Thread Catch Pattern Spoiler

I spent a good part of the day working on my "SEW-IN-STYLE" Thread Catcher Pattern.

Have you ever written a pattern?  It is not such an easy task as you would expect, but mine is close to being finished, I promise.

I am posting a bit of a "spoiler" here, letting all of you in on a sneak peek at the fabrics that I am using to make my pattern prototype.

My prototype was made using the newly released "Spring House" fabric line by Moda, designed by Stephanie Ryan.  Is it just me or are these fabrics just the dreamiest?  They were all so pretty that I had a hard time deciding just which ones to use for my pattern prototype.

The next step is to add my photos to the pattern text and to then polish off the cover.  The finished pattern is close to being completed, really close.

Thanks to everyone!  You have been incredibly patient and I so appreciate that.

Stay tuned!

I Like You... Please Like Me! :)

Ohhhhh,...I try, but I'm not so Blogger/Etsy/Facebook savvy, so for those of you who have traveled this way to find a thread catcher, I have just built a Facebook  website for "Curry Bungalow", my very own bungalow BIZ!

So if you would like to get moment by moment, up to the minute updates for when I add new Thread Catchers to my Etsy Shop, just search for Curry Bungalow, the website, on Facebook, then you will want to LIKE ME.

...You like me, you really like me! Oh, I forgot,... I am not Sally Fields.

You may also see a page for Curry Bungalow, but that's the one that is a "friend" page, not quite what I had in mind.  Not that I don't want to be your friend... but if we connect that way then we are going to receive each others posts on our pages.  Not so good...  I've tried to delete that page, but I am not smart enough, apparently.

Seriously folks, I am so very touched that so many of you are excited about my little sewing accessory.  Thank you, everyone, for being so incredibly supportive.

 I am humbled,... truly.

Hello Spring !!!

I've missed you, terribly...

No sunshine yesterday here in the 'Burg, but lots and lots of Daffies are blooming in the garden!

 They are kind of like "Sunshine a Stem"!

Getting Presents in the Mail

Don't you just love it when you get a present in the mail?  I got one today.

Well,... it wasn't exactly a present. I bought it.  I paid for it. But when I opened that Priority Mail envelope, I found this.  Sew Lux certainly knows how to package an order to make it look like a present, don't they?

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How sweet of Sew Lux Fabric and Gifts to package up my order to look like something that I might have received at my 5th Birthday Party!  I took a little trip back in time, WAY back in time!  I was remembering my dotted swiss party dress, Neopolitan ice cream and a white cake with pink sprinkles. 

Oh,... did I mention that Sew Lux had great prices for all of the fabrics that I wanted,... in one place?  Sweet!

I will be ordering from them again, most certainly.

 I LOVE getting presents in the mail

Luuucccyyyyy! I'm Home!

I am over the moon and inside out!

Meet “Lucy”, my newly acquired 78 year old Singer Featherweight, born Nov. 5, 1935. She’s looking exceptionally snappy for her age, isn’t she? She just had a total face-lift where she got her stylin’ red paint job. She is my new traveling machine and I can't wait to take her to classes and workshops.  She and I are going to have tons of fun together!

Feelin' Like the Queen of Thread Catchers!

Holy Cow!  I am feelin' like the Thread Catcher Queen!  Hand me my crown, please.

Some of my thread catchers were picked up on Pinterest and my blog has kind of BLOWN UP!, with thousands of hits per day, over 45,000 views in the past month and tons of interest and purchases at my Etsy shop, Curry Bungalow.

It makes me happy to know that people are loving my original design, buying them and requesting special orders, but it was also making me just a little crazy.

At first I thought that I had to keep my store stocked with these things and I was glued to my sewing machine.  Then I had this epiphany.... and epiphanies are good.  I make these things for fun because I love combining fabrics into something pretty and practical, AND it gives me a bona fide excuse to order fabrics that I love but would not necessarily build into a quilt.

So I have decided that in the interest of sanity, I resolve to just plug away, making these things in my studio, (OK, OK, it's a sewing closet... but I can dream, can't I?...) and posting them on Etsy as I complete them.  No pressure on myself.

I am also working on a downloadable pdf pattern for those of you who want to make your own and hope to have that available soon at my Etsy shop.

This has all been a huge lesson for me. The lesson is, "Do what you love",... and I love to make things, but I especially... simply... love to sew.

SEW it's all good, right?

Still Puttering...

Oh,... have I ever been having fun with new fabrics and new pincushion designs.  I just had to share this Thread Catcher that I completed moments ago.  I just posted it for sale at my Etsy Shop .

Isn't this pincushion the just the cutest!  That's a five inch Dresden Plate quilt block applied to the top of the pincushion!  I know, I know, I'm crazy, aren't I?

Fast Forward! This pattern, as well as two other Thread Catcher Patterns is now available at my Etsy shop, Curry Bungalow.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CurryBungalow

Evolution of a Thread Catcher

Can you bear yet another post about my Thread Catchers?  I have been selling them like hotcakes over at my Etsy shop and have recently made this one that is kind of over-the-top pretty, or at least I think so.  

I used my Luna Notte scraps from my Hanging Basket quilt.  I have lots of little odd bits left over and they were perfect for the paper-pieced pincushion.  It is good sized, about four inches square and is filled with crushed walnut shells to give it a bit of heft. It is attached to the thread catcher with Velcro so that you can use it by itself if desired.

I have found little techniques and tricks along the way to make the construction of my Thread Catchers go a bit quicker.  Faster is all well and good, but I actually get a better result, as well.  I have worked up a way to insert the boning in the top of the bag that gives me a much cleaner and smoother edge at the opening on the bag.  

I am wondering just what turn these things will take next.  Can they get any better?  Maybe...  I have another pincushion idea in mind to try. 

This particular Thread Catcher now resides in Perth, Australia.  Kind of CRAZY, right?  G'day!

Chubby Chicks, Revisited - Part Deaux

It is a cold and rainy day here today in the 'Burg, the perfect kind of day to work on my Chubby Chicks quilt. I could call them "Cheery Chicks", couldn't I?  I kind of need them to be Cheery Chicks on a day like today...

Making the quilt sandwich is not my favorite thing to do.  I don't have a super large work area so it is always a little difficult getting the whole thing laid out and put together.   But I was using my new basting gun and that went pretty well, I think.  The entire quilt is now basted and ready to be quilted.

I am using the smaller print on the right for my backing and the larger print will be the binding.  I will also be adding a tiny orange piped edge to the binding.

I like to bring the backing and batting forward and pin all around the outer edge.  This helps to keep the edge of the quilt from fraying.  It will suffer through lots and lots of handling when Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE...) and I do the quilting.  Next step is to decide on my quilting design.  I am hoping to have it under the needle tomorrow.

Chubby Chicks, Revisited

Some Wild and Crazy Chicks!

Remember that I told you all that I so loved making a Chubby Chicks quilt that I knew that I would be making another?  Here at my blog, it's been the Chubby Chicks that have been the big winner for total blog page views.  I love that so many quilters out there have viewed my Chicks and I hope that they are as captivated by the Chubby Chicks as I am.  But there was one thing about the directions in the pattern instructions from Black Mountain Quilts that I did not feel so good about.

I envision a Chubby Chicks quilt as being used, being well loved and really used, and that means being laundered.  The pattern instructions directed us to cut out the chicks, add some Wonder Under to the backside, press it down to the block fabric, then add a blanket stitch all around.  I was not so very comfortable with the raw edge thing.  It just doesn't sit right with me.

So for this next Chubby Chicks quilt, and it has been in the works in my head since I sold my first Chubby Chicks quilt, I have found a way to turn that edge under without spending tons of time at it.

I am using Moda's "Good Fortune" line, by Kate Spain.  The colors and prints are to die for!  I picked up a charm pack and a green dragonfly print from the line to make the pinwheel and border blocks.

Moda "Good Fortune", by Kate Spain

I did a "Test Chick".  I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I trimmed fairly close to the stitching line, then clipped the tighter curves and cut a big "X" in the interfacing for turning.  I turned my chick right side out, then pressed it onto the white block fabric. Elizabeth (my Bernina 440QE) and I added the blanket stitch all around.  I have to say that I feel much better about having the raw edges contained and turned under before stitching down my chick.  No worries about the chicks  raveling and ending up with raggedy edges.  AND, by turning these edges under with the interfacing, I feel like there was less work involved than I did with the Wonder Under used in the pattern instructions. I am all for doing things the easy way, as long as the end result is the same or  EVEN BETTER than the original instructions.



A few days ago I did all of the cutting and started sewing.  I made all of the pinwheels in one day, then moved on to the chicks.

I traced the chick outline onto my fabric, then stitched it to some very lightweight fusible interfacing, with the fusible part being on the inside.  I stitched on the line....

and trimmed all around.  I made a few clips between the point of the tail and the head.

The next step was to cut the large "X" in the interfacing and turn the chick right side out.  I did all 25 chicks in one afternoon.

Here are the "Hatchling Chicks", all leg-less, eye-less and beak-less.

CHX on BLOX!

I'll be plugging away on these guys for a bit.  I will post photos as incubation continues.

Mom's Husqvarna

I sold my Mom's sewing machine today. I inherited it when she passed, over 15 years ago. It had been sitting in my closet, unused, since I bought Elizabeth.  I kept it, well..., because it was Mom's.  It had a very productive life with me.  I made quilts, clothing for my family and countless window treatments with it.  But I am trying to streamline and simplify... There is just too much stuff in our lives.

So I listed it on Craigslist.  Within hours I had a buyer.  A woman in Eugene, an hour away, wanted it for her college age daughter who is studying Interior Design.  This woman wanted a quality, made of metal sewing machine for her girl.  She was thrilled beyond words.  We met in the local Lowe's parking lot for the hand-off.

Mr. T. and I drove off after the transaction, and I read the sweet note given to me written by this woman. I had a little moment, remembering my mother and the wonderful gift that she gave to me.  Not the machine, that wasn't the gift.  The gift was the fact that she set the example, helped me along the way and inspired me to sew.  I think that she would love that her machine is going to have a third life with this young woman.

The beat goes on...

A Little Bird Told Me...

Sometimes you just know what your next project wants and needs to be. I love birds, watch them daily from my window, have been an Audubon groupie for some time, and knew when I first saw a photo of this quilt that this would be my next project. I was itching, absolutely ITCHING to make something spectacular, using my newly learned technique, needle-turn appliqué.

So I bought the book, "In the Meadow", beautifully done...I might add, by Blackbird Designs . The quilt in the book is called "Birdsong".

Favorites, all stacked up

The Meadow Collection Swatch Card

Then I ordered the "Meadow" fat-quarter collection by Moda, which includes some of the fabrics that were used in the book.  I am on the lookout for other fabrics that will go along with these in just the right way.

I have loved prepping this quilt, copying the patterns for the bird blocks, cutting the freezer paper templates and organizing all of the pattern pieces into files. I get up early, really early, (just can't sleep late...,) and it's my favorite time time of the day, the perfect time to get this quilt ready to actually begin the hand appliqué. I do not believe that in all of my years of making quilts, and it's been 40+ years!, that I have ever needed to be quite as organized as this quilt requires.

I love hand appliqué, really, really love it!  My very first experience with it was when I made a quilt for our soon-to-be younger daughter.  It was 1975, eons ago... I purchased a Simplicity Hollie Hobbie rocking horse pattern and I was like the classic, "Lady in Waiting", hand stitching this quilt as my baby grew inside of me.  Such sweet times...  I changed the colors up a bit.  I used red and dark blue rather than pink and light blue. Butterfly has kept this quilt close to her, all through  her childhood and on into her adulthood.

I have done a bit more hand appliqué along the way. I made a quilt for our older daughter, J.T., also known as The Brainiac. I made her quilt when she was just about to graduate from High School, all hand appliquéd and hand quilted. She wanted a car for graduation, but got a hand-made quilt instead. She purchased her own car, which is the way that it is supposed to be, I think. That quilt took “Best of Show” at the Foothill Quilters Guild annual quilt show in Auburn, CA, in 1991... a lifetime ago.

So... I laid out my first block, the Meadowlark.  There are six different bird designs which are repeated throughout the quilt.  Other blocks are the Chipping Sparrow, the Blue Jay, the Magpie, the Lark Bunting, and the Carolina Wren.  Some blocks are reversed and some blocks have smaller leaf appliqué blocks added alongside.  The freezer paper template is ironed to the fabric on the right side, then you cut out around the template leaving a small seam allowance to turn under. You start stitching down the pieces that are in the background and move forward so that all of the pieces are properly layered. The freezer paper template provides a firm edge and guides you in where to turn the fabric under the template, then small stitches are taken as you move along the turned edge.  There is NO BASTING! which speeds things up in a huge way, but the best part is that the pieces are in the exact shape as the template.  It's kind of amazing just how exacting it is. So much better than basting, then sewing!






I stitched my first block. It went together remarkably well, I have to say.

I listened to an excellent audio book while I worked. Audio books
and hand appliqué go together like peanut butter and jelly!

And here is my second block, the Magpie.  Only 23 more to go and I'll have enough to make a quilt!

I have more fabrics to find, not such an easy task here in the 'Burg. But this quilt will be a work in progress for some time, I suspect.  Good things come to those who wait,... or to those who can't find the fabrics locally that are just right and must search for them far and wide.  For someone who loves instant gratification, and that's me!, it is such a lesson in love to take the time and to somehow find the patience to search out the perfect materials to make this quilt as spectacular as I envision it to be.  

Sold!

One last photo of my much loved Chicks

I just sold a quilt, my Chubby Chicks quilt, blogged about previously.  I had entered it in the local County Fair, and won a ribbon on it.  One fair goer was especially captivated by it and went to a lot of trouble to track me down in order to ask me if I would consider selling it to her.  I have never, ever sold anything that I had made previously.

I made this quilt because I completely fell in love with the pattern, and then I found the delicious fabrics. There was no intended recipient for it.  It was made just because I loved the pattern and the fabrics.  So I named my price.... and the buyer agreed to it.

I had already won a first place ribbon for it at the local quilt show, a big deal quilt show here in Oregon.  Then... I won a 3rd place ribbon for it at the County Fair. I have lots and lots of photos of this quilt.  Could I bear to let it go?

Two words were uttered by the buyer.  She said... Baby Girl, and my heart pretty much melted. She told me that her daughter-in-law had fallen in love with my quilt and she, my buyer, wanted it for her baby grand-girl, I was so very touched...

Does this make me a quilt professional by selling my work?  Nahhh... probably not.  But I loved making this quilt, and I especially love that it is going to a baby girl who will have lifelong warm and snuggly memories of Chubby Chicks!  I kind of feel like an organ donor, 'cause my whole heart loved making this quilt.

The way that I'm looking at it, I'm just spreading the love....

Extreme Makeover - Pincushion Edition

I wrote a long, LONG missive about a pincushion that my mother had when I was a child.  I lost that pincushion, by my calculations, about 56 years ago. As I wrote out the story, and wrote and wrote..., I realized that no one really wanted to read my long sad story of how I had lost my mother's pincushion.  So I decided to abbreviate it all and just give you the down and dirty details in order to set up my Extreme Makover Story. Here is the abbreviated version.

• My Mom was given a rocking chair pincushion.
• She loved it.

• I took it to school in the First Grade for Show-and-Tell and lost it.

• MOM WAS MAD !...

• I recently found another Rocking Chair Pincushion at an Estate Sale. 

• It was totally ugly.

• I bought it for $2.00.  Probably overpaid...

• Decided to give it an EXTREME  MAKEOVER.

Here is the Pincushion in it's BEFORE state.  You can see the incredibly dated fabric 

and just how dirty the thing is. Totally not my style.

 Bleccchhhhh!!!!!

But it does have a cute little drawer under the seat that held some old buttons and a measuring tape.  AND, it has a slot at the top of the back of the chair to hold a pair of scissors.  

I removed the little cushions and pulled the fabric off.  I scrubbed it clean and spray painted the wood with my new favorite color, that vintage aqua green.  One of my friends calls it "Martha Stewart Green"...  I made new little patchwork pinwheel cushions.

My newly revamped pincushion rocker now sits on my sewing table. Each and every time I look at it, I think of my mom, who passed 15 years ago.  It's a sweet little reminder of her and of our shared love of sewing.  I guess that I did not overpay for my sad old pincushion, because these memories of mine are priceless!

Just Lucky, I Guess....

As previously mentioned, Mr. T. and I hit the streets each week-end, on our way to estate and yard sales.  Our motto is... "You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs..." which translates to the fact that you have to go to tons and tons of estate and yard sales to find great stuff.  We had an especially good week-end recently, scoring a few really great Fabulous Vintage Finds.

We are discriminating buyers.  I have seen those shows! "Hoarders" and "Hoarding: Buried Alive" are my very worst nightmare!  I just don't want to be consumed by stuff, purchased just because it's a good deal. Don't get me wrong.  I love a bargain, but if you don't especially want or need it, what's the point?

The sweet vintage cookie jar is Shawnee, made about 1945 and is called "Puss n' Boots".  I found it at an unadvertised yard sale just a short distance from our house and our first stop of the morning.  We took a chance and followed the yard sale sign up the road along the river.  I knew immediately what this jar was when I saw it.  I don't know a lot about Shawnee Pottery, but I knew that this little cutie was worth much more than it's single-digit price tag.  And I mean LOW down in the single digits.  OK, I'll tell ya... I paid $2.00 for this thing!!! Check it out on eBay or Etsy to see what these actually sell for.  Puss may not be living here at our house for very long.  I am probably going to flip the Puss!

I collect Chinese sewing baskets and have a number of them in all shapes and sizes.  These baskets have often taken a bit of a beating and many are in poor condition.  But this little one, and it's on the tiny side, is in very good condition but for it's fragile silk tassel.  It is also unusual to find one that has the beads and coins intact.  And I have never seen just how the string tie is strung.  That feature is also often missing. Tucked inside were the pin card, needle book and a few old wooden spools of thread.  I'm in love...

Actually, this basket was first spotted by the eagle eye of Mr. T., who is always on the lookout for sewing related items for me.  I would call him "well trained", but really, there was no training necessary.  He's just a natural!  He knows that I love old sewing items and he's quite good at spotting them for me.

Case in point.  Mr. T. found the little box that contained the 24 vintage Victorian glass buttons that I have pictured here!  The detail on each of these tiny works of art is amazing! My friend, Suzie C., who knows WAY more about buttons than I do, says that this was an excellent find and she is seriously sorry that she did not find them herself.  We often run in to her while we are out at sales.  She acutally asks sellers, first thing, "Do you have any old buttons for sale?", and she often gets great buys that way.  Me... I don't feel as if I know enough about them to even know what to pay.  So I just pick up buttons that I like here and there.  I bought this little box of buttons for $1.00.  A great deal, I think. If one sews, one is likely to appreciate buttons.

My last fun find pictured in the first photo is the little ceramic baby shoe in a lovely aqua-green color.  I am thinking that I will make it into a pincushion.  You know, you can make just about make any small vessel into a pincushion.

Mr. T. bought a nearly new, very sturdy 28 ft. extension ladder, but you don't really want to know about that, do you?  Nope... totally boring, but he was happy about it. And, now I know that when he is up high on a ladder, that it is a safer sturdier one.  Not all of our great finds are antique or vintage.  But they are usually great bargains, and that's a good thing.

"Rhapsody in Bloom"

"Rhapsody in Bloom"  90" x 100"

As I have mentioned previously, numerous times...,  I am a member of the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild.  I call myself so very fortunate to belong to such a talented and inspiring group of women.

Each year we make a quilt to raffle off at our annual Quilt Show, which always occurs on the third week-end in April, right here in the Burg.  I have participated in the making of our yearly raffle quilt in some manner since I joined the guild in 2008.

It goes like this.  We form a committee.  I was a member this year as well as last year. The committee decides on the quilt design.  Committee members each bring photos of quilts that they like, then we somehow manage to combine elements from many inspiration photos to come up with an original design. We choose the fabrics, then set about getting the quilt made.  Kits are put together by committee members, then the kits are checked out and completed by guild members.  The returned kits are then sewn together to make a stupendous quilt! Sounds easy, right?  But really, putting a quilt together that has been sewn by many hands (with minutely different seam allowances...) is no easy feat. Each year, I am astounded and amazed that we are able to make such a beautiful quilt with so many hands involved.

                                      Detail of Center Hand Appliqué Center Panel

The central hand appliqué panel was designed by our Committee Chair, Doris K.  Honestly, I just want to be in her presence, breathe the same air that she breathes, stand as close to her as I can in hopes of absorbing just a smidge of her knowledge, design sense and talent.  Doris does not dictate what the quilt is to be, but rather, let's it, and our committee, find it's own way.  That is not to say that she does not have a vision... but the quilt is always evolving as it comes together.  The whole process is so inspiring, and has taught me to be more fluid and flexible in my own design process.  

Detail of Beading Highlights and Quilting

Oh,... and I have learned new techniques.  I have done hand appliqué since the mid '70's and it is one of my most favorite techniques to do.  But Doris showed me how to do Needle Turn Appliqué, a technique that is much, much easier than the method that I have been using all of these years.  I am SO hooked and can't wait to do something spectacular with needle turn appliqué.   

The custom machine quilting was beautifully done by Corinne W., who tailored the quilting designs to our quilt and changed thread colors MANY times. We are still working at adding the detail beading.  We will begin selling raffle tickets at the Douglas County Fair beginning next week.  Ticket sales will continue through early April, when we will award this quilt at our annual Quilt Show to whomever purchased the winning ticket.  

I'll be buying lots and lots of tickets. Fingers crossed that I am the lucky winner!

Update-

Friday, August 10th.  - I spent the afternoon at the County Fair at our Guild Table, selling raffle tickets  for this quilt.  Fair-goers loved our quilt and asked many questions about how it came to be. It was my pleasure to tell them just how we put such a quilt together.  What I dearly love is that people want to talk to us about their family quilts.  One lovely couple, who had been to our table on Tuesday, came back and brought in their photo album of quilts made by the gentleman's mother.  All were so very beautiful.  Crazily, it turns out that they were from the very same area in NW Arkansas that my father was from. He recognized my family surnames and I recognized his.  Our family members had most certainly crossed paths! How crazy is that? 

Disney had it right.  It's a small world, after all....

A Passion for Pickles!

I can not believe that I am blogging about PICKLES! I am not even especially crazy about pickles. But these are so very blog-worthy!  I can't personally take credit for this pickle recipe. I give all of the credit to the instructions that I found on a blog called It's Just Laine .  

I popped into to my favorite little country fruit stand, Kruse Farms Market, to buy pickling cucumbers. I went a little bit crazy and bought a 25 lb. bag of medium cukes. What was I thinking?  I was certainly not thinking about how many jars of pickles a 25 lb. bag of cucumbers yields.  We just might possibly have pickles for life.

It's a monster bag! Notice that it's on the floor because it was too big to heft onto the counter top.

I got a bit sidetracked and had to take a photo of the beautiful varieties of cauliflower 

available at Kruse's. Their colors were stunning!  The girls who work at Kruse's must think that I am some kind of a nutcase, continually coming in and photographing fruits and vegetables. How weird is that?

I knew that I wanted to make a nice Kosher-style dill pickle. I Googled pickle recipes and was a bit overwhelmed at all of the options out there. But Laine's recipe appealed to me most.

             

In the interest of pickle hygeine, I just want to mention here that these cucumbers come out of the field in a decidedly grubby state.  After all, they grow on or near the dirt. My directions said to trim off the blossom end of the cucumber, since there is some sort of funky enzyme located there that will make your pickles mushy. So just to be perfectly sure that I had removed the blossom ends, I trimmed BOTH ends. Problem solved. You just never want to take a chance on mushy pickles! I also lightly scrubbed them with a soft brush, just to be safe. So the dirty cucumbers are pictured above.... 

...And the clean and perfectly pretty premature pickles are pictured here.

Laine has posted lots of photos on her blog showing how to make her pickles.  I spiced my pickles up just a bit, because we're older, with semi-dead taste buds...  I added 1 teaspoon of pickling spice and a single dried red pepper to each pint jar.  

Mr. T. and I taste tested my pickles this afternoon.  I should clue you in here and tell you that Mr. T. tries to get excited about my endless projects and endeavors, but he is not always entirely on board.  

I can tell...

But I scored big here with these pickles. Mr. T. is something of a pickle connoisseur and he pronounced these to be positively DELICIOUS!  They are crispy, crunchy, tangy and have a just a bit of ZING from the red pepper.  Think CLAUSSEN'S, but way better!  And a nice, crisp pickle makes a really good little snack. I know.  I've been snackin'. 

So KRUSE on over to Laine's blog and get the recipe to make your very own killer pickles. Making them is easier than you would think and they are truly worth the effort.  Thank you, Laine, for your recipe.

Update:  Elder daughter, called "The Brainiac" took a jar of my pickles along with her when she went camping last month on the northern California coast with her long-time friend, Mimi F.  Mimi apparently fell in love with my pickles and is savoring evert last bit.  Here is the photo that she sent to Brainiac of her fridge. I see beer, yogurt and half of a pickle. The Staff of Life!