Posted on by agilejack

Some X & + Progress and Some Home Grown Stuff

It was good to have a weekend and I did enjoy it. Sheep herding with Rico Saturday morning. A wonderful lunch with friends in the afternoon. And a Sunday full of pickleball. But back to work today. Then another long weekend coming up since my workplace celebrates Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. You can read about Juneteenth here.

I didn’t get any sewing at all done on the weekend. And I’m ok with that. But I did hit my sewing room after our evening walk tonight and got a little bit done. I trimmed and sewed one more row of the X & + blocks and then sewed the two completed rows together.

It’s really fun to see all the Xs come together in the corners and see the secondary patterns emerge. I’m so glad I decided to deal with a little wonkiness in these blocks and not add sashing.

I love this more each time I look at it. The color combos are not something you see every day. And those little green triangles are magnificent! And the turquoise dots make me smile.

Look at this!

Despite being careful in pinning my blocks together, I seem to be destined to have the first seam every night be a little off.

OMG! That really bothers me. But not enough to rip it out and do it over again.

With the subsequent blocks I was more careful in pinning the seams and got a better result although not perfect. Oh well. Better luck next time.

One of the best parts of my weekend was my first strawberry harvest for the season. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this many strawberries in one picking.

And they were sooooo good! I just wish I could get better production. It would be great to get enough for my breakfast a couple days a week. But I don’t come anywhere near that.

I also noticed yesterday that I actually have some tomatoes on my plants. This seems a little earlier than normal. Maybe I’ll have ripe tomatoes in early July. That would be so wonderful!

And for my lunch today I picked a gorgeous bunch of lettuce. I ate it in a sandwich with some sharp cheddar cheese on good wheat toast. It was wonderful!

It’s so cool to go out into the yard and pick food! But I’d hate to have to survive on my meagre harvests!

On our walk tonight I was reminded of Wanda at the Exuberant Color blog and her post a few weeks ago about the golden hour.

The low evening sun was shining through the tall Douglas fir trees and lighting this little red tree on fire.

And this next photo doesn’t do this scene justice…. but I was walking on the shaded trail that we walk every day and it was like a tunnel… and to the west where it opened onto a round-about was bright sunlight.

I count myself fortunate every day that this lovely trail is so close to my house. It’s wonderful to have an easy opportunity to feel like I’m away from population.

43 Replies to “Some X & + Progress and Some Home Grown Stuff”

  1. I could almost smell the strawberries! Love the photos you share of your walks…. And a few not so matchy, matchy corners, everyone will survive. You know the saying, finished is better than perfect!

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  4. Your harvest looks delicious, your pictures are beautiful, and the seams in your quilt that are a little bit off now won’t show up when it’s quilted. I’d say that it’s win, win, win for you!!!

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  6. Love the strawberries! However, the friendly chipmunks seem to like my berries before I get them so only 2 berries this year. All the rest were on the edge of the raised garden beds with one bite taken out of each! Not happy with the chipmunks as they could at least share! LOL

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    1. I have netting over my strawberries to keep out the birds, squirrels and Benders. without the nets I get zero! Last summer I had birds that were eating the GREEN berries! That’s when I got the netting!

      Anne

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    2. That is a great idea and I will have to get some netting. I would think the tulle you can buy cheap would work also. The Japanese beetles also eat all the blackberry blooms so that would probably work there as well. Thanks for the reminder.

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      1. you can probably buy the netting at Home Depot or a similar store. the tulle might not be very durable, but would do the job while it lasts.

        Anne

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  7. Quilt looks great. Boy do I know that frustration of corners not matching after pinning. How dare they. 😅. Only you will notice and no one else unless you point it out, I was once told that LAQ covers a lot of sins.

    Yummy strawberries, even Ernest…So fun to eat your harvest.

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    1. Quilting will cover a good deal of irregularity in the piecing. But I still like to know that things I mare are well put together. But I don’t enjoy the really fussy stuff.

      Anne

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  8. I am helping my bestie make her first ever quilts, for her twin grand daughters due in late fall. We are having a ball….I usually do improve quilts, because I am not super precise. I have explained to her that the quilt police do not live at my house. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done. I think your quilt looks great.

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    1. Thanks for sharing with us! I am interested in so many of the same things that you are, so it’s fun to hear what you are up to. I’ve had a handful of strawberries daily for a few weeks now and what ever amount is ready just goes right in my mouth! Love your quilt and your fabric choices.
      My dawg & I go to the foothills where she can run off leash. Have a great day!

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      1. Haha! I usually just eat the berries I pick as I pick them. I do wish I could get enough for breakfast a couple times a week.

        It’s always nice to let dogs run off leash if they are reliable.

        Anne

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    2. I love improv quilts myself. That’s really the type of sewing I enjoy. I’m not driven by really fussy quilts with precision little pieces that all have to match. I just don’t find that type of piecing fun.

      And yeah… Do what you want!

      Anne

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  9. That quilt is so striking. Your seams are like everyone else’s. . . Perfect, enough. How often to we obsess over the little things only to realize once the quilt is finished, quilted, bound and washed no one really cares about anything other than the pattern and color. You are adding “the hand 🖐 of the maker” to each quilt and that’s a good thing! Proves your not a robot!
    As frustrated as you may be with your dreams I love the quilt and I’m not looking at your seams.

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    1. I wouldn’t say I obsess over nicely matching seams. but I do like things that are made well. So I’ll make an attempt to have them turn out nice, but I will rarely take out a seam to fix something. It feels like a healthy mix.

      you might also notice that I don’t make really fussy quilts with lots of little pieces that all need to match up. That’s not accidental!!!

      Anne

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  10. Love your quilt, it’s very striking. I’ve met Wanda and took a class from her and she is a lovely woman. Your walking area makes me envious as I live with no areas to walk except streets, no sidewalks nearby. Right now I don’t want to walk much as I’m still recovering from my knee surgery. Your fruit and veggies look great.

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    1. I’ve followed Wanda’s blog for years. She’s been a lot of inspiration for me. She’s also very generous in helping others. She’s helped me out a number of times.

      there are no sidewalks in my neighborhood so we walk a lot in the street. That’s why we’re all reflected up in the winter. It’s also why our trail is so nice… so we don’t have to dodge cars the enter time.

      Hope you can be back to walking soon.

      Anne

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  11. I am in awe of your energy ! May I ask what you do for a living ? I love the quilt you are working on and plan to make one soon. Currently I’m sewing placemats for charity…..Meals-On- Wheels…….It’s fun to use some of my novelty fabrics. i also just finished my very first scrappy star quilt using Tula Pink fabrics.
    Is it possible to send you pictures ?

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  14. Good evening. Just ran across this blog on Pinterest.  Are there directions or pattern for this?  Kaffe F. Is indeed incredible. Thank you for considering my question.  When I was a new teen (a hundred years ago or so) I was able to go to see Sheep Dog Trials at Madison Square Gardens. Still am mesmerized at the skills of the dogs and handlers.  I enjoy your comments about your dogs.  Joyce Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

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  15. I love your work, you are an amazing woman. I am going to try your latest quilt with scraps. Wish me good sewing! Robyn. I live in Queensland Australia on the Gold Coast.

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  16. I love following your adventures – pickle ball, sheep herding, beautiful walks in the woods, and quilts! I have been sewing since before I can remember, mostly scrappy quilts. I enjoy seeing your beautiful projects. We will be in Portland in a couple of weeks. (We live in NJ) My son lives in the Woodstock neighborhood. Could you suggests a couple of your favorite quilt shops? I might be able to steal away for an afternoon and do some shopping.
    Thank you
    Pennie

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    1. My favorite quilting store in the immediate Portland area is Pioneer Quilts in Milwaukie, Oregon. You can find them with a google search. Good selection of Kaffe fabrics. A nice selection of Aboriginal fabrics. Lots of lovely batiks. And a lot of other stuff. Really friendly staff. and shop dogs!

      If you feel like a bit of a drive, check out Sisters Quilt Shop in Chehalis, Washington. It’s about a 90 minute drive for me in SW Portland. Might be a little closer from Woodstock. Lovely shot Tons of Kaffe. Lots and lots of batiks. Kits. I make a point of getting up there a couple times a year.

      third option is an interesting one. A little shop in a barn in Battle Ground, WA (near Vancouver WA). it’s called County manor. Packed full of fabric. Disorganized. But a lot of Kaffe fabrics. it’s an experience that is different from other quilt shops. Would probably take you a half hour to get there. wouldn’t be my first priority of shops to visit, but it’s memorable! and sort of on the way to the shop in Chehalis. Not far off of I-5.

      Enjoy your visit. It’s a lovely time of year here!

      Anne

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  17. Hi there. I’m enjoying reading your blog from time to time.. I noticed today about how fussy you are about your seams matching. I’m the same way. The way I deal with it is to make sure I have opposing seams at all (or almost all) times. I’ve made an X + quilt and managed to do it. You alternate the direction you iron your trangles to the squares in the blocks such that you iron toward the square on two and away from the square on two. Then you sew so the “same” squares are diagonal from each other, i.e., in an X formation. Then do something similar on the inner square/rectangle pieces. Always press away from the center on the long piece and toward the center on the short (or vice versa). Then when you assemble, you can just rotate 90 degrees to always get things to oppose. So, bottom line, I always examine a block before I start piecing to see if I can make things be opposing seams. My two cents. No need to make change.

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    1. that pressing is a good idea. I made these blocks so long ago that I can’t remember how I handled the pressing. I may have changed it up as you suggest, but I don’t remember. I’ll have to look at my blocks tomorrow night to see if I did press strategically.

      Anne

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  18. Your beautiful photos almost makes me want to move back to the valley. My lilac just finished bloom & the poppies are opening. My lawn is dying from all the pine needles. I can’t keep up with the drop. I too am a fan of Kaffe was lucky to take a class with him a few years ago. If I could figure out how to send a picture I’d share a couple of my favorite quilts. Oh..well

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