October in a nutshell

 

I need to do a better job coordinating between my blog and Instagram.  A lot has happened this month, and I just realized none of it has been posted here.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen these pictures, therefore you may be excused :)
Otherwise here's what I've been up to:

1. More Taryn's blocks were sewn. I can't wait to hand quilt this one.
2. There was some actual weather here this month.  It's unusual for us to get any kind of storminess in October, but the rain has been a welcome relief from the dry dusty heat.
3. The herbs I picked back in August are dried and I plan on putting them into little jars and giving  some away for Christmas.  Need to find some cute labels.
4. I followed a couple of different tutorials for a zippered pouch to make a large project bag and a small notions bag.  I used some Japanese fabric from my stash and a floral from Rifle Paper Co.
You can find the instructions at Noodlehead and Jedicraftgirl.  I haven't fiddled with zippers in quite a while, but I managed to survive the trauma of installing 2 of them.  Now I want to make a few more of these bags as gifts.
5. Just finished reading Uprooted, which was good but just missed being really good by something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe the POV it was written in, or character development, I don't know, but if you've read it I 'd love to hear your thoughts. The yarn is Quince and Co. Osprey in Carrie's Yellow.  I'm thinking of adding yarny embroidery to the ends of the scarf I'm making.  Not sure how that's going to work on garter stitch, I think stockinette might be better, but it's worth a try.
Until next time!

Self Sewn

Summer is in full swing now.  I can tell because my air conditioner is broken. A temporary fix is in place, but it looks like we need to buy a new one.  Meanwhile, outside there are plants with minds of their own popping up in areas where I did not originally intend them to be popping.  The morning glories are relentless, twinning around my swiss chard, green onions, or anything that stands in one place too long. I pull them out to get at my vegetables, but there are dozens of little seedlings, laughing up at me, waiting in line to take their place.
A row of sunflowers towers above my tomato plants, casting shade where I do not want it, but I don't have the heart to rip them out. I tried to grow sunflowers from seed last year, but they didn't take hold very well, so I guess they showed me who's boss by moving themselves to a different part of the garden that they like much better.
The compost pile is now bursting with spaghetti squash. I must have thrown the remnants of a cooked squash in there at some point.  The long vines have crashed through the wire farm fencing and were last seen marching eastward across the pasture.
And speaking of pasture, some kind of wild, pale blue flower has sprouted out there, along with yellow mustard,  all courtesy of the additional rain from last winter.

Now onto the fun stuff.  A few years back, I saw a yarny blanket that made me swoon, and set out to make one of my own.  I crocheted 6, twenty round granny squares and sewed them together, ending up with a blanket roughly 40x60 inches.  It's been sitting for ages waiting on those ends to be weaved in, and I'm so happy it's finally done! 

Progress

I'm not sure if you want to call what I'm doing "progress" or quilting myself into a corner.  When I make a visual list of everything I'm working on/want to work on, it's kind of overwhelming. I actually left 2 other quilt projects out of this post, and will talk more about them later.  This is enough even for me.
Last week I drove about 45 minutes into Sacramento to visit the Quilters Corner fabric store.  I don't get there very often but when I do, you can bet I make it worth my while. I bought some neutral backgrounds, a few Karen Kay Buckley tools, 2 Quiltmania magazines, a handful of fat quarters to feed the stash and a Kaffe Fassett bundle (last picture). They didn't carry a lot of modern quilting fabric, it was heavy on the reproductions and batiks, but they had some fun classes going on, awesome samples hanging up, a large supply of Aurifil thread and other notions, even wool for applique. It was a great couple of hours spent by myself, and I stopped on the way home for an iced tea and a sushi roll from Mikuni's (I love their Marilyn Monroll, yum!)

The snowball quilt now measures about 27 x 29 and I think I'm going to add a border of flying geese next. I'll just keep going until it feels like it's done. The dark blue fabric was pulled because I want to make an indigo quilt, maybe with some sashiko stitching.  I'm still dreaming about that one.
I also received 2 little hangers from Temecula Quilt Co.  They're perfect for mini quilts.

Sadly the Killdeer eggs from my garden disappeared 2 days after I posted about them.  I'm not surprised, since the nest was sitting out in the open, unprotected.  There are a lot of cats, hawks and raccoons around here, and I discovered a hole in the ground just a few feet from the nest (snake?) Could have been any of them. There wasn't an egg shell or feather left behind.  Just, Poof! Gone.

So today it's going to be 97 degrees, and like usual, I'm trying to outrun the heat. Everything has been watered early this morning, and I just finished vacuuming and mopping floors. Soon the air conditioner will kick in, and that's my signal to start sewing. I've got lots to do, some of it I like, some of it I don't.  I'm not complaining.  It could be worse.  I could have been born as a Killdeer egg.

Garden visitor

Right now a big section of my garden looks like this....

But beyond the green lies an area where we used to keep the chickens.   I've been slowly cleaning it up to add more plants, maybe grapes or an orange tree.  It looks like this....

But wait, let's zoom in a bit.

Do you see the eggs?
They belong to a Killdeer.  And Mrs. Killdeer was not happy that I was walking around her nest. If you want to call it a nest.  More like a shallow depression in the dirt.    She was quite nervous and wanted me to follow her away from her babies.

So she pulled the broken wing act, like on the Discovery Channel.

Not going to work on me lady.  I saw that episode.
Nevertheless she continued the fake job.

After a few minutes of me standing perfectly still, except for the sweat dripping down my face, she cautiously came back to hover over her eggs.  I was about 12 feet away, on the other side of a fence.

I left her alone at this point.  Probably enough torture for one day.  Looks like I won't be gardening in this part of the yard until those eggs hatch.
Meanwhile I sewed all these little snowballs together and now I'm just staring at it. I don't know what to do. Wait for some inspiration or just quilt it and sew on a binding and call it done.  Hmmmm.

Heating up slowly

geranium in "watermelon"

repairing the binding on an old quilt

American Robin

new quilt pattern

We've had the nicest rain showers this last week, with thunder rumbling in the distance for dramatic effect.  I haven't had to water the garden as often, which is nice, but the weeds love the rain too, so the battle continues. We are slowly moving out of our nice Enjoy It While You Can spring weather phase and will soon be entering into the blistering hot, Kill All the Plants summer phase, which I endure for about one month, then by July I'm in the house with the air conditioner on drinking buckets of iced tea.  I really want to try and embrace summer this year (I say this every year), take part in more outdoor/summer activities, but it's hard for me.  I inevitably melt into a sweaty limp puddle at backyard barbecues and theme parks, clutching a cold drink in a death grip, crazed eyes darting about for a seat in the shade, my hair plastered around my head like a wet dish cloth.
So attractive.  Meanwhile everyone else continues to party on, seemingly unfazed by the heat. Sigh.
Must buy more pool floaty toys. And cold beer.  And a short haircut.

On the sewing front, I haven't been very diligent lately.  I made a few scrap improv blocks and will probably make some kind of quilt with them, but for now they're just hanging out on the design wall patiently waiting their turn.  Instead of sewing I've been obsessed with listening to knitting pod casts and really learning a lot.  However the patterns I'm drawn to are made with fingering weight yarn and toothpicks, and I'm struggling. Maybe for now I'm better off learning with worsted or dk weight and bigger needles?  I'm both impressed and intimidated by people who jump right in there and whip up a pair of socks a week after they learn to cast on. Knitting feels painfully slow to me, and you have to really pay attention.  Example : K2, yo, knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, sm, knit to last 2 stitches, yo, k2 stitches, touch your nose with your tongue, and scratch your belly with your big toe.  Repeat rows two through nineteen, 175,678 times or until your eyes cross, the phone rings or the dog jumps in your lap in which case you're basically screwed. If your lucky the damn markers will stay where you put them and you can find your place and start over.
 Possibly I have some kind of knitting attention deficit disorder. Or knitting commitment disorder. Whatever it is, it makes me doubt myself.  I run back to the comfort of my crochet hook and think "do I really need another craft, maybe I will just stick with crochet and quilting?"
Again, must buy more cold beer.
Anyway last week I had a give away for a quilt pattern and a stack of 5" squares from my stash.  Pam at CreativeCrazyGirl won, and I hope she can use the extra scraps in her stash, and maybe try out that pattern!  Thanks to everyone who took time to leave a comment.  It's nice to have so many lovely blogging friends out there. Hope you all have time to make something fun this weekend :)

Life in the jungle

My mind is a jungle of ideas.  My garden is, well, a jungle. I'm still running back and forth between inside and out, trying to accomplish everything at once.  Though Easter Sunday forced me to slow down.  A quiet brunch with my tribe and an afternoon nap. Some knitting on the back porch.
Those little snowball blocks up there are slowing me down as well.  I started out sewing them on the machine, but they were pulling and bunching up at the seams, so I tried a few by hand and I was really pleased with how they turned out.  I highly recommend gathering your supplies in a little basket and hand piecing out in the spring air and sunshine.
In case you want to make some, here's what I'm doing.

From an assortment of dark/medium and light squares cut some 3" blocks

Now cut 1 3/8" blocks, 4 of the same color (light or dark) I know it makes my eyeballs hurt just typing that number, never mind cutting them to that size.

Place 4  matching tiny light blocks on the corners of a 3" dark/medium block
Place 4 matching tiny dark/medium blocks on the corners of the 3" light blocks.
Here's a tutorial on how to sew them.
I didn't mark my little squares first before sewing.  Instead, I folded them in half diagonally and pressed across the fold with my fingernail.  This leaves a faint press line that you can follow when sewing.
Arrange the finished blocks alternating light corners against dark corners (I have 4 sewn together in the bottom right side of the picture)
I have no idea what I'm going to make.  I feel like if I give this project a name or commit to a specific size, it will spoil the magic of making them.

The yarn is from Quince & Co.   I've been wanting to try out the color Carrie's Yellow, and finally went ahead and ordered some. When it won't get out of your head, you might as well give in to it.
I'm thinking maybe a very long 1x1 rib scarf to go with all those neutrals hanging in my closet. A simple scarf from beautiful yarn.

Here's a few links of things I've been into this last week, in case your bored:

"Cooked" on Netflicks
"In Defense of Food" on PBS
This U-Tube video is a typical day at my house, but replace the cat with a small dog and me saying "All I want to do is crochet" EDIT: Looks like the video was removed. Too bad, it was funny!
 
I bought this pattern, and this one, and this one too.  Haven't made any of them yet.
 I REALLY want to go to Squam for my birthday in September.  Anyone going???
The jungle grows.

Plans

This morning I went out to run some errands and ended up at the grocery store.  Now I don't know about where you live, but the food store where we shop has trained their young employees to smile politely and then launch into the standard question game while bagging your groceries.
Here it comes.

Hello, how are you doing today?
Did you find everything you were looking for?
Would you like paper or plastic bags? (this one is so automatic, they don't even notice the pile of bags I've brought from home)

You can tell they are somewhat uncomfortable with this interrogation, and I don't mind all that much.  I feel kind of sorry for these kids,  coercing customers into small talk.  It feels weird.  What manager thought this was a good idea?  Anyway most of the time I chat back, but sometimes I just want to get my groceries and go.  Like today.  I'm trapped at the counter, the basket slowly emptying, lost in my own thoughts, mentally ticking things off my list, and then...

So what do you have planned for the rest of your day?

Ugh. I thought we were done.  In my head I'm saying...
Really?  Do you really want to know?  I doubt it. You're 18 and I'm 57.  Nothing I could possibly do today would be remotely interesting to you. (No kidding, I once had someone ask me what I had planned for the weekend.  On a Monday.  It literally stumped me for a second, as it was a week away and I had no clue).   Instead I usually murmur something about chores or going for a swim, walk, etc.
But I wonder what they would do if I answered their question honestly?
Maybe like this...

Well I need to hurry and get home because our new rider mower is being delivered.  The old mower finally broke and the grass has grown so high we loose sight of the little dog when he runs after the ball.  The yard is looking very furry indeed.  Maybe, instead of a new mower, we should get a horse like our neighbor.  It would be a good deal quieter than a mower and much more pleasant to look upon. Plus I could use their poop in my garden.  What do you think?  Hmmm.   But, as soon as I get home, I'm going to put all these groceries away.   Then whip up the sauce for the fish tacos we're having for dinner.  When that's done I'm going to make a fruit salad.
While all these delicious flavors are coming together in the fridge, I'm going to kick the dogs outside so I can pin baste a quilt on the floor in the living room.  Then next comes the quilt binding, cut and pressed just so.  I need to start quilting immediately, because it has to be completed for my niece's birthday party this weekend.  I know! Not much time left right?
Then I have to finish sorting through my books in the sewing room and tidy the shelves.  When that's done I might add a few rows to the blanket I started crocheting with Knit Picks organic cotton yarn.  The weight of it is lovely and I can't wait to use it this spring.
I'm also going to try and get a picture of a hummingbird that sits at the tip top of our tallest redwood tree and sings for a mate.....
What's that?
You just got called to another checkstand?
You're not going to help me out to my car?
But don't you want to hear about my plans for after dinner?
Smile politely.
Maybe next time then.

Quilt finish and cleaning up

Hello everyone. Welcome back!  The dogs and I are sharing a bowl of popcorn while I wait for these pictures to load up.  The computer seems awfully slow today.  There was a repair crew working on the lines when I walked down to get the mail.   Wind, water or chewing squirrels are usually responsible for a slow Internet around here.
I finished the first of my Hudson Bay camp blankets that I started back in October.  I love the deer fabric on the back, wish I had more of it.  I had to beg my daughter to come outside and hold the quilt up for pictures when there was a brief 25 second window in between rain showers.  The last storm that came through was a doozy, and we lost several branches off our birch trees due to high winds. The yard was a complete mess afterwards.  So I spent yesterday raking and sweeping and tidying only to find out we have more of the same coming in tonight.  Guess I could have waited but the sun was shining and it felt good to get outside in the fresh air.
Its hard to believe that just a few months ago the ground and vegetation here was crispy, dry and crunchy.   Now our small seasonal pond which collects the runoff water is full, and there are mushrooms sprouting all over!
The last picture is a three pack of blank journals that I bought when I was out Christmas shopping.  I have dedicated one to crochet/knitting, one to quilting, and the last to random ideas in general, although it seems to be leaning more toward gardening at the moment. The crochet/knitting has come in handy already, as I am logging in my projects listing the hook/needle and yarn type.  I am notorious for grabbing a crochet hook from a half finished project to start something new, then come back to the old project months weeks later and then can't remember what size hook I was using.  
 Of course it could all be much simpler if I just stuck to one thing at a time (or bought a bazillion hooks and needles in every size), but where's the fun in that?