RSC: April Purples

I had a happy day on Friday. I stopped off at our local quilt “thrift” store. It reminds me of the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel, you just can’t resist!

The Legacy, as it is called, is run by the city’s Senior Center. All the fabric, notions, yarns, lace, patterns, etc. are donated. They have both yardage and plastic bins of smaller pieces. I love the plastic bins because it’s a great place for scrap quilters. And the dreamy part of this is they charge $2.00 per pound for fabric!

On Friday, I went in looking for purples. I had gone through my stash and actually did very well in finding many purples. But, it was a good excuse to go there!

It was a good day for purple! It was also a good day for turquoise and orange, and pink and green and blue…you get the picture.

I looked through the orphan blocks and found some nice ones that I bought for pieced backs. I was dizzy with fabric fumes!

Take a look and see! Purple, purple, purple!

The batik on the left and the purple fourth from the right were from the Legacy. The rest were from my stash. I love the purple at the right!

The dotted fabric 2nd from left was from The Legacy.

I have some dusty pink but am not sure if I will use it.

It’s amazing the different shades of purple! Some look downright pink next to others. I only need 14 purples for my snowballs so I have leeway.

By far my favorite is this one:

This was someone’s donation that I ended up taking home from our guild. I don’t have much, but I’ve used little pieces of it in a couple of quilts.

The pinky/purple fabric the third from the right on the first picture you probably identified immediately as “old” fabric. Definitely. Where else do you see this kind of selvage?



Can you imagine making quilts or bags or… out of the selvages from yesteryear?

It’s not even halfway through April and I’ve got my fabric. Next step: cutting 6.5” squares! See you next week.

I’m linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Everyone there is making beautiful things. Click on the badge in the upper left side bar and see some great blocks!

A Good Start to the Day

I started out this morning like every other one. When I went outside with the dog I was busy thinking about the day ahead and what needed to be done.

I became aware of a little chirping. I stopped to listen and realized there were lots of birds chirping. I stood and there were hundreds of birds chirping. I was surrounded by this wonderful symphony of sound.

The sun had just come up and birds were chirping everywhere. I just took in all that beautiful music.

Maybe I should tune in to the moment more often…

Wherein We Encounter the 60s and Do The Math

Monday, Monday, so good to me;
Monday morning, it was all I hoped it would be.

Now there’s some enthusiastic people! Now if they’d written Friday, Friday, I would be more on board with it!
So, do you remember the Mamas and the Papas? And if you do, you’re from my generation! For the rest of you, the Mamas and the Papas were a singing group from the 60s.

I always wish I had more time in the week to quilt…which I think is a common theme on my blog and the same probably for many of you. I really don’t know how bloggers with children manage to quilt, much less write a blog. I didn’t start quilting until after my kiddos had left the nest! It seems impossible to quilt and blog and have kids! But forget my moaning and groaning. Really, isn’t some quilting better than none?

I did manage to work more on my Log Cabin quilt. It’s all looking good and I think I see the finish line ahead! I need to call the quilting lady and reserve time to get this behemoth done.

It’s gotten to the point that it’s difficult to sew on it because of its bulk. I think my king size quilt is actually working against me trying to maneuver it through my machine! I can just see it grabbing onto the edge of the table and saying, “No! No! Not through that tiny opening again!”

For those who haven’t been on this loooong journey with me, here is a post about the beauteous beast.

I sewed some more on the spool quilt. I also encountered a little hiccup.

The start line:

 















Advancing through my sewing machine:

Starting the next step, adding white strips:
















The progress as of late:



Doing the math:
56 1-sided spool blocks
+5  0-sided blocks
= 66 white strips needed
-22 white strips available
=44 white strips, that I don’t have, that are needed

And now Murphy’s Law raises his head. I have no more white fabric. I started this quilt a long time ago. Ergo, no matching fabric.

Enter the hero: My Aunt Marie, scrap quilter extraordinaire! In her scrap quilt she would often substitute  similar colored pieces when she ran out of the first color.

And there you have it (Thank you Aunt Marie). I must go down to the quilt store. Back to the quilt store and find a WOW fabric where the backside looks similar to the one it has.

You know what? I actually think it’s kinda cool…pulling a “Aunt Marie”!

Scrappy Turquoise

I know I'm not the only one who hasn't finished their turquoise/aqua blocks. At least I  hope so! When I finally got the fabric, I did have so much fun sewing them together and they look so purty, IMHO. I finally got time to sew their little snowball corners on Saturday. 

Part of my delay was I galavanted around Riverton, where Nancy Drew lives, on Spring Break. I got to visit 2 of a gazillion quilt shops there--and that's only within a 10 miles radius of her home. Okay, maybe I exaggerate a smidgen. Just a little.

It's amazing to go to Utah from a county that has 2 homegrown quilt stores, 1 Joann's and 1 California-based fabric/quilt/yarn/craft store. When I used to visit Nancy Drew in Massachusetts, her situation there was worse than mine! Now I'm eagerly waiting to go back to Utah so I can visit even more quilt stores my adorable grandchildren!

Here are my snowball blocks for March. I had fun finding some novelty fabric for this month. I guess only about half of these are scrappy. Then again, once I bought them they became part of my stash that I’ve been using to make my blocks! Nod if you agree!

If you number them right to left starting in upper left, here’s the skinny on the blocks.
1,3,5,7,8-10 were all from fat quarters from Utah
2 is a fun one from my stash
7 is a favorite that I keep cutting small pieces off to put in one quilt or another
9 is from a shirt I bought at Goodwill for fabric

I was much luckier this month than last. I had lots of purples to choose from! Next week I’ll show the ones I picked!

Of Grandchildren, Murderous Trees, and Flimsies

Home again, home again jiggety jog!

Coming home from vacation is exquisite! Don’t get me wrong. Vacation is tremendous and this past week was the stuff dreams are made of! After all, who can resist this?

Curly

Or this?

Sweetie

Or for that matter, this?

Nancy Drew

Not me! Definitely not me.

But then, I miss this…horribly.

My Adorable Hubby

Now moving along to the Design Wall and another scintillating view of my garage wall!

I’m sure you don’t have to guess that I didn’t get any quilting done this past week! I bought fabric which you’ve seen on my previous posts. I had brought along a couple of blocks to work on for my Redwork Quilt. I didn’t even sew one stitch!

The week before I left I was chugging along to the finish line of the Log Cabin! I had spiderwebbed the columns and had started on the rows. I’m almost half finished with the rows then the quilt will become a flimsy!! (a quilt top without batting or backing).

I had to drag the beautiful thing out to the garage wall. Once up, I had to back way, way back to get it’s king-sizedness in the frame. On my way backing up, I met Mr. Meyers Lemon Tree. I can hear you all ooo-ing and awwww-ing in gustatory pleasure of the a Meyers Lemon.



Hold it just one doggone minute. You haven’t met Mr. Meyers Lemon who resides in my front yard. Did you know that Meyers Lemons have thorns? Great, big, long thorns? Of course, the taste of the Meyers Lemon is worth it.

Try getting stuck with this a couple of dozen times!

Of course it is! Except when Mr. Meyers Lemon in my yard does not produce lemons! It lives just to poke me and draw blood. Fiendish, blood-sucking thing! I’ve lived in this house for 10 years and never seen even one little blossom. Mr. Meyers Lemon just hangs out there and mocks me whenever I leave the house.

I have dreams sometimes. Wonderful dreams. Lovely dreams…




Maybe I’ll just go out there and show it the axe…
"I want lemons! I want them now! Now!"
Oops, I see I’ve been around my 3-year-old granddaughter too much!

But I digress…Now onto more pleasant subjects. I was backing up to take a picture of my Log Cabin quilt. And ran into the thorny lemon tree. I fixed it! (evil grin). No…unfortunately…not the axe. But I did get the big snippers and hacked away all those new-growth “branchettes”.

Even so, there is some greenery in the picture. This is due to the upstart of a bush that sends its tendrils all over the side of my house. Weaving it’s way through the fake shutters, attaching itself to my screens, climbing up to the roof…

Calm yourself. Deep breaths. You need to be calm.

And now, after all the build-up! Here is my stunning quilt!

You can see the unsewn rows at the bottom, plus tangled rows on the ground. Yes, but by next week I will have a finished flimsy.

Now I have a question for you amazing, knowledge-able quilters out there:

I bought my fabrics from very reputable, well-known fabric lines. But there are two of the yellows that are fraying a lot. Some are so frayed they are getting close to the seam.

On another quilt, I used bonding crystals and strips of fabric and bonded the fabric to the seams. On another quilt with not as much fraying, I used Fray-Check. I’ve thought of zig-zagging the seams together outside of the seams, then pressing them to one side.

What do you think is the best solution? I await your suggestions!

And…beware the murderous Meyers Lemon Tree!



I’m hooking up with Patchwork Times, Show and Tell Tuesday, Fabric Story, Linky Tuesday, WiP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, I Quilt, and Fabric Frenzy. All the badges are in the right sidebar. You just need to visit each blog because there are always cool things to see and neat ideas!

Whooping Our Way to Ikea

Here is your roving blogger reporting from Riverton, Utah, home of Nancy Drew, SWH, Sweetie and Curly. Life is going swimmingly. (Love that term!) I flew in on Saturday morning, went to Church on Sunday and then on to the work week. Nancy Drew and SWH went off to work. Sweetie to school and Curly to daycare.

This blogger's "work week" has a different look to it. I got up at 10:00 a.m. Delicious! Before the readers get too jealous, let me state that I went to bed at midnight. Oh wait, I think that really didn't make a justification of ten hours of sleep.

Behold and hear my justifications:  1.  I'm running on California time (1 hour difference, backward).  2.  The higher altitude, from sea level to 5290 feet, makes me more tired.   3.  I'm catching up on the weariness from work.

I think that #2 is the best. What say you?

Since ND worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I figured I could at least be helpful! I picked up after myself. I cleaned up the kitchen and put away clean dishes. I made dinner. To be completely forthcoming, I made dinner on Monday night, Tuesday we had leftovers, Wednesday ND brought home pizza and Thursday we had leftovers again. I cannot stress how difficult this has been. Probably why I have had to sleep longer!

ND took off Thursday and Friday for total kickback and fun with Momma, as she calls me. Thursday noon we took off on a shopping! I thought it would be loads of fun to take pictures of each stop of the way and post them, like I've seen other bloggers do. I have a lot of improvement to make. I managed to do it at the very first store. After that, after each stop, as we drove away I would remember I should have taken pictures. The first stop was the most exciting to me.

   IKEA   

I have never been to Ikea! I have drooled over the thought of going one day. Ikea is a few short miles away from ND's home. Number #1 on my list of things to do, even ahead of a Quilt Store, was IKEA.

Here I am!!! I'm going IN IKEA!

I had to hold myself back from buying some cool stuff, like curtains, one of those basket cart thingies that you can choose the baskets that pull in and out, and bumerang, which is not a product from Austrailia. It's a wooden hangers with clips on it for hanging skirts. I found a perfect upright dresser for my bedroom. I only had 13 pounds left in my check-in luggage.

We hit the lighting section and my daughter saw an interesting lamp. 

The Medusa Lamp!

My objective was a little "bendy" light that Bonnie Hunter had raved about on her blog. It is perfect for getting light exactly where you need it on your sewing machine or longarm. After wandering around, and finding cool things to buy, I finally found it!

Score! I found the jansjo!

To hear more scintillating details and pictures, here is where they are on Bonnie's blog, Quiltville.blogspot.com.

After our grueling trudge through the huge IKEA store, we checked out and I decided we needed a treat! I resisted the cinnamon rolls and got us yogurt cones!

We followed up by going to a quilt store!

Turquoise for Rainbow Sampler & Reds for HST BOM

We were a tired pair when we returned home. We hit a shoe store for ND and Deseret Industry, a thrift store, before wrapping up the day. I'd say this was a day worth of Whooping about!

Check out other Friday enthusiasts at Whoop! Whoop! Friday. The badge is on the right sidebar.

An Ode to Buttermilk

Oh, my piquant and captivating friend!
What wonders and delights you hold!
You are always in my refrigerator
Waiting for new adventures untold!




There are no words my tongue can employ
To describe thy creamy liquid wonder
I hasten to pluck thee from my refrigerator
Oh you that brings me such joy.


Yes, I admit it! I am a buttermilk fanatic!
Yes, I admit it! I gag if I have to drink it from a cup!
Okay, where’s the attraction????



It’s all in the baking…yummity-yum=yum. The best bread recipes are made with buttermilk.
It’s a magical liquid. It elevates everything it’s baked in.

Then there are cookies, and pies…

Here’s a favorite from our family. Irish Soda Bread. It is a type of sheepherder’s bread, nothing like what you see as traditional Irish Soda Bread. Once made, pull off a chunk with your hand and butter. And you’re in Buttermilk Irish Heaven!

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soda
1-1/3 to 1½ cups buttermilk

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a hollow in the center and pour in 1 cup of the buttermilk. Mix with spoon and add enough more buttermilk to make a firm but not dry loaf. 

Turn onto a floured board and knead lightly. Shape into a round loaf and cut across the top so that it will not crack. Place in a buttered cast iron skillet or stoneware shallow pan with edges and bake at 350' for 40 to 45 minutes.

Loaf should be broken, not cut. It is good hot or cold.


And now for another buttermilk treat!

This Buttermilk Raisin Bread came from a beloved cookbook of mine: Bread Machine Magic. I have tried dozens of recipes from it and all of them have turned out to be favorites!

Buttermilk Raisin Bread

7/8 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup raisins
1-1/2 tsp yeast
3 Tbsp sugar

Place all ingredients in bread pan, select light crust or 1 pound setting. Press start.

After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on cooling rack, and allow to cool one hour before slicing. (Oh yeah sure! Who can wait one hour? What a crummy cookbook!)

1-1/2 pound loaf

Cooking Tips: Getting it right after baking: Here’s how I make my bread have a soft crust. When you get the bread out of the pan, wrap it in a terry cloth towel (completely wrapped) Place on a cooling rack. Cool completely in towel before putting in plastic bag.

If you find yourself always having leftover buttermilk in the fridge after baking a recipe, here's a website that will show you how to freeze and store it. Very interesting!

And now…let’s find out. How many of you can wait until the bread is completely cooled before you slice it and eat?

Joining Up with Wonderful Hands to Help

I’ve only managed one charity quilt in my quilting life. My intent has been to do more but I haven’t followed through.
Enter Hands to Help Charity Quilt Challenge. Each year between March and June, quilters are challenged to make a quilt for charity. This year there are three charities to choose from:
        Quilts of Compassion
        Hurricane Sandy Survivors
        Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo

You can click on the badge on the right to learn more about the Challenge and find out about each of the charities. 

I hope you join along! 

Sarah, who writes the blog: Confessions Of A Fabric Addict, is an amazing person. She is a compassionate woman who runs a quilt ministry that gives quilts to those in need. She needs quilts to be donated also! 

In addition she hosts the very fun, Can I Give A WHOOP WHOOP on Fridays, runs a blog FOR quilters, BY quilters for sharing compassionate quilts: Quilts Are For Giving. 

And if you think that doesn’t keep her busy enough, you should read one of her Monday posts: Make-A-List Monday. It wears me out just reading it!  

I have chosen to make a quilt for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo. This was my first choice because of my Mom. She went through chemo in the 70’s for breast cancer. I can picture in my mind how delighted she would have been to receive a quilt while in chemo. You can read more about my Mom’s story here.

Fabrics, Redwork and a Tale of Woe

Busy week, but not for my sewing machine! I know it’s pining away for me… It’s hard to quilt when your machine is in California and you are in Utah.

Yes indeedy, here I am the lucky Nonnie visiting Nancy Drew and her family including two adorable grandchildren!

Curly, SWH & Sweetie

It makes for a brand-new genre of design wall! It’s called: What did I bring with me?
I bought 4 more fabrics for the Rainbow Challenge. This month the color is turquoise. My daughter took me to a quilt store that was under a mile away from her home! I’m green with envy. On Thursday when she has a day off we are going shopping and visit a few more quilt stores. I’m a happy camper.

I bought this fabric at: My Sister's Quilts in Riverton, Utah.
It's a wonderful store.

 My attempt to at least pull some minutes out for my 30/30. I have a redwork quilt I’m working towards. I started in 2007 embroidering blocks. I had copied pictures from a 1964 coloring book my Aunt Marie kept for the young nieces and nephews to color.


I’m almost done with this one:

Excuse the wrinkles from the hoop. I didn’t want to iron on the floss. I’m pretty sure I tested it for bleeding, but not taking a chance today. Also, it has a water type mark (I hope that’s what it is!) which I’m not messing with today either.

I have left all the faces blank on my blocks, except for two. One of my attempts turned out making the child looking like an alien. The other made the children look deformed. I’m looking up a friend that embroiders a lot to teach me how to do the cute faces from the 60’s.

Well, sad to say, *sniff* I have discovered that the 30/30SC challenge is too challenging. I started out March 1 with 30 minutes. Then March 3 with 60 minutes. March 5th at my weekly quilt night with friend,  I started a tree skirt for Nancy Drew and family.

Hold it right there! 30/30SC is about eking out 30 minutes of quilting everyday for March for YOURSELF. I was so tickled to start and dream about quilting just for me! Me, Me, Me! As you can see it only took 5 days for me to fall apart. I haven’t quilted everyday for someone, much less myself! Ah, shoot, I was so hoping.

That brings me to another more woeful tale. And it involves my evil pets again. First it was my cats. Read about it here, if you dare!

I am hoping your have a strong stomach, cause this ain’t gonna be pleasant. You've been warned…

On Saturday, after a grueling week of slaving away in the sweatshop that someone calls a job, I decided to fritter away my day. Quilt all day. Considering I had been through a week where I cried about an incident at work, plus got indignant about the treatment being dished out to my husband at work…It was all those hours ahead where I could dabble in my quilting room.
I was a-twitter with the excitement of working on the love-bird’s log cabin quilt. I had it spiderwebbed by column and was ready for joining the rows. The finish line was in sight! Time for the last sprint!

Arrival in Quilting Room

Picking Up theLog Cabin Bundle  from Chair

Placing Bundle on Cutting Table

Opening the Bundle

Right….There…In…The…Middle!

Dog Poop!

Where is that mangy mutt? I’m going to strangle her!

Don’t you EVEN try looking cute!

Dog slinks away avoiding looking at my face.

She'd better hide

It will take a few days years eons, okay, weeks for me to look kindly at her.

I punished her by going on vacation! What an evil scheme!

For those who are going to experience this horrific event:

1. I was able to take the three affected blocks out of the quilt since they were spiderwebbed.
2. Soak blocks (quilt) in cold water with Woolite.
3. Let soak for 30-60 minutes.
4. Upon inspection if staining is gone, remove it from water.
5. DO NOT WRING!
6. Place blocks on a hard surface. I used my washing machine top.
7. Gently scrape at any remnants of doody from fabric.
8. Rinse gently…gently…gently.
9. Press blocks together in your hand without twisting.
10. If you have not pre-washed your fabric, you will have to pin the blocks to a flat surface, gently stretching the fabric to the size of unwashed blocks.
11. If you have prewashed fabrics, continue from here.
12. Dry in a place where it will be undisturbed by Devil Dog.
13. Make sure there is air circulation to both sides or place on a thick towel.
14. Let air dry.

I thought this dog was the cutest thing when I got her!

I should have recognized the signs…

Hooking up with:

Patchwork Times
I Have to Say
Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday
WiP Wednesday
We Did It Wednesday
Needle and Thread Thursday
Fabric Frenzy
I Quilt

Picture of Woman’s Surprised Face credit: http://carseatblog.com/3405/baby-on-board-2/

Up, Up and Away!

Strike up the band! It's Spring Break!

It's a blessed week away from work. And here I am toodling away on a bus to the airport.. .. Here I come Utah! Ready or not.

I got up at 4:00 a.m. The flight is at 8:00. Last night I got packed early enough so I could get some semblance of sleep. But no, I stayed up watching Bones. I got to bed at midnight. Everyone can run on 4 hours of sleep, can't they?

I'm off to see my cuties. Curly and Sweety. Seven marvelous days with my daughter, Nancy Drew,  SWH and the most adorable granddaughters ever. I'm so excited!

Inventory time. Did I remember my pajamas? Did I bring my wallet? Did I bring all my charger cords? What about my shoes, extra sweater, make up and pills?  Thank goodness my iron has automatic off or I'm sure I'd be wondering about the proverbial iron otherwise.

This is my first time writing my blog from my phone. New adventures every day.

My real purpose of writing this morning was to let you know that kindness exists in the most unlikely places.

It wasn't that cold this morning. Maybe 40°. I'm just wearing a sweater. There was only one other person there at the bus stop. We talked a little. Of course the obligatory weather chat ensued. I mentioned where I was going and how it was colder there. I hardly ever bring a coat with me. My daughter has plenty of coats I can use.

I started to say that I hadn't brought a coat to tell him about my daughter's closet. I didn't make it past "I don't have a coat when he quickly asked,  "Would you like to use mine? "

At first I was going to protest when it struck me how kind an offer he made. I then thanked him sincerely and declined.

How amazing. So thoughtful of him. I can tell you that he had made my day even happier than it was before.

I'm so glad to share this with you. I hope it makes your day happier too.

Off I go. .. To family.

Oh shoot! I forgot my charger for my Nook!  Well I can rest in peace now. No more worrying. I figured out what I forgot.