Orange Crush, Step 3

Two piles of HALF Split four patches--each has 22 blocks, or half blocks.
This was a fairly short step to finish, though I had some hard thinking to figure out how to cut the larger triangles. I don't have the exact ruler that Bonnie suggested to us, but was trying to use the Omnigrid ruler for 1/4 square triangles. I tried cutting different sizes, and settled on the "3 inch" line for cutting, even tho' this is a 3.5 inch block. I read Bonnie's instruction over and over, and I read the Omnigrid instructions over and over. These come out RIGHT, even if lacking in logic!

And last night I finished the black border on my Doors in the Square. I just happened to have a Fat Eight of dotted circles on a black background, so I put in two cornerstones that are circles. Upper left and lower right. You may have to enlarge this photo to see them.

This is about 30" X 40", so it will be a baby or neo-natal quilt.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sunny, but cool so the bushes will hold their flowers

Pizza for dinner

Charlie home from retreat

Garlic Mustard all over

We have an infestation of Garlic Mustard in our area. Every property owners is urged to eradicate this plant because it covers the ground and shades out not only wild flowers, but even tree seedlings. It is a biennial, so it takers two years to set seed. When it dones--thousands of seeds are released.

So here is a photo of three Gralic Mustard plants in my gully from the house down to the lake. There are many, many more, even though I had my gradening helpers pull piles of it last year. I don't have it in the meadow, just where there is some shade.

It was GOOD NEWS to me this morning when the Bella Fiori truck parked in the driveway. Three workers were here from 8:15 to 2:15 doing spring clean-up and also cutting down briars and Garlic Mustard before zapping them with Round-up.

Boy, I hope this makes a difference!

Naturally my neighbors are not participating in the Garlic Mustard WAR. They are oblivious. Therefore, we will no doubt get more Garlic Mustard seeds from their plants later in the spring.

Meanwhile I can enjoy the cleaned up beds and trimmed bushes. Probably I will get a few more perrenials for this bed, which was enlarged last fall.

I could get down on my knees like this gal, but I would have a terrible time getting up the third or fourth time. And then I would be a rest home case for two days. This help is one of the things I pay for with my inheritance from my parents. This and symphony tickets.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Garden helpers
Zeke obeyed when I said "Quiet!"
Smell of bread baking

More about Door in the Square

Here was my first idea for the Door in the Square blocks---

But when I "finished" making them, I had 20 of each background, and I couldn't use them all in this setting, or iI didn't have enough.

So I went out on this cool, blustery day and looked at the current state of Spring.

These are "Thalia" daffodils. Not quite small enough to be called miniatures, but certainly little.

Pink magnolia along with the forsythia. Not really a great color combination. What was I thinking when I sete the tree here? I guess I didn't know that they would bloom together!

"Juneberry" I call it. Some say "Serviceberry" or "Shadblow". Latin name is Ameliancher. Just starting to open.

When I came back in, I decided that these Door in the Square blocks are going in two different items. I put the black ones together, and then took all the extra 2" strips and made a first border. I will either add another black border or just bind it in black.

Then I put the colored blocks together. Maybe a narrow black border will happen next.

Maybe I'll go looking in the Stash for wide borders for each of them. I hope I don't just tuck them away to "age", another word for UFO!

Sara

Gratitudes:

4th loaf of bread from first batch of dough

never drove the car today

PBS show about New Zealand

Door in the Square

Suddenly today I saw that I could put together the Fat Eighths of polka-dot fabrics from a swap on retreat with a pattern I saw on someone's blog.
I don't know what she called it, but I'm calling mine "Door in the Square". It is made the same way as a "Bordered Square", but the center is a rectangle and the borders are not equal.

I figured three different sizes, and decided that 6" finished would work best, since I was using FEs. I ironed four FEs together and cut enough pieces for two blocks. And "Bingo!" I had pieces for eight blocks. There was just a little left over for short 2" strips and "crumbs".

I could sew these together with the "Door" from another color, rather than black, but I didn't go that way. I have a bigger piece of the black polka-dot fabric, so I can make half of the4 blocks black with a colored "door".

These fabrics are so much fun, and the block is simple to make. I'm having a great time while Charlie is away for two nights at the diocesan convention.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Laundry done
Hair cut short again
Bill Moyers' interview with Rev.Jeremiah Wright

Orange Crush, Step #2 done

I now have TWO little recyled baskets with many 3.5 inch blocks. On the right are the 150 (+2) four-patches from Step #1, On the left are the 142 (+1) Split four-patches from Step #2.

The Not-quite-lining-up problem had two possible solutions.

A.) I could sew with the multiple pieced piece on the top, which would allow me to aim for the intersection and hopefully hit it fairly often. Unhappy result: final block LESS square.

OR

B.) I could sew with the simple large triangle on the top, which keeps the final block MORE square, but frequently misses the intersection.

I went with B. I was always missing the intersection on the "float" side, rather than cutting off the corner point. I didn't think that was going to bother me. Anyway, it would bother me less than having wonky blocks. [I LIKE wonky blocks when that is intentional, or for a Crumb quilt!]

Here's what is left over. These were all unsewn pieces, but I decided they MIGHT be more usable put together as far as they go. Since I have some Crumb or Confetti blocks in process, I don't think these will be lying around for long!

The spring/summerlike weather drove me to stop at the nursery today while on my errands. I came home with six pots of herbs and a six-pack of "Happy Returns" day lilies. I actually got the day lilies in the ground TODAY, which isn't usual. It certainly helped that there is a new area in the garden that is blank. [The herbs are sitting on the kitchen counter to remind me of them.]

Since I had shovel in hand, I dug up four chunks of Queen of the Prairie (Filipendula), and two chunks of Black-Eyed Susan and carted them out to the meadow. They are now mashed into the ground in what I hope are good places. Time will tell if they survive such cavalier treatment and the competition of the field grasses. My theory is: Give them a CHANCE, and see what they make of it. Plants have to be tough to work with me, at least in the meadow. I will water TREES for the first year, but can't carry water for much else.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Colorful plants in the nursery

Leftovers, just cook asparagus!

learning my Chorus music from CD

Surprise Tulips

Didn't think I had any tulips left. But here is a patch on the lake side of the house. Guess the deer haven't been over to this side yet!

Back in the sewing room I am making a little progress on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery #2.

I am using the "Easy Angle" ruler that Bonnie recommends, but so far the pieces are not fitting together real well. The little tirangles go onto the square just fine. However when I go to sew the large triangle on it doesn't seem to fit exactly. The edges to be sewn don't match up, leaving me unsure which of the two edges to use as my sewing guide. I've made about 40 and now when I am squaring them up, some of them don't "square". You may be able to see that the corner ofthe square doesn't hit the triangle precisely. I'm not letting this bother me, but it is a sign that something is not working right so far.

Sara

Gratitudes:

So much color in the yard

Made reservation for September holiday

Charlie made turkey meatloaf!

Daffodils in bloom

Forgot to say that we have had about three days of quite warm weather here in western Michigan, and the daffodils are REALLY showing!

Here is part of the view I have from my kitchen window back toward the road and our intervening meadow. This bed of bushes was only cleaned up and mulched last fall. Daylilies and daffodils were put in the front of the enlarged bed. So this is their first showing. As you can see, we don't have any leaves on the bushes yet.


The second photo is looking toward our front door, with daffodils under the birches and white anemones or wind flowers by the step.

I must really love daffodils because every fall I buy more bulbs to plant, even tho' I know it's a long wait until they appear. One of my favorites is "Salome", which has white outer petals and a yellow trumpet.

I would like to have red tulips, and have planted some at different times, but the deer eat them, and even if they continued, they get smaller every year. The daffodils just increase. Tho' I suppose eventually I should divide them, I haven't so far (16 years) and they keep blooming each year.

Sara

Gratitudes:
daffodils
Dove miniature ice cream bars
Charlie grilled hamburgers & we ate on the deck

First Bread loaf

Bread "in five minutes a day".

Mix the dough and refrigerate.

Next day sprinkle cornmeal on the peel. Take 1/4 of the dough, form into a smooth round. Lay on the
peel.

Rest 20 minutes.




During this time, heat the stone and the oven to 450 degrees.



Slash the top of the loaf.

Slip loaf onto stone and quickly pour 1 cup hot water into broiling pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Cool on a rack.

This was my first real LOAF. The crust was really crunchy, though the bread itself didn't seem to have much flavor.

I think the holes should have been more throughout the loaf, rather than all near the top crust.

Charlie and I ate half the loaf by having two slices each for dionner, and then we toasted most of the rest for breakfast.

I can see that I would need to bake about twice a week to have bread for this household of two, and I would use some whole wheat flour next time for better flavor.


Sara

Raffle Quilt - Whacky Baskets

Hoo-ee! Our SpoolSpinner raffle quilt for the Guild has been quilted!

Next the binding---which will be the same striped fabric that was used in the inner border.

Here is a close-up of a "blank" corner, where you can see the imaginative quilting showing up against the black.

Boy! It doesn't show against those baskets.

Also you can see the applique flowers, made from basket scraps, better here. I sure didn't participate in that part of the project.

Just for scale here is a photo of the discussion following the Reveal. Catherine Martin, who did the machine quilting, is in the light green.

Everyone is delighted with how it has come out. Lots of "ooo-ing and aah-ing".

The remaining basket blocks are going to made into quilt tops for Bee members, two or three tops of different sizes. I have my part put together in a top, but maybe I will add borders as well. We figure out some way to draw names or ??? at our December party.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Birthday Lunch for Kathie and Dee

Intestines calming down

Open Space preservation meeting went well

Large HSTs

I'm really enjoying the project I am working on for my SpoolSpinners' Secret Sister. Can't show you 'cause occasionally someone from the Bee visits my blog. Don't want to reveal myself before December!

However, I can show you a UFO project that just needs the borders finished. Some of the comments on Stashbuster have inspired me to look through my box of UFOs to find something "easy" to finish. I found a packet of nine-patches from a swap, and a few others that were the same size--9.5" unfinished. Eighteen of those, not enough for a twin top! What could I use as a simple alternate block, other than a plain piece of fabric?

Looking through Bonnie Hunter's patterns, I saw one with large half-square triangles as an alternate to 16-patches. Perfecto! I grabbed some of the 10.5" squares cut for future backings (also a Bonnie idea) and made THEM into the HSTs.

Putting the blocks together 6 x 6, gave me a 54" square, wide enough but not long enough. So I added another row, and will make the bottom border wide enough to bring the length even greater.

SpoolSpinners Bee meets tonight and we are going to see how the Whacky Basket top looks after being quilted! Better take my camera.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Secret Sister fun