One of the things I wanted to do was change the quilt in the studio. I've had the same quilt there since we painted the room over 2 years ago. This is what I chose. I'm sure this is a wool bat, so I'm not sure why it wrinkled this way, but if they don't hang out over the next couple days, I'll get the steamer out and take care of them. This is my background for zoom calls at work and I'm interested in seeing who notices the change...and who will ask about it. The white background certainly brightened up the room.
I flipped the triangle quilt over to see how the back is coming out and it looks pretty bad. Quilting this one in the ditch means quilting in lines. But because of the piecing errors, the lines aren't straight. And, it's very hard to quilt a straight line on a domestic machine anyway. This quilt shouldn't be quilted in the ditch, and if it is, that probably should be done by hand, I shouldn't have used the variegated thread on the back and I'm so far in that I don't want to start over. I might need to set this one aside for a while and see what comes to me. It makes me want to go back and try that spiral again.
On Memorial Day, we worked in the yard in the morning, but in the afternoon, I baked bread. It's been delicious to have white bread after 8 months of wheat. Next week, I'm back to the wheat tho, but with a different recipe.
I think my phlox are having their best year ever. The ones planted in more sun are a deeper shade of...whatever that color is. It's not pink, it's not purple, but it's lovely and they are growing in just about every bed now, so you can see them from one side of the yard to the other.
The queen Anne's lace is blooming it's first flower. My Mom gave this to me last summer and I've kept it in a pot until it recovered, then put it in the garden. It's not a surprise that it's blooming and growing. The surprise is that it's doing all that after one of us stepped right in the middle of it when we sealed the fences a couple weeks ago.
There's a lot more pink in the yard than I thought there was. First, there was a lot of yellow, now a lot of pink and blue. Later, it will be red, yellow and orange.
Embarrassing story. You remember that clock I bought not long ago at Goodwill? Well, it stopped ticking and even though I wound it, I couldn't get it to tick longer than about a minute and I thought maybe that's why it was only $10.50. I was sad. I knew that one spring was over wound and I was depending on the other spring, so instead of a 30 day clock, I expected it to be a 15 day clock because it was ticking and chiming from one wound spring. Saturday was drizzly and I couldn't work in the yard, so I took the face off to see what I could do. I looked it up on the internet to see what I was getting into and I felt up to the task. (distractions like this may be why I feel like I can't get anything done...just sayin')
It had been so long since I'd messed with clocks that I had forgotten the fundamentals. I forgot that in general, one spring turns left and one turns right. I was trying to turn them both right...righty-tighty. Because the right side spring wouldn't turn right, I thought it was overwound. When I got the face off, I could see that it wasn't overwound. It was not wound at all. So, I tried turning to the left and that worked and I put the face back on and it's keeping perfect time again. I also spent over an hour messing with the hinges because the door wouldn't quite close. Turns out the case was built for a hook latch and the hook was missing. I ordered one on Saturday and it was delivered yesterday and now the door closes. I ended up with a great clock that was a real bargain.
Everybody have a great Monday. It's going to be another busy week for me. I know that's why the workday passes so fast and I like that feeling. I'd hate to have a job that I thought was drudgery. My job has some of that, but it has enough fun stuff that I hardly notice the drudgery bit.
Find something you like to do and do the hell out of it. Lane
7 comments:
Yes, I love me a job that passes time quickly! From yard work at home to my teen jobs to my present profession, I’ve always thought that the best thing is when time moves steadily along, or even when it flies by. Feeling useful and necessary are good aspects too!
Your hexagon quilt is lovely - crisp piecing, thoughtful color placeent, and delightful quilting. I believe you worked at getting the color distribution just right and it was so worth it.
Your bread look SO GOOD. My alternative flour breads are coming along, but I still remember the fresh tang of home baked wheat bread. And your has cinnamon swirls.
You are willing to tackle many things - sewing machines and clocks out of whack, intricate piecing and quilting, and I believe your work involves collecting and interpreting large scale date. "Find something you like to do and do the hell out of it" - you live what you recommend.
I'd call that phlox color "heliotrope," because it is about the same color as that plant's flowers.
And what you identify as Queen Anne's Lace looks more like yarrow to me ... they both have umbellate flowers, but yarrow is as often yellow as white. Queen Anne's Lace is wild carrot, and its leaves look pretty much like carrot leaves. Yarrow leaves are more finely divided, and feathery. Either way, how exciting to know that the plant survived!
The problem you had with the clock sounds familiar. I had bought a fan on a stand and was trying to put it together one night. I got to step 4 and was having trouble. It said to turn to knob counter clockwise and I tried and tried. It was late, so I left it for the next day. I reread the instruction and tried with all my might to turn loosen the knob by turning it to the left. I don't know why, but I tried to turn it to the right and it finally came off. Anyway, that's my story. Thanks for sharing yours.
On the quilt you are quilting......DONE is better than perfect! Since you are too far in to start over, keep on with what you are doing and let go of the negatives. Unless you are putting it up for judgement by the quilt police, enjoy the beauty! And yes, your Queen Anne's lace is actually yarrow, and it's a hard plant to kill! No surprise that stepping on it didn't hurt it.
Even a broken clock is right, twice a day. Thanks for sharing. Mary
Maybe serpentine stitch for quilting not perfectly straight lines? Since the serpentine stitch is a stretched out running stitch it hides imperfections. I use it often because it hides a lot.
I also think that you have a yarrow, you will know when the flower matures. Your garden, like your quilting, is inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
Diane
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