What Makes Me Happy

I had Ali’s little guy again on Monday. He accompanied me to town and helped me run errands. (I have a car seat, yes, because these little people ride with me often.) Of course, we stopped at Joann Fabrics. He goes there quite a bit and knows his way around, so he went straight to the fabric section. I told him that if he wanted to pick out fabric for some T-shirts, I would make him some. He and WS are about the same size, so I could use the same Oliver + S pattern. He looked at the fabric and then said, “Auntie Janet, what I would really like is a Mandalorian blanket.” Joanns has “kits” consisting of two large pieces of fleece fabric. You lay them out, one on top of the other, and cut 1” wide by 6” deep fringe into each side, then tie the two layers of fringe together to make a blanket. “The Mandalorian” is a Disney Channel series that is part of the Star Wars franchise. This child was an X-wing fighter pilot for Halloween last year. He knows Star Wars inside and out and filled me in on the whole Mandalorian backstory.

I had a coupon, so he got a Mandalorian blanket. We came home, had lunch, and I crawled around on the floor and tied fringe while we watched heavy equipment failure videos on YouTube. Auntie Janet is nothing if not fun. And crawling around on the floor is good for me. It keeps me limber.

Yesterday afternoon, he and his mom dropped off a thank-you note and the suncatcher he made for me:

My life is full of simple pleasures.

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Yesterday was a sewing day. Literally nothing BUT sewing. I started at 7 am and went full steam ahead until about 4 pm when I had to stop and make a salad for dinner. I worked on various projects as I felt like it—a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit some place else—and made more Big O blocks. And then I started putting them together:

As with that red, white, and blue quilt, the blocks look better on the background. (The colors in this photo are close, but not really; what looks like black is instead a dark gray.) Every setting I’ve seen for this block has them butted up next to each other, which is easy but boring. Adding that inch-wide sashing strip gives them some much-needed breathing room. The rows will get a similar inch-wide strip between them, and the assembled blocks will get a border of the same Grunge background. What I want is for the “O’s” to look like they are floating on the background.

I have enough fabric cut for two more rows, but I’ll wait to make those blocks and add them until I see how long these are when they are all sewn together.

Despite those supposedly “difficult” partial seams, the blocks for this quilt came together quickly. I just need to finish it and have the husband help me hang it up. This project wasn’t on the list, but it has gone quickly and I can cross a task off the to-do list that has lingered there far too long.

I also made the 52 large periwinkle hourglass units for the green/purple remake quilt. (Note to self: Needs a name.) I am going to need 104 small navy blue polka dot half-square triangle units, as well, and those will be done next. The rest of the units in that block are 2-1/2” squares and one 4-1/2” square, all of which are cut. The second block is exclusively background and accent squares, and I’ll strip-piece those. When I get that top put together, I will take a break from piecing and start basting and quilting these tops that are piling up unchecked. I also need to write some patterns.

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We will be butchering chickens on Saturday. Butchering day is easily my least favorite day of the year but it has to be done. We only have about eight or so to do, but our pastor, Jeryl, is coming to help and bringing a dozen, and Elysian and WS are also coming to help and bringing some of theirs. The equipment takes some time to set up, so it’s better to combine our efforts. When it is all over, we will be down to one rooster—Dave. He is the best rooster I have ever raised, but he wants to be the only rooster. I plan to accommodate him. I will be sad to see the other rooster go, who is also a good rooster, but such is the way of things. We can’t keep them separated forever.

Get Those Machines Up and Running

I’m going to set up one of my sewing machines—probably the Rocketeer—to make nothing but half-square triangles. Normally, I piece on Vittorio, my Necchi BF. I don’t want to put Diagonal Seam Tape on the bed of that machine, though, because the finish is delicate. If I sew HSTs on the Necchi, I’ll have to draw lines on my squares. I really like the Diagonal Seam Tape and prefer to use that if at all possible. I’ve been using it on the Janome, which is fine, but I like to use that machine for other tasks, too. I have plenty of machines. I could dedicate one to making nothing but HSTs.

[“I have plenty of machines” = understatement of the century.]

The Rocketeer is in a convenient spot and deserves to be used more often. This is what that machine looked like when I brought it home from the thrift store: filthy, missing the nose door, and being held in the cabinet by a piece of clothesline:

I cleaned the poor thing thoroughly, replaced the missing parts, and brought it back from the dead. It makes a lovely stitch and would be a great piecing machine.

I got one pillow sham made yesterday, but I want to check with my neighbor and make sure it’s the right size before I make the second one. It’s a simple envelope design and didn’t take long. After that, I ate more potato chips—er, made more O blocks:

I decided that the blocks with the pumpkin-colored units were yelling a bit too loudly. That’s always a risk with yellows and oranges. A little goes a long way. I took those fabrics out of the rotation and made some quieter blocks without them to tone down the quilt. I’ll spread the brighter ones out even more once I get all the blocks made. The overall effect is much better now, although the blocks still look funny on that white design wall. I plan to separate the blocks with a narrow sashing. They need the breathing room.

I was trying to remember when I first started quilting. It had to be around 2013, because there was a quilt store near the Pacific Lutheran campus, and I shopped there when DD#1 was in college. Part of the reason I wanted to learn to quilt was to make a wall hanging for the blank area over our staircase.

It’s now almost a decade later. Have I made a quilt for that spot? Nope. It’s still bare. I’m thinking, though, that this one might be a good candidate. The walls are a neutral beige color (a Sherwin-Williams paint color called “Bagel,” which is on several walls of my house) and this would look nice against that backdrop. I need to measure the area and do some calculations.

I love making these blocks. I have some screamingly bright Tim Holtz fabric with a coordinating Grunge-like blender—all from the same line—that is marinating in the stash because I haven’t yet decided what to do with it. These blocks would be a good way to use that fabric. I’d also like to try an on-point setting with them, which would give the design a completely different look.

I have no trouble coming up with projects. I do have trouble, sometimes, remembering that I have other responsibilities besides sewing all day.

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A travel video about Fortnum and Mason, the London department store, popped up in my YouTube feed the other day, so I watched it. We visited the store when we were in London two years ago. They have a whole department dedicated to nothing but tea, as well as a gorgeous specialty food market on the lower level. My sister said that if there is a heaven, it looks like the F&M food market and she wants to go there when she dies. I’d be content to end up in the tea department. The British know how to do tea. Williams-Sonoma carries a few varieties of Fortnum and Mason teas, including Countess Grey, which is one of my favorites. I drink a lot of tea during the winter, although I have to confine myself to the decaf varieties. Anything more than one cup of coffee in the morning and one cup of regular tea in the afternoon and I don’t sleep at night.

One of my plans for next summer is to do better about harvesting and drying some of my plants for herbal teas. I have mints and lemon balm, echinacea, raspberry leaves, mullein, lavender (of course), and I think the currants could also be added to a dried tea blend. Lots of possibilities there.

Battery Pickup and Fabric Shopping

Robin and I went to Missoula yesterday. On the way down, I swung by the new pork processor that we’re going to be using. I had to find a new processor because our old processor sold his business to an Amish family. They will do beef, but they don’t have enough experience with pigs and aren’t taking them yet. I picked up a copy of the cut sheet from the new processor so I can give it to customers ahead of time. Also, now we know where to go so we aren’t driving around with a stock trailer full of pigs.

Our first stop in Missoula was a battery supplier. One of the husband’s work trucks needs to have the batteries—there are two—replaced. I saved the $50 delivery charge by picking them up. Having accomplished that, we moved on to the Janome/Bernina dealer a short distance away. The store does not yet have any of the Janome 3000cpx coverstitch machines in stock, but I reserved one and should be able to pick it up in a couple of weeks. My co-op sale profits are going toward that machine. I was a bad enabling friend, though, and I roped Robin into trying out the Bernina Q20 in the table and the Q24 in the frame. The quilting motion is different between the two systems. I move the fabric on my Q20, whereas in the frame system, the machine moves. Some people prefer one over the other. I like moving the quilt; Robin much preferred the frame system.

I don’t think Robin hates me for making her try out the Q24, LOL. She gifted me this cute fabric to make some aprons.

We had a few requests for masculine aprons at the sale. I need to have some on hand for next year and this fabric will be perfect.

We went to Kohls. I was explaining to the husband that Kohls used to have so much inventory that it was hard to navigate the racks, and clothing was often strewn hither and yon. The stores are much emptier now, and when they do have stock, they might only have one item in each size. The difference is stark. Ironically, that makes shopping easier. Robin found some tops and a pair of pants, and I bought two hoodies. I rarely wear sweaters anymore. I like zippered hoodies that I can put on and take off easily.

We had lunch at Cafe Dolce, then wandered over to Joann Fabrics. Robin was disappointed in their selection and said she thought we had more flannel widebacks at our store. I picked up a bit more fabric for that orange and gray quilt and a few remnants.

The Book Exchange is a wonderful used bookstore in Missoula with a great selection of new and used craft books. I’ve really cut down on my book acquisitions in recent years and only buy books if they have specific information I want or need, like this gently-used one full of hexie projects:

Now my pile of hexies will make their way into actual projects.

Missoula has three independent fabric stores. The Confident Stitch is downtown, and while they do carry quilting cotton, they focus more on garment fabrics. We skipped that store on this trip. Gone Quilting is on the northeast side of town just off I-90. I picked up some half-yard cuts of gingham in orange, pink, and green for binding. I also bought a gorgeous rooster panel. The panel is going to be a quick project on the Q20 to get me back into the machine quilting groove, and then it will get hung over the kitchen table. I have a rod there and rotate wallhangings in and out of that spot. The panel came with some smaller pieces on the sides that will become either potholders or placemats.

I also found some turquoise gingham at Vicki’s Quilts Down Under:

Interestingly, the turquoise gingham is printed diagonally, which means I can cut it on the straight of grain but it will look like I cut it on the bias.

I could have done a fair bit of damage at Vicki’s in the knits section, but I have to sew up what I have on hand before I buy any more.

No trip to Missoula would be complete without a stop at the Amish store. Robin got a package of regular cheddar cheese curds and I bought one of white cheddar curds and we did a taste comparison on the way home.

Our route on this trip took us through the section of forest near the south end of Flathead Lake that burned this summer. I’ve seen burned-over areas before, but not that close, and not ones where houses were lost. I am amazed that no one died in that fire. It was very sobering.

All in all, we had a lovely day. I said to the husband when I got home that I would love to get a group of quilting friends together for a trip to Missoula or Spokane. We could rent a Sprinter van and an Airbnb for the weekend and have a great time.

Prepping for the Next Project

Yesterday was a day of slicing and dicing, washing, pressing, and prep work. I auditioned a few more fabrics for the corner pieces in that navy/purple/teal block with no success. The quilt wants that sparkle fabric. I do not argue with quilts—sparkle fabric it is. All of the fabric for those blocks has been cut and put next to the machine for the next piecing session.

I love these Ikea bins. They come in two sizes and I use both. The larger ones are perfect for stacking fabrics for a project, and the smaller ones hold piecing-in-progress.

I went with a cream Grunge for the background, but lighter than the one I used for the test block. I rather liked the way the background looked in the mistake quilt, with the variations between white and cream, and this lets me re-create that look with one fabric.

And I played around with an idea for that gray and orange group of fabrics that I pulled last week. I cut one 2-1/2” strip off each piece of fabric and made some of these blocks, which finish at 6”:

This is miles out of my color comfort zone, but I had great fun making these. They are the quilt block equivalent of potato chips. The background is another color of Grunge. I haven’t decided on a setting yet. This is how they look on point:

I will put some kind of sashing (not white) between the blocks. And I might go with a slightly lighter background Grunge (if I can find one) for more contrast, although I am okay with this one. I have noticed that many quilt designers aren’t as obsessed with contrast as I am, so I am trying to relax a bit.

These blocks are pieced with partial seams, which—along with Y-seams—fall into that category of “These are hard!” that grinds my gears. I hate to hear that used regarding quilt blocks (and knitting, and lots of other things). Neither of those techniques is what I would call difficult. A bit fiddly, maybe, but by the third one of these blocks, I was sailing along.

Will I make a whole quilt? I am not sure. I could scratch this itch with a wallhanging or table runner. And I am working on finding balance with my fabric cutting. I deliberately limited myself to one 2-1/2” wide strip from each fabric until I decide how far I want to go with this idea. With this many fabrics, I had quite a bit to work from. I could make another half dozen blocks just with what I’ve cut so far.

I quilted the rest of the hot pads, trimmed them, and set them aside for binding. I also prepped the fabric for my friend’s pillow shams. I’m going to try to get those done this weekend, but I need to do some math, first, before I do any cutting.

Ali’s little guy was here for a few hours on Monday. He and Ali recently went to visit family in Minnesota. They also went to a museum dedicated to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He recited the whole story of that ill-fated voyage—and sang me the Gordon Lightfoot song—and then we watched a Discovery Channel documentary about it on YouTube. YouTube now thinks that I want to know all about Great Lakes shipwrecks. I watched a few more documentaries yesterday while I was sewing. I did grow up on Lake Erie, so I have more than a passing interest in this type of stuff.

In weather news, we had snow flurries yesterday. I am sure the higher elevations got some significant snowfall. I know that not everyone shares my desires for a cold, snowy winter—won’t those California transplants be surprised?—but I am not unhappy about this. I am also glad I got my snow tires on last week.

Got Some Grunge

I spent most of the day in town yesterday, starting with a morning visit to my naturopath. This was one of my twice-yearly thyroid check/general wellness visits. All of my numbers are good and he is happy with where I’m at. Yay. I also had him order a covid antibody test so we could see where I am at in terms of immunity. I think that’s just good information to have.

I left his office and headed for the quilt store. I went to the quilt store north of town, first, because I haven’t been there in a while. They tend to be heavier on Moda fabrics and I knew they had expanded their line of Grunge recently. Grunge is a fabric line that came out a few years ago and has been a huge hit, especially with quilters who prefer more modern designs. It’s what’s known as a “blender,” meaning that it pairs well with other fabrics and can be used in lots of different ways in a quilt. The design of the fabric is basic, with one base color and one or two other colors in random brushtrokes:

I picked up a couple of one-yard cuts to have in the stash, finished the bolt of the metallic gold Grunge (great for Christmas projects), and chose a few fat quarters of other colors to see if they would be suitable for future quilt designs. I love that this store has fat quarters—or will cut them for you—because it’s an inexpensive and useful way to test out fabrics.

The rest of the day was spent running errands until it was time to go to ruler class at the other quilt store at 3 pm. I pulled into the parking lot a bit surprised to see how empty it was. Sure enough, class had been cancelled because the teacher was sick. Unfortunately, the only way to know this is to show up and find out that class has been cancelled. The store doesn’t call students. Had I known, I could have concluded my errands earlier and gone home. Oh, well.

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Elysian and WS came over the other day and I had him try on the T-shirt I made for him. I made a size 8, and while he said it fit and was comfortable, I think the next one is going to be a size or two bigger so he has room to grow into it. This is the Oliver + S School Bus T-Shirt pattern and it’s one I am planning on using in a class in January.

I hemmed the shirt yesterday morning. I also quilted a few casserole hot pads. My system of having things cut and ready to go is working really well. Rather than fritter away time on social media before leaving for town, I grabbed the stack of assembled hot pads and ran them through the Janome. (I do plan to quilt some of them on the Q20, but the Janome was already set up.) Now I have a stack of hot pads quilted and trimmed and waiting to be bound. Yes, I am still firmly part of that cult of efficiency, but I am happy there.

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One of the ladies in the craft co-op called me on Monday to see if I would be willing to alter a dress for her. I’ve done some minor alterations, but this is a mother-of-the-bride dress and I do not feel competent to attempt something like that. I declined.

Last night, I got a call from someone looking for an accompanist for a Christmas program. I hesitate to agree to things like this, especially because this person didn’t have a lot of information about who I would be accompanying or what music I would be playing (other than Christmas carols). I said to the husband that it would be like someone trying to get him to commit to building a house without seeing the plans first.

I didn’t say no, but I said I needed more information as soon as I could get it. The husband’s only comment was, “The road to hell, Janet . . . “

I don’t mind helping out—and this Christmas program is to be a fundraiser for a local community organization—but the older I get, the more wary I am of being taken advantage of. The Lutheran church pays me the going market rate for church pianists and I appreciate that, but I am also keenly aware that the majority of people assume that playing the piano is easy. If it’s so easy, why are accompanists in such high demand? I don’t practice as much in the summer, but over the winter, I try to play for at least half an hour every day. I’ve been working on some new prelude music—I buy my own music, too—because I get tired of playing the same pieces over and over.

My friend and mentor, Catherine, used to tell me, “It’s hard work to make it look easy.”

That applies to a lot of areas of life, I think.

That Perfect Fabric

Some of you might recognize this block:

This is a block featured in the ill-fated green and purple quilt—the quilt in which I used Kona White for the background, but accidentally grabbed some Kona Snow that was sitting on my cutting table and incorporated it into the quilt. And then I didn’t notice my mistake until the quilt was quilted, bound, and hanging up for a photo. That one definitely qualifies as a mistake. I can’t pass it off as a design element.

Remaking that quilt has been on the to-do list. I don’t want to do purple and green again. That was fine back in the spring, but now I find myself gravitating toward other colorways. I’m out of all of those green and purple fabrics anyway.

Stash diving yielded up that center unit fabric. Navy blue must be resonating with me right now. The purply-blue herringbone in the large triangles and the navy blue polka dots were obvious choices. I don’t, as a rule, like white for backgrounds, and even less so now since messing up that other quilt. The center print has tiny cream-colored flowers in it. I think perhaps a nice low-volume cream fabric would be good for a background. For the test block, I grabbed this hunk of cream Moda Grunge out of the scrap basket. I like the idea, but I am not sure Grunge is the right choice. Robin Pickens’ Thatched collection might work.

Those little corner squares are giving me fits. I want a fabric there to pull that bit of light turquoise out of the center block (the cluster of three flowers on the right). I have a lot of turquoise fabrics in my stash. In fact, I would say that’s the most popular color in my stash. I have two bins of turquoise ranging from teal to peacock. You would think I could find the right color. Nope. If the fabric was the right color, it was too dark, or the wrong kind of print, or I didn’t have enough of it. The fabric you see in the block above is close—and has blue flowers printed on it that echo the center fabric nicely—but I’d like something a bit more saturated.

I took everything even remotely suitable out of my stash and held it to that center print. Sometimes the color you think you’re looking for isn’t the color that actually works.

And then I found this:

This is perfect. It’s the perfect shade, the perfect saturation, and it has tiny teal and blue accents on it.

It also has sparkles.

Sigh. Do I put a sparkly fabric in this quilt? These sparkles seem integral to the fabric, unlike glitter that comes off in the wash. (The husband does not want to go to work looking like a Disney princess.) Or do I spends hours in the fabric store hoping to find something similar sans sparkles? Should I stick with the lighter fabric that’s in the test block?

I spent three hours messing around with one test block yesterday afternoon, and 99% of that time was spent considering fabrics. I already know how to make the block.

I will let this marinate a bit, although I want to make a decision soon. I have a few other projects to keep me busy in the meantime.

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For my Kalispell peeps, I need to let you know that the Mennonite Church has decided not to hold the fair trade sale again this year. We will, however, be promoting Ten Thousand Villages on our church’s social media pages so that if you want to order items for Christmas, you can. We may also have some products that can be purchased and picked up at the church. I’ll try to remember to put those links in my blog posts as appropriate.

Knocking Them Out

The picnic quilt top is done except for a border:

I’ll look for some border fabric this week when Robin and I go to Missoula.

I don’t like the Kona Navy that most of the stores carry. It has a greenish tint to it. This color is called Midnight and it’s a much truer blue. (I cannot get a good photo because of the light in the cutting, room, though.) Unfortunately, this length of fabric met with a mishap in the washing machine:

This happened to a couple of pieces of fabric before I finally figured out what was going on. The washer is a Speed Queen Heavy Duty and I love it. This is our third washing machine in 30 years. Washing the husband’s clothes shortens the lifespan of most machines significantly. I asked him if perhaps oil was leaking from the washer into the drum, but he said he didn’t think that was possible. The only other explanation is that the diesel oil that he sprays onto the forms so they will release from the concrete after the pour—and which he gets on his clothes—was sticking around and re-circulating through the wash. I now wash his clothes on heavy duty with the extra rinse cycle, then wash them a second time, then run a cycle with no clothes, then wash a load of something like towels before I will wash anything else. Yes, it’s wasteful, but so is throwing out oil-stained fabric that I can’t use.

[We really need a commercial washing machine just for his clothes but we don’t have the space for it.]

The husband and I went on date night last night to Blaine Creek Grill. On the way there, I was lamenting the fact that I don’t have staff, LOL. I watch a lot of Fat Quarter Shop and Missouri Star Quilt Company videos while I am sewing and marvel at how much they get done. Jenny often comments that each quilt is made three times (!)—once as a prototype, once to check the pattern, and finally in a fabric line that is current when the pattern is released.

The funny thing is that it has been so long since I worked on this quilt that I forgot that I had also made a version in red and green, for Christmas:

You get a photo on the floor, because the husband is still sleeping and I can’t put this up on the design wall.

This one is 3 blocks by 3 blocks. FWIW, I like the darker color on the outside of the stars, as in this version. This one is not scrappy. Each of the blocks has the same fabric.

I think I have scratched the itch with this block. I don’t want to make any more of them. It is one of those blocks, though, that lends itself well to experimenting with color placement.

I’ve got five tops and a few smaller items in the queue to be quilted, so I am going to need to oil the Q20 and get to work. Ruler Club also starts up again this week, on Tuesday. We’re doing the Amanda Murphy Lollipop rulers. This club comes with a practice panel, and I need to baste that together with batting and a backing soon.

Someone should also start working on patterns again. See comment about needing staff.

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The husband blew out the water line to the greenhouse yesterday and shut it off. The indoor lettuce-growing operation is all set up in the basement. It is time to plant seedlings and get that system up and running so we have fresh greens this winter.

Keeping the Ideas Under Control

I know why “startitis” is such a common problem among makers, because I am fighting a bad case of it myself. I have a half-finished quilt up on my design wall. The block is called “Providence” and it’s based on a 5 x 5 grid—25 units total—but some of the units are made up of even smaller units.

I cut a whole bunch of fabric thinking I would make a much larger quilt. (Also, it is very easy to get carried away with that Studio cutter.) I’m doing a controlled scrappy layout, so even though the colors of each block are similar, the fabrics differ. Great idea in theory, nearly impossible to keep organized in practice. I have to pull all the pieces for each block before I start making it so that I know I have enough of each fabric. I can chain piece, but only one block at a time. This might have been better done a la Bonnie Hunter, letting the units fall where they may.

I had to put quilting aside last spring when gardening season ramped up. At that time, I had completed eleven 10” blocks. I had chosen a red, white, and blue colorway. I don’t usually make holiday-themed quilts, but it seemed like everyone was doing Fourth of July quilt projects on YouTube. I succumbed.

Did I get it done in time for Independence Day? No, I did not. And now it is October and I want to be working on fall and Christmas stuff. However, I cannot stand to have half-finished projects lying around; hence, the rule that I cannot start anything new until I clear out the queue. I got a good start when I finished putting those tumblers together the other day, so I pulled out the Providence blocks and stuck them back up on the wall.

Abandoning a project at the mid-point—even temporarily—is a bad idea. When it gets that far, the sunk costs of labor and materials are such that I feel guilty not finishing it. Enough time has passed, though, that I’ve forgotten what I was doing, so I had to spend an hour or so finding the materials and instructions and familiarizing myself with the steps required to make a block. At least I am smart enough now to put each project in its own bin.

This is also the point in the process where what is up on the wall doesn’t look anything like the finished vision in my head, so doubts about that vision abound. This quilt will have a dark sashing to set off the blocks. However, my design wall is a white flannel sheet. The blocks look weird on that white background. I have to keep pulling up the image in EQ8 to reassure myself that I know what I am doing.

I will get this done. I tied myself to my sewing chair yesterday and knocked out three more blocks. I have two to go. The idea has been pared back; instead of a larger quilt, I will finish sixteen blocks and call it good. With the sashing and cornerstones and, likely, a border, the finished quilt will still be a respectable size. (Think picnic quilt.)

Of course, my brain is in cahoots with my fabric stash and is churning out ideas faster than I can write them down. I picked up a remnant on my travels last week—it’s the top print in this pile—and before I knew it, these other fabrics had jumped out to join it.

I normally gravitate toward bright, saturated colors, but I am obsessed with this combination, and it’s a weird one for sure.

I’ve been playing around in EQ8, trying to come up with a design for these fabrics. I haven’t succeeded yet, but in the process, I knocked out two other quilt designs that are clamoring to be made up. Go figure.

I’ve got a couple of commission projects that are next up after I finish the red, white, and blue quilt. My neighbor asked if I would make two pillow shams for her. I am going to visit with her this morning about a few details and then get them done. My college roommate, Marcia, wrote me last month and asked if I could finish a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for her. Her grandmother had started it when Marcia was a child. All the squares are appliquéd; they just need to be assembled. She has a picture of a similar quilt that belongs to her cousin, so I have an idea of how I want to finish it. And the other day, I got an e-mail from someone I’ve done work for in the past, asking if I could make her a queen-sized quilt. I said I was booked up until Christmas, but she’s willing to wait. I haven’t said yes yet.

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My first batch of fire cider steeped for six weeks, so I strained it the other day and tasted it. It is potent for sure. I am going to dig up more horseradish today and make another batch. The dreaded S-word is in the forecast for this week. I’m not dreading it—I got my snow tires put on the other day so I am all ready—but some of the California transplants might be a bit surprised.

Bye, Bye Tomatoes

All of the frozen tomatoes have been cooked down into sauce, save for some that I left frozen to use when I make stock. Seeds from the Indigo Rose tomatoes that Elysian brought over are fermenting.

I am trying to get used to seeing tomatoes with green insides.

The tomato seeds that I fermented and dried a few weeks ago were put into labelled envelopes for next spring. Thus endeth this year’s tomato harvest. Hallelujah.

I called the processor the other day about the pigs. We were on the schedule for next Monday, but this year’s batch of pigs has been slow to put on weight. Our pigs have always been up around 300 pounds when we take them in. This group is currently about 200 pounds each and the processor suggested we wait to bring them if we could. We’re not the only ones with underweight pigs; about half of the kids raising 4-H pigs this summer had animals that didn’t make weight in time for the fair. Many of us get weaners from the same supplier, so perhaps it’s a supply issue. Or the excessive heat this summer? Who knows.

In any case, after checking with the husband, I moved the processing date to mid-December. This is going to create extra work for him—which he says he will just deal with—because we have a pig shelter but not a barn. The pigs won’t mind the cold or even some snow, but the water lines will eventually freeze. However, the pigs should all be at weight by then. We don’t want to sell underweight pigs to our customers.

Yesterday was a sewing day for me. We were up early because the husband was pouring concrete at 8 am, so I had a head start. I have a rule that I cannot start anything new until I get stuff from last spring off the list. This is a tumbler quilt from scraps:

Having that Studio die cutter is both a blessing and a curse. It really speeds up fabric cutting, but it really speeds up fabric cutting. I have a whole plastic bin full of these 4-1/2” tumblers. Tumblers are good mindless piecing.

This is one of those “controlled scrappy” situations—my first attempt at a tumbler quilt was totally scrappy and I hated the way it looked. One day last spring, I pulled out all the blues and yellows from the bin and made myself a rule: All of the turquoise and yellow tumblers had to be first sewn to a blue (mostly navy) tumbler. The blue tumblers are either Kona or a blue print that reads as a solid.

That worked. The “solids” add some stability to what otherwise would be an incoherent mess of prints and colors, but there is enough diversity within the solid colors to keep the quilt from being boring. I had a few moments of doubt along the way, but as I got the tumbler pairs sewn into rows and put them up on the design wall, I liked the layout more and more.

The quilt currently measures 48” x 72”. I will trim the side edges even and add a border and this will be a nice twin-size quilt.

I am going to have to spend some time soon getting scraps under control, or else clone myself into a second version that sews nothing but scrap quilts. The Accuquilt cutter makes short work of all my scraps, but now I’ve got a bin of charm squares, a bin of 2-1/2” squares, and a bin of tumblers, not to mention all the strips. And the hexies. I also have two big bags of fabric pieces that need to be cut into sizes that fit into one of those categories.

I’m getting there, though. Slowly but surely, the sewing room is getting organized into stacks of projects. Each stack will get put next to the appropriate machine. Every time I finish some current UFO (unfinished object), I will treat myself by starting something else. After I got this tumbler top put together, I cut out enough supplies for some hot pads and potholders. And created more scraps, LOL.

Quilt Report

I saw TS yesterday morning and got a report from the quilt auction. Overall attendance—which they determine by a count of the cars coming into the parking lot—was down at this year’s relief sale by about 30%. Total revenue was down by about the same amount, but still close to $100,000. The four quilts that I took brought in almost $1000, which is more than I had hoped for considering three of them were scrap quilts. I am pleased by that. The high-selling quilt was one that TS and Holly had purchased from Amish quilters here in Montana and donated to the sale (it was hand quilted).

TS suggested that Holly and I collaborate on a couple of quilts for next year’s auction; she’ll piece them and I’ll quilt them on the Q20. Debbie, the quilt sale coordinator, asked me if I longarmed for other people. Apparently, my machine quilting is better than I think it is. The answer to that question was a resounding, “No” as I don’t need any more work, but I appreciated that she asked. She also asked me if I got a longarm machine to replace Margaret, but I assured her that nothing could replace Margaret. We missed having her at the sale with us. She used to come along and cook sausage samples, and she and I did a couple of quilts together for the auction.

Our Mennonite Women group also sent over some supplies to be made into school kits, and I took the last of the tied comforters that we had done for MCC’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2020. Our comforter-tying party was all the way back in January 2020, just before the pandemic started. How long ago that seems now.

The lady who makes and sells wind chimes at the sale was there again this year, so I bought another one to add to my collection. I love being surrounded by music.

I chose this one because it was kind of quirky. I am running out of room, though. The husband may have to add some hooks to the porch rafters for me.

I spent yesterday catching up on paperwork and getting a blood test ahead of my visit with my naturopath next week. The only work I did in my sewing room was to iron all the fabric I bought—I prewash everything—and organize some supplies. I’ve also got the last of the tomatoes cooking down for sauce because I need to clean out the freezers. I decided to do sauce instead of more salsa in the interest of saving some time.

When I got home Saturday, a check from the co-op sale was waiting for me in the stack of mail. I did much better than I expected to given that it was my first sale. Accompanying the check was a spreadsheet report listing what sold and for how much, and that will be a big help in pricing items for next year.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of getting the new Janome 3000 coverstitch machine. I have the Janome 1000cpx coverstitch and I’ve complained about the fact that I had to do a lot of tinkering to get it to work properly. Janome rushed those early models to market. Mine does what I need it to do now that I have it adjusted, but it would be nice to have a machine that isn’t such a diva. I’ve looked at some other models, including the Bernina. However, the new Janome machine is getting rave reviews in the coverstitch groups I belong to. It appears that Janome took all the (overwhelmingly negative) feedback from their first three models and came up with the machine they should have released in the first place.

The proceeds from the co-op sale cover more than half the cost of the Janome 3000. The husband—who has never met a tool he didn’t like, couldn’t use, or didn’t want and thus is absolutely no help in reining me in—asked me if I had ordered one yet. My friend Robin and I are planning a trip to Missoula soon and I would like to visit the Janome dealer there, first, and try one out. (I won’t go to the Janome dealer here in Kalispell.) I’ll try the 3000 and see if it’s something I need or just nice to have.

Tomato Graveyard

I spent some time outside yesterday and finished the garden cleanup. I pulled the old landscape fabric off the area where we had cukes and melons. It has degraded and needs to be replaced. I’ll put down new next spring. I also raked all of the dead vegetation into that area. I’ll either burn it next weekend or burn it some time next spring.

This was the tomato patch last week after I pulled all the vines out and stacked tomato cages.

I left the tomatoes there for the turkeys, who have done a good job of coming in and cleaning them up. (Sometimes the turkeys are useful.) I left everything to dry out as it was pretty wet the day I pulled the vines. They’ll get burned eventually, too.

I pulled up the hot pepper plants and took the peppers off. I think they are destined for the last batch of salsa, which I need to do this week. The pigs go to the processor a week from today and I need to get freezer space organized.

Elysian brought over some tomatoes and a bottle of Nonna Pia’s Balsamic Glaze (get it at Costco) for me to try, so I had them as part of my lunch yesterday:

The yellow one is a Dr. Wyche tomato and the green ones—which are actually a very dark purple on the outside—are called Indigo Rose. She got the Indigo Rose tomato plant from Jeryl, our pastor. It is an open-pollinated variety, so I am going to save the seed from one of the tomatoes I didn’t eat. The flavor is amazing. I will add it to the ones I plant next year.

We really do have the most amazing little seed-sharing and gardening community here.

That is it for the garden unless I decide to haul some compost over there next weekend. I am wavering. We’ll see what the weather does.

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I was catching up on my podcast listening this weekend while driving, and I was delighted to discover that Seamwork Radio is podcasting again! This is the brainchild of Sarai Mitnick, a designer and the founder of Seamwork, a sewing pattern design company. Sarai started the podcast in 2015 and did two seasons before suspending production. I used to listen to it while shelling peas and it quickly became one of my favorites. She has a gift for finding and interviewing the most interesting people in the sewing universe. I was so disappointed when she stopped podcasting.

Sarai started the podcast up again last year with help from several of her employees. I began with one of the more recent episodes and then went back to catch up from the beginning.

Episode 55 is entitled Escaping the Cult of Efficiency. Hmmm. Am I part of a cult? And do I want to escape?

Sarai opened the podcast by noting that she had received feedback from a Seamwork community member about the goals feature they had added to their member area. This member said that she had plenty of to-do lists and goal setting in her day job and didn’t want that as part of the sewing she did in her free time. My (obvious) response to that comment would have been, “Okay, don’t use that feature if you don’t want to,” but Sarai took the opportunity to explore the idea of productivity in that podcast episode.

In a nutshell, the danger of to-do lists and goal setting in sewing is that an activity that is supposed to be relaxing turns into its own demanding taskmaster. I get it. I am especially aware of the demands of “production” having just finished the co-op craft sale. I know how easy it is to get burned out on something you enjoy doing that becomes a business, which is why I have knit nothing besides prayer shawls and dishcloths for the past eleven years. Still, “cult” might be a bit of an overstatement. I think a lot of it depends on personality. I am highly motivated by my to-do lists, even though the universe tends to derail my plans on a regular basis.

Food for thought.

In any case, I’m excited about the sewing I get to do this week. I have a variety of projects to choose from, but I’ll start by finishing some quilt tops and cutting out a few winter tops.

Six Pairs of Pants and an Auction

The husband is very hard on his work clothes. I mend what I can—if I catch it before it reaches the catastrophic failure phase—but concrete is caustic and eats holes in fabric. He doesn’t wear jeans because they just don’t last. I buy him Wrangler work pants at the farm store every couple of months. However, they have been all sold out of the size he wears, which is a 35 x 34. (Would that we all still wore the same size we did in college . . . ) I told him that when I went to Spokane, I would see if the North 40 stores there had any in stock.

I left for Spokane Thursday morning and drove through Libby. The mileage to Spokane is the same, but that route takes a bit longer because it’s not highway. I prefer it when I am not in a hurry. I stopped at the North 40 store in Sandpoint, Idaho, only to find that they also had plenty of stock in all the sizes except the one the husband wears. Very weird.

I hit the first of five Joann Fabrics stores on this trip, in Coeur d’Alene, and gleaned the remnant rack. I also stopped at a new quilt store called Becky’s Sewing Center. Tera had been there a few months ago. The owner has another store in Lewiston, Idaho. The selection is not huge, but I picked up some Moda Grunge and a spool of Isacord embroidery thread (for rolled edges on my serger) in Christmas red and green.

Once the fabric shopping was out of the way, I headed to the CdA North 40 store a few blocks away. It’s huge. Their clothing department is the size of our entire farm store. I thought the chance of finding pants in the size the husband needed was pretty high and I was right. I bought six pairs of work pants for him, which should be enough to get him to next spring. I hope.

I popped in to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in CdA—one of my faves—but didn’t see anything I had to have.

I spent the rest of the afternoon toodling around Spokane Valley, hitting the Joanns there as well as Hobby Lobby and the Quilting Bee. When I was in Spokane last month, the remnant racks were mostly devoid of treasures. This time, I scored on every single one.

I had taken a cooler with me that had eggs, butter, and cheese in it for my breakfast omelette, but I stopped at the grocery store on my way to the Airbnb to pick up some items to make myself dinner. I’ve stayed at a lot of Airbnbs in the past five or six years. All but one or two have been positive experiences, and even the ones that weren’t high on my list weren’t awful. This one was really nice, and I’d like to stay there again. Spokane sits on a bluff that falls off to the west. This house was situated at the end of a quiet street overlooking that bluff. The upstairs had been converted to apartments. Mine was huge, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. It was quiet, private, and extremely comfortable.

[My sister, the girls, my mother, and I stayed in an Airbnb in Edinboro that was less than forthcoming in its description. We did not know until we arrived that it was three floors up a narrow, winding stone staircase. My mother is physically fit for her age, but we probably would not have rented that particular space had we known about the climb.]

Friday morning dawned cool and very foggy. I couldn’t see much of the landscape on my way out to Menno Mennonite. The sale wasn’t until Saturday, but I had to drop off the quilts so they could be sorted and tagged. I also had six boxes of fabric from a friend here that were to be donated to the sale. Debbie, the woman in charge of the quilt auction, asked me if it was okay for her to decide which quilts would go in the auction and which would go in the general sale. I said that was fine as I just wanted them to go where they would do the most good.

And because I was only 25 miles from Moses Lake—and another Joann Fabrics store—I made the trek out there to shop that remnant rack. It was not lost on me that I was more than halfway to Seattle at that point, but the husband noted that mothers shouldn’t just drop in on their children unexpectedly, and that would have been a lot of driving in a very short time. The day was clear enough, after the fog burned off, that I could see Mount Rainier, even though I was three hours east.

I was back in Spokane by noon and hit the rest of the Joann Fabrics and Hobby Lobby stores. This was my haul:

All of this will be used in making stuff for next year’s co-op sale.

I drove back out to Menno Mennonite yesterday morning to help TS and Holly sell ham, bacon, and sausage. I’ve done this for the past several years and it’s always a lot of fun. This is TS (on the left) and our other friend, Cecil Miller, who used to be our district pastor.

Cecil comes to help out with the sale, too. It was good to see him and chat for a bit.

The sale was cancelled in 2020, and the crowd at this year’s sale was a bit thin.

Usually we have people lined up to buy starting around 8 am. ( The sale opens at 10 am.) Holly did bring a third cash register to help speed things up, but we were done selling by 11:30 and still had some product left. That was unusual.

I walked through the quilt display and was pleased to discover that Debbie had put four of my quilts in the auction—three Candy Coated scrap quilts and one flying geese quilt. I had to get back on the road to be home last night so I could play piano at church this morning, but Holly will let me know how my quilts did. She had one in the sale, too. Hers is hand quilted:

I hope it sold well.

I zipped home in record time—the tourists are gone—and had dinner with the husband. I have nothing pressing on the schedule for this week, which is lovely. We’ll see what trouble I can find to get into.

A Short Organ Recital

This is a recap of my visit to the cardiologist yesterday morning, so if you’re not interested, you won’t hurt my feelings if you move on. Some of you won’t like what I have to say anyway, and that’s fine.

Short report: I am well.

Full report: Back on Memorial Day, I ended up in the ER with a heart arrhythmia that turned out to be atrial flutter. Atrial flutter is the less dramatic version of atrial fibrillation. but it’s still darned unpleasant. Ultimately, after a series of unsuccessful interventions, I had to be knocked out briefly while my heart was shocked back into a normal rhythm. I was put on a temporary course of an anti-platelet medication and on a very low dose of a beta blocker (metoprolol) to help regulate my heart rate. I was scheduled for a visit with a cardiologist in July.

I do not do well with doctors, at least in professional settings. I have had a myriad of unpleasant, invasive medical procedures in my lifetime. I gave birth to a baby born without a brain after a 12-hour induced labor. I was diagnosed with leukemia and had six months of chemo, multiple bone marrow biopsies, and, finally, four holes drilled into my pelvis to harvest bone marrow for storage. I ended up on a ventilator for a week in the ICU. It matters not how calm I may be before a doctor’s visit—as soon as I walk into the office, some instinctive fight or flight mechanism kicks in and my blood pressure shoots through the roof. It is virtually impossible to get an accurate BP reading on me. Unfortunately, as soon as the nurse sees the numbers, I get a lecture about my high BP and how dangerous that is and how it needs to be treated. If I say, “It is normal at home. I have white coat hypertension,” then I am told that that is a myth. Naturally, that kind of condescending response has only served to strengthen the negative feedback loop as I anticipate the unpleasant lecture I am going to get when someone takes my blood pressure.

I went to see the cardiologist in July. The nurse looked askance at my ridiculously high BP reading but said only, “We’ll let the doctor talk to you about that.” I was all ready to recite my extensive medical history to him as the reason my BP is high at doctor visits, but he had already looked at my chart. “Well,” he said, “you have ample reason to dislike hospitals and doctors, and white coat hypertension certainly is a possibility.” He went on to say that he wanted to see an echocardiogram in any case, and that if I did have high blood pressure outside of medical settings, it would show up on the echo as a thickening of the walls of my heart. “The echo doesn’t lie,” he said. I also had to wear a heart monitor for a week. We talked about a possible ablation.

I had the echocardiogram about three weeks ago, and met with the cardiologist yesterday morning to review the results. The nurse said, as she was taking my BP, “The doctor put a note in your chart about possible white coat hypertension.” It was elevated again, but not nearly as much as it had been in July. I waited a few minutes and the doctor came in.

“I believe you when you say you don’t have high blood pressure,” he said. “There is no thickening of the heart muscle on your echo. There was nothing worrying on your Holter monitor readout, either.” I asked about an ablation, and he said that he was not inclined to rush to one right now. He said that if I end up in the ER again or have any other problems, I am to contact him immediately and we’ll reconsider. Otherwise, he’ll see me in a year. A year after that, if I still have no issues, he’ll discharge me from care.

And then I asked the 65-million-dollar question. I had the first Pfizer vaccine on May 11. Three weeks later, I ended up in the ER needing to be cardioverted. I was told by the doc there to hold off getting the second dose. I have not had it yet because I wanted the cardiologist’s opinion and because I have seen so many reports of heart problems after the vaccine. I went into the appointment yesterday already having decided against the second dose, but I asked my cardiologist for his opinion. He did not argue with my reasoning, nor could he assure me that the dose I got in May didn’t precipitate the arrhythmia I experienced. He is fine with me foregoing the second dose. I do have some protection from the first dose.

That MTHFR mutation that I carry has caused no end of problems for me. (It was directly responsible for our first baby’s birth defect.) I’ve belonged to some MTHFR support groups where vaccine injuries have been overrepresented compared to the rest of the population. You can call that anecdotal, but a cluster of anecdotes points to a need for further research. Classically-trained physicians have been no help in figuring out how to deal with that mutation. My naturopath has done some research, but most of what I know about that mutation has been ferreted out by me through lots of effort. I am a clinical trial of one, and the only results—THE ONLY RESULTS—I am concerned about are the ones that impact me. I don’t care if the covid vaccines are “safe” for the majority of people if they aren’t “safe” for me. And if you think that calling someone selfish for not wanting to put themselves at risk to protect you makes you the more virtuous person, then perhaps you need a good dictionary. The selfish person in that equation might not be the person you think it is.

You cannot imagine how angry it makes me to hear people demanding that everyone be vaccinated, no exceptions. I had reservations about the first dose given my medical history. However, I was between a rock and a hard place because I know what it’s like to end up on a ventilator in the ICU. I know people who have had covid. I was about to travel to a location with a documented outbreak. I was also getting pressure from other people.

I am putting this here for full disclosure. I am not “fully vaccinated.” I do not intend to become so. I have run the numbers through my personal risk matrix and the risk of getting sick from covid is not as big as the risk of heart damage from an experimental vaccine. If this means that you don’t want to be around me, then so be it. I will understand your decision just as I hope you can understand mine. And I hope that if you’re currently one of the hardliners who wants 100% compliance with the vaccine, perhaps you can develop some sorely-needed compassion for people who have legitimate reasons to hesitate. Then again, if you’re someone who can only view the world in terms of black and white, yes or no, good and evil, and who believes that only the people who agree with you have a sound moral compass, you’re not someone who is likely to remain in my circle of friends.

I am not anti-vaxx. I get a tetanus booster every ten years. I’ll be getting a flu shot sometime in the next couple of weeks. This is no different from me reacting badly to morphine (I am allergic to it). Morphine may be safe for the majority of people, but it’s not safe FOR ME.

Here endeth my sermon. Be civil in your comments.

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One by one, I am getting these big events out of the way. The Ritzville sale is this weekend. The pigs go to the processor on October 11, and we’re working on getting a chicken butchering day scheduled.

I am having a fair bit of fun making hexies. I can do a couple every evening, and they’re beginning to stack up:

I am not yet sure what I want to do with them but they make great handwork.

The tomatoes have to come out today. I didn’t get to them Monday because I had Ali’s little guy here. He helped me pick all the Honeycrisp apples off the tree, which was great fun. I let him climb the ladder. I’ll see how much garden cleanup I can get done today.

Art Appreciation

We have acquired two pieces of art recently, both of which are very meaningful to us. A few weeks ago, during the garden tour, artist Gini Ogle painted in my garden. (Each garden featured one or two painters.) Gini’s first painting was a small one of a tomato. Her second painting was this one:

Anyone who has visited our garden may recognize this as our greenhouse, with the raspberry bushes and the lavender hedge in the foreground. I couldn’t let Gini leave without purchasing this one from her. She took it home after the garden tour to put some finishing touches on it, and dropped it off here last week. I need to get it framed, and then it will go on the wall where I can look at it every day.

And dear Sunnie, who is heading south to warmer climes next week—we will miss her!—painted this one, which I purchased from her at the co-op sale this weekend:

The entrance to Sunnie’s property is from a wooded road. As one walks further back, however, the woods open up onto this pasture looking northeast along the Swan Range. I’ve visited this spot in person. It is quintessential Mountain Brook.

I love the changing light in Montana, everything from the alpenglow on the mountains, to the first blush of dawn coming up over the Swan Range, to the watery sunshine of a January afternoon. Sunnie has a gift for committing all of it to canvas. In this painting, she caught the moment just before the storm moved in that broke the back of this summer’s oppressive heat wave.

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Despite my good intentions to get apples off the Honeycrisp trees, yesterday ended up being a day of rest. I was still wiped out from the sale. (Apples are on the list for today.) I am very happy with how I did at the sale given that it was my first one. I learned a lot, and that was my goal. This sounds strange, but now I feel like I have permission to sew things that I want to sew, even if I have no use for them. The sale gives me an outlet for getting them to good homes. And I seem to have acquired a reputation as the co-op’s apron expert, which reminds me that I also have an apron pattern to get laid out and published.

Also—despite my good intentions not to noodle around with quilt designs until I finish the ones in progress—I’ve managed to come up with two new ones in EQ8. Ooops. I won’t let myself cut them out yet, however.

I am not lacking for things to do. I have my paper piecing and embroidery projects organized next to my chair and can now work on them in the evenings or while watching football. (Go Browns!)

The husband also had a productive weekend. He was out in the woods building slash piles to be burned in a few weeks. Slowly but surely, that area is getting cleaned up. That was a big job.

They Came, They Saw, They Bought

We had sizeable crowd as soon as the doors opened yesterday at 10 am:

Sales were brisk, in all areas, for several hours. We took several large quilts down off the walls when they sold and replaced them with other ones. People visited with the crafters and each other. Some asked questions. I heard lots and lots of positive comments about the quality of the items for sale. We offer handmade products, not homemade ones, and the difference is noticeable.

I took notes—so many notes. I expect to take even more today. I was happy with what I sold and am getting a much better idea of what I should concentrate on for next year’s sale. One obvious strength of this group is that each member has different interests and different styles, which makes for a very diverse collection of goods.

One of the bright spots of an already wonderful day was getting to meet blog reader Sarah Anderson in person. She recently moved to Montana and lives just a few miles from the Mennonite Church. She popped in to the sale to introduce herself and say hello. Sarah is a fiber artist and author of this book:

I am so happy that she has moved into the neighborhood! I might have to get out my spinning wheel again.

A couple of shoppers came in and recognized me as “their pianist” at the Lutheran church where I play for Advent and Lent. They are gathering in person again, so perhaps I’ll play for them this year—it’s been almost two years now since I played there.

Tera stopped by and said hello, too. I was hoping she could go to Spokane with me next week because she has a sock knitting machine and the sock knitting machine group is having a big meeting there, but she’s already committed to another event.

I did a lot of visiting, so much that I had to find a quiet corner late in the afternoon to regroup. If you tried to have a conversation with me then, I apologize if I was less than scintillating. I was almost as worn out as I used to get when I taught knitting classes.

The sale opens again today at 10 am, so if you weren’t able to get there yesterday, come out today. I promise you that there are still many wonderful items available.

The last couple of weekends have been balm to my soul. If you had asked me 25 years ago where I thought I would be right now, I am not sure this is what I would have described, but this is exactly where I am supposed to be right now. And for a little while, at least, it feels like the universe has righted itself.

Preparing for the Sale

The Mountain Brook Crafters Co-Op sale is quite an event. This year is even bigger because last year’s sale was cancelled. We started setting up yesterday morning in the fellowship hall at Mountain View Mennonite Church:

Props were put in place:

Crafters brought in piles of items to sell:

Quilts were hung on all the walls:

Sales areas are arranged according to themes: Halloween, Christmas, Baby/Childrens, Kitchen, Quilts, Table Runners, etc.

Teams of busy bees arrange items in a pleasing display:

My friend Sunnie—who has her paintings for sale—provided some comic relief:

And guess who I found hanging out on the door jamb?

I relocated this one to the bushes in front of the church so it was out of the way.

I can safely say that I have never seen a craft sale with this much high-quality product. The co-op members are a talented group. There really is something for everyone here, so if you are anywhere in the vicinity, please stop in. The hours are 10-6 on Friday and 10-4 on Saturday. You will not be disappointed.

Simple Sewn Solutions

The itch I needed to scratch yesterday was ridiculously simple, and I am happy with the way it turned out.

I made a casserole for dinner last week, and as I scooted two hot pads together to make one large enough to put the 9 x 13 pan on the table, it occurred to me (for the 413th time) that it would be great to have one hot pad large enough to fit under it. I’ve made potholders—it wouldn’t be hard to make an oversized one.

I forgot about that idea after dinner. A few days ago, while cruising YouTube, this video popped up in my feed:

(Let’s ignore, for the moment, the creepy idea that YouTube is reading my mind and just accept this as a gift from the universe.)

Do I need a pattern or a tutorial to make an oversized potholder? No, not really, but this maker’s video was well done, so I watched it. Yesterday morning, I pulled out two fabric remnants, a yard of Insul-Bright, and a scrap of cotton quilt batting. The instructions call for two layers of cotton batting, but I like to have the Insul-Bright as one of the layers to reflect heat back into the pan. I cut everything to size, layered it, quilted it, and bound it. On a quilt, I hand sew my bindings. For potholders, I machine stitch the binding, although I join my binding ends the same way I do on my quilts. (In the video, she has you tuck one end of the binding into the other end, but I didn’t like the way that looked. Truly, if we want people to pay for handmade items, it’s worth the extra five minutes to make it look better than what’s coming out of China and being sold at Walmart.)

I got four of these oversized hot pads out of the remnants and the piece of Insul-Bright. I am keeping one, and I’ll put the other three in the sale. I would have churned out a few more, but I used all my Insul-Bright and didn’t want to make a trip to Joanns to get more. I’ll wait until it they have a big sale and stock up.

[Joann Fabrics has ratcheted back their sales, noticeably so. I am not sure if that’s because they are short on stock or because the bean counters pointed out that they were losing money. Batting routinely used to go on sale for 50% off every couple of weeks. The most I’ve seen it discounted lately is 30%. Every so often, there would be a huge sale on knits at 60% off, and that hasn’t happened in a long time. They also have pushed some of their bigger deals to online only purchases. I still find plenty of deals, but I’ve been shopping there long enough to notice the change in marketing.]

I love the idea of making these hot pads in bright prints with fun bindings—heaven knows I have plenty of bright prints, and I’ve been collecting gingham for binding when I see it—but this more subdued fabric worked for the trial run. And who knows? One of the other members of the craft-co-op may be light years ahead of me and will have some in the sale. If not, we can all make some for next year.

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I sorted potatoes into burlap bags yesterday afternoon. They’ll go into storage in the root cellar. We didn’t get many Yukon Golds, but the ones we did get are huge, so I set those aside to use as seed stock next spring.

I should have been out working on garden cleanup yesterday because the weather was so nice, but instead, I was inside sewing. I’ve come to the realization that there really isn’t as much time for cleanup in the fall as I think I have (or wish I did). I’ll still get plants pulled and hoses put away, but I am not sure I’ll be able to complete my grandiose soil amendment plans. (Who am I kidding?—all of my plans are grandiose.)

DD#2 told me the other day that Nordstrom is so short of staff at their retail stores in Seattle that they’re asking corporate people to step in and work some shifts. She is going to work at one of the Nordstrom Rack stores on Friday. Nordstrom can do this because they have a policy of requiring corporate staff to have worked for a year or two in retail. Still, if they are having problems now, I wonder what they are going to do during the holiday season.

And after months of not being able to land a full-time job as an occupational therapist in Ketchikan, DD#1 set herself up as an independent contractor. She’s not going to have trouble finding work this way, and it gives her more flexibility with her schedule. This does mean some traveling—she has been taking the ferry to nearby islands to see pediatric clients—but she’s working and she’s happy.

Mountain Brook Craft Co-Op Sale

Okay, Kalispell peeps—here is the information about the craft co-op sale. Stop in and find me and say hello!

The Mountain Brook Craft Cooperative will hold their 11th Quilt & Craft Market in the Mountain View Mennonite Church on Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25.  The market will be open from 10 am to 6 pm on Friday and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.  

 There was no market in 2020 because of the pandemic, but that does not mean the Mountain Brook crafters took a year off. Instead, members have created a larger-than-usual inventory for the 2021 market that will include hand-and machine-quilted quilts and wall hangings, fine art, book fold art, jewelry, crafts for the kitchen, knitted and quilted accessories, bags and totes, holiday and home décor, classic needlework, children’s quilts and accessories, and gifts. The Pantry area will feature crafts for the kitchen as well as baked goods and sweet treats.

Mountain View Mennonite Church is located at 795 Mennonite Church Road, off Highway 35 in Creston. 

Signs are up at the intersection of Lake Blaine Road and Creston Hatchery Road, at the intersection of Hwy 35 and Creston Hatchery Road, at the intersection of Hwy 35 and Mennonite Church Road, and at the church itself. We are easy to find!

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I sometimes think that too many ideas are worse than too few. Too many ideas requires sifting and sorting and focus, or at least an excellent organizational system to keep track of what’s going on. Right now, I am making lists of ideas in a notebook. I may put a whiteboard up in one of my sewing rooms for tracking bigger quilt projects. The rule at the moment is that I have to finish the quilts I started last spring before cutting any new quilt projects. The one exception to that rule is an itch I want to scratch today that might give me a few more items for the co-op sale. We’ll see how that goes. I might have to start paying my friend Robin to be my publicist, as she’s all over Facebook telling people I’ll have aprons at the sale. LOL. I had an inquiry for a custom apron in my e-mail inbox this morning.

EQ8 and BlockBase+ are both open on my computer desktop again. I bought some block modules to add to the EQ8 block library and have been noodling around here and there as I have a few minutes.

The owner of the quilt store called yesterday. We had a good chat about serger classes. We’re going to wait until January for the next one, simply because the store’s class schedule is full through the end of the year. She’s willing to have patterns and some knit fabric in stock for the students to buy at the store, which I appreciate. I would rather tell people to get their materials from her and have everyone have what they need. I think we’re going to start with a class on making a kid’s T-shirt before moving on to a pattern drafting and T-shirt class for adults. And I am going to insist that students know how to thread and use their sergers before showing up for class, so I don’t get students who have never taken the machine out of the box.

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The house seemed chilly to me yesterday; I chalked it up to the crummy weather and possibly the fact that I am not acclimated to cold weather yet, but then I happened to glance at the thermostat. It shows the temperature in the house, which was at 66 degrees. When the furnace is running—as it was—the temperature in the house should be 68 degrees. (We do tend to keep it cool in here, although when it’s damp outside, I’ll sometimes bump it up to 70 degrees so my fingers and toes don’t get numb—a longstanding leftover side effect from chemo.) Even that two-degree difference was noticeable. And indicative of a problem.

I alerted the husband when he came home. He checked the furnace and discovered the igniter was bad. He ordered a replacement, but it won’t be here until Friday. I can light the furnace manually if I have to. The weather is supposed to be better today, though.

We have a few fall tasks that need to be done soon, like cleaning the chimney. That’s a two-person job, because I have to hoist him up on the platform on the forklift. We’ll have a window from October 1 to November 30 for open burning and can finish getting the woods cleaned up. The pigs go to the processor on October 11. (We still have a few left for sale if anyone wants a whole or half.) I’ve still got some garden cleanup to do. The insulated shades need to come out of storage and get hung up.

Garden of Quilts, Day 2

The 50 acres of Ashton Gardens, at Thanksgiving Point, was the site of the quilt show. Tera and I headed over there on Friday morning, along with Tera’s daughter and two of her grandkids (they are so cute!). After checking in, I took off—with Tera’s blessing—to explore by myself for a bit.

The quilts are hung on lines or displayed on frames. Some are outside and some are under tents.

I followed the paths around the gardens, stopping to admire everything along the way. I liked looking at the quilts hung on lines, because I could see the quilting on the back. Sometimes that is just as interesting as the front of the quilt.

This is not a juried show. The gardens were full of all kinds of quilts from many different quilters with varying tastes and styles. I gave up taking pictures almost immediately, preferring instead to enjoy looking at the quilts. I did snap a picture of this block, because I found it so intriguing:

There were two vendor areas and a large tent where the Riley Blake designers gave lectures and trunk shows throughout the day.

I met up with Tera and the kids again just before noon. Her daughter was heading home, so Tera and I went and got some lunch and came back to walk around by ourselves before leaving in late afternoon for the airport. (Tera was flying to Michigan to meet her husband for his class reunion there and I planned to stay in a hotel that night before my flight home on Saturday morning.) We looked at the quilts and talked about what we liked and what we would have done differently. I really liked the quilts that were scrappy or that weren’t based on a single fabric line. As nice as it is to have coordinating fabrics pulled for you in a line, I still think that quilts made that way tend to look flat. I prefer the visual tension in a design that includes one or two rogue fabrics to spice things up.

I enjoyed the gardens as much as I enjoyed the quilts. I wandered into a small fragrance garden with a Shakespeare theme and was treated to a personal tour by one of the garden staff. She was from the botany department at the university and very eager to show me the unique plants they had growing there. Did you know there is a dandelion with pink flowers? It wasn’t blooming or I would have taken pictures. And I have to see if I can find some chocolate cosmos to put in next year. It really does smell like chocolate.

I contented myself with just a few purchases, mostly wool felt for some embroidery projects and a pincushion pattern. Our goody bags included spools of thread—I got a spool of Superior Threads Charlotte’s Fusible Web and a spool of Fantastico.

This was such a fun weekend. It felt like the perfect transition between the end of gardening season and the beginning of sewing season. I came home inspired and full of ideas. I got all my merchandise for the sale tagged yesterday. I also took out the unfinished quilt projects from last spring and put them back up on the design wall. They got put away in June because 1) the breeze from the fan kept blowing them off the wall and 2) I didn’t want the distraction.

It’s been raining since I got back. The husband dug up the rest of the potatoes on Saturday. I need to sort them into their respective burlap bags for storage. We didn’t get as many potatoes as expected, even though the plants looked phenomenal. Oh, well. I think I need to get new seed stock next spring. Tera said she would take whatever tomatoes are left. I’ll be involved with the co-op sale on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and next weekend is the MCC relief sale in Ritzville. The schedule should settle down considerably after that. We’ve transitioned into our winter habit of sitting and watching YouTube videos after dinner. I am unable to sit and not do something, so I’ve been working on some EPP hexies. I’ll get out the embroidery projects soon.

Garden of Quilts

Earlier this year, Tera asked me if I wanted to go with her to the Garden of Quilts weekend in Lehi, Utah. I love traveling with Tera. She is easygoing and has a great sense of adventure. I was also more than ready to get out from under the tomatoes. We made our arrangements, and on Thursday morning, I picked her up a little after 4 am for our 6 am flight to Salt Lake City.

Tera went to college in SLC and knows the area well. As a bonus, her daughter lives only about 20 minutes from Thanksgiving Point, where the event was held, so we didn’t have to get a hotel room. Our flight put us into SLC at 7:30 am. The first order of business was to get the rental car and find some breakfast. Tera belongs to an LDS congregation here in Kalispell, so after breakfast, I asked her if we could drive over to see Temple Square. I listen to the weekly pipe organ concerts on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel every Wednesday. We couldn’t see the organ because the Conference Center didn’t open until 11 am, but I got to see the Conference Center and the temple from the street. We also went into the Family History Center—Tera was hoping to show me a quilt there but it was no longer on display—and to the Church History Museum, where we saw a few quilts, dresses, and textile pieces from the 1800s and early 1900s.

We headed south toward Tera’s daughter’s house with a stop at Pine Needle Quilts and The Fabric Center. I had brought carry-on luggage with me, so space was at a premium, but I picked up a kit at Pine Needle Quilts and three lengths of knit fabric at The Fabric Center.

After dropping our stuff at the house, we went to Thanksgiving Point for our English Paper Piecing class. EPP is the technique used to make Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts, but can also be used for other shapes, too. The instructor was Andy Knowlton. When we signed up for the class, we also purchased the kit for the class. As a teacher, I think that’s a great option because it helps to ensure that every student has the necessary supples. As a student, I thought it was a great option because I didn’t have to worry about bringing supplies with me. The kit contained a charm pack, hexie papers, a glue stick, needles, and thread. (We did have to bring a mat and rotary cutter or scissors.)

Andy—she’s a female with a male-sounding name—instructed us to take out our charm packs and pair up coordinating colors, such as two reds, two teals, etc. I started to do that, but then I heard her tell another student that we could also do scrappy if we preferred, so I put all my charm squares back in a pile. I am all about the scrappy. Besides, charm packs frustrate me because they always have too many of one color and not enough of another color.

[The other reason I love to take classes with Tera is because we sometimes have different approaches to quilting. She decided to do coordinating colors.]

In English Paper Piecing, pieces of fabric are wrapped around cardstock shapes, like hexies, half-hexies, triangles, etc. Traditionally, the fabric was secured with thread basting, but a lot of the newer designers prefer glue basting because it’s much faster. When I do EPP at home, I often use my Accuquilt cutter to cut both the cardstock and the fabric. My only quibble with the Accuquilt dies is that they have a 1/4” seam allowance—barely—and it’s not really big enough to glue baste the fabric securely, so I thread baste mine. Andy recommended a 3/8” seam allowance when we were cutting our shapes from the charm squares, and that worked much better. I’d love it if Accuquilt would re-make their dies with bigger seam allowances.

Once each shape is wrapped, it can be sewn to a neighboring piece. usually with a whip stitch:

Mine are scrappy, but Tera did coordinating colors around the white center hexie:. She was getting ready to sew the second piece on:

I like both.

Lots of visiting happens in classes. One of the women sitting behind in class us saw Tera’s little notions pouch and said, “That’s my fabric!”

She turned out to be Rachel Erickson, one of the Riley Blake designers. Tera had used Rachel’s fabric for a quilt for one of her granddaughters and made the pouch out of the leftovers (the navy blue). We had a fun chat with Rachel about what it’s like to be a fabric designer.

[Riley Blake is a relatively new fabric company—only 12 years old—and headquartered in Utah. They were the main sponsor of the Garden of Quilts event.]

Most of us were able to complete one unit during class. And yes, these units do get pressed when completed, so I can get rid of that annoying crease in the white fabric.

I’ll add this kit to my EPP supplies and it will be part of my take-along sewing.

We popped out for quick dinner of soup and salad and then came back to get in line for the Thursday evening presentation featuring The Doan Girls of the Missouri Star Quilt Company:

The story of how Missouri Star Quilt Company came to be is pretty amazing—Jenny and Ron Doan lost their life savings in the crash of 2009. Their kids got together and bought Jenny a longarm quilting machine and set up a small quilting business in their town of Hamilton, Missouri. The business grew and grew until it became a small empire within the quilting industry, employing 450 people and occupying most of the town of Hamilton. The year after YouTube launched, Jenny’s son suggested that she start making quilting videos. Last year, her daughter Natalie and her daughter-in-law Misty joined Jenny in the videos. They do a monthly video called Triple Play, where they choose a quilt block and each of them designs a quilt based on that block.

The three of them came to Garden of Quilts to do a talk and trunk show based on the Triple Play videos. It was amazing. Jenny is funny, sweet, and one of the most humble people on the planet. Tera and I are now scheming to take a trip to Hamilton to visit Missouri Star in person.

The Maker Meet-and-Greet was in the same show barn as the presentation, but the logistics were such that it was really hard to do more than walk through the line and say hi to each maker. Charisma Horton was there, so I waited until after the show to pop over to her table and talk to her. She is the designer who had the embroidery retreat near Moses Lake, WA, that I went to a few years ago. When I told her how much I had enjoyed that retreat, she said that she’s trying to plan another one. I told her that I’d be the first person to sign up.

We headed back to Tera’s daughter’s house and I fell into bed, exhausted. You’ll get to hear about the actual Garden of Quilts in the next post.