I had just enough juice left tonight after work, two hours of pickleball and a 2 mile walk with my boys to finish up the final two Wensleydale blocks.
Here’s #60 under my needle.
And the final block finished and trimmed.
And I showed you the final block because I’m saving the best for last. I really think that block #59 just might be my favorite of all the blocks.
Many of the blocks I’ve made for this quilt are my favorite at the time I make them, but I think this might be the best of all of them! Maybe because it was almost the last.
Here’s the final two blocks together.
And a look at the final 10 blocks. . . look at all the lovely contrast!
Makes me think that when I make this pattern again I’ll plan more carefully to have that strong contrast between blocks. It gives a really cool effect and I’m guessing a lot of secondary patterns would emerge.
Once I got these two blocks done tonight I peeled the paper off the last ten blocks while I watched the last couple episodes of Ted Lasso on Apple TV.
I’ve got all the blocks sorted into piles by value of the outer fabric: dark, medium dark, medium light and light.
I still need to put the most recent blocks into their piles than if I have time I’ll toss them all up on my design wall tomorrow night.
I’m going to visit a friend tomorrow night who has a new corgi puppy. I’ve been looking forward to meeting here. There’s really nothing cuter than a corgi puppy.
Now it’s time to figure out what I’m going to make next.
I had really hoped to finish up the four remaining Wensleydale blocks this weekend but it just wasn’t going to happen. The only time I spent in my sewing room was this evening. I had a busy weekend.
Here’s the two blocks I finished up tonight. And I LOVE them.
I tossed them in with some I made the other night just to see how they look.
And some large photos because I love looking at them.
Maybe I’ll actually finish the last two blocks tomorrow night.
I got up way too early yesterday morning so I could be ready to play pickleball at 8 am!!! I can’t really believe I did that on a Saturday! But I had a blast and really wore myself out. I played outdoors and it was a gorgeous day! It was so nice to be outside in the sun.
When I got home from Pickleball I had enough time to take the boys for a nice walk before I had to hit the road again. I noticed that the roses in my neighborhood are starting to bloom.
My yellow rose has exploded in the last few days.
My rhododendron, however, is not quite so spectacular. I noticed today that it only has three blooms on it.
And I can’t see any buds that are waiting to open. This plant is usually just covered with blooms. I did notice that there’s a lot of new growth on it.
I wonder if this is just a cyclical thing. I sort of remember that I’ve had pathetic blooms in the past.
Once we were back from our walk and had some Cheerios for lunch (yes, Cheerios make a fantastic lunch!) I tossed my boys in the car and we were on our way to Carlton, Oregon. It’s southwest of me an hour and is in the heart of Oregon’s wine country. I was headed there to drop off my quilts with the long armer who is trading quilt tops for quilting. I took twelve quilt tops with me (six with backings and binding) and came home with none! It’s exciting to know that I’m going to have some gorgeous quilts coming home soon. And it’s nice to get my closet drawers cleaned out.
I really enjoyed the drive. . . gorgeous rolling hills of farm land, Hazelnut groves and vineyards. I took the back way home and love every second of it.
I dropped the dogs off at home and headed to the garden store to buy my annual food type plants. I bought four tomato plants, a few strawberry plants and three varieties of lettuce.
And I got them all planted before dinner. My tomato plants are in this larger stock tank.
My lettuce is planted in a smaller stock tank.
The stock tank at the top of this photo with the netting is where my strawberries are planted. I add a handful of new plants each year.
I took the boys for a nice three-mile walk when I got home. I was exhausted and didn’t have any oomph left to do any sewing.
I slept in this morning and sort of just had a lazy morning. Then I left at 12:30 to play 2.5 hours of pickleball. And I had a blast! I’m trying out some loaner paddles from a store and I played with one today that I just love. I’m probably going to have go buy one now.
Once home from Pickleball I took the boys for a nice three mile walk. It was a gorgeous evening. I even had to put on a sweatshirt!
Another work week, then I’ll have a four day weekend with lots of pickleball and a sheep herding trial for Rico.
It was a really nice day here today. A little cooler than the last few days. We even took an afternoon walk and it was lovely. We had a nice evening walk too. My phone tells me that we walked over 7 miles today. That seems a little hard to believe. I though we had walked about 5.5 miles.
Once we got home from our evening walk I hit my sewing room to whip out three more Wensleydale blocks. With these three done, I just have FOUR more to go!!! Wahoo!
I’m posting large photos of each block because I know some of you enjoy looking at the fabric combos in each block… and I do too!
Wow! I just LOVE how different each block is. And the color in that last one is so good… the turquoise and green in the leaves in the dark fabric combined with the pop of the yellow spots… LOVE IT!
Here’s the six I’ve made most recently.
And as I’m getting close to finishing the blocks for this quilt top, I got a nice surprise shot of inspiration today that might determine my next project.
As I was looking at Instagram last night I came across a video from an account that I hadn’t previously followed. I used to make pottery in a previous lifetime and I follow some ceramics accounts so Instagram occasionally suggests something really interesting to me. This account that Instagram suggested really spoke to me and I looked at a few of this potter’s things last night. Check out Greg Rasmussen Ceramics on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gregg_rasmusson_ceramics/
I was looking at his pots again today during my lunch hour and ran across a pot that made me look deeper and deeper into his photos. And I found a lot of variations on the pot I had seen that pulled me in.
I’ve been wanting to make a different version of the sea glass wall hanging I made for a friend last summer. This one.
I’d really like to have a very different version of this to hang on the wall of my sewing room.
I had in my mind that I wanted to combine an array of different color ways of Philip Jacobs’ Brassica with a teal-ish blue shot cotton I purchased for this purpose for the background.
So I had this brainstorm to apply the pieces of brassica on the shot cotton in a pattern similar to the pot that inspired me. I have a pretty strong idea running through my head. So the creative idea is there and is strong. Now I just have to figure out how the hell to actually do it!
I’m thinking of drawing the pattern on brown craft paper or maybe freezer paper. Somehow I’m going to have to get some guidelines onto the fabric to maintain the overall design. I’m going to have to organize and keep track of a lot of little pieces of fabric so I can put them all on in the right order. It’s going to take some thinking and planning to keep it all organized and get it on the fabric accurately.
Hmmm. I’m going to have to do some noodling on this but I see something really cool in my brain! I hope I can bring it to fruition.
I noticed today that my first roses have bloomed. These little yellow roses are a favorite of mine.
One more day then the weekend! I’ve scheduled a four day weekend over the Memorial Day weekend, and then a three day weekend the following week. It will be nice to have those extra days. I’m thinking my boys need a trip up to the Columbia for a nice swim. That might be on our agenda for one of those days.
I was asked in the comments on my last blog post about the pattern names for the quilts I’m taking to the long armer this weekend. So here goes:
#1#2#3#4#5#6
#1 is a version of the Algorithm quilt from GE Designs Stripology Squared book. You can find it with a Google search.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
We wrapped up our radio drive today. I’m exhausted. I’m looking forward to a few days off to get some sleep and do something fun.
I worked from 7-10 this morning, then I hightailed it down to Molalla for Rico’s weekly sheep herding lesson. It was the most gorgeous day. It did my soul good to be outside and breathe some fresh air and move my body.
I mean… just look at that! That, to me, is NW Oregon in the spring. I kept literally gasping every time I turned around and saw this view. I just had to get some photos of it.
And… it’s made even better because Rico was a complete ROCK STAR in his lesson today. Look at him on that cross drive! I’m so proud of him!
What a good boy.
After our lesson I hightailed it home and worked again from 2-5.
After a walk and dinner I hit my sewing room and decided to whip up the final two quilt backings that I wanted to finish this weekend.
The first was the backing for this red and yellow Algorithm quilt made from all KFC fabrics. Oh man… I forgot how much I love this quilt top.
When I unfolded the quilt I found a piece of fabric that I had purchased years ago on a pretty deep sale. I believe it’s no longer in print. It’s called Roller Coaster and I’m pretty sure it’s a Brandon Mably design.
It’s actually in the quilt top. You can see a piece of it under my hand in the lower right.
I was thinking there wasn’t enough to make a backing, but there was plenty. Plus, the quilt is small enough that two pieces sewn horizontally was plenty tall — and I still have a yard left over. So this one was easy to put together. I didn’t even try to match that pattern, and I don’t think it matters.
This picture shows the finished back on my ironing board. I think it’s pretty hard to see the seam. So this is a win for me.
It’s such a fun and light hearted fabric. I love it.
The next quilt I wanted to make a backing for is my red KFC Fractured quilt that my friend helped me make last year when she was visiting.
The fabric I purchased for the backing has a large leaf design running the length of the fabric instead of the width. I felt like I wanted to the leaves running up and down the height of the quilt, rather than from side to side. So I pieced two vertical pieces together, while two horizontal pieces would have been enough for the height of the quilt.
I did have to trim around 8 inches off of one of the vertical pieces. I didn’t even try to match the pattern on this one, but I did cut it so the pattern on each piece of fabric lines up. Meaning that from side to side the repeat is the same, but the pattern doesn’t match perfectly in the middle.
I think it’s difficult to see the seam on this one as well. Here’s the entire backing hanging on my small design wall. Can you see the vertical seam?
Here’s a close look.
And an even closer look…
I am 100% ok with the fact that the two pieces of fabric don’t match at that center line. I think the seam is well-camouflaged.
No boring backings in my house!
Once I had these two backings done I packaged up each of the seven quilts and backings that are ready to head off to the long armer … ready except that I need to make the binding for each of them. Each package also contains the binding fabric.
Six of these will be quilted in trade for quilt tops I’ve made. It’s such a great deal. The other quilt, the sunburst log cabin quilt for my brother and his wife, will go to my regular long arm quilter.
I’m going to have a huge stack of quilts when all this is done. I have no idea what I’m going to do with any of them except for the one for my brother. I’ll have to finish the bindings on the one that are being quilted for trade. The long armer will sew the binding on to the quilt while it’s still on the frame. The rest will be up to me.
In making all these backings I had to trim off the selvedges. I had initially tossed them in my garbage can, then pulled them out thinking I could make something fun from them.
Yay. More scraps!
On our walk before dinner we saw that the dogwood trees are just starting to bloom. They are one of my favorite things about spring.
The azaleas are also almost in their full glory right now.
Look at this thing close up…
Most azaleas are well groomed around here. I prefer a more natural look. But they are little bundles of color.
Here’s another variety of azaleas. I love this more wild look.
The Rhododendrons are glorious right now. Mine has not started blooming yet but it’s always the latest one to show it’s glory.
I’m going to sleep in tomorrow then head out for a couple hours of pickleball! Then Monday and Tuesday I’ll be off work.
I’ll leave you tonight with this image of this good boy bringing me some sheep.
I worked the early shift today and have to work the early and late shift tomorrow, so I took a couple hours off this afternoon to step away from my desk.
I decided to take advantage of this time and whip out another quilt backing. So I grabbed a quilt top and some yardage and started measuring the cutting. I decided to make a backing for this quilt… the one that I have a love/hate relationship with.
I’ve had a piece of fabric in my stash just waiting for this quilt. So I measured it, cut it up and put it Bach together with another strip of fabric that appears in this top.
That strip of Kaffe’s Lake Blossoms will connect the two large backing pieces. Both of these fabrics are in the quilt top.
And look at this fabric. I mean COME ON!!! Definitely one of my favorite Philip Jacobs designs with Kaffe’s gorgeous color way.
This went together quickly. It feels good to have it done.
This strip of fabric looked so pretty on my black wooden sewing chair.
Once that project was done I decided to pull out my Ice Storm quilt as I thought I needed to fix the backing I made previously.
When I made my KFC trip quilt I messed up the backing. I had to go get it from my long arm quilter and add a strip of fabric down the center. I thought I had to do the same for this quilt. It’s the same pattern and size.
But after measuring the quilt top and backing several times, it seemed like the backing was, indeed, the correct size. It took me a minute to figure out why this one didn’t need to be fixed.
When I made the backing for the KFC red trip quilt I sewed the backing into two horizontal strips. For the Ice Storm quilt I sewed the backing into two vertical strips. Here’s an illustration of how the two quilt backs were pieced.
I finally convinced myself that the backing of the Ice Storm quilt was correct by laying the top and backing out on my guest room bed.
So that’s another project that’s almost ready to get quilted.
After our evening walk I dug in and finished putting the borders on my starburst quarter log cabin quilt. And I was reminded every inch of the way why I don’t make larger quilts. I really hate wrestling with all that bulk.
I had previously put the borders pm top sides of this queen quilt. So the remaining two borders went on quickly tonight. And it’s done.
This is going to be a really lovely quilt when it’s all done.
And the really good news about this one is that I don’t have to piece a backing since I’m using a wide backing.
I still need to wash and dry that wide backing. I don’t typically prewash my quilting fabrics, but someone recommended washing the wide backs because of potential shrinkage.
So, that makes five quilts that are ready for the long arm quilter. I still need to make binding for all of them.
I’ll pick out one more from my done pile to have quilted. I have a couple ideas but need to look at what’s there.
More blooming happening in my yard. My lilacs blooms are finally starting to open.
My snow ball tree is also starting to bloom.
It rained all day today but our walk this evening was cool and dry.
Rico was a bit of an emotional mess last night. After his trauma with the thunder on our walk and the fly stuck in the house, we had some storms roll through early in the morning and he was very attentive and concerned about far off and mostly imperceptible thunder. He started waking me up at around 4:00. I had to finally kick him out of the room so he’d let me sleep. And then he JUMPED the doggy gate to get to me!
I felt bad for him. And Bender was unphased by it all. He seems fine this evening. We’re all looking forward to a god night sleep.
agilejack 