Aunt Sally

 Some people have lots of projects in pieces and parts.  Friend Marilyn used pizza boxes to store her projects in but I don't have that kind of space either in my sewing storage or my brain.  I get itchy inside my head if there are too many things started but not actively being worked toward completion.  I have the mindset that if I can spend lots of time working on little parts and pieces of projects then I can devote that same amount of time and make real progress on ONE project.  Same with books.  I don't understand people who can read several books at once whereas I devote that same amount of time to ONE book and finish it then move on.  Besides, reading more than one book at a time just gets them all tangled up together in my brain. 

So, before I start Charlie's quilt for his graduation next year (remember I work by hand) I needed to clear up the projects laying out on the spare bed in Jenny's room. Yes, Jenny, I still call it your room.  The bed had parts and pieces and piles and I had to clear my brain of them.  So, three are now layered and pinned and yesterday I finished putting together Aunt Sally.

Remember a few posts back when I told you about the bag full of Aunt Grace pieces and parts Friend Sally gave me at retreat?  There was a center medallion possibility.  There were 8 inch squares and 3 inch 9 patches and a bag of spare fabrics.

And that's how I treated them.  I used the center medallion and decided this was going to be a Frankenstein quilt top.  There were three extra flower blocks so I used them to even out the 8 inch block layer.  Then I squirreled around in the pile for a border and found the blue.  Then I put the 9 inch blocks on as another border and they fit perfectly if I did NOT divide the blocks with a sashing.  They just lined up.  Then I hit a wall and the dining room table looked like a kindergarten art class for a few days while I tried to find something to do an outer border.  I knew it had to be pieced.  Blue was my first choice but there wasn't enough of any of the spare pieces.  I had a perfect blue gingham but again, there wasn't enough of it.  I'd audition colors, leave it and come back hours later and take it all apart. Pink wasn't right.  Then I dug around in the bag of pieces and found I had enough yellows of the same depth of color to piece the border in yellow.  I like it.

It isn't ironed here, it's fresh off the machine after the last stitch was put in so it looks wonky in the photo but it isn't in real life. I think it turned out just fine for a Frankenstein quilt.  There are still some nine patches left but there wasn't enough to do a double border so they might become pillows. For now, till I get more batting, it's folded and living with its cousins in the basket. But it's finished to the part I can live with.

The point is I now have a bed cleared of pieces and parts and can begin for real on Charlie's quilt.  My head is cleared.  Well, except for that retreat challenge I'm spending way too much time on. But just one more evening will take care of that. 

Delicious

Sometimes someone does something for you that's a complete delicious surprise and yesterday I was the recipient.  Look what the mailman brought all the way from Australia!

 A whole box of Violet Crumble candy bars and a bag of Fruchocs from Judy in Australia.  

When I showed Elizabeth how to make seafoam Judy and I had a couple of conversations about that candy and here came a whole box from her!  Dinner was on the stove but who's going to wait?  Not me.  I had to bite into one and right away put two in my bag to take to Elizabeth that evening. SHE ate one immediately and said, "so....how many did she send, Grandma??"  Looks like they might have to be disguised as, I don't know...a vegetable?

The Fruchocs are really too yummy.  How did Judy know I love dried apricots?  Here they are covered in chocolate.  I made the mistake of putting them in a bowl on the computer desk.  I can see they might have to be moved far far away. 

Delightful surprise, Judy, thank you!

One Note Wonder

 I'm kind of not a one-note-wonder.  I don't like gadgets that do just one thing either with quilting or cooking.  My kitchen drawers are not filled with stuff. In this house it's all about improvising.  And if I had a dedicated, organized, large room with lots of storage for quilting I might indulge in stuff but I don't so I don't. 

Have you heard of Applipops?  Probably you have so you can skip this blog post.  I heard of them a bit over a year ago but saw them as an expensive gadget that did one thing and so resisted.

BUT last week I caved in.  Several reasons.  First, I hand applique and have cursed my needle many times when doing circles that don't end up perfect. I'm not much of one for absolute perfection but an imperfect circle is a spider on the wall...something that's not supposed to be there so it sticks out. (When I FINALLY one day finish my Liberty of London circles don't look too hard at them.) Second, they ARE a one note wonder.  Not much else you can do with these except make circles. And third, I am in the middle of a 'challenge' with our retreat group and I will confess here I'm not enjoying it one bit.  Not even a little.

The challenge was to give each of us a piece of focus fabric we wanted used in the blocks they would all make for us.  Unfinished, just 8.5 inches, finish at 8.  Small squares.  Now, you would think that's a no brainer but for me, who prefers applique to piecing I got just two pieces from people that were big enough to use as background for applique.  I had to purchase something that came very close to one of the girl's, I had to ask for a bigger piece from another.  Actually that one was because I messed up on what I wanted to do for hers.  And another was a math mistake on my part.  No surprise there.   I couldn't make hers, the queen of the perfect 9 patch, another nine patch and she 'challenged' us to do some HSTs.  Oh, great.  Math again.   I am NOT enjoying this challenge.  And I'm spending WAY too much time on it. 

I had to ask for more fabric from one of the girls, the one whose applique I did and hated it in the end. Even as I tore it out a couple of times and left bullet holes in the fabric.

I gulped and ordered the Applipops.  It's not like I won't be making circles another time, right?

If you don't know what they are, they really are ingenious. You choose the size finished circle you want and then take the next larger one, too. 

A piece of fabric is put between them and you push the smaller into the hole of the bigger.

They say to use starch but I don't have starch. I used sizing and it was just fine.  You dab some around the fabric and iron the fabric inward.

Done.  A perfect circle ready to applique.  I'm sure if you are a machine user these could be machine appliqued, but I'm not.

My pile for her block.  She wanted red.  

In the meantime I've layered and pinned three quilts to be taken up when I need a break from appliqueing Charlie's quilt which hasn't been cut out yet because I'm working on these focus squares that I'm spending WAY too much time on.  

And to be honest, the weather has been gloriously beautiful so I've been on the porch a lot come afternoons.  Could I be hand appliqueing while on the porch?  Of course.  Do I? No.  I read.  

I very much like Kate Morton's books and own all of them.  I was waiting till I got back from England to order this one but while in the airport spending my last 20 pounds in the bookstore I saw this on display, her newest book and in paperback!  It just that week came out here in the U.S. in hardcover and I'd have to wait a year for the paperback, but I don't wait for hers.  I buy them right away and savor a long, long story.

Crazy old lady

 Well, maybe not crazy.  Eccentric? Either way.

We just returned from England, a wonderful 10 day trip to visit Brian and do the London things we didn't do when we had to cut our trip short when covid reared it's ugly head.  We have anecdotes and stories about everything we did every single day and will talk about them to ourselves and anyone who cares to listen for years. I might bore you with some of them as we go on, but for now let's do food.

I do notice things.  One of the things that fascinated me three years ago was seeing eggs sitting on the shelves right next to the flour and sugar.  Not in the refrigerator section like we keep them here. I was a dog with a bone about it, not letting go.  

How many of you who live not in the U.S. do this?  

I asked the clerk why the eggs are on the shelf?  

"Where else would they be?" was the reply.

I said, "in the refrigerator section."  

"Hmmm." they said and noticed my accent qualified me for being a little "off." 

I had to buy some.  Notice each egg is stamped and one has the crown stamp on it! 

At the checkout I asked the too-young-to-know checkout young man about the eggs.  He laughed and said he keeps his on the counter.  

"For how long?" I asked.  

"Till I use them up," he said. "But I know what you mean," he said.  "My dad lived in the states for awhile and now he gives me a hard time for not keeping my eggs in the refrigerator."  

"But right on the inside of the carton it says to refrigerate them after purchase. So what's the difference?" I asked.  

I am quite sure I am the story that young man told when he got home that night. 

These were the ones I chose.  That shell was very hard, the yolks very dark orange and yes, I brought the carton home with me.  I brought the second carton home with me, too.  

I'm kinda one of those people who sees the possibility in containers.  I have a cupboard in the kitchen full of jars of all sizes because once a package of something is opened the contents are put into a jar. To keep them fresher longer.  Jars of all sorts of sizes and yes, I use them all.  

I kept those little one serving size jars of honey or marmalade and one of ketchup!  I find them very handy for pins, beads, buttons, just little bits. PH just shook his head and told me to pack them in MY suitcase.

And I bought this.  A 3.5 pound bag of flour.  "Why are you buying a bag of flour?" Brian asked.  

"Because I read an article about this young man milling these artisan flours and buying it at Waitrose means we don't have to go to the Cotswolds to get it." I follow this young man's Instagram posts and it's probably a good thing Waitrose didn't have any more varieties or I might have tried to bring those home, too.  

And yes, in anticipation of finding this I packed several zip storage bags so it wouldn't come open in the suitcase. Or if it did it wouldn't ruin everything else in the case.

I brought home two small bottles of Komitroff salted caramel vodka disguised at mouth wash. Brian bought a bottle for me in the Canary Islands but because we were not checking a bag I couldn't bring it home so we drank some every night and then poured some into small bottles (see? save those containers!) so was able to bring SOME home-disguised at mouth wash. 

No, I didn't eat Chocolate Charles but this does qualify as food, doesn't it? Of course it looks just like him and I would bet up close this bust would smell wonderful.  I also wondered what Charles might think of it.  Imagine finding that in your Easter basket.

We had fish and chips, steak and ale pie, sticky toffee pudding, tarts, British cheese toasty - if anyone knows how to make THAT please let me know.  It was fabulous with the cheddar and the bechamel, went to a carvery, on our most tired days got take-out, I cooked a few times and taught Brian how to make scrambled eggs (low and slow.) 

So. Crazy or eccentric?

Brian's pillow

 

You know, I kind of really like appliqueing these little squares onto fabric.  Once you get the first one in the middle on, the rest is easy.  I draw a VERY light pencil grid line on the background (which disappears as I also use it as my quilting guideline,) draw quarter inch lines around each little piece and needle turn sew them on.  I've done three pieces using these little squares and I guess I wouldn't keep going back to it if I didn't like doing it.  It's a great way to use those little pieces and I just might consider a quilt top.  Just might. Don't hold me to it. I'm thinking out loud here. 

This pillow is a gift for Brian, in England, where we are now.

Butterflies are Free

 

Boy, I can vouch for that!  

But finally, finally I finished quilting the butterflies I started oh, so long ago. Quilting this was what got me out of the slump I've been in since October.  The more I worked on it the more I remembered how much fun it was to come up with the wing combinations and I admired them all over again.  There are a few backgrounds that could have used better placement and the flower on the left should have been reversed but all were discovered once I was nose to needle with it.  And I don't care. I fell in love with this all over again and now just have to bind it.  But I was too excited to have this done not to share. 

Sally's Pieces

 At our retreat a couple of weeks ago Friend Sally brought me a gift.  She purges her stuff occasionally and this time I was the recipient of her Aunt Grace blocks.  She knows I love the 30's look fabric and I was thrilled to get this bonus.  It's a bonus because look at these - she did all the work! The cutting, sewing the blocks and then she gave them away!

When I got them home I looked at my treasure.  There was this medallion with three extra flower blocks.

And then these blocks, and a good pile of smaller 9 patch blocks.

And this pile of 9 patches that are smaller and not all Aunt Grace. There was also pile of fabric that wasn't cut up but will make grea sashing for the idea I have in mind.

In the middle of the night I started to think of how to use them all in one piece. As of now I'm thinking the medallion in the center, surrounded by the pieced blocks, adding in the three spare flower blocks, then surrounding all of that in a border of the larger 9 patch (by large I mean 3.5 inches finished.)  

The crappy smaller 9 patches will be for another day, another top.

When I layed that all out on a bed it looked nice but for now they are all gathered together in a pile for another day.  Like I said, Friend Sally did all of the work.  I just need to put them together.  

I have been the recipient of Sally's purging in the past and never take it for granted.  Thank you, Sally!