High Ledges

The weather was warm and sunny on Sunday - so Rob brought me out to see the view from High Ledges sanctuary.

Much of the snow has melted around the house, but the ground at the sanctuary was all covered.  It was an icy walk from the car - we should have grabbed our yaktrax.  The trails were all soft snow, though, so it was an easy hike past the gate.

I Like Thursday: Recovery Time

We had some beautiful weather over the weekend and Rob took me up to High Ledges for a walk.

It doesn't show in the photograph but we could see Mount Greylock in the distances.  This is overlooking the Deerfield River and Shelburne Falls.  (We could even see the Bridge of Flowers that we'll need to visit when it's in bloom.)

Flipping Flippers

I spent a chunk of Sunday carefully ripping out stitches around turtle flippers.

Agony.

I had added batting just around the bodies of the turtles, but felt they didn't have quite enough definition.  Some trapunto tutorials suggested using two layers of batting.  So I cut smaller pieces, just enough to cover the shell and a little of the neck, and whip-stitched those into place.  This looked great!  But the near-side flippers looked too flat.  They needed a single layer of batting like the head.

Stitching Turtles

Typical me:  I read the instructions to this quilt, then did something different.

It directed me to add the borders, layer the batting and start sewing.  I wanted to give the turtles a little more bulk.  So I put batting under them, stitched, and then trimmed the batting close to the edge.  I included the head, but left out the flippers.  This will puff them up slightly to give them a bit more dimension.  I think I may want to add a second layer just under the shell to give that a little more depth.

I Like Thursday: Treats

Oh, yeah, a week for chocolate.

We grocery shop on Saturday morning - which was the day after Valentine's Day.  So we scooped up some half-priced Dove chocolates.  Yum.

We had to make a trip to Springfield.  A stop at Cerrato's Pastry Shop made our errand worthwhile!  These three were what was left after the ricotta cake and chocolate bomb disappeared. (Didn't think to photograph until after they were gone.)  Delicious.

Turtles Together

I have the turtles all ironed together.  Batting is pinned behind the turtles.  I pulled out a bunch of thread to check out what colors I like best. 

Lots of choices.  If I'm lucky I'll start stitching today.  Fingers crossed!

Turtle Progress

I've been working on the applique turtles.  I don't have fusible web, as the instructions suggested.  But I do have 606 spray.  I printed the patterns to freezer paper, ironed to the pieces, cut them out, the flipped them wrong side up and pinned them to my spraying box.  The photo here is just before I hit them with the 606 fusible spray.  The pieces are each pinned down so they don't all scatter when sprayed.

The medium and large turtles were easier to work with than the little one.  Only one piece of freezer paper threatened to not peel off. 

I Like Thursday: A Walk in the Woods

Friends and I took a walk in the woods this weekend.  Saw lots of interesting things.

First stop was the little waterfall, as usual.  Everything around it was encased in ice.  This photo was my favorite: the water looks like it's been painted.  I swear I can see the brush strokes.

An afternoon of good company and food (then I squeezed in a dance in the evening).  Quite a day!

Tiny Turtle

I've taken the plunge.  I cut apart paper pieces Thursday night.

I worked on the littlest turtle first.  I figure he'll be the most difficult since some of the pieces are so small.  If I could get him assembled properly, then the rest should be easier.  Plus, if I totally botched something with the smallest turtle, there's plenty of fabric to redo. 

Orrery Scrap Bowl

Before I put away my zig-zag machine I made a little coil bowl.  This is from the skinny scraps of my sister's quilt.  These scraps were too small to sew together as strings, but too long to toss out.  I hate chucking out fabric.

(My latest bag of scrap is getting a second life as colorful bedding for someone's pet rats.)

I Like Thursday: Exploring and Playing

Caught up with a friend over the weekend.  We got a chance walk at Coggshall park in Fitchburg.  It was too icy to tempt some of the trails, but we walked around part of the pond.  I'm looking forward to visiting in the spring.

Cleanup and Startup

Printing on freezer paper is always an adventure.  Sometimes it prints, sometimes it jams and shreds.  I printed several of them before the printer started eating all the sheets.  Ironing a strip of paper at the top (the sheet on the far right) fixes that problem.  But that means I need to stop and iron in between cutting freezer paper and printing.  More work, but more reliable results.  I printed each turtle (or parts of turtles) three times, so I can cut all the individual freezer paper templates I need to assemble the whole turtle.  I am hoping to cut them apart and start ironing them to the fabric this week.