Friday morning, I was determined not spend the day doing chores, so I hand quilted all morning and machine quilted all afternoon. By time I'd quilted this corner and tied all the knots, I'd been sitting at the machine 4 hours. I'm really enjoying these corners and the mixture of background filler patterns. It takes some focus to keep everything sized correctly and to do all I can not to get trapped and have to break the thread.
I don't use a lot of solid black and didn't anticipate the amount of lint. There's a lot of lint from the wool batting and then just everyday lint from being in my studio. I didn't run the lint brush over the first corner and have lived to regret it. When I did, I found that I'd sewn over the lint and quilted it to the background and I've been going back with tweezers to pull it out. Learned from that tho, and have been lint brushing before and during the quilting of the remaining corners. I will be happy when I am done. I'm ready to quilt something else. Anything else.
Dot, you asked about my gloves a couple weeks ago. I use a Fons and Porter glove and I'm pretty sure I have the first pair I bought, about 14 years ago, and even though they're dirty, they still fit and work just fine. I've bought a couple new pair in those years, and have never been disappointed. Each size is a different color. I tried Machingers and the rubber came off after about a year.
I've been neglecting Ruby McKim's Flower Garden. And while I did, the worst happened...I got distracted by Barbara Brackman's Material Culture. She's running flower appliqué blocks on a dark background and they have more detail that Ruby's. I'm sure that I'm not going to stop one flower quilt and pick up another. But, it did decrease my satisfaction. While I've been hand quilting, I've been feeling guilty about not working on it for so long and having trouble deciding whether to put the hand quilting aside and get to a flower block. But, I know what happens when I put hand quilting to the side. It takes me a year to pick it up again.
I finished the straight lines and have started quilting the circles. The straight lines went pretty fast, but the circles go even faster and I'm racing through them. Unfortunately, I have no plan for the plain squares or the borders.
Out in the garden, I have a daylily that's going to bloom. It is VERY out of season. I can't wait to see what it is and what it does.
I found another green zinnia. I wish more of these had come up, but I don't know where they'd be. The garden is packed this year and I'm having to cut things back to make room. I've been pulling stuff up and potting it, some to give away and some to use in other places.
I saw this butterfly in the garden. It's wings were moving like a hummingbird and I had to chase it across the yard to get a good picture. I ended up just clicking as fast as the phone would go and finally got one of it pausing. Then, I had a ton of pictures to delete, some of which didn't even have the butterfly in them. (Yes, I'm sure that me running across the yard after an insect was amusing. Sorry you missed it (not sorry))
Everybody have a great week. I'll be enjoying Mothers Best Fudge Cake from the 50's edition of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The recipe said two 9" pans and I baked it in four 6" pans and put two layers in the freezer for later. An eighth of a small cake is perfect. More chocolate than that in the evening and I'd be awake all night.
Lane
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