mostly about being confident about drawing and making complex things from little step-by-step pieces. :)

I have not written here for a week but I have been doing. Of course, when I sit down to write, I cannot _remember_ what I've done. Sigh. Today I managed to put the final, corrected, first border on my daughter's quilt top and bound two baby quilts for charity. I have one more to bind - I'm planning to do it tomorrow - and then I can take the three to the pick up lady for my guild. 

The other sewing I did today, after fixing the first border was to start in on the foundation piecing for the 'enlarging' blocks I chose for Eva's quilt. I sewed up one quarter of the block and have decided to change my mind. The Morris prints I've chosen (which I really like and do not want to abandon) do not look good cut up into the small sized piece the pattern requires. Either I have to enlarge the designs or choose a different block pattern. Hmmm. 

We had actual snow this week - about 2" or so - and my daffodils are still blooming! The snow has almost all melted. In back of our house there is still icy-slush in the shadows (our house faces south so the back yard is on the north side where there is little sunlight penetration). Today was lovely weather - mid 60s and sunny - and Hugh and I went out for a walk.

We also took a stroll around the yard with loppers and pulled up and cut down weedy bushes and small trees that were encroaching on flower beds and such. Got quite a lot of tidying done in a surprisingly short time. Dug out blackberry bushes and wild roses and grapevines - all noxious local weeds. I count it as good work!

Things are quiet and calm right now chez Schiffer - my husband is going back to working (in person) three days a week this week. His superiors are begging him to work more and the virus issues are working out a bit here so he feels safe enough to do so. I'm grateful as he misses work a lot, I can tell. :)

Tomorrow I plan to sew more and to help Hugh package up his old computer. He wants to share it with an online more-or-less indigent friend ... so I am footing the bill for shipping as long as he handles the details. As he reminded me, its RECYCLE, REDUCE and REUSE for the whole spectrum of cutting down waste.

:) Linda

Are We There Yet?

I feel somewhat like this hopeful kitty today. It was warm (74 degrees?) and breezy and _smelled_ like spring ... but we know it isn't spring quite yet. :)

Mimi Dietrich's Grad Class met today at The Bears Paw quilt shop in Towson, MD. Patty and I drove up to the park and ride in front of First Presbyterian Church (at Rts 29 & 108) and met Barbara ... who drove us into the Mt. Washington area of Baltimore to pick up our friend Vera Hall ... and then onward to Towson. It was WONDERFUL to see the folks again! I have not been to an in-person meeting in some months and it was a pleasure to see my quilt-y buddies. :)

The bonus for the day was that the shop had a fabric sale going on that I had fun with. There were two plus rows (not shelves, ROWS) of sale fabrics, including a lot of batiks, at $4 and $5 a yard! I have not bought 100% cotton fabric for that little in a quilt shop for 20 years or more. I did not go entirely hog wild, but I did some damage - bought nine yards of a pretty soft green bamboo print batik to be the backing for my Chicken Scratch quilt (and spent less than two yards of a wide backing fabric would have cost me at regular price). I also bought 26 fat quarters (at $2 each!) for making the chicken salad applique quilt that Lori Holt is blogging right now.*

(*For whatever reason, one of my few thematic hold-overs from a childhood growing up on the farm is a love of chickens:).

Was a wonderful day all around! I rested a bit when I got home and then turned to my embroidery while watching three more episodes of Time Team on YouTube. I have never been much of a YouTube viewer but I'm certainly digging in lately. :) I managed to start in on the cross stitching for the leafy green bits of my happy garden photo:

I can only work on this design for a couple of hours at a time before my eyes start to squint and I have to do something else. :) That's ok, it's not a race.

I did finish piecing the body of Eva's interlaced Morris quilt this past weekend ... and, just as I suspected, the two remaining borders must be taken apart and re-pieced. The instructions neglected to tell me (and I did not notice by looking at the sample) that the borders are mirror imaged. Sigh. The project is in time out right now so I can get over my annoyance with myself. :) Here is a quick picture I took of one corner to document the interlacing:

I had a surprise when I got home this afternoon. The vinca minor (vine-y ground cover) growing in my side yard is flowering!! I did not realize that it would do so before the daffodils. 

Pretty little blue faces beaming up at the sky. :) Once upon a time I had crocus growing by my front step but they all seem to be gone now. Maybe the squirrels dug them up? Several times today as we drove through the somewhat-posh neighborhoods of Baltimore I saw yards overgrown and filled with flowering crocus - usually the first spring flowers I notice here in MD. So pretty. Don't know why the ones I planted didn't naturalize like that. Shrug.

I have an appointment with my dietician tomorrow afternoon. Skip asked me to stop at the office supply store to buy a new ream of printer paper while I was out. We need to do taxes but we don't have enough paper in our current ream to print out all the forms he wants. :P

:) Linda

Sleepy

I am about to totter off to sleep like this happy baby as soon as I finish typing this post. :) It has been six days since I've written but I have been _doing_ in the interim. The weather has been rather pleasant - late winter, very early spring with sunshine and mild temperatures (mid 40s to mid 60s). The birds are starting to sing in the front trees - sussing out their summer nest sites and finding partners for a new round of generations. 

I have been sewing this week on my daughter's sofa quilt project. I have three rows left to finish piecing the body of my interlaced design ... then I have to take stock of the borders I pieced previously. I have avoided looking at the second of each pair (top and side borders) because I _suspect_ that I will have to completely deconstruct and re-piece the lot. I think they are supposed to be pieced in the mirror image of the first two and they are not. Sigh. 

Anyway, here is a small picture of the bit I am piecing currently:

Maybe you can recognize some of those Morris themed prints though I doubt you can figure out the interlacement without the borders to cue you in. :)

This afternoon I managed to get a number of rows done while chatting with friends (via Zoom) from the Columbia modern group. It is so much easier to fix errors when there is distraction (from my aggravation with my errors:)!

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon Barbara, Patty and I got together for our usual Sewing Together time. I took a new embroidery project along. Wednesday afternoon I _thought_ I had an appointment for a hair cut but when I got to the salon it developed that my date was really next week. Happily, I took the opportunity to visit Cloverhill Yarn Shop and The Stitching Post in Catonsville while I was in town. It has been a while since I've been in either shop so it was a pleasure to catch up! My quilt shop was located between these two stores so I know both of the owners personally (in a professional capacity:).

I bought some roving at Cloverhill - I have in mind repairing some of my moth-ravaged knitted scarves with needle felting and needed fodder for the patches. The shop was looking really sharp and I enjoyed browsing the beautiful yarns. :) I also bought issues of the newest Interweave magazines. The Stitching Post has been downsized since I was there last but it was looking bountiful and well appointed with great samples. She retained a line of Mill Hill beads (my favorites for needlework due to their good quality) and had a good array of perforated paper counted cross stitch kits. I decided to buy one to make for a gift and had fun deciding on a design.

When I went to Barbara's on Friday I took along the kit I had bought on Wednesday and broke into the package. The scale is smaller than my most recent embroidery work so my eyes are getting a good workout! The pattern mixes threads and beads to make a happy garden-ish scene. This evening I finished the little bluebird:

I put my embroidery scissors in the photo for scale. I have not measured the stitches-per-inch of that paper but the beads are pretty small. By the end of this evening's work, here was my piece:

Can you see the bed edging structure the bird is perched on? I'm looking forward to stitching the various flowers contained in that garden.

Tomorrow I promised to help my son package up his old gaming computer (he wants to ship it to a friend). I hope to call my sister to chat ... and generally chill out for the day. Monday will be Mimi's Grad Class meeting at Bear's Paw in Towson and I have decided to brave the pandemic and attend. My stomach is _finally_ starting to settle down a bit and I feel as though I've healed enough for my immune system to cope with adversity.

:) Linda