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| remembering our Veterans with respect |
Hi! Happy Friday! I always say Veterans Day marks the beginning of Fall here at the beach.
And this year Mother Nature is making a point of proving me right! [which, you know, I'd be happy to be wrong and wait til, maybe...December? May?] We went from this, last Friday,
To a cooler rainy week, then today woke up to gale winds and frigid temps!
I had to put the heat on! And get out Mo's fleece coat and my wind pants. We are pleased to report we both fit into our old clothes just fine! Possibly due to the modern beauty of elastic waists and Velcro, but we were happy. And then we went outside and froze! The windchill now is around 15* and I'm sure it's even colder here by the ocean.
Last weekend I busily prepped many hand work projects with the idea that Mo and I would be enjoying warm sunny Fall days sewing on the deck.
Including prepping bindings for my back from the quilter quilts.
What is the saying?---Quilter plans, God laughs. Parmateer Point went off to my friend for its binding to be sewed, as she sits with her husband recuperating from surgery. Next week, she'll prob do Sand Pails and Starfish too, or even Dotty.
I took advantage of the rainy days to sew a little treat, this tiny kit from Temecula Quilt Company. As mentioned in a previous post, I had lost a center square. It turned up on an empty stretch of wood floor one day, pretending it had been there all along. [No!].
The small quilt, about 8'' x 10" was fun to do, tho I made a mistake with the sawtooths and finally didn't fix the out red and brown rows. I don't think it really matters or shows.
I love doing TQC's tiny projects! This one was very short of fabric, however, so I ended up just subbing my own fabric instead, too bad because I love their choices.
I adore the solid cheddar, I hope I can order more. Prob a Kona Solid, but--which one?
The quilt is smaller than a piece of printer paper, the half square triangles are barely 1" ! Interestingly I found the inspiration antique quilt on Pinterest, HERE.
I also refocused on Westering Women. In the end I decided on a simple sashing and cornerstones grid, the blocks were so busy, they didn't need little stars besides.
I am currently sewing on my newest machine. It has nice stitches and ''needle down'' option for sewing sashings, but the feed is very unequal, so I had to really work hard to make my red squares land in the right spot.
I had read about ''sewing the shortest seam'', maybe on Lori's blog, to set the Parmateer HSTs, and I think on Kevin the Quilter's blog. This means that the sashings are sewed in small L shaped increments, instead of my usual long strips method.
That worked nicely except there were issues of making seams ''nest'' while having the direction they are pressed remain right. More practice needed here, but the front is good, I think.
I also got smarter and sewed just the red square junctions, forcing the pieces to interlock and fit right, then pinning the next blue sections and sewing them if the red matched. Or not.
I love this quilt! It does not look at all authentic though, despite my efforts to use mostly repro or antique fabrics of the story's timeline.
The colors I chose seem very saturated and modern. But I like them, and chose each block's fabrics from my most fav stash. [If you've forgotten, each block represents a landmark or notable sight on a young pioneer woman's journey to California, in 1853. A sewalong from Barbara Brackman.]
I will add a border with red on blue ''milestones'' and probably a printed label with a very brief description of each block's meaning on the back. It may be cumbersome but I found after a year, I couldn't remember what the blocks stood for or where/ why. If the weather stays so chilly this weekend maybe I ll have a finish to show you next week, yay.
....
The other day I hustled off to Michael's Crafts because their Christmas flyer came and it had such cute traditional blown glass ornaments. I wanted to get a few for stocking stuffers while the selection was good. The bad news is the lady didn't wrap them, even in an extra plastic carry bag or tissue and they ALL broke before I got home. [I wasn't paying proper attention, partly my fault, but geez: 4 at 6.99 or 8.99 ea.] The good news is I found these adorable little miniature clipboards.
I know they will each get a teeny tiny quilt. I have had both of these HERE and here on my mind to make for years. Maybe simplified or something, because even the tiniest one here, repro'ed by [again] TQC, it is 4" x 6" and the little clip boards are maybe 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" [playing card sized]. Fun! Fast!?
....
Mo and I have to go out now! ''Last call for the PeePeeLand Express!" I yell---picture the eyes rolls this elicits from my kids, as Mo and I put on our many layers and trudge out to do his business. LOL. It's so cold I have to take out my earrings before we go out, because the metal freezes and hurts my ears. Dinner is pad thai beef stir fry with brown rice, and lots of hot tea. Have a great weekend.
love
lizzy
gone to the beach....
Mo doesn't mind the cold but he is afraid of the wind and probably the sand blowing into his eyes is painful too. These pictures were taken this week after a rainy afternoon, clearing at sunset. It was muggy and still, nice sunset.
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