Stormy weather

It was all April showers this weekend.  Thunderstorms, heavy rain.  The garden is gonna love it.  And, I enjoyed the chance to work inside for a change. 

The first thing I did on Saturday was finish quilting the wedding quilt.  I drew and quilted in the feather spine on Friday so on Saturday, all that was left was the loopy feathers.  It took a couple tries to get them just right.  There is a certain curve that makes the difference between a feather and a stick with a bunch of lumpy fat fingers hanging off it, and it took a couple tries to find that certain curve.  I used a plate and a chalk pencil to draw the curvy spine.  I would trace the curve from the plate and then use a straight ruler to connect those curves.  It's not perfect, but it came out nice, I think. 

 

Yes, there are still threads hanging on it.  I haven't taken time to tie and bury all the knots yet.  I'm gonna have to get on that because there are many.  Late yesterday, I cut the extra backing away and started sewing down the fold over binding.  The backing fabric was too perfect for me not to use it as the binding.  It has so many colors from the front of the quilt.

After the quilting was done, I went to the scrap bins.  Anybody know what this mess is eventually going to be?

More of these arcs. 

I had run out of pre-cut strips for these.  the pattern says it takes about 12,000.  I'm doing my best to be more conservative than that by using small scraps and leftover pieces.  And, when I was cutting, if I had something that was a little wider than the 2x6 they called for, that's great because I can get a point from one end, and then use the resulting triangle to get another point from the other end.  Same if they are longer than 6".  That saved a TON of cutting time because a lot of my scraps are already cut into manageable strips that didn't need further cutting to be used in this paper piecing project.  I got all the above scraps from my scrap bins.  And, I haven't even gotten back into the blue or purple bins yet.  I'll try to get into them next weekend, and then I can get back to piecing these arcs.  I'm halfway there, but then the whole outer border is pieced like this too.  That's going to be a heck of a project. 

I signed up for a two day paper piecing class at guild.  I was so excited.  I was finally going to learn Judy's technique for paper piecing using freezer paper from a certified, trained instructor.  I was hoping to get all the tips and tricks that I might have missed from reading the book.  Guess what?  There's more than one Judy that paper pieces.  Can you imagine?  I use Judy Mathieson's method.  I signed up for a Judy Niemeyer class.  Don't get me wrong.  I think Judy N's quilts are wonderful and I'm sure I would have learned a lot from the instructor.  But, I'm perfectly content with the method I use and was glad to back out and let someone else have my spot in that two day class.  Imagine how many of these arcs I could piece in those same two days.   And, quite honestly, once I learned the secret of heating the freezer paper before peeling it off, I don't ever plan to go back to regular paper piecing where you sew through the paper and tear it off. 

The picking cucumbers in the grocery have been looking good!  And, we were down to a half jar of bread and butter pickles.  So, yesterday, I made a roast and four jars of pickles. 

These are so easy and so delicious that I don't see me buying pickles in the grocery again.  They're sweet and tangy and spicy, all at the same time. 

My last big indoor project for the weekend was to re-make our summer door wreath.  I don't know how long ago I made our old wreath.  I was still into Martha Stewart's projects when I did.  But, it was looking rough.  The birds had been stealing the moss to make nests from and the flowers were dirty.  We liked the old stick wreath base and the blue and yellow.  But, thee rest was for the birds (couldn't resist). 

The new wreath:

All perked up, with new colors added.  And, it looks GREAT on our door.  When I was telling Rob what I would be doing, he kept saying "are we talking about the same wreath?"  And, I kept saying yes.  Then he walked out to the garage yesterday and saw that I had taken it apart down to the wire frame, tightened the bundles of sticks and made small flower arrangements that I then wired to the bundles of sticks, then wired all that back to the metal frame.  I think he was amazed.  It's not done.  First attempts rarely are.  But, I needed it on the door before I could figure out what else to do (trim the sticks so it's more circular and doesn't have those two arms pointing out from it).  But, it perked up the door already and nobody can see the mistakes from the street. 

I've been asked to help with next year's guild raffle quilt.  I am appropriately hesitant (incredible introvert here), but I'm going to accept that offer.  The raffle quilt team leader is a friend and we worked together on the red and white quilt a few years ago and I think we will enjoy ourselves doing it again.  And, honestly, I need to get out more and this is a great opportunity to get out in my quilting community and meet new people and show off what I can do. 

Everybody have a great week!  It's Monday and it's going to be full of new things.  Sydney is taking her first flight alone to go to Nebraska to see Gramma.  And, Rob and I are full of helpful instruction, which means we are getting a lot of eyerolls as we try to explain things we know that we think will be helpful.  But, you can't tell a 21 year old anything, right?  Actually, I can tell she's listening to at least part of it.  My most helpful advice so far: "When you're walking through an airport, don't look down at your feet.  Look up.  That's where all the signs are to tell you where to go." 

So, look up.  See the signs around us every day. And, have a great week!

Lane