Blue and green

 Working on the mojo.  Don't you feel sometimes like if you just cleaned out a kitchen drawer or the bathroom closet or SOMETHING that you feel a little more in control?  I get that with my stash.  There are so many small pieces that just can't be scraps yet but are just...small.  But I'm tired of moving them around.  What I discovered is I really, really like pairing things that are just weird by themselves. 

I decided to take those on in two colors.  The nine patches are mostly greenish and the sawtooth stars are mostly blueish.  And then put them together. The placement is not finished but the rows are put together because I decided it didn't matter about placement. I am most decidedly NOT that kind of fussy. Scrappy is scrappy.  It's in the name.  As I walk past this I smile so it seems to be working for me.  I have sawtooth star blocks for two more rows and then I have a decision to make.  Bigger or move on?  Who knows?

Changing leaves

 Just in case you think I've abandoned the tree, I didn't.  But almost did.  June and July got away from me and suddenly it was middle of August so I thought I'd better do something or it would soon be October. My pattern has been to collect about two weeks of temperatures and then stitch but I let two MONTHS go.  I'm still not happy with the colors.  What are some of you who are doing this tree going to do with your piece after it's finished?  

Truth be told, I have not had any desire to pick up a needle of any kind for weeks.  Sometimes I go through a no-mojo spell and just leave it.  When that happens it can take a lot for me to get back into the mood.  I read something the other day that advised "just take one step forward" so I did.  I picked up the tree.  It's so not anything like the pattern but tree leaves are sort of all over the place anyway, aren't they?   Taking that step worked for some piecing, too.  I haven't even thought of fabric for the whole summer but while it's hot and humid....again....and I'm cooped up inside for most of it there was no excuse.  Beats purging closets. 

There are three little red ground squirrels who will NOT leave the bird feeders alone.  I even bought two new ones that have weighted perches but these squirrels are so little and they learned how to bypass and just gobble the food.  It's a constant battle.  I think a little red squirrel needs to be in that tree.

Grands are making their back to school plans.  This side of the state starts next week Tuesday, the east side of the state starts Sept. 2 this year  Labor Day is early.  College kids are back now. 

The shadows are changing and lengthening, so fall is starting, pumpkin spice is everywhere but it's still hot and humid and I long for some relief.  Staying out of the stores because I can't look at Christmas creeping in yet. 

To Dye For

 One day each summer our museum holds a day camp for kids, each year historically themed.  This year it was the fur traders who set up trading posts along the rivers in Michigan.  

The idea is to do a craft project that might reflect the theme.  This year we offered the kids dyeing with natural stuffs, painting a small canoe - the mode of transportation for the traders, making a leather pouch and dipping candles.

Friend Laurie and I did the natural dyeing project.  We read up on natural dyes, the process, the suggestions.  The more we read the more confused we were.  Are blueberries a dye or a stain?  What about black walnut hulls, would someone with a nut allergy suffer?  You can get really pretty colors from avocado hulls and the seed but they take lots of time in the dye bath.

And what to use for the dye pot?  The dye is supposed to be a hot bath.  I had a eureka moment at our thrift store when I saw these old coffee urns for $2. each.  We ended up with marigold flowers, which are a fool proof dye, onion skins, another fool proof option and we had a smaller amount of red onion skins but I thought "why not?"

Friend Laurie helped the kids tie their shirts 

This was the dye for the yellow onion skins.  I've used them for Easter eggs and they come out brown, these shirts came out a golden fall yellow.

The marigolds ( I used only the yellow flowers ) came out a beautiful lemon yellow.

Now, the directions for dyeing say the item should sit in the dye for about an hour.  The kids don't have that kind of attention span we discovered too late.  They were "dipped and done." 

We didn't have access to running water so set up a rinse station.  Four buckets, each coming out a little lighter with each rinse.

And here they are, hanging to dry on the pickle ball fence.  I was more concerned with getting all seven in the photo than showing their individual designs and the designs were quite subtle anyway.

We had time to kill.  Lots of time. LOTS.  So for a just in case activity we brought flowers, mallets and hammers and pounded flowers.  

It was a learning experience.  Some flowers gave no color, some gave a lot. We learned to take the flower apart and put it back together face down on the cloth, building the flower back again.

They tried leaves, found red roses gave a purple, hydrangeas gave no color, pansies were perfect.

We had one shirt left and some dye in the pots so I dipped the top half in the yellow onion dye and the bottom half in the red onion pot.  The fun thing was the red onion skin dye turned green, a beautiful olive green when it came in contact with air.  Even knowing this, the kids all chose the marigold pot with one little guy choosing the yellow onion skin pot. 

Mt. Vernon

 We spent a day at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home/farm.  It's beautiful, the setting is gorgeous, the house not as large as one would expect but certainly enough so. And no, I didn't take photos of the house.  It was so ungodly humid and hot it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other.  When we were on the way home we could say it was the hottest and muggiest and most uncomfortable day of all.  And that counted the day the heat index in Williamsburg was 110 degrees and they pulled everyone off the streets, including the animals.

I did get this photo of Elizabeth and PH enjoying a rest and the view of the Potomac River from the chairs that are usually on GW's front porch but now sitting on the front lawn because the porch is being renovated, along with most of the house. We were able to tour two rooms under construction and the outbuildings the slaves worked in.

That's the thing I struggled with.  All of our Founding Fathers but one had slaves.  The South was built on the backs of slaves.  The homes, farms, every single thing about the South existed because of slave labor.   Look at this chart.  The green are the slaves the Washingtons owned.  The black are paid servants and their families. and the gray are the five members of the Washington family.  That's 270 people to make the Washington family comfortable.  

This is one of Martha Washington's quilts.  There seemed to be a lot about her quilts lately.  There was this one on display here, and in Gettysburg and a magazine article on her quilts.  Apparently, she wasn't unlike lots of us.  She worked the centers of the quilts and had someone else finish the borders and the quilting.  She would get just so far and either get bored or busy and pass it on. They are all this style, a medallion center and bordered.  She used scraps from her clothes.

On as aside, it's peach season here now.  Yesterday I made two peach pies, they must weigh 15 pounds, it takes two strong hands to hold the plate!  But oh, so good!!!

 

Not buying

 I know I've said many times lately that I am on a quilt fabric freeze.  No more buying. No. No.

But one afternoon while in Gettysburg we decided to take a drive into the countryside to get a feel for it.  We stopped at a farmer's stand and bought peaches!  The first of the season for us, straight from the tree.  

And then we saw this place.  Ugh.  I had to ask to stop. Just for a minute. I saw a fabric I had been thinking of for a project and bought a tiny piece of it.  It's patriotic.  I told the owner I'm not feeling very patriotic right now.  She jumped on that, we both agree politically and had quite a rousing conversation complete with expletives.  It was great!

She said she just came back from market and EVERY vendor was pushing patriotic fabric because of our 250th anniversary next year (signing of the Declaration of Independence.)  She said we won't be able to find anything BUT patriotic in the stores.  I told her that's not a problem because I'm not buying anymore.  

She said but we have to buy fabric or she will go out of business.  This is a common problem in quilt world right now.  Shops are closing because we are all getting old and dying.  Her husband called down from the loft where he was working, "don't worry, God will give us more old quilters."  I said if I don't use my stash my kids will bag it up and sell it for $1 a bag in my estate sale.  

It was the funnest non-buying trip to a quilt shop I've ever had!

She had this wall 'o antique machines.  She was told about this guy in Vermont who was going to THROW THEM ALL AWAY. So she and her husband drove out there and bought them all.  What a treasure!  It reminds me of the shop in the Upper Peninsula where I bought my cranky machine. 

Historic quilts

 We're quilters, right?  So I had to check out some of the quilts in the museum in Gettysburg.  You can look, I won't do much commentary.

Boy, this is a sure way to date a quilt!  Cut up your loved ones' letters home from a war.

This is where we differ on hexies.  I find it easier to attach the hexies to each other when the paper has been taken out first.  It's a good thing there are no quilt police to tell me that's wrong.

                             Just like us, anything was used.  These were tobacco wrappers, bags. 

Broderie perse. I couldn't see the stitches. Perfect!

I appreciate the precision in these hand pieced and quilted quilts. 

UNpacked!

We are home and UNpacked from our two week trip to Williamsburg, Virginia and a side trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and a day at Mt. Vernon.   Our purpose for the trip was to take Elizabeth to the archaeology dig she had signed up for.  We waited and did our sightseeing. 

   I knew going in that Virginia in July would be hot but I wasn't expecting the kind of hot we had. Jungle heat and humidity.  My God, that humidity.  We have humid weather in Michigan but it isn't like that!  It was brutal but when you're there you just have to power through and so we tried our best.  One redeeming thing, we agreed that we were two old people who were not lugging kids around trying to keep them happy.  We could do what we wanted, as much as we wanted and for how long we wanted.  And we had a great time.

    We arrived on Saturday, late, and after taking Elizabeth to her host home late Sunday night we stayed in the area on Monday to make sure she was ok then Tuesday we headed back north 4 hours to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of one of the worst and most decisive battles of the Civil War.  We stayed there for three days, we conquered Gettysburg.

One of the smart things we did was take a tour bus around the battlefields, it gave us a good perspective  and we had an excellent guide.
 

So much destruction, so much at stake in so small a place.  Wars are not fought hill by hill anymore

It's a sobering place when you actually stand in the spot where the generals stood directing.  Gettysburg was PH's part of the trip, the part he wanted to really absorb.  That's why we gave it three days.  One for the tour bus and then we went back on our own. 

On a lighter note, while PH and Elizabeth did all of the driving - it was 13 hours down and we did it in one day, but we took a different route to avoid Washington D.C. area at ALL costs so it was 14 hours in one day home - I stitched.  This is my car project and it's growing.  I don't know yet what I'm going to do with it.  Not sure if I should make it longer than wide or square it off or if it will ever be finished.  It's completely random, the only thing I'm trying to notice is not putting two reds or two navy blues together.  We have another long car trip coming up so there is more to do.  

Finished two of the books I took with me and am halfway through one I bought.  That's pretty good but it was also because we never once turned on the television and the internet wouldn't play well with my iPad so I didn't even get to read blogs or waste time scrolling.  When day was done we read.

As I said, I didn't do any blog reading so I'm really behind on yours, as I get going back to normal here I'll show a few more pics of the trip.