Exploding Quilt Batting

Today, we’re going to talk about quilt batting.

I call it “batting” because I live in the US. People in other parts of the world sometimes refer to it as “wadding,” which makes me laugh because it brings to mind (to mine, at least) big lumpy globs of stuffing. For purposes of this blog post, it will be called “batting.” No doubt that sounds just as odd to the non-US folks. Language is fun.

I have discovered that quilters have very strong opinions regarding batting. The hand quilters at my church all seem to prefer polyester batting. Someone explained to me once that that is because needles glide much easier through polyester batting than they do through cotton. In my limited hand quilting experience, that seems to be true. Apparently, the absolute worst combination for hand quilting is dense cotton batting inside a quilt pieced of tightly-woven batik fabrics.

Quilters of long ago used whatever kind of batting they could get their hands on, which might include old flannel sheets or wool blankets. Modern quilters are spoiled in our choice of battings. We can select from 100% cotton (organic or not), cotton/polyester blends, silk, bamboo, wool, and combinations thereof. Battings can also be low, medium, or high loft, which is an indication of how much they “puff up.” (Remember those puffy comforters from the 70s and 80s?—high loft polyester for sure.) Some battings have “scrim,” which is a a fine mesh added to the batt to help keep the fibers together.

Depending upon what look the quilter might want in the finished product, some people even combine several different types of batting in a single quilt, using polyester for loft and cotton for definition.

When I started quilting, I used the batting I could find at Joann Fabrics. That was almost always a product from The Warm Company, usually their Warm and Natural 100% cotton batting. Occasionally, I’d be able to find the Warm and Plush batting there, too, which is my all-time favorite and a slightly heavier version of the Warm and Natural. Last year, though, all of the Warm Company’s products started disappearing from Joanns. I couldn’t get Insul-Bright for potholders. Warm and Plush batting was nowhere to be found, and Warm and Natural started disappearing, too.

Apparently, the president of The Warm Company sent out a letter last year stating that The Warm Company products would no longer be sold at Joann Fabrics. No reason was given. Perhaps it was a dispute over wholesale pricing. Who knows?

Hobby Lobby carries The Warm Company products, but our Hobby Lobby’s packaged batting inventory tends to be on the thin side. I’ve also used batting from Hobbs, Quilter’s Dream, and Pellon. I keep a stash of batting on hand—I stock up during sales—so it wasn’t like I was hunting for Warm and Natural batting. Joanns started carrying batting from Fairfield. I’ve used the Fairfield Toasty Cotton and 80/20 cotton/polyester blend batts with no issues.

This long story does have a point, and it’s this:

For the neutral diamonds quilt, I pulled a batting of the appropriate size out of the stash. It happened to be a package of Fairfield Organic Cotton. This is the first time I have used this batting, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary when I unfolded it, laid it out, and pin basted it between the top and the backing. When I started working with it, though, the batting along the edges of the quilt—which extends past the top and gets trimmed off when I am finished quilting—did what you see in the picture, above. That’s never happened before.

This batting doesn’t have a scrim. Batting packaging always comes with a recommendation for quilting density. Battings with scrim can be quilted less densely, sometimes with lines up to 10” apart. This packaging recommended quilting no farther apart than 4”. That’s not unreasonable. I don’t like ultra-dense quilting where the quilt has so much thread in it that it can stand up by itself, but I do like enough quilting to hold things together.

I spent several hours yesterday quilting the center of this neutral diamonds quilt. I stitched in the ditch along all the seamlines, which created a grid of quilting lines no farther apart than 4”. In some areas, they are only 2” apart. I am not sure that is going to be enough quilting. The feel of the quilt is amazing—it is just the kind of quilt I would want to cuddle under while watching television—but I worry about the stability of the batting. I don’t want the batting to disintegrate and lump up the first time this quilt gets washed.

I am going to stitch in the ditch along the seamlines of the narrow dark brown border and then do closely-spaced loops in that wider brown border. The center section may need more lines of quilting, but I’ll wait and reassess. I won’t buy any more of this batting, however, and I shouldn’t have to. Apparently, The Warm Company and Joanns have resolved whatever differences they were having, and Warm and Natural quilt batting is supposed to be coming back to Joann stores. That’s also an American-made product, so hopefully there won’t be any supply disruptions.

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Everything is lush and green outside thanks to the rain. I popped out to the greenhouse yesterday to check on seedlings. The tray of lettuce is gorgeous:

When he built the greenhouse, the husband also made several large trays (2’ x 3’) with mesh bottoms. These are great for starting lettuce. Sometimes we harvest the lettuce for salads and sometimes I transplant the seedlings out into the garden. I’ve been transplanting from this tray, but we may also have to start eating some of this. I can just cut off what we need and let it grow back. If we get a break in the rain today, though, I’ll plant more of this out in the garden. This is Ruby, which is my favorite lettuce variety. In the greenhouse, the leaves are green, but once I plant it outside, the leaves turn a beautiful ruby red color.

Beans and Bears

I am not unhappy to see the rain, although the weather makes the husband’s concrete pours more difficult and messy. He had to undress on the porch when he came home from work yesterday and his clothes went straight into the washing machine. The rain is letting me catch up on some inside projects, though, and that’s good.

We were running low on canned beans—specifically red ones—so I dipped into the Y2K supply that Cathy gifted me last summer and put some to soak overnight Tuesday. I ran two canner loads yesterday and ended up with 27 pints.

The total was actually 28 pints, but one jar didn’t seal, so it went into the fridge. I cooked down a ham bone the other day and that jar gives me a good excuse to make a batch of red beans and rice.

Once this stretch of rain ends, I need to think about planting beans out in the garden. It should be warm enough. I am devoting quite a bit of space to growing dry beans just because we eat so many. I have the seed from last year’s crop of purple Kebarika beans and Vermont Cranberry, as well as white ones and the green ones that came from a bag of beans I bought in the Hispanic food section at a Wal-Mart in Spokane. I also ordered Black Calypso and “Steuben Yellow Eye, AKA Molasses Face”—there’s a name for you—from Victory Seeds in Oregon.

We have had our first neighborhood bear sighting. Someone who lives around the corner from us posted on Facebook that they had a black bear on their porch around 9 o’clock last night. It’s that time of year. The chicken coop is electrified, but I’ll need to pay attention when I am wandering around the property.

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I pieced the backing and basted that neutral diamond scrap quilt together yesterday while waiting for beans to process. I think I am going to start quilting it today, although I am having a heck of a time trying to decide what kind of pattern to quilt. I may just stitch in the ditch on the center diamond portion. The quilt also has two borders, a narrow one and a wider one. I’ll probably quilt loops in the wider border. We’ll see. Perhaps inspiration will strike while I am working on it. Finished is better than perfect, though, and it’s not the only quilt top in the queue. I am not going to drive myself nuts over it.

Our pastor has been hosting weekly informal Zoom get-togethers which are great for catching up with everyone. My friends Elaine and Joann were knitting during yesterday’s gathering, and I commented that I need to retrieve my current prayer shawl project from the front pew at church where it has been languishing since March. (I keep it there so I can knit during the sermon time.) I don’t have any suitable prayer shawl yarn here or I would just start another one. The blanket strips I have been knitting for another group project are all done.

Nothing jacks up my anxiety level faster than having to sit still with nothing to work on. I should have grabbed some embroidery.

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I’ve been watching a YouTube channel recently called “Sidestep Adventures,” produced by a guy in Georgia who wanders around the countryside in search of old cemeteries. He has found some with headstones dating back to the late 1700s. His approach is very thoughtful and respectful and the videos are not as macabre as they might sound. Truly, though, stories like the one where a family buried six children in the space of 10 years help put the current situation into perspective. We have little to complain about.

What We Take for Granted

I was asked to make a couple of aprons as a custom order. The aprons themselves are not complicated, but the customer had some specific ideas of what she wanted. Above all, they need to be sturdy and able to withstand repeated washing and drying. I had some turquoise 100% cotton twill in the stash. My customer liked that, but I only had enough for one apron. She asked if the second one could be the same fabric but in chocolate brown.

On a good day, I might be able to source what I need in Kalispell. Three months into a pandemic, with broken supply chains and reduced operating hours in stores, the chances of finding 100% cotton twill in chocolate brown were slim to none. I also need to adjust my errand-running schedule. I prefer to go into town early in the morning. I can’t do that anymore.

• Joann Fabrics is now only open from 10 am to 5 pm, and their first hour is reserved for at-risk customers.

• Wells Fargo Bank pushed back the time their drive-through opens from 9 am to 9:30 am with no warning. Their website still lists the opening time as 9 am. Does opening half an hour later really make a difference?

• Hobby Lobby is only open from 10 am to 7 pm.

I forget all these things and head to town at 8:30 in the morning so I can be the first one in the door, only to have to drive around and waste gas and time until everything opens. Our local bank, where we keep the husband’s business accounts, is open at the drive-through only, but at least they are keeping to normal business hours.

From now on, I need to run my errands after lunch, which really chops up the day.

Hobby Lobby has 100% cotton twill, but not in chocolate brown. They are also out of some other supplies that I need, and while those supplies are not critical, I wonder if they are gone for good. Joann Fabrics has plenty of twill—even chocolate brown—but all of it has spandex in it. Fabric with spandex eventually breaks down after repeated washing and drying, so I can’t compromise. I need the twill to be 100% cotton. They are also running out of thread, batting, and interfacing. Again, I am good on those items (for now), but I wonder what else is going to disappear.

With no other choice but to order some twill, I came home and started surfing fabric supplier websites. I try to use Fabric.com as a last resort because it is owned by Amazon, but I can find fabric there when I can’t find it anywhere else. Not this time, though. The landing page of their website says, “Due to reduced capacity, some items have been temporarily removed from the site, and new orders can take up to 30 days to arrive.” They had no chocolate brown twill.

Ironically, I ended up back at Joann Fabrics. The Joann.com website has 100% cotton twill available in chocolate brown. The minimum order is two yards (this seems to be a new requirement). I don’t need two yards, but I had to order two yards. Of course, they are also experiencing shipping delays, so there is no guarantee I will get what I need in a timely manner, but we’ll see.

Believe me, I know that these are all first-world problems, and they are minor compared to what other people are facing. I am not trying to keep a business afloat. I certainly can’t start or expand my fledgling sewing business, though, if I can’t source fabric. My hope is that some of this manufacturing comes back to the US—even if supplies cost more—but even if that happens, it’s going to be a long, bumpy ride.

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I found out the other day that the Boyd-Walker Sewing Machine Company in Spokane closed in December. They had been a Pfaff dealer there for 75 years. Apparently, though, the owner had cancer and died last year. I am bummed about this. The store wasn’t big, but they had all sorts of sewing miscellany. They also sold refurbished vintage machines. I know the entire back of that building was full of old machines and I wonder what happened to them. Hopefully, someone bought the stock so it wouldn’t end up as scrap.

I am really struggling with not being able to get in my car and get on the road. For the past half dozen years, I thought nothing about popping over to Spokane and Seattle to see my girls and do some shopping. I haven’t been on a road trip for over three months, and anyone who knows me knows that I get twitchy after about six weeks. That need to adventure by myself is a bigger part of my psyche than even I had realized.

I think I am going to have to pick a day when the weather is crummy and road trip to Missoula. I can’t go far, in any case, until the chicks are a bit bigger and don’t need to be checked on every few hours. The minute Jay Inslee opens Washington State again, though, I will be hard pressed not to get in my car and head for Seattle.

And that’s enough whining for today. I don’t think I’ve posted this picture yet (ETA: Whoops, yes I did. Sorry. Side effect of blogging at 5 am.)

This is an apron pattern I was playing around with last week. It’s reversible—the back is another coffee-themed fabric.

Violets in the Woods

I went out early yesterday morning and weeded the peas and prepared a bed for the broccoli seedlings. The corn and cowpeas continue to look good under their hoops. I am tempted to remove the hoops over the corn as I don’t see any frost-level low temps in the forecast for the next couple of weeks. Waiting until Memorial Day is considered safest, but we had 3” of snow on June 10 one year so it’s a gamble no matter how you look at it.

I startled a turkey by the grape vines. It ran out from the tall grass and flew away. We had a mama turkey nesting back there one year, but I looked and didn’t see anything. If there is a nest, it may be well hidden.

Our morning board meeting session ran from 10-noon. I set the laptop up on the counter in the kitchen and cut up a ham during the first part of the meeting, then got a chair and my knitting and knitted for the second part. Everyone is used to seeing me working on something. I either knit or bind quilts. I simply cannot sit still and listen unless my hands are occupied with a project.

Our board is comprised of members from congregations in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. We usually meet in Oregon, where the denominational office is, but had planned to have this meeting here in Kalispell. Unfortunately, the pandemic changed those plans. I have enjoyed my four years on this board and even though we’re all Zoom-savvy by now, meeting via video conferencing is nothing like being able to visit in person.

Our Executive Conference Minister noted during the meeting that the denomination is warning congregations that we may not be able to engage in congregational singing for the foreseeable future. Singing together has been identified as a potential “superspreader” event. I said to the husband that telling Mennonites they cannot sing together is like telling a fish it can no longer live in water. The whole concept makes me very sad.

We had a two-hour break between the morning and afternoon sessions, so I went out and cut grass in the front yard. The husband was busy all day cutting up and clearing the downed trees in the woods. I think we lost two dozen trees out there in that March windstorm, and not small ones, either. This will be an ongoing project. All the brush has to be piled up and the logs stacked.

There are violets all over the property. Yellow ones:

And purple ones:

People have been commenting that there are fewer trilliums this spring. I don’t see any in our woods in the usual places, either. I wonder why that is.

Elysian’s 6 year-old son came over to get eggs while I was cutting grass. They keep a small fridge on the corner of their property—which is right at the entrance to the state land hiking area—and sell eggs and veggies out of it. They do a brisk business. When they run out of their own eggs, we sell them our eggs at wholesale. Elysian’s son is quite the entrepreneur, even at such a young age, and this has been a great opportunity for him to learn math and basic economic principles.

I worked on the front yard again after dinner, but I’ll have to finish it today. I also want to get those broccoli seedlings in the ground and put the zucchini out under a hoop. Lots to do while the sun is shining.

In Between the Raindrops

I did not get out quickly enough yesterday morning to cut the grass before it started raining. I stayed inside and sewed.

The Get Out of Town Duffle Bag is finished except for the inside binding and the shoulder strap. Here is one side:

And the other:

This was such a quick make, or perhaps it seems that way because I made the byAnnie Ultimate Travel Bag last year and many of the techniques were familiar. I was almost disappointed when I got to the end and the bag was finished! I doubt I could fit a weekend’s wardrobe in this bag, but it would be perfect as a day trip bag with a change of clothes. If I were a young mom with a baby, I’d use it as a diaper bag. I also think it would make a good bag for carrying around a small sewing machine—like that Janome Gem—although I might beef up the carrying straps a bit and make then 1-1/2” wide instead of 1” wide.

I also have the byAnnie Round Trip Duffle pattern. That pattern is similar to this one but a bit bigger.

I am going to use my Accuquilt 2-1/2” strip cutter to make the bias binding for the inside of the GOOT bag. That’s a method I haven’t tried yet, but I’ve seen it demonstrated and it looks like a slick way to cut binding accurately.

We have a few days of sunshine before the rain starts again. I’ll be making aprons next week as I have a custom order to work on.

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The husband asked the Architectural Review Committee to pick a siding color for the new shop. That involved taking the sheet with the (tiny) color swatches out to the old garage to hold them up against the siding on that building so that we get something relatively close. He got a price quote from the supplier, so I think he’ll order the siding and get that installed soon and that project will be finished.

I might make another attempt at cutting the grass today between our board meeting sessions. I haven’t been out to the garden in a few days to see how bad the weeds are. This hasn’t been the warmest spring that I can remember, but it certainly has been warmer than the past couple of years. The peas are already a couple of inches tall. No doubt the weeds are racing ahead.

Competing with China

I hemmed the sunshade yesterday and hung it back up.

I also installed a grommet at each side, about halfway up, so we could tie the shade to the posts and keep it from billowing out in the breeze.

The rod system the husband rigged up works very well:

However, I noticed that the Coolaroo is starting to fray a bit around a couple of the grommets. I think that was due to it blowing around in the wind before we designed this hanging system. I’ll dab some Fray-Chek on there, but were I to do this again, I would probably put a square of heavy-duty interfacing under the grommets for added stability.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby yesterday, and as I was walking around the home and garden section, I rounded a corner and ran smack into an end-cap display of Coolaroo sunshades, 12’ x 12’, with mounting hardware, 50% off. When I got home, I e-mailed my friend Scott—who gifted me with the roll of Coolaroo after he finished making a shade for their pergola—and joked that he and I were competing with China. I didn’t look to see how much Hobby Lobby was charging for the shades. I don’t want to know and it doesn’t really matter. My custom-made shade works perfectly for this situation and that’s all that matters.

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I took a break from the GOOT bag and messed around with an apron design on Wednesday. I had this cute coffee-themed fabric in the stash:

It’s reversible:

Some day I will figure out the white balance adjustment on my iPhone. I need to get a replacement battery for my fancy digital camera and go back to using that one.

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All is well out in the chicken coop. The peeps will start working on their second (40-pound!) bag of chick grower soon. I see a significant difference between these chicks and the ones we usually get from the farm store. The ones from the farm store travel through the mail when they are literally just hours old, and they seem to take longer to recover from that stress than these chicks have. These chicks only had to travel from the kitchen to the chicken coop.

With all the rain, our yard is starting to look like a jungle. I cut the grass in the backyard yesterday afternoon and was hoping to do the front yard this morning, but it’s supposed to rain all day again. Tomorrow’s forecast is warm and sunny. However, I have a denominational board meeting via Zoom so I won’t get much done outside. (This is my last board meeting. My term ends in June.) I need to plant some lettuce seedlings on Sunday and get the zucchini plants out under another hoop. And weed. The weeds grow faster than anything else.

Rooster or Hen?

In my reading about how to determine if chicks are roosters or hens, I ran across this website with a good explanation of using the difference in wing feathers to sex chicks. We will have to wait until the chicks are older for verification of its accuracy, but I can see some differences. Apparently, rooster chicks have wing feathers that are the same length while hens have wing feathers that vary in length.

I am 99.99999% sure that the chick in the middle of this photo is a rooster:

His wing feathers are all the same length. He is also sporting some pretty nice tail feathers. This particular dude is the largest and most aggressive chick of the whole bunch, and tends to strut around like he owns the place. He may require an attitude adjustment from Big Daddy (that’s our rooster’s new name) when he is older. He is also the handsomest of the chicks, being an allover creamy white color with black striping on his wings. I’d be inclined to keep him if he doesn’t end up being too full of himself.

Sometimes the little suspected rooster chicks puff up their chests and go at each other in a miniature display of male dominance. Besides being entertaining, watching their behavior is a good way to get to know their personalities. I spend a lot of time in the chicken coop looking over the edge of the brooder box.

It’s hard to see because of the heat lamp—and I don’t want to handle the chicks more than necessary—but this one is likely a female:

Her wing feathers go from short to long.

Another way to determine if chicks are hens or roosters is to use sex-linked characteristics—specifically, down coloring patterns. I need to print out a cheat sheet and take it out to the coop with me and examine individual chicks. Sex-linked characteristics depend on the breed of the father, the breed of the mother, and whether the chick is male or female. Those spots on the heads of some of the chicks are sex-linked characteristics.

My initial assessment of the gender distribution in this batch of chicks is 4-5 likely roosters and the rest hens. I’lll be thrilled if we do indeed get 12 hens out of a group of 17. That is as many pullets as we were planning to get from the farm store and more than I was expecting. I would have been satisfied with half and half.

Time will tell, though.

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Work on the GOOT bag continues here and there—yesterday afternoon, I assembled the front zipper pocket and bound the top edges of the other pockets:

For once, I lucked out with the zipper. I like the way the designer has you assemble the zipper pocket, but it requires using a zipper a few inches longer than the opening. Once it is inserted, you cut the excess zipper tape from both ends. I went digging through my zipper collection and fished out a 10” length of zipper tape that must have been left over from another bag project as it had been cut on one end. A zipper pull was still attached. Yay! I had the correct zipper in the correct length and got to use up a leftover.

The rain continues and I do not have to go anywhere, making this a good day for sewing. I’ll work on the GOOT bag, but I’d also like to get some quilt tops basted together in anticipation of quilting them. The husband asks me periodically if I would like a longarm machine; I would, but we really have no place to put it. I do look at the smaller, sit-down longarm machines from time to time. Perhaps one of these days. For now, the Janome does a fine job.

The thread rack at Joanns is about half empty, and from what I understand, they are having trouble restocking other products. I have plenty of thread, but I’ve been picking up packages of rotary cutter blades as they go on sale because I wouldn’t be surprised if they become scarce, too. I’ve kept all my old blades and could sharpen them if I have to. Re-sharpened blades don’t work quite as well as new ones—I’ve tried all the tricks and I also have an electric sharpener—but in a pinch, they’ll do.

It Is a Small (Musical) World

Thank goodness the wind finally stopped. There was no wind in town yesterday, but up here, it blew until the sun went down. We are supposed to get rain for the next couple of days, which is perfectly fine with me. We need it.

I dropped off cowpea seedlings at Cathy’s yesterday and got to see the baby calves and chat with her for a bit. Cathy also sings and plays the piano and has a great interest in hymns and hymn history. She pulled out a hymnal I haven’t seen before. I have an extensive collection but I don’t have everything. Cathy grew up in the Baptist faith, although she often attends our Mennonite church here. The hymnal that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship uses is this one:

I sat down at her lovely Chickering baby grand with this book and played a version of O Love That Will Not Let Me Go that I’ve never heard before. The traditional tune for that song is "St. Margaret,” and as a church pianist, I have to say that it ranks right up near the top of the list of songs I hate to play.

[Other songs on that list include Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, and Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. In short, any songs with weird intervals and/or what I like to refer to as “gratuitous accidentals” get put on that list. Also on that list is just about anything by Marty Haugen, who is a well-known Lutheran composer—the Lutheran church I play for did his Holden Evening Prayer one year, which includes a song written in E-flat minor with six flats. Five flats is not hard, but remembering that C is also flat in the key of E-flat minor requires serious concentration.]

Anyway, this hymnal includes O Love That Will Not Let Me Go set to a different—and quite beautiful—tune called “Donna.” I would be sorely tempted to paste that version over the version in our hymnal.

Cathy showed me another song she really likes from that hymnal. She said, “This is a Lutheran one,” and I said, “Oh, I probably know it.” As it turns out, I didn’t. It’s a Christmas song called Where Shepherds Lately Knelt. I played through it once and then looked at the bottom of the page where the tune name and hymn text information appear, and was delighted to find out that the words were written by Jaroslav Vajda.

I might need my mother to pop in here with additional information or clarification, but Jaroslav Vajda was born in 1919 in Lorain, Ohio, where my family is from. His father was a Lutheran minister and may have been minister of the church I grew up in (?), but in any case, I remember hearing that Jaroslav Vajda was connected to our congregation. He was a prolific hymnist and wrote over 200 original and translated hymns. One of his most well-known hymns is Go, My Children, With My Blessing, which is set to the tune “Ar Hyd Y Nos” and appears in the Mennonite hymnal.

Who knew?

I came home and immediately ordered a copy of the Celebrating Grace hymnal and also found a lovely choir arrangement of Where Shepherds Lately Knelt, so we might be doing that at Christmas this year.

I have to say, the Baptists really do have church music dialed in. Catherine, who was our church pianist for many years, came from a Baptist background and taught me most of what I know about being a church pianist. I am eager to see what else is in this Baptist hymnal. The arrangements appear to be very singable and without the goofy chord substitutions found in the some of the Lutheran hymnals.

Maybe You Shouldn't Grow Cowpeas in Montana

Saturday was a beautiful day. I got out to the garden while it was still cool (50 degrees is shirtsleeve weather in Montana), carefully prepared a bed, built the frames for the hoop house over it—and took a hit to the chin when a piece of the flexible conduit we use for the frames slipped out of my hand and snapped back—planted the cowpea seedlings, and watered them in. Later in the day, the husband brought out the roll of row cover, we cut a piece to length, pulled it over the frame, and secured the bottom edges with long 2x4s and metal T-posts. I was satisfied that I had provided the most hospitable environment possible for these delicate little zone 8 plants. I extended the growing season by starting them in the greenhouse. I planned for cold temperatures. I gave them every advantage I could think of.

I did not anticipate hurricane force winds.

I hate the wind. And hate isn’t even a strong enough word for how I feel about it. It sets my teeth on edge and makes me cranky. When we woke up Sunday morning, the covers were off all the hoops. Thankfully, it had only dropped to the high 30s. The cowpeas seemed a little shocked, but not frozen.

And still the wind blew. All day. Huge, swirling gusts. It took the covers off all the hoops again and again and again. It is 5:09 a.m. as I write this and I fully expect that when I go out to the garden this morning to check, there will be no row cover on the hoops. The wind died down overnight, but is supposed to start up again this morning.

Sigh.

Perhaps this is a message from the universe that I should not try to grow cowpeas in Montana. As long as the plants are not frozen, however, I am going to hold out hope for a crop.

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Someone on one of the homesteading groups I belong to noted a few weeks ago that canning supplies were starting to sell out. Indeed, when I checked at our grocery store—which usually has a decent supply of lids and rings—there were only a few items available. I have plenty of jars thanks to Margaret, who gifted me hers when she moved. I also have plenty of rings. I try not to buy lids until I need them because I don’t want to risk the rubber seals drying out. However, it seems prudent to stock up now in case they aren’t available in August.

I went to the Lehman’s website. They sell bulk lids in sleeves of several hundred. (That’s not excessive; I do at least 75 jars of tomato sauce alone every season.) The lids were listed as unavailable, but I could still order them and Lehman’s would ship when available. I ordered a sleeve of each and got the shipping notice last week. Whew.

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The pieces for the GOOT bag body are quilted and cut:

The cutting part is always nervewracking, and it was made especially so with this project because I only had a 34” long remnant of that Alexander Henry butterfly print (“Chiara,” from 2014, by the way.) The pattern calls for a full yard, but the designer builds a certain amount of slop into the pattern and I was confident I could get all the pieces I needed from the length of fabric I had.

Of course, that was predicated on me not screwing up any of the subcuts. I somehow managed to cut one of the outside pockets width x height instead of height x width, which doesn’t sound like a problem except that the quilted lines were running horizontally instead of vertically. I always have a contingency plan—eliminate that pocket, make it from another fabric, etc.—but I managed to get everything I needed cut from the original fabric.

I know, “Measure twice, cut once.” Believe me, I hear that all the time, either in my head or from the husband.

The next step is to cut pieces from the contrasting fabric that make up the handles, pocket bindings, and other bits. I prefer to cut parts that way rather than cutting every piece from every fabric right at the beginning. My fear is that I am going to lose something if I am unable to work on the project continuously from start to finish, so I only cut parts as I need them. That makes more sense to my concrete sequential brain, too.

It’s supposed to rain mid-week, so I should have time to work on this again.

Weekend Miscellany

The Accuquilt Zoom presentation I attended yesterday morning was quite good. Truly, these are aimed at helping retailers sell product, but the presenter provided a lot of good design-related information, which is the content I love. And the quilt store here that hosted the presentation offered a 20% discount on items to all attendees. I took advantage of the opportunity to pick up another die and some cutting mats. I do not want our quilt stores to go out of business.

[The husband said this must be like when the Snap-On tool trailer comes to local hardware stores, although there is no accompanying scantily-clad “Mr. Accuquilt” needed to help sell items.]

I do prefer the in-person presentations in the stores. I wonder, though, if those are going to become less and less common.

I stitched down the binding on the Moda Love wallhanging while I watched the presentation. I swapped it out for another wallhanging I made that Margaret quilted for me that hangs over our kitchen table. I need to wash that other wallhanging, so the Moda Love wallhanging is in its place temporarily:

I adore quick and easy projects and this one certainly fits the bill.

Speaking of laundry, the husband is still trying to fix the dryer. This is the Amana dryer we bought when we built the house 24 years ago. Just after Christmas, the timer stopped working and the dryer wasn’t putting out any heat (it’s a gas dryer). He replaced the timer and got it to produce heat, but only on the delicate cycle. The heat stopped working altogether last week. I have a clothesline mounted on the ceiling in the laundry room, but I would prefer not to have to line-dry everything. He took the dryer apart again and ordered more parts for it. (I think they came in the mail yesterday.) Perhaps by the time he is done, the dryer will be completely rebuilt. I don’t care as long as it works.

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DD#1 and I had a video chat yesterday so she could see the chicks. She and her fiancé are still at his parents’ house while they figure out what the next couple of months hold. Her fiancé was in the middle of his final clinical dental rotation when the state of Washington closed down. He can’t take the second part of his board exams because the testing facilities are closed. Graduation was supposed to be the first weekend in June, and although it sounds like the class will still graduate on time, it won’t be an in-person ceremony, which we were all looking forward to attending. He has worked so hard for the last four years and it is frustrating to be so close and not be able to celebrate that accomplishment. DD#1 is still working as an OT, thankfully. I know this uncertainty is wearing on them, though.

The chicks are moving out to the brooder box in the chicken coop today. I decided that at least one of them must be a rooster because it was awake and peeping loudly at 4:30 a.m. this morning.

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A new store called “Got Me in Stitches” has opened in the shopping area north of Kalispell. I drove through the parking lot to take a look but have not yet gone inside. The sign says “Yarn and Embroidery,” which is promising. What a hard time for a new retailer to be opening, though, especially as the local news has been filled with stories of other small retailers going out of business.

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The sunshade project has gone through some modifications. We hung it from nails in the porch rafter but ran into two problems. First, we would prefer being able to move it out of the way when we don’t need it so we can watch the woods for bears. Second, the wind blew it down. I didn’t think the breeze was that strong, but the shade was rather like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge; when it got moving back and forth at just the right frequency, it popped off the nails.

The husband’s first thought was to hang it from a narrow rod threaded through the grommets, much like a curtain. That would allow us to move it out of the way. The metal grommets are only 5/8”, though, which were the largest ones I could find. I suggested that we hang it from a rod using shower curtain hooks. The designer, in her infinite wisdom, put in 12 grommets, which is exactly how many shower curtain hooks come in a package. I got the hooks and he stopped at the hardware store and bought a metal rod. Hopefully, we can get that installed this weekend. I may have to make a tie-back for the post. I have some leftover Cordura that would work nicely.

Two brains are better than one.

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I have an eyebrow wax scheduled for Monday and a haircut on Tuesday. I can’t wait any longer. I know both salons have instituted safeguards and I feel comfortable going ahead. My hair hasn’t been cut since the beginning of February. It’s at a length now where I have to start putting it up or it drives me nuts.

At the End of a Week

How did it get to be Friday?

The peeps are doing very well. I would love to keep them inside for a few more weeks because it’s easy for me to check on them, but they will outgrow that makeshift brooder box before long. Also, I need to do laundry. It is nice to know, however, that 1) I can hatch chicks successfully in the incubator and 2) We have a good setup for young chicks if it’s too cold to put them out in the coop. Now we just wait and hope that we didn’t get 12 roosters.

[I told the husband that I would like to keep one rooster out of this batch. I like to keep the bloodlines of my good roosters going if I can. The big rooster that died a few months ago was sired by our original Buff Orpington rooster.]

The weather is supposed to improve this weekend and I think the chicks will get moved out to the coop where they can keep the big chickens awake with their constant peeping. That brooder box is also much bigger.

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I sent the pencil pouch off to DD#2. She saw the picture on my blog and was very happy with it. She told me yesterday that Nordstrom is planning to close 16 stores. Her store probably is not in any danger as Nordstrom just closed another store north of Seattle last year. If the store in Spokane closes, however, that is going to be a huge blow to their downtown retail sector. They lost the downtown Macy’s store a few years ago.

The husband commented that DD#2 probably snagged one of the last good retail jobs. That industry is going to undergo some seismic changes in the near future.

I was in town yesterday running errands, so I stopped at Joann Fabrics to peruse the remnant rack. I also found this book:

My sister has cats and I thought she might enjoy this. She said she’s been thinking about doing counted cross-stitch again but embroidery might be a nice change.

I am attending an Accuquilt Zoom presentation this morning put on by one of the quilt stores in town. I went to an in-person demo they hosted last year and enjoyed it very much. That Studio cutter is getting a lot of use. I have a huge stack of 5” squares for making comforters next fall.

And after a few fits and starts, I worked on the Get Out of Town bag.

My can of spray baste refused to behave properly because it’s almost empty, but I didn’t realize it until I went to use it or I could have picked up a new one at Joanns. Oh well, I got one piece quilted. When I quilt the second piece, I’ll just have to pin it. These bags are assembled by first quilting the exterior and lining together with a piece of foam between them. The smaller pieces are cut from the big quilted pieces. I used a black 40wt thread on the top and some Aurifil 50wt in the bobbin and quilted straight lines about 3/4” apart. The lining is a coral print and the exterior accents will be turquoise. I have no idea where I got this lovely Alexander Henry remnant, but I think it will make a nice bag.

My stash is so full of bright, retina-burning prints that it isn’t funny. I don’t usually buy large-scale prints because it’s hard to use them in quilts, but I must have liked the colors in this one.

The cowpeas are getting planted under hoops tomorrow. They are outgrowing their pots. And now we’ll find out how they do in Montana.

Ups and Downs

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post that there had been two eggs that pipped but didn’t hatch. The second egg was the last one left in the incubator—I had already removed the other one and the eggs that weren’t fertile, and it had been more than 24 hours since the egg pipped. As I picked it up to take it out, though, so I could clean the incubator, the egg peeped at me. (Thankfully, in my surprise, I did not drop it.) The husband said to leave it in the incubator for a few more hours and see if anything happened.

I waited and watched. Little by little, the chick inside worked its way out and finally hatched. I was excited to have another chick—bringing the total to 18—but something didn’t seem right. This chick was smaller than the others, slow to rouse, and it seemed to have trouble getting around. By an hour after hatching, the other chicks had all been lurching around inside the incubator. This one was just lying still. I took it out and looked it over and discovered the problem. The chick had been born with its intestines outside its body.

There was nothing to do. Although I want to take care of them and give them good lives, I am not into heroic measures when it comes to farm animals. This chick wasn’t going to make it, so I let it die. I am sad about that, but we have 17 other healthy, beautiful chicks. One of those chicks obviously came from a Light Brahma mother and is a gorgeous silver color. I think it’s my favorite so far.

The brooder box is still in the laundry room. We haven’t moved the babies out to the coop yet because the weather is so crummy.

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I have to check on the peeps every couple of hours and make sure they have fresh water and food, but I’m not tied to the kitchen like I was when they were hatching. My pile of sewing projects needed some attention. I quilted the Moda Love wallhanging that I put together a few weeks ago. I did simple straight line quilting 1/4” on either side of each seamline in a grid pattern. I probably could have been more creative with the quilting, but at this point, finished is better than perfect. Straight lines don’t take long.

Once the quilting was done, I cut and made about 10 yards of red Kona binding. I only needed a couple of yards for the wallhanging, but if I am going to make binding, it’s just as easy to make 10 yards as two yards. The excess will get used on a future quilt. I like being able to go to my binding box and pull out a roll of ready-made binding.

I finished the canvas pencil pouch (free Noodlehead tutorial) for DD#2 so she has something to hold her reusable straws:

The fabric is some leftover Sevenberry canvas that I used for an apron for myself. Because I was working with scraps, I felt less bad about fussy cutting the pieces:

That is some next-level pattern matching right there.

This is a quick and easy project—by far, most of the time is spent on the prep work and only a little bit of it on the actual sewing. Good for gift-giving.

I decided to start a project for me. The Janome is still set up for quilting, so I am going to make myself one of these:

I pulled supplies from the stash and started cutting and labelling. I hope to get the body pieces quilted today. One of my friends asked me a few months ago why I make so many bags. I am rather a bag addict. Some people like shoes; I like bags. Also, from a sewing standpoint, bags—depending on the pattern—can be technically complex. I like to challenge myself.

I went over to my friend Marcie’s house last night to help her with her serger. I had found her a Bernette serger at a thrift store a few years ago for $22. That was a screaming deal. It’s a fine little serger and very similar to my Juki. She wanted to use it but needed help with the threading. In thanks, she gave me a gluten-free strawberry-rhubarb pie. Marcie is an excellent cook, so I have no doubt this pie will be delicious.

Hatch Report

Yesterday was exhausting, in a good way.

The first chick showed up Monday morning. By Monday night, we had five. Two more hatched overnight for a total of seven in the incubator when I woke up yesterday morning. The remainder of the eggs continued to hatch, in fits and spurts, until yesterday afternoon, and now we have a total of 17 chicks. They all have been moved to the brooder box in the laundry room where they are eating like there is no tomorrow.

Although I know better than to interfere with a natural process, I didn’t want to leave the kitchen while all of this was happening. I needed to keep an eye on the humidity and temperature levels in the incubator, and let’s be honest—watching chicks hatch is fascinating. I was even able to go over and alert our renter so she could bring their 3 year-old daughter to watch one just as it emerged from its shell.

Baby chicks have this habit of staggering around drunkenly, then flopping over and falling asleep instantly, and if you’re not familiar with the way that looks, you think the chick is dead. It also takes them a few hours to dry off and fluff up. Until then, they look sort of the like miniature versions of the monster in the movie Alien.

I did lose two chicks in the process; they started to pip and then stopped, and when it was clear the chicks inside were dead, I took the eggs out of the incubator so they wouldn’t contaminate anything. The causes for that, according to what I have read, are either too much humidity (the chick drowns from moisture condensing inside the shell) or too little humidity (the membrane dries out and basically shrink wraps the chick). The recommended humidity range is 60% to 80%. I was very careful not to let the humidity drop below 70% as I was removing older chicks to the brooder, but at one point, when three or four chicks had hatched in rapid succession, the humidity did get up to about 85%. The chicks are wet when they come out and that raises the humidity level in the incubator. I put a small cup of rice inside the incubator and that helped to absorb the excess water.

I am not sure how to avoid that problem of chicks not hatching other than to incubate fewer eggs next time. Some sources advise not to take any chicks out until every egg is finished hatching, but this hatch ran for over 36 hours. I couldn’t have left all the chicks in the incubator for that length of time. There simply wasn’t room.

For my first attempt, though, I am pretty pleased. That’s a hatch rate of 89% of fertile eggs. Even some hens don’t do that well.

I am also having fun trying to figure out what kinds of chickens these babies came from. Our rooster is a purebred Buff Orpington, but we have Black Australorp, White Orpington, Buff Orpington, New Hampshire Reds, Barred Rocks, and Light Brahma hens. Most of the chicks look like Orps of one kind or another, but at least one came from a Barred Rock mama and one from a Light Brahma. The Brahmas are big chickens, even bigger than the rooster, so I am not surprised he isn’t as successful with them as with the other hens. Now we wait to find out how many are males and how many are females.

The rooster got an extra helping of scratch grains and some praise yesterday for his part in this whole operation.

We’re going to keep the chicks inside the house for another day because we are supposed to get a storm with cold temperatures tonight. Our makeshift brooder box is sitting on top of the washing machine and is working surprisingly well, other than I can’t do laundry at the moment.

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I haven’t done much sewing this week, but I needed a break anyway. I’ve got my phone visit with the naturopath this morning. I was hoping to get the other two hoops up in the garden, but I think I am going to wait until after this storm. The cowpeas won’t like it if I put them out in the garden and it gets down to 25 degrees tonight, even if they are under cover.

The potatoes are coming up!

And the peas are up. The rhubarb looks good. The raspberries have leafed out and the grapes shouldn’t be far behind. Yay.

The Island of Misfit Chickens

Back when the husband and I first got chickens (and the first Buff Orpington rooster), I went out to the coop one October morning to let the chickens out. I was on my way back out the door when I heard a sound I couldn’t immediately identify. Then it dawned on me—it was a chick peeping. I followed the sound to a very protective mama hen sitting on the floor with a little red chick next to her. I ran back into the house and up the stairs to our bedroom and said to the husband, “We have a chick! How did that happen?”

I knew how it happened, but I didn’t know how we managed to overlook a broody hen for three weeks. We had several broody hens that year and got half a dozen chicks, but I haven’t been able to get any other hens to go broody since.

This year, when it was obvious we weren’t going to be able to get any chicks from the farm store, I bought an incubator. I put two dozen eggs in it and waited to see what would happen. The incubator has a timer on it that shows how many days until hatching. Yesterday, we were at day 2, so I was expecting chicks Tuesday or Wednesday.

I checked the incubator last night to make sure the temperature and humidity levels were adequate. This morning, I came down around 5:30 a.m., let Lila out, flipped on the coffeemaker, and then I heard a strange sound. At first, I wondered if we had caught a mouse somewhere. I went to check on the incubator and saw this:

I ran up the stairs and woke up the husband and said, “We have a chick!”

[He says that he always knows when I have some important news to tell him because he can hear me come running up the stairs.]

Soon after, a second chick hatched. I am supposed to leave them in there until they dry out and fluff up. I think a third one may be ready to hatch, too. Chick gestation is supposed to take 21 days, so I am a bit surprised by these early overachievers, but they are peeping and staggering around the incubator—with short stretches of naptime—and appear to be healthy.

These are not going to be purebred chickens. The rooster is a purebred Buff Orpington, but we have four other breeds of hens out there. One of the chicks is white and the other one light brown. The husband is calling this Janet’s Island of Misfit Chickens. I don’t care—I am just happy to have chicks this year.

I commented that in the midst of all this ridiculousness that has been 2020, there are still bright spots. He said, “Did you have any doubt?” and I said “No, but some days it’s harder to see them than others.” And some days, you can’t miss them at all.

Date Night, Adjusted, and Soap

Besides missing being able to hop in the car and drive to see my kids, date night has been the other casualty of this lockdown that I am mourning. I’m not missing the togetherness—we spend plenty of time with each other—as much as I am missing having a break from cooking. Date night was always my opportunity to have someone else prepare the food. My rough calculation is that the husband requires something like 5000 calories every day. I rejoice when we have actual leftovers from a meal because that means I don’t have to make something. And cooking is my least favorite domestic duty. If we were in that income bracket where we could have staff, the first person I would hire would be a chef.

I cook, and I try not to complain about it because I am not outside working in the rain, but I appreciate the break every once in a while. The husband reminded me yesterday out that one of our favorite date night locations, Backslope Brewery, is doing take-out. Their website has online ordering which includes growler refills. He is particularly fond of their Foreman Stout. I placed our order, got in the car and drove to the restaurant—which was a treat in itself as it was an absolutely gorgeous day—and picked up the food and the growler full of beer. Easy-peasy. Part of me hopes that they continue to do take-out even after the lockdown lifts, because this is a popular restaurant near Glacier Park. During tourist season, it’s next to impossible to get a table for dinner.

We didn’t get to go tool shopping, but the husband hung the shade up on the porch after dinner. I want to let it hang for a day or two to allow some wrinkles to fall out before I hem it. So far, it is working well.

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The husband got more PVC pipe and rebar so I could put up two more hoops this week. I need to get the cowpeas out into the garden, but the nights are still cool and the plants need some protection. The corn is doing well under its hoops. I am trying to stay ahead of the weeds; I dug out a bunch of quackgrass and dandelions yesterday and put cardboard down on top of the soil.

And I made a batch of hand soap as we are almost out. I recall someone asking me to take pictures of the process the last time I made it. Here is your quick-and-dirty recap. I am using the basic recipe found on the Wellness Mama website with a few modifications that DD#1 came up with, because she used to make this for us when she was home. I quadrupled the recipe and used an entire bar of soap to start:

This is our favorite soap. I have to buy a case of the lavender version for the husband because he loves it so much. (I tease him about smelling like a flower, but I like the smell, too.) I am not picky about what I use to make the liquid hand soap. As I was cleaning bathrooms yesterday, I also collected all the small leftover bits and added them to the pot. The soap first has to be grated. A coarse grating is fine:

I added a gallon of water and put the pot on the stove to simmer gently. The instructions say to use distilled or filtered water. We have extremely hard water here—the calcium and magnesium levels are off the charts—but I use water straight from the tap for making soap and it doesn’t seem to matter.

Once all the soap has dissolved, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for 24 hours or overnight. As it cools, the soap will start to gel:

At this point, DD#1 would get out the immersion blender and mix the soap thoroughly before pouring it into the gallon jug. The finished product looks just like what comes from the store. This is probably a six-months’ supply for the kitchen and bathroom.

It’s raining this morning—yay!—so I’m not sure what I’ll be able to get done outside today. I might just need to stay in and sew.

May Day

I am a day late and a dollar short, but I think it is important to note that yesterday was May Day.

The husband and I graduated from Washington College, in Chestertown, Maryland, which has the distinction of being the only college in the United States with George Washington’s permission to use his name. Washington donated 50 guineas toward the establishment of the college and agreed to serve on the Board of Visitors and Governors. Washington College is also well known for a slightly less noble tradition: May Day—a day students celebrate by taking off their clothing.

Yep, people go around naked. I did not participate, but I was there for four years and saw plenty of my friends in their birthday suits. And to this day, when the first of May rolls around, we alums note the fact, although I think fewer people are inclined to take their clothes off now to celebrate.

If you’d care to study up on some of the history, this video interview with the late Bennett Lamond, professor of English, is instructive:

My parents probably were not aware of this tradition when they sent me off to Maryland. I also lived on the college’s first co-ed floor when I was a sophomore. My friend Scott and his roommate, JP, lived right next door to us.

I wonder sometimes what George would think, but truly, those were some of the best years of my life.

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The peas are up!

The raspberries are leafing out:

I brought my mother-in-law’s gardening hat back from Maryland with me and have been wearing it when I am outside:

I have never been much of a hat person—too much hair, I think, which keeps me plenty warm—but I am trying to be better about sun exposure these days. And this hat is not too heavy. My mother-in-law was a Master Gardener. Perhaps I’ll absorb some of that knowledge from this hat by osmosis.

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I finished a batch of masks yesterday morning, then weeded for a few hours. As a reward for my hard work, I thought I might start a new bag project. I recently purchased some waxed canvas from Klum House, but as I think I mentioned, it has a much different hand to it than the waxed canvas I’ve been getting from AL Frances on Etsy. Rather than jump right in to a new bag project, I decided to make something small, first, to see how I liked the fabric. I made a zippered pouch that ended up being a mashup of a couple of different patterns: the Waxed Canvas Travel Bag from the Bernina website (sans embroidered monogram), and the Open Wide Zippered Pouch pattern from Noodlehead. Both patterns result in similar bags, differing only in the route they take to get there.

Once again, I was frustrated by the fact that I did not have the zipper length called for in the Bernina pattern, which was a 16”. I have 10”, 12”, 14”, 18”, 20”, and 22” metal zippers, but no 16” zippers. I used a 14” Tim Holtz zipper—which ended up being long enough—and two colors of the Klum House Waxed Canvas:

The interior is some of my precious Tim Holtz dictionary fabric from the stash:

I am glad I made a small bag, first, before jumping in and making a bigger bag. I am not sure I would use the Klum House canvas for a purse or tote. It just isn’t as substantial as the AL Frances canvas, even though both are listed as being 10 ounce canvas. Normally, if I were using a lighter fabric for a bag exterior, I would interface it to beef it up a bit, but waxed canvas doesn’t really lend itself to being interfaced. In that case, interfacing the lining can add some structure. This lining was interfaced with Woven Fuse (similar to Pellon SF101). That helps some. I need a bag that can take a beating, though.

I sewed the pouch on the Necchi industrial, but that was almost overkill. The Klum House canvas is light enough that I probably could have sewn most of the bag on my Janome. I wouldn’t try that with the other waxed canvas. The Klum House canvas is also “waxed” with a different formulation, a combination of petroleum jelly, mineral oil, and paraffin rather than beeswax. It feels a tad more oily to me.

Perhaps this sounds like I don’t like the Klum House canvas—I do, but I think it’s important to note that it behaves differently than the waxed canvas I am used to working with. I likely will stick to making small bags with it, although it occurred to me (at 3 o’clock in the morning) that it would also make nice bias binding for a bag like the Noodlehead Campfire Messenger Bag.

We rigged up the Coolaroo shade yesterday afternoon so we could sit on the porch, hanging it from a couple of hooks that hold my windchimes and the hummingbird feeders. The husband will hang it properly from the porch framing today, but I was happy to see that it did the job it was intended to do. Not only did it keep the porch cooler, but I appreciated the extra shade while I was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Birdies, Part 2

The hummingbirds are back in full force. All of them. Our friend Smokey stopped by to get eggs yesterday. He and I were sitting on the porch, visiting, when one of the females flew over to the feeder. An hour or two later, when the husband got home, he and I were sitting out there and both males showed up. The hummers were busy zooming back and forth through the porch and I commented that I really should be careful what I wish for. I can’t wear pink or red shirts when I work in the garden because to them, I look too much like a flower.

I also watched a couple of woodpeckers for a few minutes on my way out to water seedlings. A female has been hanging out near the path to the greenhouse, but yesterday there were two. They had positioned themselves on either side of a tree and looked—and sounded—like they were having a conversation back and forth.

I miss the birds during the winter.

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The National Needlework Association—TNNA—announced this week that it is suspending operations as of today. That news came as rather a shock to me, but I’ve been out of the loop for a number of years now. The organization has had declining membership and poor attendance at its trade shows in recent years, and I think the coronavirus situation amplified those problems. I attended several TNNA shows when they were in Columbus, Ohio, because it was easy to coordinate them with visits to my mother in Cleveland. I have fond memories of seeing and visiting with fellow knitting designers there. (Hi Kate and Joy!)

I do wonder what will be left standing when all of this is over.

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I have an appointment scheduled with my naturopath next week. I see him twice a year, and the week before my appointment, I always go in for a blood test so he can make sure my thyroid levels are appropriate. When I got to the office yesterday, I found the door locked with a sign that instructed patients to call the office number. I did that. A nurse came out, took my temperature, asked me a series of questions, and then said I could come in. Everyone had masks on. (I was wearing mine, too.) They checked me in, took several tubes of blood, and sent me on my way. My visit with the doctor will be via telephone, which is fine. He has been my doctor for almost 15 years now and these visits are mostly to make sure everything is stable. I am down to a small dose of thyroid hormone 2-3 times a week.

Because I was already out and about, I went to Costco, after driving through the parking lot to see how busy they were (not very). Most people were wearing masks there, too. I did a quick resupply of everything we’ve gone through in the past two months and was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

And I stopped at the nearby quilt store to pick up some border fabric for the neutrals quilt—I don’t have enough of any one fabric in the stash—and more Aurifil thread. They also had a sign on the door requesting that customers wear masks. A large pump bottle of hand sanitizer was on the counter for customers to use. I really don’t want these stores to go out of business, so I am trying to do my part to keep them open.

I bought another byAnnie travel bag pattern:

I am dreaming of the day when I can take a road trip again.

Birdies

We are now seven days from chicks possibly hatching, so I went through and candled all the eggs. I put 25 eggs in the incubator two weeks ago, and I am pretty sure that all of them except four have chicks inside. I’ve never done this before, so I could be completely clueless, but the difference between the eggs that were clearly not fertilized and the ones that look like they are is rather stark. I could even see blood vessels inside some of them.

[I did major in biology in college, so I can’t be that clueless.]

I would be beyond thrilled with that many chicks. A percentage of them are going to be roosters; I do not know how to sex chicks and have no plans to learn because it isn’t going to make a bit of difference until they are older, by which time it will be obvious. We’ll get this first batch to the point where they can go into the separate area of the coop and reassess. I might incubate another couple dozen in a few months so we get enough layers. Too many chickens is not going to be a problem given the current predictions about the food supply.

The robins have begun staking their claims on prime porch rafter real estate (that sound you hear is me sighing at the thought of having to keep a dog away from fledging babies):

I am a bit concerned about the hummingbirds. I heard their telltale buzzing right on schedule at the end of March—I always hear them before I actually see them—but then we got a couple of spring storms with snow and cold temps, and I haven’t heard or seen any since. I hope nothing happened to them.

We had a hailstorm Monday night and it went down to 27 degrees overnight. I was afraid the hoops might have taken a beating, but they were fine and the corn seedlings still look good. Whew.

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I put a narrow dark brown print border on the neutrals quilt:

And there it has stalled. I auditioned half a dozen border layouts with the extra QSTs and squares and wasn’t happy with any of them so I abandoned that idea. I’ll add another, wider border in a lighter print and call this good. Those leftover QSTs can become a wallhanging or get used in another project.

I thoroughly decimated my supply of browns and neutrals with this quilt. I didn’t have a lot to start with—I tend to collect blues and hot pinks—so I will have to make a concerted effort to bulk up on those colors.

I knocked out another batch of masks yesterday and cleaned up my work area. It’s time to start on some bag projects, I think.

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I ran across a very interesting piece put out by the Strategic Sewing and Quilting Summit, which appears to be a new-ish non-profit dedicated to growing the quilting and sewing industry. From their website:

Our industry doesn’t work together to grow the end consumer. We want to change that. Retail, environmental, and digital challenges are the new normal. Together, we can develop an industry strategy to grow in a changing world. How do we work together to grow the end consumer?

The Strategic Sewing & Quilting Summit was founded as a non-profit dedicated to achieving consumer growth through collaboration of key leaders in the sewing and quilting industry. Through this initiative, we as an industry can, collectively, develop our strategic plan for growth.

The in-person Summit was canceled because of the lockdown; organizers are hoping to reschedule it at some point in the future. This group did a small, informal survey of contacts during the week of April 15, 2020, about how the virus has impacted the industry. It’s not comprehensive, certainly—only ninety-two respondents participated—but it does align with some of the same things I am seeing and hearing. Specifically:

• The report notes that this is a key moment for brick-and-mortar stores. Those that also have an online presence are able to pivot and adjust, although online sales do not necessarily make up for the loss of in-person sales. Both of our local quilt stores have significant social media presences and online shopping. The Quilting Bee, in Spokane, for all that it is a huge store, has a website but no e-commerce. I wonder how this shutdown has impacted them.

• Entry-level sewing machines, elastic, and basic fabric sales are strong, and in some cases have not kept up with demand. The report noted that “Retailers have faced a staggering number of requests for elastic, that often overshadows their ability to serve all customers. Many have reported they have or could spend more than 50% of their time on answering the question, “Do you have elastic?”

• Loss of in-store classes has been a huge hit to revenue streams. Again, I am thinking of The Quilting Bee in Spokane, which relied heavily on in-store classes.

• Designers and teachers have seen a decrease in income because of the cancellation of classes, conferences and retreats.

• “Retailers that sell and service sewing machines are reporting an overwhelming number of calls for service on old machines previously left in the closet.” How about that.

• Demand for new fabric collections is down. Spring Quilt Market—when many stores place orders for fall delivery of new lines—was canceled this year. Personally, I don’t think this is a bad thing only from the perspective that flooding the market with new fabric lines every quarter was a bit much, so if that gets scaled back a bit, I’m not sure that’s a negative.

As with any kind of industry shift—no matter what the driver happens to be—there will be new opportunities even as old paradigms fall apart. Lots of people are sewing now who weren’t before. Will they continue to do so?

Not Suitable for Masks

We are in for a string of nice days and periodic rain showers—perfect spring weather, as far as I am concerned. I planted the rest of the corn yesterday and have a few seedlings left over to share with friends. I’ve put in four 25’ rows of corn, so if we don’t get corn this year, it won’t be for lack of trying. The cowpeas need to go out soon. Cathy said she would take some, too, so we’ll see how they do in her garden versus mine.

The husband burned several of the slash piles we stacked from the windstorm in March, including two in the pig pasture. They had dried out enough that they burned hot and fast. The pile in the herb garden was still too wet to burn well, so that will have to wait a few days.

Most of the masks I’ve made have gone to my neighbor, Theresa, who lives across the road. Her daughter is a nurse in California. Theresa sends the masks to her daughter who shares them with the other nurses in her unit. They have been so appreciative. I worked on another batch of masks for them last night and then went stash diving to see what other fun prints I had. I found this:

I stared at it for a few seconds and then it dawned on me that this looks just like all the illustrations of the coronavirus that I’ve seen. I have no idea where it came from. The selvedge says only “An original screenprint by Richloom Designs.”

I am not going to use this for masks. This virus doesn’t need any more notoriety.

I also played around a bit with the large Drunkard’s Path die. I was pleased to find out that a fat quarter is perfect for cutting two layers with just a narrow strip left over. I have lots of fat quarters and I think this will be a good way to use them. Also, sewing the larger circles together is much easier than sewing the smaller version of this block.

I really need to get off this quilt-making kick. I need to make some bags. And T-shirts.

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Last fall, I splurged and bought a new down comforter and duvet cover for our bed from Nordstrom. The comforter we had on the bed was 25 years old and really needed to be replaced. The new one is so thick, though, that it’s too hot to sleep under now. I took it off and replaced it with a quilt—one I bought from Lands’ End many years ago—but the quilt slides off the bed every night.

Arrrggghh.

I ordered a lightweight down “blanket” and duvet cover and we’ll try that instead of the quilt.

When I was growing up, I slept on feather pillows every night. I am pretty sure the feathers came from my Grandma Gargus’s geese. I still have those pillows, and now I have two more that my mother found and sent to me when she was cleaning her house. I miss sleeping on feather pillows. I’ve never been able to find any that I liked as much as the ones I had when I was a kid. I’m kicking around the idea of cleaning the four pillows that I have and consolidating them into two pillows (I like very firm pillows).

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Montana is “open for business” again as of today. I plan to continue my social distancing, however, at least for a few more weeks. I only need to visit the feed store and the grocery store every so often. I could stand to make a Costco run, but I am trying to wait as long as possible to do that.

Quilt Layout Evolution

I spent some time this week playing around with the block layout from that Sugar Pine quilt I mentioned a few blog posts ago. That quilt featured alternating quarter-square triangles and squares. In the pattern, the designer mentioned that she also alternated the placement of “light” and “medium/dark” squares by row.

I started by making a bunch of blocks and laying them out in the same configuration. I kept things simpler by sticking with one color family.

All fabrics came from the stash and included everything from the light background prints in the quarter-square triangles to the black prints, some of which were made into QSTs and some into squares. However, I felt like the black squares were talking too loudly in the layout:

Sometimes a B&W photo is helpful:

I made two adjustments. First, I pulled all the black squares and set them aside. I left the black QSTs, because I felt they added a bit of flavor. Next, I pulled all the “light” QSTs in the alternating “light” rows and replaced them with medium/dark QSTs, and a “square in a square'“ pattern emerged.

I decided I liked this better. It isn’t the same layout as the original Sugar Pine design, but that layout seemed too amorphous to me. I liked this design enough to sew it together:

Scrappy but cohesive. I think it does need borders. I tend to avoid borders only because I think they require a separate quilting pattern from the center, and sometimes I don’t want to work that hard. However, I have a pile of QSTs left over. I’d like to incorporate them into some kind of border instead of putting them into the orphan blocks box.

I’ll play around with this a bit more, but I picked up my large Drunkard’s Path die on Friday and I am itching to experiment with some circles.

I also put grommets in the sunshade:

I spaced them roughly 12” on-center (can you tell I am married to a builder?), although I suggested to the husband that he not measure too carefully because I might have fudged a bit. This is a sunshade, not a quilt destined for a competition. He will get the hooks put up and then I can hang this and determine where to put the hem.