Uncategorized – Page 18

May 17, 2023May 19, 2023

Wensleydale Blocks… Three Down, Seven to Go

It was sort of a perfect day here in Portland. Sunny and only a little over 80 degrees. So we started our evening walk a little earlier tonight.

Once we got home I hit my sewing room to dig in on a few Wensleydale blocks. And I got three done. That means I only have seven more to go! Here’s the three I made tonight. I’m posting large photos because I just love looking at them!

It’s kind of hard to believe that I only have seven more blocks to make to hit the magic number — 60!

Here’s all three blocks together.

Over the last couple weeks I’ve been streaming videos from Kate at The Last Homely House on YouTube while I sew. Tonight I watched a video about indigo dying. It’s a great thing to have on as I sew. One of my blog readers (sorry, can’t remember who it was) recommended Kate’s videos to me about a year ago. You should check her out.

Once this quilt top is done I’m going to have a lot of indigo batiks left over. I have an idea of a quilt to make that will use up some of them. I would combine them, again, with KFC scraps but in a different way.

I’d still probably have a lot of indigo batiks left over!

Before I wrapped up tonight I packaged up my recently finished bindings with their backings and quilt tops.

I’ll be meeting with the long armer who is trading some of my finished quilt tops for quilting services this weekend. It feels like it’s taken me forever to get to this point! As a reminder, here’s the six quilts I’m going to have her quilt.

Isn’t it funny that there’s so much red in there.

Jefe will be picked up tomorrow. He has been a really easy and well mannered houseguest. It’s been fun having a little dog sleeping on my lap for a few days.

Bender will be sad to see Jefe leave and take his little bed with him.

And last thing tonight, my snowball tree is in all its glory right now.

The blooms are huge!

Here’s the same bush when I bought my property in 2010. It was under some large Douglas fir trees on the property next door that were removed about 7 hears ago to build a big house.

You can see the Doug firs on the other side of the fence. That snowball bush was the only thing happy to see those trees cut down. Amazing what some sun will do for a plant!

You also see in that photo my Parson Russell terriers Forrest and Skeeter.

I planted four Doug firs on my side of the fence after those trees were removed. They’re over 20 feel tall now!

May 16, 2023May 19, 2023

Back to My Indigo Wensleydale

My weather app told me that we were expecting a round of thunder storms to rumble through this evening and throughout most of the night, with the possibility of flooding in some areas. But the whole thing fell apart and I didn’t get more than a few sprinkles. Rico was very relieved that there would be no thunder.

So we headed out for a walk once we felt confident that we weren’t going to get stuck in a downpour. We got to see a gorgeous sunset as we walked. And it just got better and better.

The first glimpse I got of it was when we got to the park just three blocks from my house.

My house is about 300 yards on the other side of those trees.

About a quarter mile from this spot, the sunset was at its best.

It’s such a treat to have our walk include a gorgeous view of a fiery sky.

When I got home it was a little after 9:00. I messed around, put a load of laundry in the machine, and finally hit my sewing room at 10 pm. For me, the night is young at 10 pm!!

The first thing I did was make two more of the selvedge blocks. I’m really loving how these look.

I have some ideas of additional pieces to make to add up to a bag, but I need to be careful because I have a limited amount of these selvedges.

With all those nasty backings and bindings I’ve been working on I’ve been itching to get back to the final ten blocks for my Wensleydale quilt. So I took a few minutes and cut the remaining light batiks I need for five of the blocks.

Then I made up the last five kits for these blocks.

I hope to be able to get a couple of these blocks sewn tomorrow night.

I love the evenings this time of year. I’ve tried to make a comfy place to hang out on my patio and I just love it. I recently purchased some LED solar lights that screw onto the top of a Mason jar. Then I ordered some metal stakes to hang them in my planters. You can see them in this photo. they have a little string of LED multi colored lights bunched up on the inside.

Here’s a quilt video tour I made tonight.

We still have our little house guest, Jefe, here for a couple more days. He’s been fun to have around and he’s really easy. It’s been a long time since I had an old dog in the house and it’s really interesting to deal with a dog who is almost completely blind and very deaf.

He really does an amazing job of making his way around my half-acre yard. He’s developed his own path and finds his way all the way to the back of the yard and then back to the patio without issue. He’s even discovered the dogs’ wading pool and thinks it’s the best place to get a drink.

He’s been sleeping a lot the last couple days. I think all the activity an excitement has worn him out.

I’m sorry to report that I’m a little disappointed in my boys again this year. Once again they completely forgot Mother’s Day.

I’m looking at my calendar and planning a nice long weekend in the next few weeks. Every day I take off reminds me that I need more!

May 14, 2023May 19, 2023

Hallelujah! Six Bindings Made!

It was hot today in Portland. When I pulled off the freeway at 10:30 this morning on the way to Rico’s sheep herding lesson, it was already 80 degrees! It reached 90 degrees today at my house. That’s too hot too early. A full thirty degrees above where it should be. And I don’t like it.

But Rico was brilliant in his lesson. I’m so happy with how he’s doing. It’s my last lesson before I have him entered in another trial at the end of this month.

I was going to take the boys for a field run in the park with the stream, but I missed my turn and ended up on I-5 south and just decided to keep heading home. The traffic was terrible. When I got home it was past time for lunch.

After lunch I dug in and made two more bindings. This one…

… and this one… which I messed up and had to fix.

After lazing around a little bit and then feeding the dogs their dinner, I hit my sewing room again and whipped up this beauty.

I Just LOVE that octopus fabric! And I think it’s going to be a fun touch on my ice storm quilt.

Then I whipped up a salad for my dinner and took my boys for a short 2 mile walk after the sun went down.

When I got home I forced myself back into my sewing room to finish up the final yet boring binding for my red KFC Fractured quilt.

That’s all six done! I didn’t enjoy a minute of making these, but it feels really good to have them done!

Then I decided to play around with all those lovely selvedges that are left over from the backings I made recently. So I cut some 5 inch paper squares and started placing the selvedge strips on the paper, then sewed them all together.

I made two of these little blocks before I called it quits.

My plan is to put four of these together in a diamond shape and sew them into a bag.

I searched for selvedge sewing projects on Pinterest the other night and found some really fun ideas.

I keep seeing these fabrics on my cutting table and I can’t help but think there’s a quilt in there screaming to get out!

I’ll have to keep this in mind. It’s pretty fun!

I’m supposed to play pickleball tomorrow but I’m guessing it will be too damned hot. I’ll head over there and see if it’s ok to play.

Other than that, I have no exciting plans for my Sunday. Maybe change my sheets. Now THAT’S a good time!

May 11, 2023May 19, 2023

Bindings Do Not Bring Me Joy

After finishing a radio drive, taking two work days off, and trying to catch up during this short week, work has been really hectic this week. I’ve been stressed and tired at night without much oomph for sewing.

But…

I’m slowly chunking away at the bindings needed before I can take six quilts to my long arm friend who is trading quilt tops for quilting. Well, I actually haven’t touched them all week since cutting them. But I finally forced myself into my sewing room tonight to get moving.

I got two bindings marked, sewn and pressed.

Those are rolled up and tied with a fabric scrap. All ready to put into a package with the quilt top and finished backing.

I find making bindings to be quite tedious and annoying.

Marking all those corners — annoying.

Pressing yards and yards of fabric strips — annoying.

Seeing them done and ready to go away — satisfying.

It’s not the kind of sewing that brings me much joy. It’s an annoying task that has to be done. I would rather it was done by someone other than me.

But I’m making progress. Four more to go. I’ve promised myself that I will finish these six bindings before I finish the last ten blocks of my Wensleydale quilt top.

We have a special visitor here this week. Meet Jefe (pronounced HEFF-ay). It means boss.

He belongs to a co-worker who is traveling to celebrate a sibling’s graduation. Jefe is, I think, ten. He’s tiny, probably a Yorky. He’s almost completely blind and very deaf. He’s really easy to have around and he’s really sweet. My boys pretty much ignore him.

Oh, and he LOVES food! And he sleeps a lot! He and Bender had a nap together this afternoon. Jefe is snoring next to me on the sofa as I type.

For being as blind as he is, he’s doing a good job of exploring my large back yard. He’s sort of developed his own path and can make his way around and back to the patio pretty efficiently. He does occasionally make a wrong turn and run into something, but he’s not moving very fast so it doesn’t do much damage.

He’ll be here with us through Wednesday. It’s fun to have a little dog in the house, and it’s nice to have a dog who likes to snuggle. Neither of my boys are snugglers.

Spring continues to get more and more beautiful here. On our walk this evening the smells of different blooming things was almost overwhelming at times. The lilacs are in all their glory right now and they smell so amazing in the evening. This Is my lilac.

This pale pink lilac is one I see on our walks. I’ve never seen another one like this. It’s the most pale color of pink and the petals are large.

Here’s a closer view.

It’s so gorgeous! I would love to have one of them in my yard.

Here’s two plants I stuck my nose into on our walk tonight. Both smelled so amazing!

What an amazing time of year here! And today was a perfect day. But we have some hot weather coming. It’s going to be close to 90 degrees this weekend, and the highs will be in the upper 80s for each of the next ten days. It’s way too early in the year to have temps like that. It doesn’t bode well for the summer. I guess I’d better get my air conditioner fired up.

The sunset during our walk last night was pretty spectacular.

I wasn’t able to get a great photo on my street because of houses. But I did get this photo of my house with the sunset.

And this photo made me think of Wanda at the Exuberant Color blog who posted some photos earlier this week of trees during the golden hour…. how they change when the sun hits them in the evening.

We actually got rained on during our walk last night. But the low sun was shining on the tops of these trees.

I love walking during a lovely sunset.

One more day of work and I get another weekend. I’m going to look at my calendar tomorrow and plan some days off before the end of June. Maybe a nice long weekend over Labor Day weekend. I might even go to a two-day sheep herding camp.

May 7, 2023May 19, 2023

Quick Sunday Update

I slept in this morning. After breakfast I took the boys for a two-mile walk in lovely clean and cool air. I saw this gorgeous tree a few blocks from my house. I’ve never noticed it before and I have no idea what it is, but it’s really pretty.

Then I hopped in the car for the 20 minute drive to go play pickleball. It was a great few hours of exercise and fun.

It was around 4:30 when I got home. I took the boys out in the back yard and played a nice rousing game of fetch until I wore them out. Then I came in the house and ordered some takeout rockfish tacos for dinner. They were yummy and just what I needed.

After another two-mile walk completely for the benefit of my boys, I hit my sewing room to get cracking on all the bindings I need for the quilts and backs that are ready for the long arm quilter.

I had made notes on the size of each quilt top so All I had to do was calculate the total inches of the outside edges and divide by 42 to figure out how many strips of fabric I need for each quilt.

Then I set in on pressing all the fabrics and cutting 2.5 inch strips. It was a pretty quick project and now all I have to do is trim off the selvedges, sew the strips together and press.

I feel like this is work and not fun. But it needs to be done. There is some satisfaction in getting these things done. But not much joy.

I hate to see this so soon, but we’ve got some hot weather coming up next week.

That’s just too hot too soon.

When I first moved to Portland 13 years ago it would rain all through May and most of June. they told me that summer here starts on July 4. Well, not any more. It’s getting more an more common to have temps like this in May. It doesn’t bode well for the summer.

I’m off work the next two days. I don’t have any firm plans. Rest and relax is my main activity.

April 25, 2023May 19, 2023

Down With the Old… Up With the New

It was a ridiculously meeting-heavy day at work today so I was stuck at the desk in my dining room all day long. I did get out to toss the ball for my boys a couple of times, and then right back to the grind.

After dinner we took our evening three-mile walk and ended it with a glorious sunset.

I was pretty tired after my work day so I lounged on the sofa for about an hour and then decided to hit my sewing room to get a little bit done before I fall asleep on the sofa.

I took my sunburst jumble quilt off my retractible design wall, measured it and wrote it all down clearly so I know how big to make the backing.

Then I folded it up with it’s backing and put it in my pile of quilts that need backings to be made.

With that done, I sorted my Wensleydale blocks by value and started putting them up on my design wall.

The thing I love most about my retractible design wall is that I can raise it up to do the lowest blocks so I don’t have to break my back to do the bottom rows.

And then I just lower it to do the higher rows.

Here’s the 50 blocks I have done up on this design wall.

I’m really glad I did this before I made the final ten blocks I need to complete this top. My plan was to make ten dark blocks. But after seeing these blocks all up, I decided that I need five dark and five more white blocks.

I’m really loving this quilt! It’s fun to see it all up on the big design wall. This isn’t the final lay out. I’ll have to agonize over that for several days before I throw my hands up and say, “To hell with it… it’s good enough!”.

Several people have asked me about my design wall, so I decided to write a little about it again.

My friend bought this retractible design wall for me at a quilt show many years ago and had it shipped to me from California. I don’t remember the name of the maker, but I’m pretty sure they’re not making these any more.

It has two separate design walls that roll up into the wooden box that hangs on the wall over the closet doors in my sewing room. So I can use both roll-up walls at the same time. The fabric is a heavy flannel with a plastic backing. You can just roll one up, blocks and all, and then roll it down again. Well, that’s the theory. I never do that because it sort of makes a mess out of your blocks! But I could have left my finished quilt top on the back wall and used the front one for these Wensleydale blocks.

Here’s a video that shows how the walls roll up.

My sewing room is a pretty small room. So the best thing about this design wall is that it hangs over the closet and just rolls up out of the way when I’m not using it. I don’t have a wall that I could dedicate to a design wall.

Each wall is big enough to accommodate a generous throw size quilt. But not large enough for a queen quilt. So to accommodate a queen size quilt I made my portable design wall. This blog post shows how I made that and how I use it in combo with my retractible design wall.

Poor Rico has has some stomach issues the last couple days. He wouldn’t eat yesterday morning and had no interest in his dinner either. He as a bit of a sensitive stomach so I always have ground turkey in my freezer and rice and canned pumpkin in my pantry. The ground turkey and rice make a bland meal that’s good for bad tummies, and the pumpkin helps firm up loose poops.

So after our walk last night I dug some turkey out of the freezer and browned it up. I also cooked a big pan of brown rice. I was happy to see that Rico was VERY interested in a few pieces of turkey once it was cooked. I didn’t give him a full meal last night because I didn’t want to be up in the middle of the night with an emergency run outside.

He was very happy to eat his breakfast and lick the bowl clean this morning. And, his poops look a lot better this evening.

He’s a little horrified that I’m telling you about his poop. He thinks that’s a private topic.

Bender, on the other hand, will eat literally anything.

What a happy damned dog.

April 22, 2023May 19, 2023

A Little Herding, a Little Conversation, A Little Wensleydale Sewing

Rico had his weekly sheep herding lesson down in Molalla at my friend Trudy’s place today… where we helped with lambing a few weeks ago. It was a new experience for him as he got to work in a great big field with hills and valleys, lots of trees and sheep he’s never seen before. And he did a great job.

Here’s a little bit of video from Rico’s working today.

I’m so happy with how his driving is coming along. That’s when he moves the sheep away from me. He’s looking so good and it’s so fun to see him so cool and collected, and to see all this training coming together so nicely.

I have him entered in another sheep herding trial next weekend. It will be fun to see how he does.

When we got home a co-worker came over with her dog for a play date. We had some unexpected, frank and very interesting conversation. It’s a coworker I don’t know very well and don’t have much opportunity to interact with. It was really good to get to have this conversation. I’m looking forward to more.

After grabbing an early dinner since we missed lunch, I headed out with the boys for a three mile walk. It was warm but cloudy. I had on a long sleeve t-shirt with a sweatshirt over the top and it was too much! We definitely have a change in the weather on the way.

I had really hoped we’d actually have a little bit of spring before summer arrived.

After giving the boys some dinner I sat down on the sofa and found myself nodding off. I kind of went with it for a while and then decided I needed to get my butt up and sew three more Wensleydale blocks before I was out cold. Why three? Because that would put me at 50 blocks done.

So I hit my sewing room and sewed up the final three lighter batik blocks that I kitted up last week.

I pulled the rest of the blocks off my design wall and stacked them up in sets of 10 so I can keep track and know when I have 60 blocks.

So, that means I have ten more blocks to sew. I think I’m going to toss all these blocks up on my retractible design wall tomorrow to see if I need to make more dark blocks or more light blocks. I’m pretty sure it still needs more dark blocks to go with all these light blocks I’ve been making.

I’m going to remove the paper from six blocks that are waiting… as soon as I finish this blog post. I calculated the other night that it takes me about four minutes to remove the paper from one block. I’ll finish these up as I watch some pickleball tonight.

I was tidying up my living room last night and realized that I had never taken some Australian Aboriginal fabrics out of the box they were delivered in. I bought these online a couple of months ago.

I have no idea where I’m going to put them. The plastic bins that hold my Aboriginal fabrics are already too full.

After a good night sleep and a walk with the boys in the morning, I’ll be off to play a couple hours of pickleball!

April 20, 2023May 19, 2023

Lucky 13 — Just 13 More Wensleydale Blocks to Go!

What a crazy weather day. The sun was shining when I got up this morning. The rest of the day included downpours, ice balls, rain, rain and more rain, moments of sunshine, and a high of about 45 degrees. I had to check the calendar to confirm that it really is April 20 as I type after midnight. I wore a parka and gloves for our evening walk!

But even with all that, we had this too.

That’s sort of magical.

The good news is that the forecast tells me we will have a day of 80 degrees with sun in about a week. I can hardly believe it’s true!

After our evening walk I headed down the hall to my sewing room to dig in and make a few more Wensleydale blocks. I was having so much fun seeing these new fabrics come together that I made four blocks!

I keep saying it, but one of my favorite things about this quilt is that every block is completely different! It also makes It more fun to make… I don’t thrive on making the same block over and over.

Here’s all four blocks.

This means that I’ve made a total of 47 blocks! It’s hard to believe I’ve made so many of these. I timed myself the other night and it takes about a half hour to sew a block. By the time I finish the final 13 blocks, I’ll have 30 hours of sewing time in these blocks. That doesn’t really seem that bad.

I’ve been noticing the last few days that I’m getting little flaps of fabric folded over when I sew my lines on the paper templates. I’ve also been seeing pins getting stuck on the edge of the sewing machine bed as I sew. I finally realized tonight that the legs on my extension table had adjusted themselves and my table was too low. The bed of the sewing machine was sitting up above the top of the extension table about a quarter inch.

So as I was sliding my paper template with the fabric on the back under the needle, it was catching on the edge of the machine and getting folded over.

My extension table has little legs that are easily adjusted by turning the little feet. I’m guessing they’ve lowered over time from all the vibrations.

I took a few minutes and adjusted this before the last block I sewed tonight.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. I’ve never had issues with the fabric folding over when I’ve paper pieced in the past. That last block went together so smoothly!

Oh, and that extension table? It’s an amazing thing. They are custom made to fit your machine. Really a fantastic thing if you don’t have a sewing table that your machine sits down into.

I’ve had mine for years and I just love it. One of the best purchases I’ve made. This is where I got it. They even make them for Singer Featherweights!

Something I noticed in a drawer of my sewing table tonight was this block of styrofoam I have where I put all my broken needle and pins. I’ve been sticking sharp stuff into this for quite a few years. It’s a great way to keep all those sharp items away from fingers.

I even use this to store different needles that are still good for use. I just write on the block what the needle is and then stick the needle in.

Now I’m gonna sit back and remove some more paper from blocks as I watch some late night TV.

April 17, 2023

A Little Sunday Sewing and the Weekend Ends

I had a great weekend. I had a sheep herding lesson with Rico on Saturday morning. Trudy takes several weeks off during lambing season so this was our first week back in a month and Rico did a great job.

We stopped while we were up in Washington and had a nice field run in the park with the creek. My boys were happy to get out. The creek was deep enough that they actually got a little swimming. Then they found a really good stick.

They were a wet mess by the time we were done.

I can’t remember what we did last night. I think we took a three mile walk at some point in the day.

We had another sheep herding lesson this morning with a different trainer and it poured the entire time! But Rico didn’t care! He had another great lesson.

After that I hight tailed it home, grabbed some lunch and headed out to play pickleball. After a couple hours of good exercise I took the boys for a nice three mile walk. They were happy to get out and we were lucky to have a break in the rain.

After dinner I hit my sewing room to cut some more fabrics for my Wensleydale quilt. I stopped on Saturday at a local quilt store and bought some whiter indigo batiks. I combined them with a few that I bought online last week.

I also cut up some of the darker indigo batiks. I decided last week that my quilt top needed some really dark and really light fabrics. I found this fun one at the bottom of this photo in that stack of fabrics I’ve purchased recently. I completely forgot about it but thought It would add a fun pop of color.

I love the way it looks with the paisley.

I think I came close to cutting up enough fabrics for the remaining 20 blocks I have to make.

I will still need to cut up some KFC fabrics for the centers.

Then I kitted up enough for four blocks, but only got three made before I started to fade.

I tossed these lighter blocks up on the design wall to see how they look.

They’re in there and I like what the lighter whites do for this.

Here’s the new blocks mixed in with some other blocks to see how they look.

I think I’ll be happy I went through all that effort to find the whiter fabrics. There aren’t a lot of them out there!

I decided I would start pulling paper off blocks while I watched a little TV at the end of the night. I have 20 blocks that still have the paper on the back!

It’s a pretty big stack!

After a lot of rain today it was nice to get a little bit of sun.

April 12, 2023

That’s an Even Forty — Wensleydale Blocks

I knew it was going to be quite a week at work. And I was right. My revenue and expense budgets are due on Friday. I’m close to having them done, but haven’t checked them off my list quite yet. I’ll certainly be ready for the weekend.

I have no idea what I did on Monday night. I think I worked late and then fell into a pile on the sofa. Last night I went and played pickleball. I had a great time. My favorite thing from the night was when I was playing with three guys. I was all over the place making tough plays and returning hard shots. I heard one of the guys on the other side of the net say under his breath: “She’s really athletic.” It made my day! I can’t remember the last time someone thought I was athletic! I’ve been thinking about it all day!

I was able to step away from my desk late this afternoon to get the dogs out for a quick walk before my last meeting of the day. We got a three mile walk in after dinner. It was so nice out! We’ve been having some really rainy days. Today we had rain, sun, ice balls, more rain, sun and rain at the same time. But our walk tonight was glorious!

Even with that, it still feels like winter. I’m really ready for some spring weather. But I love having the light in the evenings. It’s nice to be able to have our evening walk in daylight.

When we got home I thought I’d hit my sewing room and sew up the last three block kits I had made for my Wensleydale quilt. I timed it the other night and it takes me about a half hour to make one block. That’s way too long! It’s a good thing I like paper piecing!

Here’s the three blocks I got done tonight.

That makes a total of 40 blocks made. And 20 more needed to make it sixty in total.

I counted the paper templates I have left in the first book I bought and there are 20. I guess they gave me one extra.

Those 40 blocks have completely filled my portable design wall. So that means I’m going to need to get my starburst jumble quilt off my roll-up design wall so I can move these blocks. I think I’ll make the backing before I fold it up.

For the twenty blocks I have left, I want to include more dark indigo batiks. I feel like this really needs some darker fabrics and I have plenty dark indigo batiks on hand. Here’s what I’ll probably use next.

I might rethink the one with the lighter leaves. I like the color it would bring to this quilt top, but I’m afraid it will read lighter than I want. I’ll noodle on it for a few days.

I also need some lighter batiks in this quilt top. I’ve ordered a few pieces online. I have no idea when they’re going to get here. Here’s the tone and value I need more of.

I’ll also probably stop at a local quilt store when I’m up in Vancouver this weekend. they have a nice selection of batiks and might have just what I need.

Today is April 12. I’ve had an odd feeling about this date all day today. Then tonight it hit me. April 12 is the birthday of the first dog I owned as an adult. Billie was born on April 12, 1998… 25 years ago today.

She was an Australian Shepherd and I was definitely HER person. Here’s a video I made after I lost her in 2011. (you’ll have to click on that link. for some reason it won’t let me embed the video in this blog post).

This is one of my favorite photos of her. A friend took it once while we were sheep herding. She had to wear a muzzle because she was a little rough with the sheep.