Poetry in Motion

The far end of my street is a two-mile loop.  We often walk up to the crossroads of the loop, but not around it.  I was told last Saturday that there would be a poetry walk on Sunday and Monday - neighbors around the loop would pick their favorite poems and tie them to their mailboxes for people to read.  So on Monday, I made the trek up the hill to walk and read poetry.

I am amused that going for a walk can be such an adventure nowadays.  Much of the neighborhood participated, mailboxes decked out in ribbons and the poems encased in ziploc bags.

I Like Thursday: Outdoors, Leftovers, Flowers

Lots of nice weather in this week's post (I guess my first like - it's been nice getting out!).

Rob and I went for a drive, for a change of pace and to get his car out of the garage (it had been sitting there for maybe two weeks).  We passed by this farm - the view was fantastic (and way better in person).

Later in the week, driving down to my sister's place, I enjoyed all the freshly turned fields.  All that dark dirt (and in some fields, new sprouts).  It's good to see things growing.

Hexie Layout

I started making crumb hexies back in 2015, as a lark.  Something to do with the pieces of fabric that seemed too big to throw out but too small to put back in my stash.  I had a bunch of extra flannel, which I used as batting.  Additionally, I wanted a project (eventually) that I could work on while hanging out with my friends, like they did with knitting or crocheting.  I created a pair of templates and started sewing these bound little blocks.

Obviously, the pick-up-and-go portion of this project was way far off.  Somewhere, maybe a year or two into making these, I decided I wanted this to be a throw quilt.  I did some calculations how many pieces I'd need (and some idea how long it would take) and went out to buy enough flannel to complete the set. 

More In-Between Sewing

I've been cutting out fabric for masks every time I have a chunk big enough for the pattern.  So not mass producing them, but I'll have more on hand if anyone asks.

I have finally settled on two patterns that I like (that are a mashup of at least 5 different patterns I've found online).  I also purchased some hair elastics to add as ear loops.  These masks also have ties, since that works better for some people than the ear loops.

I Like Thursday: Sewing and Sunny Weather

I've been sewing a lot of small projects lately.  It's been nice!  Some of them had been pushed to the side as I worked on Golden Orrery.  Others belong to my long-term cleanup projects that I always pick up between the bigger quilts. It's been great catching up and making progress on things.

In the process of shuffling my design wall, I was reminded that this quilt needs a home, to be loved and used.  I love it (especially the back of it, oddly enough), but never intended to keep it.  It's sad sitting on the shelf and has languished too long on Etsy.  Would you like it?  Know of a charity that will use it?  Message me.

Putting Together a Pillow

I decided to make the little HST quilt into a pillow for my mother.  I had the front all put together and wanted more than a plain back.  So I started working on a Side B.

When I first put together my selvedge string block pattern, it was for a 6-inch block.  I made four of them before switching to an 8-inch block design.  That was good for a center, but I needed to stretch it to 16 inches.  What to do for a border?  Well, I happened to have a bunch of blue and red HST from the braid quilt.  I liked the red ones best with this center.  It's kind of an odd effect.  Hey... it's the B-side.  I decided to roll with it.

Wall of Strings

I've been on a string thing: curvy ones, wonky ones, selvedges.

The curvy string blocks seemed dull at first.  On the wall, though, they make me think of a dry creek bed.  Hmm...  I've got some ideas for a wall hanging, if I stick with lots of golds and browns.  I need four more blocks to complete the set, plus some setting blocks. 

My selvedge bag was full again, so I made more of the selvedge blocks I started in January.  I accidentally cut a notch into the black fabric on one block, just before trimming to size.  I simply need rip out and replace the black center.  The selvedge bag is nearly empty - so that project gets packed away until I cut more.  

I Like Thursday: Research, Adjusting and Creating

Another week has flown by.  A lot of time on research (which is going well - albeit a little overwhelming).

I tried this recipe for Custardy Baked Oatmeal.  I swapped out the walnuts for almonds, and added strawberries to the blueberries (I only had a half cup left).  It was quite delicious (and I forgot to take a photo!).  I froze some of the leftovers - I'll see how they reheat this weekend.

I pulled out several favorite recipes this week I haven't made in a while:  Chicken Stroganoff, Meat Pie, Gumbo Biscuit Bake (hmm.... I may need to post recipes for these).  It's nice to have time to cook.  Whipped up some goodies too:  Date bars (I added some cinnamon and cloves), pretzel bars and even some stuffed figs.  Yum!

We had snow on Saturday.  No accumulation (that white spot in the lawn is a patch of bluetts), but a couple of squalls blew through during the day.  Not what I expected in May.  (That's what I get for buying seeds.  LOL)

A good day for sewing - which is how I spent the afternoon.  I made some more wavy strings.  I wasn't thrilled with them at first, but they're growing on me as they hang on the wall.

Strings and Kites

My bags of strings were pretty stuffed - so I spent a chunk of Saturday sewing string blocks.

I really liked the wavy strings I made a few months ago (which I still need to sew together).  I wanted to make more wavy blocks.  I picked an easier design - straight across instead of the diagonal, and random placement instead of coordinating color and shade.  These went together so much faster!  I could easily work on several at once instead of carefully focused on one or two.

Although the intent had been to randomize the colors, each block seemed to gravitate to a color scheme.  It appears I had a lot of gold strips of fabric, too.  I'm not sure I like the blocks.  Heck, I'm not sure what I'll make with them.  Needs more experimentation.

I Like Thursday: Time On My Hands

We're going to start out this week's likes with a throwback: Bertie and her hay rack.  This is this month's calendar photo.  This little guinea pig was a character and we ended up in a battle over the hay rack (I didn't want her in it, but she loved sleeping in it).  The love affair lasted over a year, and eventually I lost.  She was the most stubborn, determined little guinea pig I ever had.  You can read about the beginning of Bertie's love affair here.

Braid Flimsy

The flimsy center is complete.  I like it.  I hadn't intended to keep this quilt, but now I'm thinking I might.  Need to think where I can use it.

The main purpose of this quilt was to use several yards of border fabric my mother had given me.  They were both beige fabric, one silkscreened with a navy and gold Greek key design, the other with a leaf design of maroon, navy and gold.  I focused on those colors as I dug through my stash.  The quilt turned out more red-white-and-blue than I had intended, although it's more striking in the photos than it is in person (which is more rusty and cream).

It took a while to find a pattern I liked.  I landed on a braided rainbow quilt that made think of doing the stripes, and found this tutorial that helped with size, yardage and piecing.

Braiding

I sewed together my first strip for the braid quilt.  I had to make some adjustments to get the right length (calculations were correct - but I started measuring at the wrong point).

After that, I could see that I needed to reverse the starting point to get the pieces to line up how I wanted.  I'm so glad I didn't sew multiple rows at once or I'd have everything staggered.

The second strip came together just as I wanted.  Yay!  And now I know how I need to tackle the last two rows.  Once they're together, I'll need to assess border, batting and backing materials.  I suspect I won't have enough on hand to complete this.  It's looking pretty good so far.

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