Getting Out

Last Tuesday afternoon, we received our second Pfizer vaccinations. Though to find appointments we had to drive 72 miles each way, to another county, we're glad we did.

When we got home, I promptly sat down to make this "I've been vaccinated" tag to wear when I'm in group situations. I made it with a piece of Kraft-tex. Using 28-weight Aurifil thread, I stitched the letters and design on my Bernina 770QE. It took me a bit to work out how to affix the tag to my clothing, but I figured out that a double-layer of fabric, made like a pocket for the inside of a bag, that's sewn to the edge of the Kraft-tex worked great. I stuck half of a Sew-Tite (magnet used for English paper piecing) in the pocket and the other to the back of my shirt. It works. (This morning, my cardio-vascular doc admired it when I wore it to my six-month check-up.)

Other than both of us having tender arms after the first vaccine, we felt good. I didn't have such a happy experience with the second dose though. By Wednesday morning, I began to experience four of the possible eight side effects. By 4:30 pm I was sleeping under an afghan on the sofa, feeling chilled and drained. I woke by 9-ish to go to bed and sleep another nine hours. Thankfully, Thursday morning I felt right as rain, and rarin' to go. It was my birthday too! Time to celebrate!

I did so by returning to a recreational center for a 7:30 am line dance class. Until March 12, 2020,  I'd been attending those classes for seven years, so it felt good to be back! I discovered that though I wasn't familiar with the newer line dances, my brain remembered how to memorize the new routines. And funnily, when we later began dancing to old routines, as soon as I heard a song, my feet remembered the steps! I dance the entire 1 hour 40-minute class.

As soon as I returned home, we headed out to do what I wanted to do on my birthday: visit Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. I hadn't been there since I was a child.

Much of the land leading up to the tower is planted in orange groves. Fruit was ripe and being picked.

A bit of interesting information, learned in the museum: Edward Bok, the creative man behind building the tower, was a journalist who worked for Ladies Home Journal. Bok included Frank Lloyd Wright home floor plans in issues of the magazine, and he (Bok) is credited with coining the term "living room." 

The tower, which was built between 1926-1928 is still a beautiful site.

The "Singing Tower" contains 60 bells that are played by a carillonneur who manipulates a keyboard-looking line of wood handles. The first carillonneur lived in residence for 28 years. Now there are half hour-long performances at 1 and 3 pm daily. 

It was surprisingly busy for a Thursday, but I reminded myself that this is spring break week in Florida. 

Blooming azaleas were gorgeous.

We ate a light picnic lunch while on the grounds. 

On the way home, we stopped for dinner in Clermont at The Crooked Spoon. Hubs gifted me with some lotions and body sprays; and at various times throughout the day, I talked with both our kids; all five grandchildren; and received texts from my closest friends. It was a good day, and definitely a much better celebration than last year, when March 18 fell in the middle of our first week of lockdown. Yay for vaccines! 

For me, being able to get out again will likely signal a slow-down in making. While I'll always have WIPs, they won't be tackled as often because I fully intend to have less at-home time. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The only thing I've accomplished at home since my last post was to do some wall rearranging to put up a couple quilts. I took down an old quilt from 2012, moved a 2017 quilt into its spot, and moved a 2020 quilt into the 2017 spot.

Jazzed, in the entryway

I moved two framed pictures to another wall, moved a 2013 quilt into their spot; and put a 2020 quilt into the 2013 spot. Makes complete sense right?! 

Hole Punch Ribbon in the chat room

I only need to find a place for Zing, my latest finish. I really want to hang it as it is a testament and reminder to me of how much work it takes to create an original design!

Gosh, I don't even have another book recommendation to make - another indiction of actually living life again! Linda

Finish, and Start

About 18 months ago, I planted a Princess plant. I enjoy its blooms so much, I planted another.

Over the winter, the first plant got very leggy, and I could see it needed to be cut back. Info on the internet said to prune in March, so even though it was in full bloom I pruned it (yikes!) putting the cut stems in a vase to at least enjoy for a few days longer. 

This is what the plant looks like now. Was I too aggressive in my pruning? I sure hope it comes back because the window behind it is where I sit in my sewing room aqua chair to look out - admire the Princess plants and Bismarck palm, and watch people, pets, golf carts, and cars pass by. 

Two days ago, this is what the Bismarck palm looks like. Pedestrians passing by frequently stop to remark on it. It's so big (I'd guess about 25'-30' tall) and healthy! Each frond is wider than the expanse of both my arms spread apart.

I wanted to enter the latest Curated Quilts quarterly mini-challenge, requiring a specified color palette, and the themes "stripes" and "balance." Since I know how to make Maria Shell-type ribbons, and I like making circle shapes, I combined the two, piecing ribbons first, cutting circles from them, and machine appliquéing circles to a dove gray background (I'm trying to figure out why evening photos taken with my Canon camera appear pink, when I have LED full-spectrum daylight lights in the room.) 

Ick! All I could see was Easter eggs. After posting this picture to Instagram a comment was, “I suddenly have the desire to play croquet!” 😂

Remembering several quilters who have suggested if you don’t like a piece, chop it up, I decided to do just that. But I first printed the photo onto paper, and cut up the paper before cutting into fabric. This looks a little better, though another comment on Instagram is that it looks like Easter eggs. Sigh.

Dance Around, 14" X 14"

I've missed having a kawandi to hand stitch. So, thinking through possible ways to make a different Siddi-style kawandi, I decided to try making a round one. This is a 17½" diameter circle drawn onto backing fabric using a Dritz "Quilter's See-Through Drafting Ruler.” Batting is Quilter's Dream Request cut with scissors.

Typically when making a kawandi, fabric pieces are torn and folded along a straight edge. Because I needed to be a little more precise, I free-hand rotary cut a gentle curve along one side, and a tapered angle along another side. Then I pressed with an iron and pinned, pinned, pinned. In traditional kawandi, pins aren't used. 

I've stitched around it several times now, and I like how it’s looking.

The urgency to complete this "Modern Scrap Challenge" is mounting, as the Central Florida MQG due date for our quilts is April 17. I completed the 71" X 80" quilt top Monday afternoon.

By bedtime it was pin-basted, ready for some stabilizing machine quilting before I switch to big stitch hand quilting. 

For backing, I chose a stashed white, tone-on-tone wideback that wasn't quite long enough. I pieced a print and inserted a 6" strip to get the dimensions needed. Quilting commences soon!

Book Recommendations

Bear Town by Fredrik Backman evoked mixed reactions in me. This story is about a backwoods town that lives for ice hockey. The story revolves around the hockey club's general manager Peter, his wife Keira, 15 year-old daughter Mia, and 12 year-old son Leo. The junior hockey team, led by 17 year-old captain Kevin, is about to enter the semi-finals. An unexpected incident occurs that changes everything. Everyone from the bar owner to the grocery store owner has an opinion and a stake in the outcome, and they’re definitely not in agreement. 

I felt "gray" while reading this book because it was disturbing... while being thought-provoking. The author excels at story-telling, and the story is compelling - he achieved what an author should achieve - but the combination of hockey (a sport that doesn’t interest me) and the underlying message of sports “heros” getting away with things that shouldn’t be gotten away with, was illuminated so frankly that it saddened me to know about this dark side of team sports. Fredrik Backman deserves a 5.0 for the telling of this story, but for my enjoyment of it, I gave it a lower score. 

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

The Good Wife by Eleanor Porter is a tale of laypeople and stewards, lords and ladies, and a little bit of magic. Martha is wife to a groomsman, Jacob. When he leaves on a two-month trip, Martha is left behind. As a former healer who escaped the gallows after being declared a witch (apparently this story was in the first book The Wheelright's Daughter, that I did not read), she heals the wound of the local steward and finds herself running from his advances. When Jacob doesn't come home, she sets off on a journey to find him, becoming a different person, meeting others on her travels, and relentlessly looking for Jacob. 

While the characters seem to be God-fearing people, they also believe in myths, legend, and charms. Also, I felt frustrated because I kept wanting to speak for Martha who didn't say the things I thought she should.

Linda's score: 3.0/5.0

Dan continues to outdo himself at pizza-making. Each one becomes "the best ever made." He has perfected his pizza crust, mixing the dough from scratch in the morning, refrigerating it, and later shaping it for baking. This pizza was heavy on pepperoni and cheese - yum! - but we were good, and ate salads first. 

Linda

Zing Quilt

Zing, 41" X 46"

Can I just say that designing this quilt was w-a-y outside my comfort zone? It was, by far, the most challenging design project I've ever made. And that's saying a lot because I started hand-piecing my first quilt in 1976!

I certainly respect Maria Shell for her design sense and ability to create a beautiful creation. If you aren't familiar with her style, check out her blog: TalesofaStitcher. She's also a great instructor.

She asked each student to choose four favorite things, and use them as inspiration to create four interpretive designs to express them. This design method is very much outside my comfort zone. I spent countless hours stewing over fabrics - 30 different colored solids of mostly Painter's Palette solids;  units to piece (Maria calls them "bits"); and a few sketches (I don't sketch as much as she does); only to piece, arrange parts... and decide they weren't right. For me, creating a design means heaps of trial and error, with the error part in the form of un-sewing, and re-sewing. That definitely happened frequently! I cut into a large quantity of solid fabrics and have the scraps to show for it. 

All this began in a Zoom virtual workshop on Thursday evening, January 28, and subsequently occured on the following Sunday, Thursday, and Sunday, for a total of four three-hour workshops. 

In previous posts I've written about my process, and the angst I experience through it, so I won't repeat myself. 

After the top was finished, I pieced a backing from as many discarded chucks of pieced fabrics as possible. I'm frugal like that. 

Then, I pieced together the last two bits of Quilter's Dream Puff I own (I have since restocked with two king-sized batts from the local Sew Together shop that's now stocking Quilter's Dream batts) to make the quilt sandwich. I really like the loft of Puff, which is a 100 percent polyester batting. Puff makes quilting stand out.

Zing has lots of quilting! I had the crazy idea to custom quilt it. 

Using 50-weight Aurifil thread colors to coordinate with fabric colors (lots of thread color changes), it's walking foot quilted with my Bernina 770QE set at 3.20 stitch length, and free motion quilted. 

Quilting, from the back.

I used my favorite facing tutorial on WeAllSew to machine-sew a faced edge. 

Then I hand-stitched it into place. I really like the corner treatment with this facing method.

For me, a quilt isn't completely finished until it's been photographed from a branch of the Bismarck palm in our front yard. Hubs recently cut off the lower branches though (as a palm grows, lower limbs die and must be removed), so am now using a step ladder to get to the branch to hang the quilt!

Each quadrant represents an inspiration. Upper left: Iowa wind farm; upper right: my ukulele; lower left: our Bismarck palm; and lower right: a favorite song, "I'll Fly Away."

I'm really glad I had the opportunity to take this "Asymmetrical Symmetry" workshop because I learned a great deal about myself and my design process. For me, designing according to inspiration is difficult because I tend to be too literal. Also, I don't have the patience for sketching, and more sketching. I need to see components - their shapes and colors - alongside other components to determine if they look good, or not. I feel comfortable trusting my instincts and decisions about design, but it takes a lot of self-speak to work through it:

Let me try this.

Ugh, that doesn't look good.

But, maybe this will.

✂ Unsew - Cut - Resew 

Now how does that look?

Hmm. Maybe better. But what if I move this bit over here, and that bit over there?

That looks a little better, but those colors don't look good beside each other.

✂ Unsew - Cut - Resew

...and so on. You get the picture. Lots of starts and stutter-stops that make designing a long, and sometimes tiring process. But, because I like patterned improv so much, I know another such quilt is in my future.

Linda

Passed Along Quilts

Last October I gave away a whole bunch of quilts; 14 in fact. They went to family: a brother and sister-in-law; a niece; and nephews. I asked them, if they were so-inclined, to share pictures of the quilts being used, and I'm happy to say my sister-in-law has been obliging. Here she is with one of her two grandsons. 

The quilt they're on is "Outer Space," 60" X 72", made in 2017. It was a QuiltCon reject.

These are both of her grandsons - my great-nephews.

The older of the two boys used two quilts to pad his horse seat - a saddle!

The second quilt is "Patriotic Pinwheel," a 24½" X 24½" quilt made for the 2017 Patriotic Painter's Palette Blog Hop. More info about it, including the free pattern I wrote, is here.

My SIL is displaying an all-batiks quilt on a very old chair, found at our grandparent's empty farmhouse. 

This 39" X 40" quilt was made in 2006. "Space Crystals" was started in a workshop with Sara Nephew, a designer known for her graphic patterns. The quilt is among the first of those I domestic machine quilted with elaborate custom quilting patterns. It earned a second-place ribbon at the Des Moines Area Quilter's Guild (Iowa) annual quilt show.  

As any maker knows, it's a nice feeling seeing one's creations in the hands of others who will enjoy, appreciate, and use them. Thank you dear SIL for making me feel that way!

Seeing the ribbon on the quilt reminds me that in addition to no longer having the quilt, I no longer have the ribbon. Parting with ribbons was one of several very difficult decisions made when we purged our household in preparation for our 2012 cross-country move from Iowa to Florida. I took this photo before putting them all in the trash. This is my only remembrance of ribbons earned from entering quilts into dozens of shows, and the Iowa State Fair. 

Book Recommendation

The Searcher by Tana French is about Cal Hooper who's recently retired from the Chicago police force. He has purchased 10 acres of land and a dilapidated farmhouse in rural Ireland, thinking to "get away from it all." He sets himself to fixing up his new home, taking long walks, and settling into the pace of the small provincial village. His suspicions are aroused when a teenager begins to hang around Cal's place. When he gets to the source of the teen's interest in him, he finds himself in an unwanted situation but he's unable to turn away.

Cal is a decent person (in spite of using profanity) and he has a thought so profound I wrote it down:

 "Never underestimate the spectacular natural wonder that is people's stupidity."

I'm probably showing my true colors by thinking that's a statement worth repeating, but I can think of so many people and situations to which this applies!

So my overall review of the book is to say... I'm not generally drawn to detective stories, but the geographic setting, the narrator's perfect Irish brogue, and my interest in the teen kept me engaged.

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

And now, for something different... During this season of Lent, Christians are encouraged to maintain and deepen their prayer life. Reminding myself of my word of the year, "refuge," and who I am taking refuge in means making time for prayer. Pastor Mike shared this during a sermon. Maybe you'll find it helpful too. Linda

Quilting and Other Stuff

Thank you - very much! - to nine of you who took time to comment on my last post about the Turn-Sharp rotary blade sharpener. That post has been viewed 590 times (so far), and it's your comments that mean so much and make me want to continue writing posts.

Through the past week I've been quilting and quilting, creating customized designs on my "Zing," patterned improv quilt. Quilting is with a walking foot and free motion foot, with top thread colors changed dozens of times. No doubt that's another reason quilting seemed to take so long.

It was satisfying to square the quilt top in preparation for sewing facing to the edges. (When I sew binding to a quilt, I don't square-up the quilt until the binding has been sewn on.) 

Do you ever face your quilts, rather than bind them? Some quilts seem more suited to facing than others. 

My favorite facing method is Easy Quilt Facing found on Bernina's WeAllSew blog. I like it because there's no need to fuss with mitered corners. Instead, each corner has a 5" fabric square that's been folded into a triangle, and sewn with the facing strips hidden under the triangle. 

I'm hand sewing it down now. 

Why is it that evenings seem more suited to hand stitching? For me, it snuggly-comfortable because I have my cushy swivel-glider, and LED light from a Slimline floor lamp. Handwork is so relaxing. 

A couple evenings ago I finished kawandi #5; it's the third kawandi I've made using my grandma's vintage fabric scraps and is 15" X 15". 

I don't have vintage pieces large enough for backing, so I look to my stash for something suitable. Isn't the "you can't buy this" label perfect for this piece?

Last week, after attending the South Florida MQG Zoom meeting - where we watched a great program by Ohioan Cassandra Beaver (TheNotSoDramaticLife) - I followed up on two SFMQG requests for charity quilt blocks. 

Here are five 13" X 13" Tossed Nine Patch blocks made according an Eleanor Burns video. We could use any fabrics to make a nine-patch block, but were asked to put a 5" white solid square in the center. After piecing, the nine patch is cross-cut twice, rearranged, and reassembled.

The second charity block request was for two Organic Diamond blocks. Free instructions on the MQG website. Blocks are a combination of foundation paper-piecing (on the right side) and piecing (a single Flying Geese block on the left side), and finish at 10". A whole quilt of these blocks made with solids would be beautiful wouldn't it? I see a search light in the design. Do you remember those? Back in the 'ole days?

Since I'm about three hours north of SFMQG chapter members, and won't see any members in person, both sets of blocks have been mailed to their respective coordinators. 

Since last fall, I've been a long-distance member of SFMQG, and it's been a very positive experience. During the past few days I worked with two other SFMQG officers to develop a SFMQG challenge called "Curve Around." I designed a logo and set the challenge parameters that will be introduced March 20 and due as a finished quilt in November. Can't wait! 

Locally, this month finds me wrapping up my Central Florida MQG executive committee position as Media Coordinator. I've held the position since starting the chapter in the fall of 2012. After 8½ years of taking pictures; maintaining the CFMQG website including posting to the blog and Instagram; handling publicity for guest and member speakers and programs; arranging Zoom meetings; and the like, I'm ready for someone else do the job. New executive committee members will step into position April 1. 

Book Recommendations  

I've been on a roll, listening to some great books over the past month. These two are worth adding to your list.

The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell ticked all the boxes for me - the setting, and the accents. In the English countryside is the magnificent estate: Cloudesley. The owner is charming and overbearing: Charles Oberon. Young Lillian is trying to the wife he expects. When a handsome artist is commissioned to paint a room at Cloudesley, using the walls as a canvas, Lillian finds herself weighing the value of people in her life. Parallel to Lillian's story, 60 years later, Maggie Oberon returns to Cloudesley to find it. and Lillian, in decline. While attempting to figure out how to save Cloudesley, Maggie learns about herself, and secrets Lillian has hidden for decades.  

 Linda's score: 4.7/5.0

My Australian friends alerted me to the much-anticipated release of The Survivors by Jane Harper. Having previously read books by Ms. Harper, I put it high on my must-read list, and enjoyed it as much as I anticipated.

The story takes place in Evelyn Bay, Tasmania - the first book I've ever read that takes place in Tas! The rough ocean, and rocky, cave-strewn coastline comes to life as the reader follows Kiernan (a man), his partner Mia, and their infant Audrey on a weeklong stay at Kiernan's parent's beachside home. They're visiting to help his parents pack for a move, and it's a chance for Kiernan to reconnect with friends - the people he shared a tragic experience with more than ten years ago. Life abruptly changes when a body is found on the beach. Past memories are resurrected... an afternoon spent in the caves, with the tide coming in, and a big storm brewing. The story sucked me in and didn't spew me back out until it was completely finished. 

Linda's score: 4.9/5.0

On February 22, a reporter and a photographer from the local newspaper The Daily Sun, interviewed me for an article about my quiltmaking. It appears in today's, March 4 issue. A few statements aren't accurate, but I was flattered to have been contacted.  

The piece is about my pandemic quilting activities - my 2019 temperature quilt; taking virtual workshops; presenting a webinar; learning kawandi and making them with vintage fabrics; and creating improv quilts. 

There! If you've been reading my blog, there's nothing new to learn from the article. 😀 Linda