Shirt with Borders

I need more fabric to do one last border on the shirt quilt to make it twin sized.  I finished assembling the inner and middle borders.  The black and white remained my favorite and I'm even happier with it in place.  Proves that it's worthwhile auditioning even questionable fabrics!

The middle border is a hodgepodge of the smaller scraps of shirts.  There's even a pocket sewn into it all.  Now that it's together, a larger inner border may have been better, or put the middle border as the outside border.  Too late for second guessing - it's together now.  Besides, I don't have enough pieces to expand the hodgepodge border to run along the outside.

I like it with all the blues and browns.  Rob keeps trying to convince me to keep it, but what am I going to do with another twin-sized quilt? 

So this will get put to the side, until I find outer border fabric.

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Or in my case, this is Nearly Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake; I'm sure my chocolate chips aren't vegan.  Regardless, this cake is yummy.  The original says it serves six?  Hmmm... maybe.

I'm not sure how I stumbled across this recipe, but the photo must have caught my eye with it's rich, dark chocolate.  I looked through the ingredients and thought:  I have most of that on hand and it looked easy to make.

I don't have almond butter, but have had luck using almond meal as a replacement, so I did that again.  Although I didn't process it long enough to become true almond butter consistency, the cake was still moist and dense.  I may try skipping the food processor next time and add the almond meal like flour.  If you try that, tell me!

I Like Thursday: Food Stuff

I like food.  It's good stuff.  And it seems to pop up a lot in this week's I Like Thursday.



I like cherry tomatoes.  I especially like these little gold ones; they're so sweet, it's almost like eating candy.  My sister gave me these when I met up with her on Sunday.  What a great surprise!





My sister also surprised me with a belated birthday gift (well - is it really belated when this is the first time we've seen each other since my birthday?).  I like Japanese rice bowls and have a few of them.  They're the perfect size for so many things (like ice cream!) and I love the blue.  My sister got this one because the dragon flies reminded her of when we kayak together (we did that on Sunday).  How cool is that?  I'll think of our kayaking trips whenever I use the bowl.

Well, That Wasn't Fun

Nobody wanted to be at the vet, especially Boadicea

Boadicea has continued to very slowly lose weight.  Then she took a plunge well under 900g last week.  I stuffed her with Critical Care, gave her some extra attention, and hoped it was like the other dips that she'd bounce back in a day or two.  When that didn't work, I called the vet.

Not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon (especially since I had to navigate Gillette Stadium traffic on the way home).  It was a fruitful visit - this time there was definitely something wrong.  Poor Boadicea got manhandled, then x-rayed, then manhandled some more.  But we discovered a yeast infection and a small stone.  No wonder she was losing weight.

Not Quite There Yet

62 finished blocks vs 62 fabric bases

I have been working on a pile of string triangles over the last two years.  The majority of them are selvedges sewn to a fabric base.  I finished stitching up the last one a month or two ago.  Or so I thought.  A few days ago I grabbed the stack of them to make a throw quilt.  Not even close - I have about half of what I'd need.  Well, that's a bummer.

So I've cut another 62 triangle bases.  The good news is, I have a quart bag stuffed with selvedges just looking for a project.  At this rate I'll be ready to make the throw quilt in another two years.  Ha!

I Like Thursday: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic

The word like doesn't work so well as the word enjoy for some of today's topics.  But I think they'll be fine for I Like Thursday.

I enjoy meditating, or at least I like the after effects.  I don't do it nearly as often as I should.  I am grateful whenever I get a chance and think afterward:  I need to do more of this!

I discovered last week that meditating on the back deck is good stuff.  I don't know what motivated me to try it.  Between the breeze and the birds, it's a great way to drop into the here-and-now.  The deck has been mosquito-free this summer (I like that, too!), which makes it possible to sit still and not be eaten.

I like my mala beads.  I'm one of those people who has a hard time settling and doing nothing, which is what meditation is all about.  Mala beads give my fingers something to do while the rest of me tries to let go.

Border Lines

The shirt fabric played nice once I cut the squares; everything looks relatively straight.  One of the easiest pieced quilt I've had.  Once I completed those last four blocks, everything just lined up - no easing or stretching to get corners to match.  Huzzah!  The back of it frays something awful and my living room was covered with dark threads.  That's the worst I have to say about this quilt.  The fabric is so soft and I'm pleased with the way it looks.

In order to make this a twin quilt, it needs a 9" border.  There's still a bunch of shirt pieces, but not enough to make any more disappearing 9-patch blocks.  So I randomly sewed what was left to incorporate this hodge-podge into the border.  I did something like that on my Key West quilt.

The Dress Debacle

Enough time has passed that I can at least laugh at how much this smarts.

I got the dress finished to the point I could try it on.  First word I thought of was dowdy.  Then frumpy.  Then I showed Rob.  He said I looked like a substitute teacher.  The substitute!  And then, just so he could tweak my mother in the retelling of the tale, he said I looked like a children's librarian.

Yeah, I doubt my mom has ever dressed like this.

So.  The thoughts of finishing this two weeks ago went right out the window.  But it can't stay wadded up in a ball in the corner forever (although one or two people said it could).  Something needs to be done.

It looks worse on the hanger than it does on me.  It needs hemming, the sleeves done and top-stitching.  I am miffed that I picked a pattern that should have flattered my body shape, looked stylish and yet ended up like this.  I plan to bring it to my mother, assess it, and either fix it so I can wear it or finish it to give away.

A learning experience, that's for sure!

Some positive/fun things from this:  I recalled a lot of my training (Mom taught me to sew by making clothes).  I remembered how to read the pattern, what steps could be skipped if you pinned like crazy, how to mark with needle and thread.  I also discovered that the pattern tissue sounds exactly like crinkling plastic bags... at least to a pair of hungry guinea pigs.  I had lots of demands for food while I was working with the pattern pieces.

Once I figure out how to finish the dress, the next project will be to get rid of the scrap.  I think there's some more rope bowls in my near future!