Snow Day

Hello Everyone,

 

Self isolation - day 2.....the quilting continues.  I put flanges on my blocks.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of some of the blocks on the deck railing. 

 



We had about a foot of snow just on the railing by Monday morning, and it snowed for most of the day.

The snow started in earnest on Sunday.  This picture was taken from my front porch looking up to the back of the garage.  My job is to shovel a pathway up to the garage, while Mr. Joe hauls out the snowblower and clears the driveway.  This storm was not for sissies.

The plows came out mid-afternoon Sunday, and gave us a one-lane road. We could get out, but where were we going to go?

This is a picture looking over the snow berm, down at the cabin and into my sewing room.  I have a nice view of the propane tank outside my sewing room window.

The flowering plum is freezing to death.

This is the back of the cabin.  As you can see, there are no lights on since the power was out. It's been pretty erratic over the past few days.  We have a lot more snow now, I just can't navigate down to this area without getting a boot-full of snow, to get a picture.

Another one of my jobs is clearing the steps so we can get down to the generator.  I have my work cut out for me. 

Mazey loves playing in the snow.  She's just like a little kid when she stands at the back door, begging to go out and play.

During this time of isolation, Mr. Joe has decided he's going to learn to make sourdough bread.  His loaf was about the size and consistency of a hockey puck. We almost had to bring in the chain saw to cut a slice. He learned that he can't use the smoke alarm as the oven timer.

 

As I was gnawing away, (I mean politely chewing), I told him that I think he just made hardtack.  I looked up hardtack and here's the definition.  Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages, land migrations, and military campaigns. So, if our little grocery store runs out of food, we will have our hardtack....and potentially no teeth left.

 

He's going to make another loaf (and I use that term loosely) today.  Details and pictures tomorrow. 

 



Soon,

Lynn

Dresden Tutorial - Spoken For Pattern

Hello Everyone,

 

While we are spending more time at home, quite possibly in our sewing rooms, let's learn a new technique to add to our quilting toolbox......the Dresden Plate block.  My blocks are a little different because I'm combining Fans and Blades.  The Blades are the "pointy" bits, and the fans are rounded.

 



 

This is the block I'm making using Far Horizons fabric by David Schulz for Henry Glass Fabrics.  Begin by selecting three fabrics that look gorgeous together.  With this fabric line, they all look gorgeous together!

 



According to my pattern called Spoken For, I made templates out of template plastic.  I LOVE the gridded template plastic.  I like to make my templates out of plastic so I can see the underlying design for fussy cutting. In this picture, you can see that I outlined four blades on the wrong side of the fabric. 

I fold them in half, right sides together and pin. 

Then stitch 1/4" from the wide, top of the blade.

Clip the inside corner off along the folded side.

Press the seam open.

Use a little pointy thingy and turn the blade inside out.  Press.

And then there were four.

Now we make eight fans.  Use your template made out of plastic, and fussy cut the fans.

With this template, make a freezer paper template.  This is where my method differs from the norm.  Mr. Joe always tells me I'm not normal!

Iron the freezer paper template to the wrong side of the fan.

Clip the fabric right to the paper template.

I used a Clover, fabric folding pen filled with Best Press, and applied a little bit of starch to the exposed fabric.  You could also use a small brush to apply the starch.

I used an iron, and pressed the fabric over the template.

Remove the template and it looks like this.  Do this procedure on all the fans.

The fans are going to be placed right next to the prepared blade.

 Pin the pieces together.

Start stitching at the skinny end.  Before I start stitching, I move my needle one notch to the left. I stitch about halfway, and move the needle back one notch.  This procedure helps gather the center area together.  You can see that my stiletto is pointing to where I moved my needle back to its normal position.

Another little tipsy is to apply a thin, line of Best Press directly on the thread.  This also helps in the final construction and makes the seams flat.

You can't tell my needle was moved over a notch the first half of the stitching. This will ease the center area down.

I think these fabrics look great together.

Now I do the same procedure with the fans.

I lay all of the parts and pieces together, and continue stitching the seams together.

I fold my background fabric into quarters, and lightly press.  This helps me line up the Dresden Plate onto my background.  Then make the center hexagon out of the same fabric used for the blade.  At this point, I hand applique the plate to the background.  You could also machine applique the block to the background fabric.

I find the application of the Best Press directly to the thread line, and moving the needle over a notch, make the block flat.  In the past when I made this block, the center area looked like a square dancers ruffly skirt! Do you know what I mean?  I used to starch the block into submission with heavy duty spray starch.  Now I don't need to do that.

 

I have a lot more blocks made now, but I don't have a picture to show.  I only have to make one more block.  I may be far enough along to get a good picture later on.

  

Stay safe and hunker down.  We are self isolating at the cabin.  We are already quite isolated, so this is nothing new for us. We couldn't get more isolated if we tried!

Soon,
Lynn

Sew'n Wild Oaks Class Was In Session

Hello Everyone,

 

There were a lot of Sew'n Wild Oaks girls in the classroom at In Between Stitches on Monday and Tuesday sharing companionship, and their works of art.  Lynnette showed us her completely finished Heritage masterpiece.

 

As soon as Rhonda finishes the binding, this beautiful BOM will be in the finished column.

Gail finished all of her Eagles Nest blocks for her Romancing Alaska quilt.

Valery is machine quilting her Homemade Holidays table runner.

 



We all need a little sunshine with the depressing news that is gripping the world.  Here are some cheery, bright spots for you to enjoy.

The machine quilted chicken wire is just the perfect finishing touch for Barbara's chicken quilt.

 

Suzanne is almost finished with her appliqued, heirloom quilt.  There are so many sweet touches on her quilt.

 

Melody put this Star Wars quilt together in a short period of time.  Her grandson is going to love it.

 



 

My the force be with all of us while we navigate through these troubling times.  The world as we knew it has changed, and we need to adapt along with it. 

We've been preparing for a big snow storm that is predicted for our area over the weekend into Monday.  This storm will really keep people inside!  We have been raking, and cleaning the yard before the pine needles get wet. We've also been moving firewood to the front porch for easy access.  It's no fun carrying wood through a foot or more of snow.  We also stocked up on food since we may not be able to get our of our driveway and onto the neighborhood street very easily.  We have propane for the generator and gas for the snow blower.  Bring it on Old Man Winter.....we are ready for you!

Soon,
Lynn