Not Much To Share

It's been hot. There was motorcycle racing to watch. I had to drive to the semi-big city yesterday in 100 degree heat. I've gotten hooked on the Smithsonian channel's Air Disaster series, newly discovered by me but in its 20th season so lots of catching up. My lassitude feels typically summer so not too worried as long as it doesn't continue into fall! I think my deck flowers feel the same as they struggle to maintain blooms in this heat. I've finally started on the first sleeve of the sweater knitting project while watching tv that doesn't require full attention; otherwise, creativity a bit stalled. Hand me my iced coffee as I relax with a good book . . .

Helen Wells sent out a video addressing this very thing, how a change in season shifts our energy and can make one want a change in approach. She lists a lot of things she'd like to do in this time, "carving out" a little more space for them in this time when she wants to retreat a bit: "A time to retreat into creativity, a time to replenish, a time to be more introspective...."  She has keyed in on 4 things to consider in how she wants to spend these summer days. 

• What do I want to START doing?

• What do I want to STOP doing?

• What do I want to do LESS of?

• What do I want to do MORE of?

 I realized that this is what I've been doing for awhile now as I've felt a need to adjust a routine I've fallen into but want to get out of or at least modify. I just haven't written it down in list form as she suggests. There are things I know I want to stop but why is it so difficult to do that? Reading and knitting definitely fall in the do more of, and I have. Am trying to do less on the computer starting with not reading every single thing I come across, doing a better job of "curating" what's important and what doesn't really apply to me or is not new info, letting quick scans gather up what I need to know, passing up things I don't. As for what do I want to start? I'll have to give that more thought. I have so much going on, so many interests I'm already pursuing, I can't imagine starting something new. Then again, maybe I'm looking at that the wrong way. More thought!

You can watch the video here or read the transcript version below it. Let me know what you think. Does any of this resonate with you?

It Worked!

I started quilting on the rails quilt by stitching-in-the-ditch through the center of each block both directions to stabilize things before quilting the "arrows" in. It occurred to me that repositioning the architect lamp that usually shines down on the needle area over to the left and down to shine the light at an angle might produce shadowing so I could see those hera markings even over the light fabric. And it worked like a charm - I could see all markings easily.

I like the way the arrows rotate around the block. Makes me think of the storms and winds Noah and his ark must have weathered. My only concern is that there may be too much open unquilted space that I might feel compelled to add more stitching to. I'll not worry about that now.

Here you can see those initial lines of stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and the wedges of unquilted space.

I do like this gold/yellow thread on the back. It does run quite light as it variegates but I think it was a good choice.

Ready To Quilt

Slowly but surely I have overcome my procrastination and issues with pinning and marking of the rails quilt. Sometimes all one has to do is just admit you have no choice but to proceed and just do it. I was pleased to feel myself getting into a rhythm with the marking, and putting the rest of the pins in went quickly. As usual, was asking myself what the big deal was that had me putting this off for so long. I'd already started auditioning threads and found the King Tut pink variegated thread perfect for the top. As for the bobbin, there were several ways I could go including pink, but those flamingos are very peachy. I initially thought the King Tut blue variegated thread would be perfect, surely was the right blue, but I hesitated. Maybe that light blue one would be better, but it just looks like white or grey thread when I spooled it across the fabric. There's quite a bit of golden tan in the animals and I've decided that gold King Tut variegated thread was the one. I also think it would show less should I have any pull-ups on the front. It sure has gotten hot here, too hot to spend any time outside during the day, so no excuse not to start quilting in my air conditioned studio.

Did I mention I ordered more batting? I honestly don't need more, which a quick assessment of my stash confirmed. But what a knee jerk reaction to seeing a 30% off sale at one of my favorite internet shops, Connecting Threads. I wasn't aware of this particular blend of cotton and wool in a batting and I was intrigued. Cotton battings often quilt up flatter than expected, but I don't always want to use a wool batting. I'm speculating that the wool will create a loftier batting and keep it all natural. Has anyone out there tried it? I absolutely shopped like I was still making lots of quilts, buying the king size batt because it is the best value. I still remember Harriet Hargrave's batting lecture where she pointed out most quilters buy batting because it is the size they need for their project, not considering if its contents is appropriate for their project and never thinking they could get more than one quilt out of the largest batt available and save money. Well, you have to be using it up for it to be a good buy, so I guess my somewhat impulse buy may encourage me to make more tops. I do have two large quilt ideas I've not followed up on (even though fabric is set aside), and think I may still have it in me to get them made. Perhaps I'll be guilted into it! Whatever works, I say.

It's That Anniversary Again

Each year on the anniversary of my husband's death, I pause and contemplate our life together, from meeting at college to forging a partnership through marriage and finally to our last days together. When I sit down to blog about it each year, I've looked for photos that showed the various aspects of the person who loved me, supported me and did good out in the world. Often I've shared the motorcycle part since that was such a big part of what might be termed the second half of our life together, and this year I got out an old photo album to hunt down pictures from a 1998 motorcycle vacation that included visiting Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin, looking for waterfall pictures which is what you see above.

Unexpectedly as I flipped through pages, I ran across these two photos of us from 1997 when we flew back to Olympia, WA for a friend's wedding. It was held at an old house with wrap-around porches sporting fantastic views, and I remember how much we enjoyed just sitting out there with no cares. My initial reaction upon seeing his smiling face in this photo was, well hello handsome - you clean up well! Then noted what I'd written at the top of the page: "Here's to you - you handsome devil!" Ah yes, I always loved it when he dressed up, always looking so smart.

Which prompted me to hunt down another pic I took of him "all suited up". Of course, the current furry child had to be included. This was in the early 80's and after realizing he had to give up teaching at least for awhile, he was putting out resumes and preparing for interviews. He really didn't have a suitable suit so I sent him off to pick something out. He came back with a beautiful 3-piece suit and what else he needed to go with it. Sigh . . . I loved it every time there was an event when I could accompany him wearing that suit.

 

So that's my story for this year. I'll be raising a glass of something later today saying, "Here's to you - you handsome devil! Thanks for every memory." 

Some Nice Things From Last Week

Our weather has been so up and down, but Friday was what I would call a perfect day for being out and about. Sunny, temps in the 70s and a light cool breeze coming off the lake made for a delightful walk at City Beach. Tourists have started arriving and the beach was bright with colorful umbrellas, towels and bathing suits.

The marina is full of sailboats and I saw several people out on paddle boards and small boats. Motorboats were being backed down ramps into the water. A few younger people braved the water which is still quite cold to swim and splash around. Summer is here!

Man With Turkish Coffee by Daniel Gill

I made a stop at the library having finished another book and ready to pick up the next from an author I'm catching up with (Lisa Unger) and was pleasantly surprised to see a new exhibit in the lobby cases. A local watercolor group was being featured and this painting by Daniel Gill caught my eye. Definitely the best of the lot, and in talking to one of the exhibitors learned that he is a local illustrator and indeed better than the rest in this group which lost its teacher to retirement but decided to stay together and share their knowledge with each other - sounds just like the quilt guilds I've belonged to. Daniel has occasionally given demos and I can see that the group would benefit from his expertise.

Also by Daniel, I took this photo of a still life not so much because of the painting but because of the shadows being cast across it by the brackets holding the glass shelves. Abstract in nature, they almost look like part of the presentation, the one shadow over the painting itself looking as if painted there.

Another pleasant surprise: I got a phone call from the yarn shop owner who promised to let me know when her next order of mill end wool yarn arrived if it included more of the lavender yarn I'm sure I will be short of to complete the sweater I've been working on. Four skeins were included in the order, all the same color number and lot number of the yarn I originally bought - woo hoo! I think two more skeins will do it but heck, why chance still being short, and one can always find something to make out of a skein or two, so just like I used to say," heck, just give me the rest of the bolt" when buying fabric, I said, heck, just give me all four! They are so inexpensive, why not? I'm nearly done with the front so I'll start the sleeves knowing I have plenty of yarn to finish them.

Lastly, after getting all the bedding plants transferred to pots, I did move two of them - the extra marigolds and begonias, out front and they are doing marvelously along with the snapdragons in the big pot alongside the stairs. The sun may have been out when I took the picture but you can see that the concrete is still wet from quite the thunderstorm that drenched everything shortly before this.

The rain was so hard that dirt splashed up from the pots and covered the side of them. But the plants themselves were undamaged. This is such a lovely sight to enjoy when I leave and come back from my walks.

There was one not so nice thing that happened though. Even though all the windows and doors were shut, I was awakened one night by the smell of skunk! They do occasionally wander through my neighborhood and it always astounds me how strong their scent is and how long lasting. It must have checked things out under my deck because days later, after the smell had left the rest of the neighborhood, I still get whiffs of it when I step out onto the deck. I don't know if repeated rains are reactivating it or what, but I'm at a loss as to how to get rid of it, except with time.

Here We Go!

 

Layering of the rails quilt has begun. A big enough area of the work table has been cleared to spread out the backing, which to my delight only overlaps the width of the side by side tables by a few inches. Batting proves to be cut to fit edge to edge of table width and matching the side edges of the backing, which by the way I thought I'd have to piece for it to be wide enough. But it is 44 inches wide and the quilt top 42-1/2 so about an inch extra on each side. I usually allow more than that so I can turn the backing over the batting to the front and give myself something to hold on to as I quilt. But not having to piece the backing . . . priceless at this point. I gave the top a good steam press and removed a lot of stray threads from the back before smoothing it over the batting. Everything just fits.

I follow Angela Walters and watch most of her free videos on free motion quilting designs and a recent dot-to-dot series design caught my eye as one I could use on this quilt. I used one of my EQ mockups to play with different directions I could place those arrow-like motifs, finally settling on the one sketched out on the block in the second row. You might be able to see some arrows on the lines if you click for the larger picture. I worked out where to start so that the entire block can be quilted continuously, including along the sashing on all sides.

But I know I can't trust myself to free-motion quilt straight lines with any accuracy so as I started to pin, I started to think of how I might mark the lines and avoid any difficulty in removing markings. I remembered the technique of making creases in the fabric with a hera marker and thought this might be the way to go. I used to have two hera markers that were freebies, but I couldn't locate either one. No worries, any pointed thing will do and the tool I use to help close up pins has a short straight edge on one end not unlike a hera marker. So I gave it a go before too many pins got in my way. I found it surprisingly slow as I made the marks on two blocks, noting that sometimes a line didn't show depending on which way the light was hitting the lines. Add to this, as I moved to the second block, the sashing confused me into placing the starting point of the first line in the wrong place. Not sure I have the patience for this. It occurred to me that laying down masking tape as I go will be quicker and leave no marks. If I did ruler work, this would be the perfect place for it. But since I don't, I think I will abandon the hera marking and opt for masking tape as a guide.

What's your go-to method(s) for marking quilts?

A Sketch Expedition

Remember me showing you the water feature outside my library and saying I'd like to try sketching it? Friday turned out to be the perfect day to take myself on an "artist date" as I had a book ready to return to the library and another one to check out, good weather, and nothing else really pressing to keep me from spending some time sketching. In every respect, it was a relaxing and positive experience, from the mother with her two little kids who stopped to look over my shoulder and ask questions to the finished sketch. Granted, I do tend to get a bit timid with the colored pencils, kept going over the rocks to make them a little darker but I think they still need more definition. And how to show the foamy white water bits? I tried a white Posca paint pen after I got home which barely shows up. But the major parts like fitting the whole scene on the page even though I was sitting quite close to it (I often end up running out of room) and getting most of the perspective right was very gratifying. Am wondering now how I might do using watercolors - now that would be a real challenge for me!

Speaking of challenges, I had stacks of pads of paper that I use for bookmaking to move off the top of the box where my batting reserve resides so I could see if I had enough of that limited edition slightly plusher batting I liked so much in the last baby quilt left for this current one. All that paper is sitting on the work table that still needs more of it cleared so I can layer up this quilt. It has taken me awhile to figure out where I could open out the batting to cut an appropriate piece since the table is not available. Just dawned on me that I could strip my bed down to the mattress (sheets need changing anyway) and do it there. That realization felt like a palm slap to the forehead - I'm not as quick thinking as I used to be I guess.