Assorted Makings

Making has been a little slower since I have fewer projects to work on. I'm caught up and working only on a few old UFOs! Can you believe it? This "no need to push myself" feeling leaves me feeling a little guilty, yet finding things to fill my days. Just not so frantically.

Rather than watch TV, Dan and I have been playing Backgammon, Gin Rummy, and Rummikub more frequently in the evenings. We seems to be fairly matched as we manage to mostly take turns winning. I'm not a good loser, but really do try to keep a smile on my face. 

After admiring a picture of fresh tomatoes on my Iowa friend Kim's Instagram feed, and commenting how much I missed Iowa tomatoes, guess what arrived in the mail! Kim sent a box of tomatoes and a jar of the pepper jelly that she has turned into a business - Your Mom's Canning.  

Kim plants and grows all the peppers in her own backyard (West Des Moines, Iowa) for making into jelly.   The jar she sent is her Italian Herb Jelly - my favorite. Just spread cream cheese on a Triscuit and top with the jelly. Mwah! I don't like spicy-hot, but her Jalepeno Jelly is also a favorite. We first bought a sampler pack to try, and now always keep it in the house.

Several of those tomatoes have ripened now, and this is what we'll be enjoying after the flavors meld. Salsa... can't wait!

Anyway, as a thank-you for Kim's thoughtful package, I decided to make something for her. Though we haven't seen each other for more than eight years, (we both worshipped at Lutheran Church of Hope and made quilts together), I remember her once telling me she "doesn't do zippers." So how perfect was it to make a Sew Together bag for her? 

Remembering that she likes sunflowers, I chose this Kate Spain "Grand Canal" print as the focus fabric.

The green fabric is linen, and I'm pleased with my choice of 28-weight yellow Aurifil for quilting.

Pockets are grunge, two Moongate prints, and Grand Canal, with a creamy white Lori Bee print inside.

In the past, I've had problems understanding the Sew Together bag pattern, but with the third making of it, it's a little easier.  I hope Kim likes the surprise she'll find in her Friday mail.

Peg loom weaving is still high on my "new toy" list of things to keep me busy, so I've begun making kitchen table chair pads. Following the theme of our table setting (Fiestaware that I love!), each chair pad will be a different color. 

Quilters have been somewhat appalled to learn I'm cutting up stash to weave chair pads, but I've been happy about pulling out fabrics of each color to discover that many pieces are almost-gone, as well as being older, duller prints. They're easy to cut into! 

To get 65 yards of fabric for weaving a 15" X 15" chair pad, I need 2.43 yards of fabric. Using up this way makes me very happy!

I cut them into 1½"strips. Then I randomly choose strips, overlap the ends, and chain-piece them together with a 1.9 stitch length. I feed the l-o-n-g strip through a Clover #18 bias tape maker and press, and press again to fold into a ⅜"-wide strip. 

This is the set-up for my peg loom. Double strands of wool blend yarn - Lion Brand, Wool Ease, Thick and Quick, from JoAnn Fabrics - for the warp gives a little more "cushiness," and strands are attached to rug thread with a lark's head knot. 

I wound the 65 yards of fabric into a ball that's five inches in diameter. I left it that way for a couple days before starting to weave.

The first chair pad I made is green. Had to work out a few issues - unweave and re-weave - before I could call it done, so the orange chair pad is coming along more smoothly. 

I'll make a yellow pad and an aqua pad before deciding if I need to make two more for the fifth and sixth chairs that often remain unused. 

Continuing to crochet my Moorland afghan, I have only five more color changes left to do. Then, thread tails to bury, and one last lap around the perimeter. Yay!

Since my last post, I've attended four Zoom get-togethers. On Saturday there are three Zoom events I could attend! How is it that everything gets bunched together?! I considered my options: 

1. All day sew day with Big Cypress Quilters
2. 1 pm South Florida MQG "Aurifilosopy" lecture by Sheri Cifaldi-Morel @wholecirclestudio
3. 1 pm "Twice Cut Drunkard's Path" workshop with Jenny Hayes @pappersaxsten

I chose option #3 because I've always liked her quiltmaking style. This workshop is one I've wanted to take since "forever." Who wouldn't want to learn how to make this? This is her Hole Punch Ribbon. 

Jenny lives in the UK and is offering her workshop to us in the Eastern time zone from 1 to 4 pm Saturday and again on Sunday. I can't wait!

My audiobook recommendation this week is The Glass Ocean by three authors: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.

The main character is Sarah Blake who achieves success after writing the book Small Potatoes. Income from the book sales goes a long way toward paying for her mother's care, but Sarah needs more money and inspiration for another book. After opening a trunk that she was told to never open, she finds her great-grandfather's watch that leads her to the UK to meet a man who, if he's willing, can lead her to answers. That course of discovery depends on learning what happened in May 1915 aboard the cross-Atlantic voyage of the Lusitania, and the subsequent May 7 German torpedo attack on that vessel. This historical romance is one of my favorite kinds of reads where I am educated and enlightened while being entertained.

Linda's score: 4.4/5.0 

Yesterday, Dan and I carted to a rec center to cast our early votes in the local primary. On the way, we saw this fella, who was right across from the polling place. No alligator deterred us from voting! 

Linda