Yards and Yards

What was I thinking? 

An attendee to Sunday's Tea brought a stack of vintage fabric looking for a home.  I picked out some of it.  A rough measurement after washing it revealed there's over 25 yards of material pictured here.  OMG.  What am I going to do with this stuff?!?

The amazing thing - my claim barely made a dent in the available stash.  There must have been well over 100 yards of fabric in that bag.

I fell in love with the variety of colors.  Most of it is lightweight.  It feels nice, but I'm not sure how good it will be to mix and match with my other fabric.  As I perused the pile at the Tea and thought aloud what I'd make with it, people asked:  can I have that when it's done?  (We do project show-and-tell, too, and everyone wanted to take A Season of Change home with them.)

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I attended a Tea on Sunday.  I brought both a savory and a sweet dish.  I have no photos of my savory dish (which has now moved from Try Soon to Keeper folder).  The sweet was also a keeper.  It's a lovely gluten-free and dairy free cookie - perfect for a couple of my friends' diet restrictions.  It has great texture (didn't feel gluten free!) and a nice flavor.  I was asked for the recipe. 

I like my cookies slightly undercooked so they're chewy.  I discovered these cookies are naturally soft.  The first tray I took out at 9 minutes.  The cookies were done, but ended up a little sticky.  The second tray went in a full 12 minutes (and could have even gone in a bit longer).  These had better integrity and still weren't too crispy.  The whole batch of cookies flattened quite a bit - next time I'll chill them slightly before baking them.

Wonky Mug Rug

I made my first wonky block with a 3" internal square that I decided was smaller than I wanted for the quilt.  Luckily, I had plenty of black and orange fabric, so I recut the block with a larger square.  That left me with two leftover blocks.  I decided to make mug rug with it.

I decided to make just one mug rug, not two.  It's reversible.  Threw in some frankenstein batting, added a darker orange binding and ta-da!  I had a fun time playing with the quilting.  I quilted the orange square with black thread so it shows up on both sides.  It's hard to see in the photos, but I quilted the black square with orange thread, with the same design.  It's neat how the corners of the flowers touch.  Then I quilted the rest, black thread on the orange, orange thread in the bobbin.  So everything is quilted in the opposite color of the fabric.  Fun!

Modern Sacking

One of the things I love about our new camera is it doesn't need fussing.  The only way I could get my old one to produce good photos was to manually adjust the settings.  I'd miss antics - by the time I got everything right, they'd have moved on.  I'm hoping I'll get more candid pig pics.  (I'm liking the food and quilt pics, too, but we know it's all about the pigs.)

I caught Wedgwood seriously enjoying her cozy.  Ooh - little feet sticking out.  Look at that nose.  The grey, white and yellow caught my eye.  It's a popular color combination in modern quilts.  I can see why people like it.  Such fashion sense, Wedgwood!

I Like Thursday: Fabric

I went fabric shopping over the weekend at Ryco's.  They're located in an old mill building in Lincoln, RI.  I forgot  how I stumbled across them in the first place, but I'm glad I did.

I like the people at Ryco.  They're nice people and help me out with whatever I'm working on. 

I like what I purchased!  Aren't they pretty?  I know I've eyeballed the orange scroll fabric before - it was finally at a price I couldn't say no to.  The tea (coffee?) mugs caught my eye.  I seem to be gathering more golds, browns and neutrals in my stash.

I really like the whimsical boats.  I wanted them as a backing on my current quilt (the main reason for my trip).  I was convinced a fishy fabric (not pictured here) went better with the quilt, but I just had to have those boats.  I have no idea what I'll use it in, but it's mine, all mine!

I like ironing.  Crazy, right?  After I wash new fabric, it's soothing to feel the fabric and watch the wrinkles disappear.  Smooth, wonderful stuff - just think what I could do with it!

Alas, All Gone

Boadicea and Wedgwood don't realize it yet, but this was the last handful of dried corn husk until the next crop gets harvested.  They've gotten a small handful every night since the summer.  I had a good sized supply... but they have polished it off.

I'm not sure if Wedgwood will notice, but I know Boadi will be bummed for the next few nights.  Spring is around the corner, Boadi.  Just a few more months to fresh corn husk.

Wonky Blocks

I had several ideas what I wanted to do for my next quilt before I picked a wonky square block.  I found Hopscotch (by Nancy Mahoney) that had an uncentered square-within-square; it wasn't wonky as much as simply off-center.  Then I found a couple tutorials that the middle piece is neither square nor centered.  These are really wonky. 

Paper practice

I liked the cockeyed blocks best, but I was a nervous about cutting my fabric; some colors I picked had a small amount of yardage.  It's one thing to read a tutorial, it's another to do it!  Instead, I pulled several pieces of paper from the recycle bin, squared and cut them to get a feel for the squares.  I'm glad I did.  I was not happy with my wonky centers - they were too pointed, too much to one side.  I wasn't getting a feel for what to do.  But then, I squared the center piece and twisted it in the center of the outer block.  Aha!  This I liked.  This I could tackle with some confidence.

Wedged in Hay

I'm still stuffing hay into paper bags trying to curb the mess.  I must have overfilled this bag and it was too much to fit both the hay and a pig.  Usually a bag gets nibbled apart, but this one split right down the side.

Wedgwood appeared quite pleased with the result.  She barely moved as I walked by and snapped photos.  She's mostly covered by the bag and must feel pretty secure.  In the bottom picture decided to ignore me and went back to eating what was under her.  What a life!