Fiber and Pulp

Sleep Demons

This is a lily native to the eastern US called Turk's Cap. Nine different species of moth/butterfly use this plant as a host to grow their caterpillars on ... it's toxic to cats ... and I have not, yet, seen any flowering here in my neighborhood but should, soon. :) Pretty, eh?

Today was hot, hot and humid - typical July Fourth weather here in Maryland. :) Some of our neighbors (as usual) started their firework celebrations early with loud bangs - clearly none of them have ever owned animals with loud-noise-fear issues! At least they did stop before midnight. Sigh.

I got a package yesterday from Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA. It's a nice shop with lots of mixed media goodies as well as pretty quilting fabrics, books, and ideas. :) I got a copy of the newest issue of Simply Moderne magazine:

There were several of the project designs in this issue that I like enough to make - especially a very cute sampler of patchwork giraffes - and the quilt on the cover set off some creative ideas in my head. Maybe I'll keep it together long enough to try them out? :)

In addition to the magazine, I got some fabric designed by Tilde that I actually have plans to use:

I stuck my hand into the photo so you could judge the scale of the print. :) I have a wonderful collection of applique self-portrait blocks from members of Mimi's Grad Class that we exchanged last year .... that are 'burning a hole' in my back brain, begging to be made into a quilt. I am thinking of using this print in some way as part of that project. :)

I did not accomplish much today ... well, not true, now that I think of it. I DID make my first tiny step toward cleaning up my house by cleaning my bathroom sink area. I had to do that to accomplish my one 'sewing' activity of the day.

I found some of the vintage blocks that Joan Z. gave me at the last Grad Class meeting and decided to hand wash them. The ones I sorted out to start with (there are a number of them) are 21 Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks hand sewn using what looks like 1920's prints with hexagons that finish about 1 1/8" on a side. I washed them in Soak brand gentle detergent and laid them out to dry on my blocking boards.

I also thought about a design for using them and decided to divide them into two sets  - one of 12 blocks and one of 9 - sorted by color in a 'rainbow' arrangement (mind you, 20's fabrics do not get very 'rainbow' in coloring; they tend toward softer contrasts:). I am thinking to arrange the blocks in a vaguely hexagonal wreath and am still pondering whether to put a larger hexagon in the center. I feel eager to make these two small-ish quilts (likely to be lap sized, maybe 60" square or so) ... I guess working only on UFOs could only entertain me for so long, eh? :) 

Other than that, I read, ate and slept for most of the day. I am suffering with my occasional-but-aggravating insomnia that keeps me awake until 5 or 6 a.m. and then makes me sleep most of the daylight hours away. Grrr! Hope to get that under control soon as it is a colossal waste of human interfacing time. 

:) Linda

June???

I only managed to go walking one time this week. I _think_ it was on Monday. The beautiful hydrangea above was in full flower in a neighbor's yard - brightened up my day!

There are two things going on here in my life that are fighting with each other this week. First is that we found a condominium in a good location that we wanted - and put in a bid which was accepted last Sunday evening. Things start really popping at that point!

First we spent most of Monday afternoon applying for a mortgage - paperwork, paperwork. Complicated by things like the fact that my husband's drivers license has expired. Supposed to get a notice from the state then go in for a renewal meeting. Well, Covid and no notice ever came. Now what??? Underwriters demand up-to-date identification.  Sigh. So far I'm letting him interface with the lender/realtor and deal with the issue (I've only nagged him about getting his license renewed a hundred times or so in the past two years:).

Then came arranging for/paying for an inspection - which got done on Thursday morning (yesterday). I had intended to be there ... but when I woke up I had a fever and my whole body ached. :P I spent most of Thursday and today (Friday) horizontal, taking it easy. Nothing ever came of it all (no, I have not yet taken a Covid test though I do have some to use). I feel much better now though my stomach is still being picky (it _had_ pretty much stopped troubling me so I'm assuming this is a brush with some kind of flu). I expect to spend a quiet weekend (which suits me fine).

The inspector turned up some issues that we are responding to the owner about ... so now we are waiting again to see what happens. Hurry up and wait seems to be the rule of the day. Shrug. I will sew as much as I can stand through this long holiday weekend and let good enough be enough - hand and machine sewing.

I have spent some pleasant afternoons sitting on my back deck in the new furniture, enjoying the outdoors. I had forgotten how much just being outside makes me feel better. :)

I did manage to do a tiny bit of sewing this week. I wrote the July block of the month column for the Faithful Circle newsletter and decided to actually make a block - trying to get my act together and do better for a change. :)

I called this one Summer Party:

This is a simple block and should not take long to make - took me an hour, including choosing fabrics and cutting pieces, to make this 12" square. Supposed to be made with patriotic fabrics though mine might not look very traditional at first glance. :) The center is a medallion I fussy cut from a beautiful swath of space shuttle themed print:

I bought that fabric thinking I'd make something for my astronomer sweetheart (who works on Hubble Space Telescope, remember?:). Still in my stash - gotta get cracking! The dark blue corners of my block are a batik we shop owners had designed by Jinny Beyer and specially printed for our shop hop a couple of years ago - has flags, fireworks, eagles, etc. on it.

Oh, I did FINALLY mail the bucket hats I made for my two grandsons to them - got a wonderful photo from her today with each of the boys wearing their hat. Sorry, she has asked me to keep them off the Web, so no photo sharing. :)

Looking forward to doing a lot of silly sitting and quiet sewing this weekend. A hoping, praying for a better national consensus than we have managed so far this year!

:) Linda

Outings

 

"Know that you can start late, look different, be uncertain, and still succeed."  - Misty Copeland

 

First noticed these daylilies blooming here in our neighborhood this weekend. The weather was glorious (as it so rarely is here:) - mid 70s to 80s in temperature, blue skies with a nice breeze, low humidity. Wonderful!

If you click on the photo, you can go read about growing daylily flowers that will bloom prolifically during the summer months and how to cultivate them. There is an astonishing amount of genetic variability in daylilies - there are many, many different varieties with color, shape, petal edge and other variants. Fun and worthy of exploration!

Saturday my friend/neighbor Patty had a big branch (really the entire top of a tree) come down on her yard from a neighbor's tree. It hit the ground so hard it was dug in several inches so Hugh and I went down to help her remove it. Took a lot of work and tools but we finally managed to cut enough off the BIG branch to get it out of her ground and onto the neighbor's yard where it belonged. Whew!

After that, I had a Zoom meeting with my modern quilting buddies. It was so very nice out, I took my iPad onto the back deck and sat in our new furniture. I tried to do some sashiko embroidery but the wind started kicking up so much I had to cling to the iPad to keep it from blowing away. LOL. I found the embroidery panel (pre-stamped ... well, printed - it was a cyanotype print of a famous Japanese picture called the Great Wave) when searching for something else in my workroom. I have no idea where I bought/got it - have no memory of the acquisition at all. Shrug.

Sunday afternoon was the scheduled meeting of Sew&Tell. Since it was also Father's Day here in the US, attendance was down over the usual. Even so, I enjoyed seeing my friends a lot! I took the sashiko along and finished the embroidery on it while I was there. I decided to make it into a pocket/purse (I need something small to hold my phone when I wear something without pockets:) and began making that there, too. I'll share a photo when I finish making it as I have forgotten to take any in-progress shots.

I'm grateful that my stomach is not bothering me any more as part of our meeting is always pot luck (I took chicken salad, broccoli salad and pistachios). I enjoy that meal as it is a chance to eat things I would not usually encounter in my daily life - we have broad and eclectic eating patterns in our group. :)

Today was yet another beautiful day. Patty and I decided to take a drive to Annapolis (maybe 40? minutes away to the east) to visit the quilt shop there - The Crabby Quilter. It has been some time since I was in the shop (though I  did buy some lovelies from their vending booth at the Faithful Circle quilt show last month) - which was looking very nice. A HUGE bonus with our trip was the Robbyn, my old fabric manager, was working today. I have not seen her for almost three years and I adore her - so it was lovely to collect some hugs and catch up with things in her life.

I am obviously thinking to do more hand work this summer as I bought THREE pre-printed sashiko panels:

The first two are table runners - one on indigo fabric and one on an Oriental red ground. The last one, the crab, I first saw on Sunday afternoon. Kathy Fain from Sew&Tell brought one to work on and it really caught my eye. I got the last one the shop had in stock (lucky me!). This part of Maryland (Baltimore region and the Eastern Shore, especially) is known for blue crabs; like lobster in Maine, blue crab is the local speciality food. :) I think they are fascinating creatures (don't like to eat them, though, even after all these years here in MD) and like the design quite a lot. :) This ought to be enough handwork to keep me busy during the heat of this summer, eh?

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice - the longest daylength of the year and the official beginning of summer. I have to make a post to Instagram for FCQ ... other than that, I hope to SEW all day. 

:) Linda

 

Around the Neighborhood

I started out to walk my neighborhood as usual yesterday and was halted in my tracks on seeing the parade above. I'm sure anyone who can move around outdoors on this earth has likely seen an ant parade at one time or another. I'm not sure if these small red ants were moving house or just renovating ... but they were tracking right across the sidewalk together in busy files. As I stopped to gape at the procession my friend Patty (who lives kitty-corner behind me) came out and joined my walk. We had a nice stroll through the neighborhood together (poor Patty has to move much slower than her usual self when walking with me:). It was a warm day with temperatures in the high 80s and, as usual, I did walk much farther with Patty's company than I would have done if alone. :)

I've been sewing all weekend on my 'Artful Improv' class results from Saturday. Today I made the final eight seams and constructed a small flimsy/wallhanging top - it's about 30" square:

I did un-sew and switch two blocks after I finished the first top ... changed my mind when I saw the results. :) I REALLY need to make a work wall for myself - I even bought some great flannel (gray with white grid) for it, just have to go buy some fiberboard/sheet insulation to make it from. Hard to get incentive to go out lately. Sigh.

I am going to quilt this myself - I know just what I want to do. When is another matter. Big grin. I think I will let it hang in front of my blackboard for a few days to be sure I don't want to switch up anything else before I baste the sandwich.

I finished making sun hats for my two grandsons - just gotta go to the PO to send them:

Not the very best sewing job I've ever done ... was really having issues with my lack of precision when making these two hats. Shrug. Will be fine for little boys to use up, I'm pretty sure.

I got a shipment from Australia yesterday, too. There's a business there that makes/sells templates for English Paper Piecing - they are going out of business and had all their stock on steep discount. I decided to order some shapes for myself that I don't usually get, including a package of 'everything hexie' that included the following (yes, I sorted it all out):

Can you see all 11 shapes? Those big hexagons are about 1.5" on each side (by way of scale for you). Not sure exactly what blocks I can make but I'm mulling it over.

I will say that the quality of these pieces is not up the usual standards that Paper Pieces produces, in my educated opinion - though the card stock the Australian company uses is made from post-consumer recycled waste. I doubt I'll be able to use these papers more than once. :)

Skip and I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to interview an estate lawyer. We need to figure out exactly what kind of will and maybe trust(s) to create and hopefully she can help us. It's bound to be interesting.

:) Linda

PS. Linking to Off The Wall Friday. Also to the Peacock Party. 

Catching Up

This is crown vetch; it's a member of the legume family and fixes nitrogen into the soil, improving the garden base. :) This one is growing on the cul-de-sac circle in front of our house.

This is common thistle. I've never heard why that is the flower of Scotland, have you? This plant is growing on our circle, too (no doubt a 'weed'). The only good thing I know about thistle is that birds love the seeds. :)

These are begonia flowers, growing in a bed at my doctor's office (had a routine appointment last week). My mother loved begonias and I always think of her when I see them. 

Sometimes when I go out walking my neighborhood I find things that make me wonder. Do you see how lovely a variegation these leaves have?

This photo shows a farther down section of that same variegated leaf/branch. Here you can see both plain green and white-edged leaves. I wonder if this plant is showing a normal variation or if this is some kind of mutation in the leaf coloring? I could not dig around the bottom of my neighbor's fencing to find out. :)

When it does not rain I have been going out walking my neighborhood daily. I am truly enjoying watching plants flower and show off around the area. There is always _something_ interesting to look at when I walk. :)

Speaking of rain, we've been having quite a bit of it. Still within normal-for-Maryland amounts, I think, but seems like a lot to me. :P One evening last week we had a particularly heavy downpour - the rain pounded down for quite a while and the sidewalks became running waterways:

I took these pictures standing on our front step (happily we have a roof over the area or I'd not have done that:). As you can see, the rain is accumulating quickly! Not as serious as the floods in Yellowstone Park of course, but exciting in my usual daily routine.

This has been a busy weekend when judged by my usual life. Barbara and Patty went to the York guild's quilt show in PA last Friday ... but I stayed home (intestinal upsets) for the day and pretty much did next to nothing. Late in the afternoon I remembered that I was signed up for a Zoom workshop with Cindy Grisdela on Saturday through my modern guild. Called Fabulous Freehand Curves, it was an improv workshop and I LOVED it. :)

Improv piecing makes my heart pound faster at any time - I enjoy the process so much. I did my first improv (we didn't call it that - Jazz Piecing was what the teacher called it in my day, mid 1990s) with joy and have been enraptured every time I've played with it since. :) I did not expect to learn much ... but I did. Cindy had been a guest quilter on The Quilt Show a while ago (I am a charter subscriber), right after her newest book was published. So I went and watched that episode.

I got so fired up I dug out a nice pile of batik fabrics (purchased from The Bears Paw shop last Monday when Mimi Dietrich's Grad Class met there) ... and started sewing. I made four blocks using Cindy's stack-and-whack approach that evening and so was primed for class on Saturday. It was a loooooong day for me (9 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m.) and was beyond fun. :)

Here are the six blocks I had finished by the end of class. Keep in mind that every cut was made freehand, without a ruler, and sewn that way. :)

Today I finished a ninth block and threw them all up on the wall to photograph (you can find the three additional blocks I made I'm sure:) - no editing here, just to visualize:

As you can see there is plenty of space for moving things around and re-orienting blocks, etc. I'll mess with this during the week and see how I feel about placement before I sew them all together later this week.

My search for a condo for my brother Kevin goes on - I saw three more units today but each one had some major thing we did not want about it ... so no bids, yet.

Tomorrow I get to stay home and putter. Supposed to rain and be pretty warm/humid. Typical early summer in the Baltimore region.

:) Linda

 

Ten Days!

Yet another beautiful piece of street art with fibers - this one by Christy Caravaglio of Ccpatchwork. Take a look at her work - bright, lively, interesting. :)

It has been TEN DAYS since I posted here. That's a pretty long time for me ... but things have been happening. The weather has been odd - several very, very rainy days followed by glorious weather (especially for Maryland!) with temps in the high 70s to mid80s and low humidity. I have been pretty quiet (isolated for a while to be sure I did not have Covid) ... and not sewing a lot (thought some, see below:). Reading, walking, eating carefully.

I spent this past Sunday afternoon at a WONDERFUL stitch-in get together with my Wednesday night Sip&Sew friends from the Baltimore Modern guild. Let me share some pictures - all taken by other people and shared here with gratitude:

 

 

We had such a wonderful day - the weather could not have been more perfect. We have not seen one another in person for months and months (maybe almost a year?). It was delightful to just chat and stitch!

I took along my perforated paper cross stitch project and have gotten close to finishing:

I have two stalks with leaves to stitch on the upper right side and it will be FINISHED. I can't wait. :) This may be the last piece of cross stitching I ever do - I can see the do this fine (have good close vision) but my intentional tremors make hitting those little holes a challenge (and each one - however many hundreds there are - has to be punched into four times:).

The only other sewing I've managed to do in the past few days is making summer sun hats for my grandsons. I finished the three year old's hat already - he loves animals so I did a complete animal patchwork hat:

I did not think to turn it inside out and photo those patches - will try to remember when I finish the other one. :)

My husband was generous and helped me finish putting together the rest of the porch furniture I bought this past weekend (the weather was nice which made it lovely to outdoors). Now we have a nice seating area with carpet, two chairs, a loveseat and coffee table. Eventually I think I will get a table with umbrella and lounge chairs but I'm waiting to think about what style we might want. 

Today was the monthly meeting of Mimi Dietrich's Grad Class at Bear's Paw in Towson, MD. Barbara drove her new/used CRV and took Patty, Barbara Laskowski and I. I'm so glad I took the time to pack a good salad for lunch. It is much easier to enjoy shopping and chatting when my stomach is not aching. :)

I have a routine doctor's appointment tomorrow and then I get to SEW.

:) Linda

Pleasant Air

I slept in today. By the time I woke up, Skip was coming home from work. He wanted to go out to run errands so I rode along. He had to stop at Walgreens and our new bank which is out on Route 40 (Baltimore National Pike), near Frederick Road. Nearby is an Arby's so we did drive through to get lunch. Then, as is my wont, we drove back near home to the dockside of Lake Elkhorn to eat en pleine air. :)

The weather was a bit odd today. Balmy temperatures in the 70s but heavily overcast. It kept looking like it might rain all afternoon (apparently it did, some, in the morning). It was pleasant to sit at the tables near the lake and eat our sandwiches (I had pecan chicken salad, my favorite from Arby's  - should be, for 700+ calories!). I talked Skip into a short walk along the lake afterwards - where we saw the flowers shown above, growing on the edge of the lake.

I _think_ they are some kind of iris - not the common bearded iris, but something. :) Pretty!

Speaking of flowers, I saw these while on my walk yesterday:

This is tradescantia, commonly called spiderwort. It usually grows by water or in a shady place.

As you can see, it was growing near the curb - on a cul-de-sac circle.

These are the first peonies I've seen this summer.

This is mock orange, I think. It was growing at the edge of open woodlands, along the walking path.

Here are the first wild strawberries I've seen this summer. The squirrels and little birds love them.

I did manage to do some sewing today - while I visited with my modern buddies via Zoom this evening. I promised my daughter I'd make new sun hats for my two grandsons. I started cutting them out tonight but I might have to find more fabric for the younger one's hat - ran out of what I chose. He likes animals and I'm sure I have more of those in my stash. :)

Apple TV has a great show on now - Prehistoric Planet, narrated by David Attenborough and filmed by the folks that made the series Planet Earth (one of my favorites). There are five hour-long episodes -- of which I have seen the first three. Highly excellent, so far! :) This is one series I might like to buy as I think my daughter (the life-long dinosaur lover) would like to watch it ... and I'd be happy to see it again (being also a dino lover myself:).

Tomorrow I can get Covid tested. I did manage to buy some wide backing fabric for the red/black 4Patch quilt today (Connecting Threads is having a sale through 5/30). I might manage to go buy some more background fabric for Saturday Morning tomorrow, too. Fingers crossed!

:) Linda

Cooler Progress

This is the work of a Danish design team. In my continuing fascination with art that reflects fiberwork, this caught my eye. Go and read the review link - maybe you can be inspired to make your own. We aren't allowed to have chain link fences here in my community. :)

Today was cooler and overcast - clearly all that rain brought a weather front with it (or vice versa:). I rousted Hugh up from bed in the morning and convinced him to help me build another piece of our new deck furniture - this time we made the two person chair. The lawn mowing people were chopping our grass at the same time so it was a bit noisy. I did sweep off the porch before we started. 

Skip and I strolled out to get the mail after I ate lunch. Still very damp out but the sun was shining. Must have rained well into the early morning hours. In today's mailbox came two things I have been waiting for - the extra half yard of fabric I ordered to finish my Saturday Morning quilt top (an out-of-print Heather Ross design which I was truly lucky to find! and my catch-all box from St. Louis Art Supply about which I will write more after I unbox it tomorrow).

Since I had more fabric, I decided to go back to sewing on my Saturday Morning project. First I took the red/black/orange/gray 4Patch top outside to photograph (quick! before it rains again).

I am quite pleased with the way this totally scrappy project turned out! My friend Kate said she thinks it looks like Maryland flag colors ... which I had not noticed at all. This top will get quilted and will become a bingo prize for the Baltimore Modern guild's fundraiser next year.

Once I had folded up my colorful top, I went back upstairs to my sewing room and tackled piecing the next quadrant of Saturday Morning. I did not get completely finished with it before I had to stop to eat supper, but the central 'fussy' parts are done.

Hope to continue tomorrow.

 

:) Linda

 

PS Linking to Midweek Makers.

Caught!

I have been captured (possibly) by the dreaded virus. :P Here's the story.

Yesterday evening I got word from my friend Barbara that our mutual friend Polly Mello (whom we had visited with at the FCQ quilt show) has Covid. I did not spend as much time with Polly as B did ... and I was masked the whole time ... but one cannot know if infection will follow. So, I am down with five days of isolation followed by testing.

Today was _supposed_ to be the monthly meeting of Sew&Tell group at Barbara's house ... which, now, had to be held on Zoom (for obvious reasons:). Well, that's ok, I'll stay home and sew and visit virtually.

Which is exactly what I did. It was lovely, as usual, to see my quilt-y buddies. We chatted about the show and the infections and many other topics. I sewed all four borders on the outside circumference of my 4Patch red/orange/black/gray quilt. YEAH! It turns out to be twin bed sized (well, within the measurements of a twin sized batt) and is destined to become a bingo prize quilt for my modern guild. Now to get a batting and backing and binding made up so I can have it quilted. :)

Once I finished that task, my chatting became more erratic as my stomach started growling. Yes, I had breakfast ... but the body was insistent. :) I had to leave the meeting earlier than is my usual so I could eat.

I wanted to take my now-bordered top outside to photograph ... but thunderstorms rolled in as I ate and heavy downpours of rain nixed my photo session. Maybe tomorrow. It really pounded down for a while but there was very little wind or lightning so not too dangerous. 

Once I had eaten, I went back upstairs and sat down to stream watch some Netflix and work on more embroidery for the Bluebird project. I am getting on toward a foreseeable finish on that:

One more large blossom to do then some leaves and I'll be finished. I'm looking forward to mounting the finished embroidery in its frame and sending it off to my beloved. :)

Oh, I did manage to sew some more on my Saturday Morning project, too. I added the background yardage to the section I was framing in. After careful examination of my design sketch, I figured out exactly how to sew the whole top together. Now I'm set to finish that soon, too.

Good thing as I will have lots  of time to sew this week as I isolate. :P

:) Linda

PS. Linking to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday linky party. Go take a look! :)

Quilt Show and Shop!

One of the two guilds I belong to - Faithful Circle Quilters - has their biannual quilt show in progress right now. Started yesterday (Thursday), through today (Friday) and tomorrow. I volunteered yesterday - working two hours at the entrance table, selling attendance tickets and two hours at the raffle quilt table selling tickets there. On Thursday I walked the entire show after my four hours of sitting taking money - gosh was I tired when I got home! I worked again today for two hours, at the entrance table. So much fun greeting people. :)

There were about 300 quilts on display at the show, four vendors, a silent auction, $10 and under table, peddler's table, raffle baskets, etc. It is held in a large church on the north side of Columbia and is extensive. Our last show was scheduled in the spring of 2020 - and, of course, did not happen due to the Covid lockdown. So it has been four years since we held a show. We were all so READY to rumble. :) Lots and lots of happy faces!

I took a few photos to please myself today when I walked around. I also visited more of the vendors. :) Yesterday I found a beautiful set of digitally printed dragon blocks - could NOT leave those behind! :) Today I found some luscious sailboat scenery - my husband loves to sail so I think it's time to make him a quilt. Also some lovely gradient colored dots. I even penetrated the peddlers table room (think God the a/c was running well as it was crowded; this is the area where guild members put things from their stashes to sell - books, patterns, notions, whatever). I found a kit for a lovely crazy quilt style embroidered vest ... and a small booklet of patterns for four applique cornucopias. 

On the whole, a lovely event - so wonderful to see people in person, enjoy color and pattern and design. :) Here are my pics, for the record.

Some of these photos will go into my Pictures folder to be used as desktop decoration on my iMac. :) I just took somewhat random pics of ideas I wanted to remember.

It is supposed to be HOT tomorrow (above 90 degrees, effective temps with humidity of 100 degrees). I expect to spend the day quietly in my sewing room hiding out. 

:) Linda

PS. I spent a couple of hours late this afternoon sewing on my Saturday Morning project. I have almost constructed the lower half of the quilt top. Maybe tomorrow?