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!

Plain Obsession

When I was in Portland last week, my sister and I walked into a posh little boutique on Alder St. to have a look around.  It was the kind of shop that would drain the pocketbook in minutes.  The wares however, were quite beautiful.  Table tops displayed fine gauge cotton tee shirts, soft wool sweaters, wide legged pants, linen napkins, carved wooden candlesticks and large coffee table books.   Most of the clothing they carried were in shades of navy, black, cream and tan.  If you wanted a few nice basic pieces to start a minimalist wardrobe, this was the place to get them.  I fell in love with this little creamer by a local artist and brought it home with me.

I  also spied a quilt on sale for just over $300. It was a color block quilt in cream, black and gray that fit in with the shop's aesthetic. I kept looking at it.  Thinking about it long after we left.  Obsessing about it's plain simple design.  In fact on the train ride home, an Amish (or maybe Mennonite) family joined us in the dining car and their starched white caps, and dark somber clothes reminded me of the quilt again. I couldn't wait to get home and make my own version.

It only took a few days to put together as I already had everything I needed.  And thank goodness.  A trip to the fabric store would have ruined my momentum.  The Lotta Jansdotter fabric I used for the backing has been in my stash for about 2 years. I never wanted to use it because I loved it so much.  Really that makes no sense.  I need to start incorporating these pieces into my projects instead of hoarding it.  It's not doing any good folded up in the cupboard.

Anyway, now I can get back to my WIPs and relax a bit.  Obsession over.

Going Coastal

On Thursday I'm getting on the Amtrak Coast Starlight train and heading up to Portland Oregon. I took the train once before, from Philadelphia to Washington DC, but I was by myself and think I napped most of the way.  I barely remember it. This time I'll be sharing a sleeper car with my youngest sister in a space the size of Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs, and I imagine there will be lots of giggling and snorting into the wee hours.  Portland, bless that beautiful city, will only be about 75 degrees when I get there.  I will be leaving 100 degrees behind at home. I might have to dig my jeans out of the "winter" side of the closet.
I finished 5 squares on my popcorn stitch blanket so far.  I know the picture is only showing 4, but it was hard to photograph an odd number, so you get the idea. I'm hoping to make a few more on the train.
 I had some help from the dog going through my scrap bin to make several nine patch blocks.  I want to set them on point but I'm having a difficult time deciding on a background color.  Usually I reach for a cream color (safe), but I feel like all my quilts are starting to look the same. I might need to take a chance on this one and branch out of my comfort zone.
Lastly I'm making a linen project bag to take on the train, and I decided to work a cross stitch motif on the front, found in Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion book.  Since she lives in Portland, I thought it would be a fun reminder of my upcoming trip.  Have a great week wherever you are!

Packing it in

We've been really busy lately helping the oldest daughter pack up her apartment and move.  While that was going on the boy/man came home briefly from university ( in between regular and summer classes) and we cleaned out his bedroom and packed away his childhood. But before that could happen, I had to tidy up the garage to make space for sports equipment, video games and high school yearbooks. I've dropped off so much at the Goodwill lately, they must see me coming and think my house is a never ending bottomless pit of All the Stuff.
I tell you what, my 50 something body can't take too much more of this moving and packing, especially since the weather is hovering around 100 degrees or higher for the next 5 days.
Ah summer, how I want to love you here in Northern California, but I want to experience you in Alaska, or Maine, where I imagine a light sweater is needed when the sun goes down,  people eat supper outside, and you can still wear long pants and shirts with sleeves in them.
There have been beautiful sunsets here though, and the grasses have dried to that rich California gold color.  I get to pick wild blackberries on my morning walks, make fresh lemonade from the lemons off my tree and float on a raft in the pool looking up at a sky so blue it makes you ache inside.
All that kind of makes up for the upper lip and boob sweat, the constant hum of the AC, and the inability to do anything outside between lunch time and 9:00pm without melting your face off.

 Enough complaining about the weather. Guess what? I finally joined the Instagram crowd (I resisted for a long time).  I still prefer blogging because I love the written word, the stories, the connection.  It's quicker to post something on Instagram, a nice picture, two sentences punctuated by a dozen emoji's and you're done. But man you can really get sucked into the looking and spend hours of time on there! I'm just figuring out how to navigate around and so far it's been fun.  I don't have too many posts up yet, but if you want to visit, I'm at  lifeofreilly58.
In between the packing I'm grateful this week for some quiet moments to practice my knitting, and  continue sewing more of my drunkards path blocks.  I've been able to build up a nice little pile so far.  However this is looking to be a 3 year quilt, as I started these blocks last year and it doesn't appear I'll be finishing any time this year.
Anyone got a summer project started?  Besides my white crocheted blanket, I've been itching to try some embroidery and I have 2 new books to read.  I'm down for anything really, as long as it doesn't  involve packing tape and a truck :) 

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 :)

Pretty little thing

A second South Bay Shawlette, this time in an ombre merino fingering yarn from Two Black Sheep on Etsy.  I used an H hook and could not put this down.  Each row slowly bled into that darker berry color and I enjoyed it right to the end.  I added a final row of picot stitches because I wanted to tease out as much of the darker color possible before I ran out of yarn.  Early on I was worried about the colors pooling or looking lopsided like I had spilled my Kool-Aid on it, but it played out beautifully.  I gave it a brief soak before blocking, more like a quick dip really, and it bled a little (yikes!)  When I rolled it in a towel there was no color transfer so all was right in the universe.
Oh and Meredith finished hers (she's fast!), so go take a look at her gorgeous shawl!
Now that that's done, I can get back to some quilting.  I made this top a few weeks ago but haven't got a backing for it yet.

I had this collection of fat quarters (Bari J. for Art Gallery Fabrics I think) sitting around forever, and finally stumbled on a pattern that would suit it. It's basic strip piecing, cutting, then sewing rows.  So easy it almost makes itself.  Finished size is 54 x 70.

Somehow I ended up with 2 of these patterns.  If you would like the extra one (and I will throw in a small stack of 5 inch squares from my stash) leave a comment and I will pick a winner.  If you're a no-reply blogger please add your e-mail address. Thanks for visiting! 

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.

The Raid

Crochet swatch of a baby blanket found on Pinterest.  Maybe make a big one for me?

Orphan blocks found during the cleaning raid and turned into coasters. Knitted washcloth.

I like the way February is starting out.  Lots of little busy work and errands to run, but no pressure from the outside world.  Rain showers and sunshine mixed together, dogs snoozing on the couch, quiet afternoons spent playing with yarn and fabric.
I  devoted three whole days to cleaning my sewing room.  What a scene that was.  Rather like a police raid.  No warning, just rush in and take prisoners.  Every closet, box, bin, drawer and bag was dumped out, searched and sorted.  Spread across the floor, the mess threatened to burst out into the hallway, smothering anything in its path (remember that old movie called The Blob?  It just kind of rolled around and sucked up cars, people, movie theaters.  Like that).   My husband would come in every once in a while, look around at the chaos and walk out without saying a word.  Smart man.  I'm sure he was wondering about dinner, or the lack of it.
 I actually had to leave the room at one point because the fabric/yarn dust caused an allergic sneezing fit, complete with watery eyes.  There was talk of hazmat suits.  Whatever.  I sent three large bags to the Goodwill (should have been more), and painstakingly folded all my fabric and lovingly tucked it back into the drawers.  It was a joy to behold.   Really though, I give it about 4 months before it turns back into a dog's breakfast. 

Now I need a new book to read.  Any recommendations?  I want to keep track of everything I've read this year and so far in January there were five. Katherine, The Hands on Home, Big Magic, The Martian, and Gaia's Garden.  The last one sounds like it could be a romance or fantasy novel, but it's really about understanding Permaculture and how to incorporate it into your yard.  Cool stuff.  To be honest I didn't finish The Martian.  I ended up watching the movie (good!) so there was no motivation to keep reading.  Just as well. The book had several pages of technical scientific NASA speak, which I skipped over with regularity.  I hope some day I don't find myself in a dire situation, where everyone is about to perish, and I am kicking myself for not reading the paragraphs on how to properly release hydrazine over an iridium catalyst and turn it into N2 and H2.  Then burn it without blowing myself up. 
Oh well.  I can make a quilt.  Does that count?

Patchwork and linen. A dishtowel.

I spent Sunday playing around with scraps.  This piece of linen from an old skirt of mine became a dishtowel.  Really, I need to make things like this more often.  It was a totally spur of the moment  make-it-up-as-you-go kind of thing.  I had so much fun I want to make another one.
The patchwork to the right will be a quilt.  Eventually.  I'm trying to finish some old WIPs first.  Meanwhile all my 3 1/2 inch squares are being auditioned on the wall.  So far it's looking like another low volume color scheme.

I frayed the edges on the dishtowel by pulling out a few threads, then stay stitched all the way around to keep it from fraying any further.  The patchwork was zig zag stitched down on the raw edges.  Lastly, I added a bit of hand stitching with embroidery floss, leaving the knots on the front.  Kind of Anthropologie meets Zakka.

Love. It.

The Green One

I confess this one didn't grow on me until I pulled it from the dryer.  The polyester batting that I cursed (loudly) while quilting, redeemed itself by turning the green log cabin blocks into a cozy, snugly, fluffy, take-a-nap-right-now kind of quilt.
My exercise in sewing scrappy one-color quilts from the stash had me really stretching with this green one.  I toyed with the idea of using my good old standby Kona snow for the center squares and sashing, but I was almost out of it.  My inner quilty voice told me to use up the calico. It wasn't my first choice (had I been staring at the fabrics lining the wall of the fabric store), but I went ahead with it anyway.  Instead of contrast, I got a softer, blended, run-together kind of look.
 Then, when it was time to pick a binding and backing, and the floor of my sewing room was strewn with fabrics, and nothing was making me happy and I was cursing (again), my daughter asked if I was going to be making a trip to the quilt shop.  I actually thought about it for a minute.  It would have been easy to run out and buy something new and pretty. Except for rule number one.
Use the stash.

So even if it means I might have to settle on fabric combinations that I normally wouldn't choose,  I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

 From the top: Mostly Yellow (April), Fifty Shades of Blue (May), The Green One (June)