Posted on by agilejack

Actually Putting My Hands on Fabric

I’m enjoying a luxurious five-day weekend. Jan 1 is a holiday, and I’ve taken off Thursday and Friday. I have plans to play pickleball every one of those five days.

I played this morning from 8-10. It was a really fun session. Especially the final game. I got to play with one of my favorite pickleball friends. He’s a retired philosophy professor. He’s smart. He’s irreverent. And he’s a heck of a lot of fun to play pickleball with. I haven’t gotten to play with him for a couple of months and we really made up for it by trying some new stuff. We arranged ourselves on the court so I was in the most aggressive position. It requires a lot of movement and switching sides mid play. We totally confused our opponents and it was a fun and exciting win!

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things. I got soaked just getting from the car to the store. We had a steady rain all day. So that meant that one of my days off was spent shut in the house. So I decided that I would be productive and not just sit on my but all day watching TV.

So I hit my sewing room and decided to finish up the economy block quilt that has been clinging to my design wall for months. I think I might be feeling some interest in starting a new project, so I wanted to finish this first. I sewed the remaining three rows then sewed all the rows together. Then I pulled and picked all paper piecing template paper from the back of the blocks. I really hate that part.

I do love the precision the paper piecing gives me, but I really don’t enjoy pulling all that paper off. The good thing is that these pieces are pretty big, so no really fiddly corners to deal with.

Once all the paper was picked off and the blocks were pressed, I dug in and got the double border put on.

This quilt really needed that border! The blocks are a bit muddy. The border sort of contains it, defines the top, and frames it all nicely. It was blah without the borders. And I love that border fabric! It’s a Philip Jacobs design.

Here’s a couple different views of the quilt top.

And a bit of the close up to see the border fabrics really well.

As a reminder, here’s the tutorial I riffed off of to make this quilt.

One of the pieces of fabric I bought online a couple weeks ago is a backing for this quilt. I’ve loved this fabric since it was reissued last year. It’s in the quilt top so it will work nicely for this quilt.

I have an idea for which quilt I’ll make next. It only uses three fabrics and I’ll have to make the same block over and over again. Luckily, the blocks are big so it won’t take too many for a quilt top. It would be a simple way to jump back in.

I had left over tamales for dinner. My boss brings me a lovely bunch of tamales every New Years Eve. She’s done it for years. So I get to enjoy leftovers for a few days.

I decided to make ANOTHER cranberry cake. I made one from my leftover thanksgiving cranberries, then I made another for Christmas Eve dinner, and had enough cranberries left over to make yet another one. So after dinner I whipped another one up and had a little piece as my evening snack.

It’s a really good cake and a great way to use up leftover berries. Here’s the recipe I used. I don’t follow all the fussy instructions. I just whip up the wet ingredients and then add them to the dry ingredients and the cake turns out fantastic!

I just might have cake for breakfast tomorrow.

Last week at Rico’s sheep herding our teacher just happened to see this guy in the mud.

He’s a salamander. The photo is a bit deceptive. He was around five inches long! You can see that he’s regenerating some toes on each of his front feet. He was also regenerating his tail. Looks like he got into a tussle!

We’ve had a really wet fall and winter. Luckily it’s been quite warm, with temps up in the low 50s most days. We did manage some blue sky a couple days ago.

I’m playing pickleball tomorrow afternoon. I’m hoping the weather will give us a break and I can get my boys out for a walk before then.

I just might start a new quilt tomorrow. It feels a little odd to have the desire to start a new project. I guess it’s been a good thing to take a few months off.

58 Replies to “Actually Putting My Hands on Fabric”

  1. Hello Happy New Year from NZ Great to see your back to quilting. I always follow and admire all your projects as I love kaffe fabric and have a reasonable stash and slowly using it! I have also recently started to play Pickle Ball it is great fun just the weather can be too windy at times. Look forward to following all your projects for 2025. I also enjoy the KF F/B page. Kind regards Julie.

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  8. That salamander is awesome! We don’t have those little guys in Idaho. Congrats on getting your quilting mojo back. Sometimes a break is just what we need. And congrats on doing so well with pickleball! I’m just starting but do enjoy it (mostly). One day I’ll get the hang of it. Maybe. Hopefully. Probably?

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    1. I’m really lucky to have a place to pay pickleball indoors during our wet season. So may people I know are just having to go cold turkey! I played every day the last week! Hope you continue to enjoy it! I’m definitely hooked!

      Anne

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  15. Glad your sewjo is coming back, I’ve missed your blogs, and your finished quilt top is Wowza.

    Interested in the cranberry bread but the recipe uses canned cranberry goop. Do you use whole cranberries in your version?

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    1. I used my home made cranberry sauce. I would guess the canned would be fine. I make mine using the recipe on the bag but cut the sugar in half and had the juice of an orange to the water to make one cup and use the zest fro that orange.

      Anne

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  16. So glad to the quilt juices are beginning to simmer- just a bit. Good to see Rico and Bender are ready for whatever comes their way. Happy New Year!

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  17. Great to hear from you. It’s like hearing from a long, lost friend even though you are a total stranger! The new quilt is so pretty. The blocks don’t look muddy at all! Enjoy your time off and the countdown to retirement!

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  18. It’s great to read your message again!
    I really look forward to hearing about your adventures with food, your beloved puppies and of course your wonderful fabric choices and designs.

    Thank you!!
    Joanne Toetz

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  19. What a treat to find you in my emails last night! Grand way to start 2025.
    So pleased to hear your sewjo is making a comeback. A while ago, I lost mine for about 4 years and ended up giving away half my fabric & supplies and taking a hiatus from my quilt group. I’m not sure what triggered its return, but I found my creative happiness again. Sometimes we just need a break.
    Thank you for starting this year on a high note! Happy New Year!

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    1. Wow! I’m glad mine didn’t take four years to come back. this was the longest dry spell I’ve had and I wondered how long it would be. it feels good to see my creative spark coming back!

      Anne

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  22. WOW you have been a busy lady! tamales, pickle ball and quilts Love the adventure you just posted the Quilt is so perfectly beautiful. the critter looks cute! the poochies are so tuned in to you Love your update, thank you so very much for sharing. keep on adventuring….

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  27. Glad to see you are back in the sewing room. I have had a long down spell with no creative juices flowing. This quilt is very cheery which is perfect for the winter months.

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    1. I’ve heard from so many people who are suffering from a lack of that creative spark. So interesting that so many are afflicted. I’m glad I feel mine coming back a little!

      Anne

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  28. Welcome back. You’ve been missed. I’m glad your creative spark is returning. Your latest quilt is beautiful. You’re right, the border is just what it needed. I can’t wait to see your next project.

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  33. Hi

    I do like the quilt ! I get so busy I some forget about paper piecing Kaffe’s fabrics! Thanks again for sharing!

    Love the cranberry cake looks like a recipe I can handle.

    Linda

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    1. the pattern included instructions for piecing these blocks in the traditional way. But I knew I wouldn’t get the precision points that I like. So I was happy to find those paper templates.

      Anne

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  35. I love the quilt colours, the border is perfect. My son had 2 salamanders for a number of years in a fish tank, I should say I had them, ha ha. I live in Canada and they are a bit different and a native species. Glad that you are back quilting .

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  36. Glad to see you’re getting back in the groove! Beautiful quilt!

    I’m really glad to see that cranberry bread recipe — especially because of the canned whole cranberry sauce. We can’t find the fresh cranberries here after the holidays.

    If we could just get the egg prices to go down here!

    I’m starting an Exploding Hearts quilt — all Kaffe! Cheryl

    Get Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef

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