REALLY MESSY!

I'm usually pretty fussy about keeping my workspace clean and organized.  But cutting squares from scrap fabrics is one big exception.  I have lots and lots of scraps of all sizes.  It's simply hard to throw away any piece of material 2" square or larger, so I save them all.  Sometimes when I can't sleep during the night I get up and cut these scraps into usable squares.  Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville.com) promotes what she calls a "Scrap Savers System."  This is my take on that:

It starts with this little basket on the cutting table.  When some rather small piece of fabric is left as cutting what is needed for a quilt, it goes into this basket.  When the basket is full, I take the time to trim the scraps into usable squares, 1 1/2", 2", etc.  There's also a container for triangles, all sizes, and a container for "Strings."  

Back in 2015 I went to visit our older daughter.  Knowing that she would be working full-time while I was there I grabbed a bag of 2 1/2" scrap squares and a bag of 3" scrap squares.  Each day while she was at work I sewed in her spare bedroom, using the squares to make a Split Nine Patch quilt.

Nice, eh?  One of the activities I planned for when we had all the kids and grandkids here in summer of 2015 was billed as a "Treasure Hunt."  I displayed about 15 quilts and wall hangings and let them choose a first, second and third choice to take home for their own.  This Split 9 Patch was one that wasn't chosen.  Later I brought it to IDA where there is a "Fabric Nook"--a very nice fabric and notions section for display there, basically, just to decorate the wall above the shelves a bit.

Brenda mentioned a few times that there have been several inquiries about this quilt.  How is it made?  So I have agreed to come some day in June and "demo" making this quilt.  In order to do that I need lots of 2 1/2" and 3" squares in darks and lights.  One of the great things about this particular quilt is that you can use almost any fabric and it will look fine.

But there weren't very many 2 1/2" or 3" squares in my containers.  So lately I've been cutting up scraps to make enough of the squares for another quilt, and extra so that there is choice in combining fabrics.  This afternoon I finished that.  I have plenty now.

The best way to do it is to spread all the scraps on the floor, in order to dig through the pile and select the fabrics you'd like to use.  This creates quite a mess!

I don't care to have the sewing area looking like that for long!

Here's the result: quite nicely organized into piles of 10 each, keeping track of how many have been cut.  Now I'm all set for June.  Well, almost.  I still need to make up a sheet of instructions for creating the Split Nine Patch blocks.  If you'd like to try this pattern, go to Bonnie Hunter's blog, quiltville.blogspot.ca, click on the Free Patterns at the top of the page, and scroll down to Split Nine Patch.  You'll find all the instructions there.

I highly recommend Bonnie's blog, her patterns, etc.  She's a real resource for quilters!

SATURDAYS

I like Saturdays!  They don't have the same duties as weekdays.  I feel that I have more choice about what I will do. I usually choose to do some baking.  Today I made 13 cranberry scones for breakfast.  I had 2, Jim had 5; that leaves just 6 for some other breakfast, or 6 for snacks once in a while.

We had only one hamburger bun left in the freezer and since Saturdays are Burger Days it was time to make a batch of them.  Then for a light snack once in a while I made three Heirloom Boston Brown Breads.  That's a recipe from the More with Less cookbook, which came out in the 70's.  That was the first cookbook I was ever interested in.  I read about it and bought it.  I learned quite a bit from it, and still use some of the recipes on a regular basis.

One of them is the recipe for Heirloom Boston Brown Bread.  Very simple: 2 cups of whole wheat or graham flour, 1/2 cup of white flour, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt.  Mix these together.  (I add some Whey powder to add protein.)  Add 2 c. buttermilk or sour mild (I use no fat plain yogurt), 1/2 c. dark molasses, 1 c. raisins.  Mix all together.  Then I depart from the recipe.  I divide the batter among 3 heavily greased tin cans (saved from canned tomatoes) and bake in a 350º oven for 45 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes and turn out onto a cake rack.  This is very nice with some homemade jam or a slice of cheese (round Havarti is especially nice and fits just right).

I also finished up a pair of socks that were started as examples in the "Toe Up Sock Knitting Class" which I taught at IDA during February and March.  These are Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in "Rainbow Stripe."

I wanted to go ALL the way to the last bit of yarn for both socks and figured out how to know how much to save for the binding off, using Jeny Staiman's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off--such a good solution for binding off socks!

Here's what to do:  When you're getting near the end, take the very tail end of yarn and loop it around a needle (the size you're using, of course), one loop for every stitch in the whole round.  Holding the last loop, slide the loops off the needle.  Now double the amount of yarn used to make the loops.  Add just a little for weaving in the yarn end.  Put a knot where that is.  Make it pretty secure.  When you reach that knot, it's time to start binding off.

The way to get the stripes the same in both socks: Pull out the beginnings of the two balls of yarn (that is, if you're knitting with 50 gram balls) laying them side by side until you're able to have a colour match.  Trim one of the yarns to match the other yarn.  This usually works for me.

These will go to one of our granddaughters.  And I started a pair for her younger sister.  These needed to be unravelled and made narrower.  Here's a good method of doing that in such a way that there's no problem catching the stitches back:

I take out a needle and insert it into the stitches below, however far it needs to be ripped back.  One by one the needles are removed and inserted into the stitches that need to be "caught."  I find this much easier than trying to pick up stitches from completely raveled knitting.

ALMOST TWO THIRDS

 

Almost two thirds of the blocks for the new quilt are now finished.  This photo shows the right hand two thirds (almost).  This second photo shows how the blocks are put together.  There is one large square block, surrounded by four oblong blocks with 4 small square blocks as cornerstones. 

I should have taken apart the block on the right as that one has all the parts in place.  This block needs the lefthand bottom cornerstone, the left oblong and the left upper cornerstone added.  

Each block is made exactly the same, but because the squares of some are cut 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" (the large square blocks), others are cut 2 1/2" x 1 1/2"(the oblong blocks), and some are cut 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" (the small square blocks), they turn out differently.  But each block has the same amount of seams and the same construction.

Right now they are laid out on the backs of two cheap vinyl, flannel-backed tablecloths.  That way they can be rolled up, transported, and still be kept in the same order.  Before I sew the blocks together I will do some repositioning, as there are places where identically coloured squares meet.  I want to keep it as random as possible.

There are three more of the big square blocks sewn and one more of the small squares.  That's 32 out of 53 finished.  So I'm feeling past the "doldrums" on this quilt.  There's always a slog through the middle part of making a quilt.  Beginnings are exciting, and galloping toward the finish line is also gratifying.  I'm not there by a long shot yet, but am feeling much more hopeful.

TREE REMOVAL

There is a blight in certain trees on our property: Maydays, Schubert Choke Cherries, others of that family.  It results in "cankers" -- black nodes on the branches.  Eventually it will kill a tree.  One Mayday just by the garden was severely infected.  Yesterday Jim took his hand saw and started taking limbs off.

This is what was left of the tree this morning when I left for my walk with M.

Just as we finished our walk we heard the tractor and saw Jim leaving the driveway, dragging that last upright section behind, heading for our little "dump" of vegetation in the corner of our field that lies south of the buildings.

Seems like quite an accomplishment for a 79 year old fellow!

A GOOD BOOK AND A RECIPE

My friend M. loaned me a book last Saturday, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  It's one of those that you can't put down.  So I finished it yesterday.  I highly recommend it!  It's about a recently retired man who is at loose ends.  Although he and his wife still live in the same house, they are effectively estranged.  He is also estranged from their son, an only child.  There are hints of past tragedy.

Harold receives a letter from a colleague with whom he worked whom he had not be in contact with for the last 20 years.  It was brief and stated that she wanted him to know that she was in the last stages of an inoperable cancer and was in a hospice.  He wrote a reply and when he went to mail it the next morning he somehow kept on walking, past several post boxes and out of town.  It was the beginning of a walk of over 600 miles, begun without thought or preparation, or even a goodbye.

Now, how can a book that begins like that be interesting?  Well, it's about character development.  This is one of the best books I've read lately.  I read three or four books a week, and this is one that I am enthusiastic about.  If you like to read books about people and their relationships, you don't want to miss this book!

Now, a new recipe.  This was given to me, also by M., as "Harvest Loaf."  I've changed it somewhat and now it's "Pumpkin Muffins."

PUMPKIN MUFFINS
Mix together:
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 TBS canola oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup cut up dates or raisins

In a separate container mix together:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until all is moist.  If the mix is too wet, add some whole wheat flour.

Spoon into muffin cups (parchment preferred) and bake in a 350º oven for 25 minutes.
Cool and store in an airtight container.  Can be frozen.

These are very nice just plain, heated, but also go very well, split, with a bit of cream cheese spread.

YEP, A PLAY DAY

 You wouldn't think that a play day meant standing by the cutting table, cutting 3" and 2 1/2" squares all morning, would you?

But that's what happened.  Dig through all the leftovers and scraps.  Press and cut, and soon there are enough squares for half of a planned lap quilt.

The tall piles contain 120 cut squares.  I found a few ready made 1/2 square triangles.  And even cut a few more 3" and 2 1/2" squares for the second half.

In a few weeks I will spend a day sewing at IDA where we have a fine fabric section, complete with thread and notions, even yarn for knitting.  If we didn't have that here in town, we'd have to drive a hour to access a fabric store.  So I try my best to support our local quilt shop.  The plan is that I will demonstrate a Split 9 Patch some day this summer, by sewing in the fabric department for most of the day.  In preparation for that I'm cutting squares.  

Now I think it's time to start sewing on the big project, the Entwined Quilt.  It would be nice to make some progress on that quilt.

PLAY DAY

When the day is like this I retreat to my sewing room and play with fabric!

I took a video of the snow falling, but it doesn't transfer properly to the blog, so we'll settle for the photo.