I Be Jammin' !

My jam, looking almost too pretty to eat!

We live within spitting distance of a great little country fruit stand, Kruse Farms .  They have delicious locally grown fruits, vegetables and even garden plants.  I have been waiting for the strawberries to come in and they are finally here.  I'm going to make up a big ol' batch of strawberry jam. 

So I walked inside and there they were, my long awaited strawberries, bathed in a heavenly light from above.  I was almost certain that I could faintly hear harp music... 

One particular flat called my name.  

I  was going to check out when I decided to just take a little cruise/Kruse, HA!, through the pie section, just to breathe in the delicious aroma of fresh baked pies! 

Kruse Farms has it covered when it comes to delicious, freshly baked pies.

Yum!

So I went home and gathered my canning supplies.  Although I am not a jammin' virgin,
 my jammin' skills were a bit rusty.  So I chose a recipe featured at 

The Pioneer Woman website.  There were detailed instructions

 along with LOTS of photos.  The recipe is super-simple.
You should give it a try.  It's not so hard.
And...
your house will smell delicious.

To make your own delicious Strawberry Jam, you will need -

5 cups crushed strawberries

4 T. lemon juice

1 box powdered pectin

1 pat of butter

7 cups granulated sugar
8 or 9 half pint (or 4 or 5 pint ) canning jars with lids and rings.

I personally prefer the smaller jars.
Makes me feel as if I get more if I have more jars.   
Simple. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

 So, I washed the jars and covered them with water in the canner, then heated them up
until the water was simmering, no need to boil.
I also put the jar lids and rings into a saucepan to simmer. 

I washed and hulled the berries...

... then mashed them up on a cookie sheet.  These berries were beautifully red in the center, not like those monstrous, mealy, white-in-the-middle Frankenberries that you buy at the grocery store.  

These bright berries will give my jam great color.

I put the 5 cups of mashed berries in a big pot and added the lemon juice and powdered pectin.

A pat of butter reduces foaming as the berries boil. I turned on the burner high and stirred.

When the mix came to a full rolling boil I added SEVEN, that's right, SEVEN cups of sugar!  

And that.... Dear Reader, is the reason that home made jam tastes so very good.  

After the jam reaches a BIG rolling boil, one that can not be stirred down,

I let it go for one minute, then turned off the heat.  

I skimmed off the foam, which is kind of a frothy, gakky stuff.  But it still tastes good.  

I know... I licked the spoon...

I filled the jars with the hot jam.

Then I wiped off the rims with a clean damp dish cloth 

and put on the lids and rings on the jars.  

It is important not to tighten the rings.  

 Just turn until you feel some resistance.  

The jars have to be able to expel air during the canning process 

in order to create the seal.

Next, I processed the jars in the water bath for 10 minutes.  When the time was up

I turned off the heat and let the jars sit in the bath for an additional five minutes.  

I lifted them out of the water bath and all of the jars immediately popped!, 

which is their own little percussive signal to me that they were properly sealed.  

Music to my ears!

I sat them on the windowsill to cool,

 then stepped back to gaze at just how pretty they all looked.

The next morning Mr. T. and I enjoyed some of my newly made Strawberry Jam on toast.

It was... well, ... it was beyond delicious!

The next time that I'm Jammin', I will be making RASPBERRY JAM!,
and maybe BLACKBERRY JAM !


Update - July 12

DONE! I made batches of both Raspberry and Blackberry.
Strawberry is still my most favorite, but Mr. T. is all about Raspberry.
I think that we have jam for the year!
And at nearly $4.00 per jar at the grocery store, that's like money in the bank.  

Update

 I'm Still Jammin'!  
(Sung to the tune of Elton John's "I'm Still Standing".)

Since my earlier post, I have put up two batches of Red Raspberry Jam
and a batch of Blackberry Jam.  

Mr. T. and I might just have enough jam for the year, that is, if I can refrain
from giving it all away to family and friends.

I have given jars to each of our three children are they are loving my jams.  I'm feeling like
The Bomb Mom!

Especially For Baby E.

Our younger daughter, known here in my little corner of Blogland as "Butterfly", told me that she wanted to make a baby quilt for her dear friends, Kim and Jeff, who will be having their first child, a baby boy, in August. She wanted to make a quilt that was not too babyish and that would carry this little boy on into his toddlerhood, and perhaps, beyond.  It is larger than the usual baby quilt, all the better for Mom and Baby E. to cuddle up together. Butterfly chose the pattern for the quilt and she and her handsome husband, the "Trooper", chose the fabrics. I LOVE that Trooper took an active part in the choices! ... 


When Butterfly and Trooper visited a few weeks ago, B. and I got the quilt cut out and we sewed the blocks together. We hit it hard and heavy, getting lots and lots accomplished with the two of us working together. That just warmed this mother's heart, she working on my Bernina and me working on Georgia, my Featherweight.

The finished quilt.
Mr. T held it up for the photo.  I cropped out his feet.

Pre-cropping, the quilt looked as if it could walk to Albuquerque in big ol' size 12's, all by itself.  

I just have to say, that Butterfly and Trooper chose fabulous fabrics! Here they are, pictured below. The off-white fabric was used as the setting fabric and the blue dot is the backing.

As an aside here, I learned to sew by watching my mother at her machine. I wanted to sew too, and began early in my childhood. Sewing has been one of my lifelong loves. I was making some of my own clothing by the time I was in Middle School. I don't recall that my mother ever "taught" me to sew. She set the example for me and was always there to guide me or to answer questions.  She pointed me in the right direction and set me on my path. What a perfect way for me to learn.


As the mother of two daughters, I thought that was the way for me to inspire my girls to sew, by letting them see me sew.  But somehow, it just didn't take.  I sewed and sewed and even sewed some more, but both of them seemed not to have inherited the sewing gene.  I even gave each of them their own machines, but neither of them were bitten by the sewing bug.  Don't get me wrong.  Both daughters are very creative, but they just don't sew much. So imagine my delight when Butterfly announced that she actually wanted to SEW A QUILT!  Maybe, just maybe, the bug has done it's thing.  


So Butterfly and I worked together on the quilt, but time ran out, their visit was short, we went as far as we could and I agreed to complete the quilt. I put the blocks together, then did the quilting. I finished up the binding this morning.  

Take a look at the piped binding pictured below.  I'm getting pretty good at this!  The striped binding was inspired by a quilt done by my friend, Carolyn D., who used a similar binding on one of her quilts. I love the way that the stripes add another design element.  

I am happy with the finished result and Butterfly is beyond happy!  She likes it so much that she is not so certain that she wants to give it away. She's anxious to make another quilt, this time, one for Trooper.  How cool is that?  We are already talking about fabric options.  She's lucky.  She has MANY more fabric resources available to her in The Big City than I do here in the Burg.


Baby E.'s quilt will be shipped off via FedEx tomorrow, in order to arrive in time for Kim's Baby Shower on Saturday, hosted by Butterfly and the Trooper. I hope that Kim and her dear Baby E. love this quilt as much as we do. 


I can't wait until Butterfly and I can work together on a quilt again.  Soon, hopefully.  

Ahhhh,.... Roses!

My roses are in bloom.  The photo above is the result of one of those lucky things that happen when the light is just right, I am in place with my camera at the perfectly precise moment in time, and the planets are properly aligned .

I confess, I am not so very knowledgeable when it comes to caring for these amazing plants, but despite my ignorance, they continue to bloom spectacularly.  Each day, when a new bud opens into a beautiful rose, I pronounce it to be my favorite, until the next one blooms.  It's as if I get a stunningly perfect gift with each new bud. 

Thank you, Mother Nature.  You know how to make this girl happy!

Hexagon Heaven

I have been in Hexagon Heaven since beginning this quilt about three months ago. I have stacks and stacks of little hexagons cut out and ready to be basted, then sewn into the "flower" blocks.  So far I have completed nearly 60 of these units, each measuring just over 7 inches across. I am using pre-cut 7/8 inch paper templates purchased from Paper Pieces .  The "garden path" hexagons will be made of the solid green background fabric shown here in my photo.  The fun is in combining the prints.  I have to say here that I think that I was cursed at birth... As previously stated in an earlier post, I have this thing, this disorder, that compels me to make everything match. Using all of these colors together is not easy for me but when I lay them out all together like this on top of the background fabric, I can see that it's all going to work!

I don't have nearly enough fabrics.  MUST BUY MORE! These 1930's Reproduction fabrics are harder to find than you might expect.  But the good news is that I have been given a number of smaller pieces by generous friends who see me working on my quilt whenever my backside hits something solid.  Their generosity is giving this quilt much more fabric variety than I could have managed on my own.

I am toying with the idea separating each flower with the little diamond shapes as pictured here, but of course, my paths will be green and the diamonds would be off white.  I am asking myself just how many years I want to be working on this quilt?  I have not answered that question just yet... since I have other quilts in my head that are begging to be made.  All I know is that I am enjoying working on this now and am trying not to think too far ahead.  It will be finished, one day... If I live long enough...

The Big Score

Hanging Baskets - 2nd place in my class AND
the President's Choice Award!

Chubby Chicks - First Place in my category

3rd Place in my category.
Bear's Paw Sampler Quilt
UVQG Block of the Month, 2010-2011

This past weekend was my quilters' guild's annual Quilt Show.  We guild members have done it once again! We have planned for, built from the floor up and hung such a stupendous display of beautiful quilts! How very fortunate am I to be associated with all of these very creative women?  Our show guests have come from all parts of Oregon and beyond to attend our show!

I have personally faired remarkably well, under the circumstances. I have learned the hard way just how to make sure that I am still standing at the end of the show.  The Number One Cardinal Rule is to Wear Comfortable Shoes!

Setting up a quilt show of this caliber is no small feat and would not have been possible without the the tireless work of our chairperson, Nancy J.  Our show has been months and months in the making and I have been involved from the beginning.

The real physical work began on the Tuesday before the show when we set up the poles and racks to hang the quilts.  We were assisted by Douglas County inmates, who, on work release, assisted us at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.  With their help, we set up the poles and prepared the hall for hanging the quilts.  A few of us had a real moment here,... wondering if one of the inmates had decided to Take-It-On-The-Lamb, when we saw this striped jail jumpsuit thrown over the stall at the entrance to the Men's restroom.  What does this look like to you?  Hmmmm...   But after doing a quick headcount, it became clear that we did not have an escapee.  Suffice it to say that it's not easy to use the loo in a jail jumpsuit, I suppose. All inmates were present and accounted for.

After preparing the hall on Tuesday, it completely came to life on Thursday, when we hung the quilts.  Again, this show would not have been possible without the work of Teri W., our resident quilt hanging expert.  Teri has taken on this job for a number of years and never fails to figure out just how to display our quilts in the best possible way.  Work starts early, with hundreds of quilts arriving at the hall at around 8:00 a.m.  Teri has everything lined out and the hanging begins.  Husbands lend their vertical assistance, no ladders necessary and long arms are appreciated. The entire show is hung in a few hours!  How amazing is that?

Our judges come in right behind the quilt hangers.  This year we contracted with three professional judges, who began their work as soon as the first rows were hung.  They come from around Oregon to assist us in the impartial judging of our quilts.

Friday morning is when we open the doors to our guests.  At this point, I have already been on my feet for two long days, and have another three full days to go,  but we love it when we open up the doors and say hello to the ladies (and a few men...) who come to view our show.

I am SO happy to say that  my feet were not been killing me, I had not been bagged at the end of the day and I have enjoyed every minute of our show.  I credit much of that to the fact that I have abided by Cardinal Rule Number One and wore sensible shoes.  I  learned that lesson the hard way, really.  My cute shoes are not especially appropriate for this kind of walking/work on the concrete floors of our exhibit hall.  I held up remarkably well, and was still smiling big after days and days on my feet hours and hours of prep work for our show.

On Saturday I was stationed at the admissions table.  I so enjoy welcoming our show guests, and saying hello to my quilting  friends and acquaintances.  Working Admissions is one of my very favorite parts of our show.  We see ladies walking through the doors with big smiles on their faces, ready for a day of fun.  Their enthusiasm is contagious.

Another one of my most favorite parts of our show is to just stroll down the aisles of our hanging quilts and chat with our attendees.  We all just love to talk quilts!  And talk, we do!  I spoke to one lady who had driven down from Sandy, OR., that's half a days drive for her.  She told me that she attended our show last year and that she thought that it was the best quilt show that she had seen in all of Oregon.  Wow!

I submitted three entries this year.  That was such a really big deal for me since I have only had one entry in our show previously.  I should also mention here that I have had a recent revelation regarding my wish/need to garner ribbons for my work.  Here is the back story.

We had a guest speaker at a guild meeting earlier this year.  Karla Alexander is an Oregon quilt professional who shared her work with us and spoke to us about her own personal quilting philosophy. And for those of you who do not know, there really is a quilting philosophy.  It is a very personal thing, as is the philosophy behind any form of self expression.  Anyway,...  Karla told us that she no longer "chases ribbons".  She said  that her reward for her work was the enjoyment that she gets from working with materials that she loves and the lessons that she learns from each piece that she makes.  I totally took her words to heart.

So,... I entered my three pieces and told myself that I had loved every minute that I worked on them and did not give a whit as to whether I won a ribbon or not. I did not need no stinking ribbons!... And I believed those words.  So imagine my surprise when I took ribbons for all three of my entries!  And that's not just three ribbons, but four ribbons! I took a 1st place in my category for my Chubby Chicks quilt.  I took a 2nd place in my category for my Hanging Basket quilt, as well as the President's Choice Award, (which included cool prizes!!!) and I took a 3rd place ribbon for my Bear's Paw Quilt.  Can I just say here... SCORE!!!

I had told myself no ribbons were necessary, that I had loved and learned and enjoyed making my quilts.  But, shame on me and shame on my ego, I am over the moon that professional quilting judges, as well as our Guild President, deemed my work worthy of ribbons! I am humbled... truly.

Just Too Pretty To Use

I just ordered thread from Connecting Threads. They have really great prices on their sets of thread. I ordered three sets pictured here, that's 37 large spools, but their deals are even better if you catch them when they are offering their sets for 30% off.  I still need to order another set or two in order to completely fill my thread rack with the same sized spools, 'cause that thread rack needs to be full of matching spools.

Some of my quilting friends only use those very pricey threads.  I have never had ready access to such threads and have managed just fine, thank you very much, with just plain old whatever-is-available thread. Sometimes I think that there is a certain amount of thread snob appeal.  If I am going to succumb to snob appeal, it's going to be for something way bigger than thread, like a brand new Lexus, maybe.

I know, I know..., I'm nuts to want my thread rack to look nice, but it always looked so untidy with all of those different sized spools with different labels.  It REALLY made me crazy when the labels would fall off and the top of the plastic spool was visible.  Aaarrggghhhh!!! Those ugly spools are all now stashed in a drawer, out of sight.

There is probably a name and acronym for this weird matchy disorder of mine, maybe something like TTA... short for "Tidy Thread Analness".  Hey,... maybe I can start a support group for my fellow sufferers of TTA. Raise your hand if you have TTA!  Raise it high! Anybody....?  Come on, admit it.  Own your TTA-ness!

OK, I get it.  It's probably just me in the TTA support group, just one... solitary... lonely... member.  I'll bring the cookies to the meetings.

Not Your Mama's Meatloaf

Our family enjoys my Neopolitan Meatloaf, especially on a cold and rainy day.  This recipe is best described in two words... Comfort Food!  Notice how the recipe cleverly inserts spinach into the works.  That's GENIUS!  I found this recipe years ago in Woman's Day magazine and it can be found here:

                 http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/neapolitan-meat-loaf-121663

I have altered the Woman's Day recipe a bit to better suit our needs.  I have increased the amounts of the ingredients in order to have one of those wonderful, Cook Once/Eat Twice meals.   I'm crazy about that concept.  It's kind of like a little present, just for me, when I go to the freezer and find that I have our dinner entree' already prepared.

I should also mention here, especially with all of the recent news regarding the use of "Pink Slime" in ground beef, that I buy mine at Costco, and from what I can learn online, Costco does not use that disgusting stuff! Thank goodness.  I don't cook with ground beef very often, but I certainly do not want that gak mixed in.

So here is my version of ...


Neopolitan Meatloaf

Serves: 8

Total Time: 1 hr 35 min

Prep Time: 25 min

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons cooking oil
• 2/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 2/3 cup finely chopped red pepper
• 2 large cloves of minced garlic
• 3 large eggs
• 3 slices of firm white bread
• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• salt and pepper
• 1   16 oz. bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed.
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• about 15 very thin slices (about 4 oz.) of salami (We prefer hard salami.)

So let's begin.  Place the chopped spinach in a colander to drain off any liquid.  Then squeeze it dry.  This step is important.  You want your chopped spinach to be somewhat flaky.

Cut up the three slices of bread.  I used Cracked Wheat Sourdough here but any firm white bread will do.

  I like the cubes to be small, under a half inch square. 

                                       

 Place three eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk. 

                                   Add the bread cubes to the whisked eggs, mix and set aside.

Meanwhile, saute' the chopped red pepper and onion in the oil.  Add the two cloves of minced garlic.  

Cook for about five minutes, stirring often, until lightly browned and soft.  Remove from heat.

Next, add the two pounds of ground beef to the egg/bread mixture in the large bowl.  Add the onion/pepper mixture and mix everything together, using your hands.  Really get in there and mix it up. No photo necessary here, we all know what mixed up meat loaf looks like, don't we?

Pat out the meat mixture on a sheet of foil until it measures about 19" by 10".  

And yes, I am just geeky enough to use a measuring tape to get it just right.

Then begin layering the chopped spinach, then the grated mozzarella.

Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The final layer is the salami slices.  Then roll up the entire works, jelly-roll style,

beginning at the shorter edge.  Be sure to seal the edge and the ends, otherwise the 

cheese will make it's Houdini-esque escape while the meatloaf cooks. 

At this point, the thing is huge!, kind of like the "Meatloaf That Ate Chicago", so carefully place the loaf in a baking dish and pop this monster in the oven set at 350 degrees for 70 minutes.  Let it stand for about 10 minutes when it comes out of the oven.  

Slice, serve and enjoy!

We like to have this with roasted red potatoes and green beans or asparagus, stir-fried with a tiny bit of olive oil along with some fresh garlic.  

Top that off with a green salad and you have a delicious, hearty meal.  

Glutton for Punishment or Just Plain Nuts?

Am I crazy or what?  I have just begun making a hexagon quilt.  I have been busily basting 1930's reproduction fabrics to 7/8 inch pre-cut hexagon paper foundation pieces. I really love the way that my fabrics look, all stacked up here in the photo. All I need to do is make a few thousand more of these little hexagon thingies and I will have enough pieces to make a quilt! All work is done by hand and if I thought that my fingers were sore from sewing down all of that binding that I mentioned in a previous post, I had another think coming

As an aside here... my father always used that same phrase, "You've got another think coming", especially when he would say, "If you think that you are leaving the house in that short skirt, you've got another think coming!".  That was long ago and far away, back in the late '60's, the era of the mini-skirt and I kind of rocked those short skirts. Wow, that was a blast from the past!  I just heard my Dad in my head..

My inspiration here was the quilt made by Patti R., pictured above.  She's a newer member of the Guild and this was her quilt that she shared at our recent retreat in Gold Beach. We each layed a quilt that we had made on our beds and then we had a little room-to-room quilt show. I was completely captivated by Patti's quilt!  I quizzed her about just how she put this thing together, she was so incredibly helpful and as soon as I got home from the retreat I dug out my 1930's fabrics and ordered the green fabric for my "garden paths".  Then Patti invited me to her beautiful 1920's vintage home to go through her amazing collection of 1930's reproduction fabrics and choose what I liked to add to my quilt!  My quilt-to-be and I are absolutely indebted to her.  I imagine women long ago, making quilts using this same pattern, sharing bits and pieces of their fabrics with their friends...

To continue, I have always loved handwork and that makes this project perfect for me.  It will take forever, and then even a little longer, but I am trying to grow myself some serious patience here, something that I have often been a bit short of.

I love the portability of it all.  I carry my little vintage sewing basket along with me wherever I go.  I make hexagons while Mr. T. and I are traveling from one place to another in the car, while waiting on our meal in a restaurant, while attending the Grand Boys baseball games, or during the lulls while I am making dinner. This is like found time to sew, little moments that turn in to productive opportunities, one tiny hexagon at a time.

I knew that there was a certain way to sew these little hexagons together into the flower blocks so I did some looking around online to see if I could find the directions. I laughed out loud, I LOL'ed, when I found the directions that I was looking for. They were posted on a website called Quilt-O-Rama and the post was titled "How to Make a Hexagon Quilt in 492 Easy Steps" !!!

I am indeed, crazy nuts....!

All Quilts, All The Time

I feel as if I have been totally immersed in quilting for the last two weeks, beginning with our 1st Annual UVQG Guild Retreat at Gold Beach with 30 Guild friends, and also finishing up the two quilts that I shared recently.  Add in a Guild work group that I led just after returning from the retreat and I'm a bit maxed out at the moment.

I seriously need to hold off on the quilting/sewing for a few days. I have 52 rose bushes that are screaming at me that they need pruning, and tons of other yard and garden related tasks that I want to take care of. But late last week our guest speaker at Guild was Marsha McCloskey, the Queen of the Feathered Star.  Google her.  She's... well... she's right up my alley. I so admire women who have made their way in the quilting world.  So many of them are women who are just like me, mothers and homemakers who have found their creative outlet by using a sewing machine, fabric and scissors. (Make that rotary cutters for we modern quilters!, but we all started with scissors, didn't we?.)

The Guild contracted with Marsha to lead us in workshop on her Radiant Star block the following day. This was a workshop that I could not possibly pass up!, even with all of those rose bushes waiting on me. Marsha is a thorough and patient teacher.  Now my head is just about to burst with all of my new knowledge on how to draft my own Feathered Star pattern, how to use her amazing techniques for cutting all of those tiny one inch triangle squares and new tricks for piecing.  I finished my very own Radiant Star block pictured above, early the next morning.  I was up at 5:30 a.m. to sew.  I just couldn't sleep until I finished it.

 My Feathered Star - 1993

I had made the Feathered Star quilt pictured above about 20 years ago.  Wait... was it really that long ago? Am I really that old?  OK,... I guess I am...  Anyway,  I made this quilt for our son, the G-man.  He was 12 years old when I completed it.  I won a ribbon for it at the quilt show in Auburn CA that year. The quilt was on his bed from the time that he was a boy up until the time that he was young a man.  It was queen sized and hand quilted.  I'll say that again.  It was hand quilted.  But then... the quilt was lost.  I won't go in to how that happened, I don't know the details, it really doesn't matter, but suffice it to say that when you gift a quilt, it is out of your hands. I love my only son, this quilt is somewhere in the wind, but the G-man is older and smarter these days and I will make him another quilt. His older sister, "Butterfly", thinks that his ex-girlfriend confiscated it when they parted ways....  It could have happened, and if it did, I hope that she enjoys it.  But in reality, I'm betting that it's a dog bed or a painting tarp.

Marsha McCloskey's radiant star block has 115 pieces in it!  Well, I think that's how many pieces there were.  It was really hard to count them all. The Radiant Star block is so beautifully complex.  I have chosen these materials to make another block, and if I love it as much as I think that I will, I will make a whole quilt using these pretty Robyn Pandolph fabrics.  Making another Feathered Star quilt has been right up there on my Quilt Bucket List for a very long time.

Hanging Basket Quilt - Still on a Roll

I am over the  moon and inside out!  Two, count 'em, TWO finished quilts in one week!  That is definitely some kind of record for me!

This is my Hanging Basket Quilt.  I had wanted to hang this quilt from the side of our barn to get a great photo in natural light, but it is raining cats and dogs here and I couldn't wait to post my photos. Maybe when the sun comes out.... in June... it's Oregon...

I blogged about this quilt way back in September of 2011.  Scroll down. The blocks measure 10 inches and they were made using the paperless paper piecing method.  I dearly love making blocks this way. Paperless paper piecing allows for exacting precision and blocks just seem to go together better when they are paper pieced.  For the first time ever, I had someone else do the quilting.  It was done on a long-arm machine, aptly named "Gertrude", by Jeanne E., the custom quilter at my local quilt shop, "The Country Lady". http://www.countryladyquiltshop.com/   Jeanne did a stunning job and photos here do not do justice to her quilting prowess.  It was a big decision to hand off my work to someone else to do the quilting, but I felt that I just did not have it in me to hand quilt this thing.

So when Jeanne called to tell me that the quilting was completed, 

I was at The Country Lady in a flash to pick up my quilt.  

I spent all day today working on the piped binding.  See it pictured above, along with a peek at Jeanne's  beautiful free-motion feather quilting from the back side.

Each block is a bit different from the next.  I keep looking at the quilt, saying to myself, "that's my favorite block", then I look at another and pronounce it to be my favorite block.  I could go on and on.  I love them all.  Can't wait to do more of this small and precise paperless paper piecing

I promise to post that future photo taken with our old barn as a backdrop, just as soon as the weather cooperates.

Hung on the side of the barn.

Finally!  With the help of Mr. T., I managed to get this quilt photographed, a task that is not quite as easy as one would expect.  I put a long bamboo pole into the sleeve, then we both climbed big ladders to lay the pole on two very large nails hammered into the barn siding.   It's a big quilt, 94 x 94 inches, so I had  move WAY back and stand on a ladder to snap my photos.  I had thought that I would want to take these quilt photos in the sunshine, but soon found out that the quilt was completely washed out in bright light, so down it came.  We put it up again early the next morning while there was still a bit of cloud cover.  Much better results and a lesson was learned.

I have photographed a few quilts hung on that same bamboo pole, laid on those big nails on the side of our big ol' barn, but this is the very first quilt that has hung PERFECTLY square!  I'm pretty excited about that!

On Being Productive

   

I finished a quilt today.  Notice just how very casually I make that statement.  I'm really just trying to be super-cool, tempering my glee, and not typing too many exclamation points here.  It has been a very long time since I have completed an honest to goodness bed-sized quilt.  So before I burst, here are my exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!  I just could not help myself! The quilt looks rather nice here on the antique iron bed in our teeny guest room, don't you agree?.

There is a very real sense of accomplishment for me in completing such a project, especially since I have felt like somewhat of a fraud as a quilter for some time.  I called myself a quilter, but it had been a long time since I had actually produced a body of work.  But I am happy to say that I am presently on a very real productive roll here, having finished a number of things lately.

This is my Bear Paw Sampler quilt, one started just because I thought I might be actually be able to complete it.  I began it in September of 2010 as the Block-of-the-Month project for my Quilters' Guild.  Each month we received a variation of the Bear Paw pattern. I thought that I could certainly manage to get just one block made per month, even while shouldering my duties as Guild President to 110+ of the most creative and accomplished quilting ladies imaginable.  I actually told myself that I would be such a very sad and hopeless case if I could not complete even a single block per month.

So I puttered away, making my one block each month, each one just a bit different, and then put them together with sashing that I thought looked interesting.  Along the way,  I decided to actually quilt the thing on my Bernina.  I broke it up into units and then put the units together after quilting.  I added the scalloped border to make it fit on it's intended bed.  I'm not completely thrilled with the results since I am always my very own toughest critic, but then I am just beginning to do machine quilting, so it's not really so terribly bad.

The good news is that if you kind of sqiunt at the quilt, it appears to be heavily quilted, which was my goal and intention. And the quilt is comfy, seriously cozy and comfy.  I know this to be a fact because I actually nap-tested it this afternoon.  I was completely bagged after hand stitching all of the binding.  PHEWWW!!!! My fingers are raw and sore!  They only bled on the quilt twice.  Had to dig out the Hydrogen Peroxide to removed the blood stains...

I supposed that I can't expect perfect quilting results as a beginner.  I kind of call this exercise a Life Lesson.  I have almost always had success at most anything that I try.  I am a pretty good hand quilter if I do say so myself... but not so much with this machine quilting stuff.  I know that it will take lots and lots of practice to become as proficient as I would like to be.  But that's OK.  It's the learning process that I enjoy.  I'll get there, eventually... with time and patience.  And sore fingers.

Who's on Pinterest?

OK, I just have to say, I am so LOVING Pinterest.  For those of you who have yet not taken the plunge, Pinterest is an online pin board, wherein you "pin" things that you like or love, things that move you, amuse you or just interest you.  Think "collections"..., virtual collections, perfect for those of you who have limited space for real collections. There are tons and tons of interesting recipes and cool ideas.  I love having all of these super ideas for future use stashed/pinned all in one place, kind of like my own personal library of fun stuff to do.  I have files and clippings and ideas floating around in my head, but Pinterest helps me to virtually catalog them all.  Whatever your interests are, Pinterest has even more ideas for you.  I have my fingers crossed that I will have a long enough life to make all of the things that I want to create.  Thank you, Pinterest, for keeping my inspirations and ideas organized.