The Path of Least Resistance

It turns out having cut and mostly-ready-to-sew pieces of fabric for a specific quilt block makes it easier--a path of least resistance--to make those blocks when one's creative juices aren't flowing, or one doesn't have much energy.  Over the past few weeks I've finished 23 scrappy stars.  They're brighter than in the photo below.

Some are more appealing than others. The ones that are less appealing to me are similar to this one, below, because the star points get muddied with the medium triangles at the edges. The ones I like best are like the ones below where the stars stand out strongly..

Though I like some arrangements better than others, I think all of them together will be interesting.  I'm planning an alternate star - plain fabric (what color?) - star setting.  I like that each of these will have its own space.

That's it for my quilting endeavors except for the little plaid baskets which I'll post about later.

Here are a couple of photos from being out and about.

We saw these at the thrift store and thought they looked like robots. I don't know what their true purpose is.

The angles and shadows of the railings in this photo caught my attention while I was waiting for my daughter after a physical therapy appointment.

And the grass in our yard is less like grass and more like straw.

We haven't had rain in weeks, maybe a month or more.  So much of the grass is dead and many of the trees are losing leaves because of the drought.  They drop to the ground, brown and brittle.  I doubt we'll have much color this fall.  In the countryside, we saw that much of the field corn has been harvested already, which usually doesn't happen till at least October, and the soybeans are as dry now and they are in late October other years.  The weather app will predict the possibility of rain several days in advance, then change the forecast a day or so later to no rain.  As I write this at 8:30 in the evening, it's 81 degrees outside.  Please come soon, rain and autumn weather!

I'm linking this post to
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts. 
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.

Well, I Don't Know....

Here's my Bramble Blooms so far.  The birds are not appliqued yet because I'm still adjusting the placement of the larger bird.  I think the birds' color is okay but I wish I had a print fabric in a similar shade/tone to give a little more interest and depth.  (Or maybe the bird should be grey?)

I don't know....  I never know about fabric choices until things are stitched down, at which point it's a little late to make changes (unless I want to devote hours and hours to unstitching and restitching again). 

At first I thought about green pickets but when I got ready to sew them, they just seemed wrong.  So I went with the cream/tan/pink print ones.

I'm looking at this as a learning experience.  If I were to remake this quilt, what changes and improvements would I make?

If I make another version/variation, how would it be different?  Would I change colors, or motifs, or placements?

I'm learning how unbrave (cowardly?) I am with color.  I tend to go for "safe" colors.  Maybe that makes for a boring quilt?

In the photos above, the lighter browns in the middle photo are more accurate to the in-person browns.

As always, I'm thrilled to read your comments, thoughts, and observations about this part of Bramble Blooms (or any other quilts I'm working on and post about).  I always appreciate that readers see and notice things I don't.  Thank you.

It shouldn't take me long to stitch the birds when I finally begin.  At least I'm mostly caught up for the next prompt when Audrey posts about it in coming weeks.

Two weeks ago it seemed like spring was coming along nicely, and then that Friday we had a wonderful snowstorm.  It took a few days to melt and we had spring weather again. This morning I awoke to several inches of snow.  Even with the snows, it seems like Phil's prediction of an early spring might be more accurate than not.  The prediction for several days next week is in the 60s and for 71 degrees on March 4. 

I hope you're having a good weekend!
--Nancy.

Nine-Patches, Bramble Blooms, Weather

I declared my interest in participating in Taryn's Tiny Four Patch sew-along but I haven't signed in to Facebook to see what's going on.  She's also hosting this on Instagram. 

I already had some 1½" squares in autumn colors that I'd been sewing into four-patches.  They are really scrappy, as you can see.  (Maybe I'll start making some less scrappy ones....)  I'd been trying to decide what to do with them and when I saw this sew-along it seemed like just the thing for these squares.  The blocks in the original quilt finish at 1½"--teeny tiny--compared to my 3" blocks--small.   But Taryn's open to participants sewing any small size.

The setting of the original quilt has the blocks on point with white between.  How would these blocks look with a gold print between, or some other autumn color, do you think?  Or cream, always a favorite.  I'll need to make over two hundred nine-patches so there's no hurry for a decision.  I'm aiming for 10/week which equals 40/month, so in about 5 months I should have enough for a bed-size quilt.  We'll see how it goes.  (I just calculated that 200 9-patches will require 1800 squares!  I might not have enough scraps!)

I'm still dithering about Bramble Blooms decisions.  I cut and sewed the teal border and that's it so far.  (No excuses here but my daughter and her kitties were here and my husband has been using the kitchen table where I cut large pieces.  It's not that I've been putting it off.)

I'm stumped on the borders without the arcs.  I only ever thought they would go on the right side and bottom.  But what to do about the other side and the top?  I thought about stripes, similar to but not like above.  Like a fence, maybe?  And on the other side are brambles?  I really can't think that those arcs/arches all the way around would be a good idea.  Another thought just occurred to me:  move the upper "pickets" on on the left to the bottom beside the bramble arc and leave maybe three pickets up the left side.  But that still leaves me with an empty upper border.   Leaves?  Birds?  What?

And then there's the question of that brown border.   Will I be able to recover from so much darkness in the next border?  Maybe I should go with a light border.  Oh, how I don't know what I'm doing.

Of course, I still need to decide what color and fabric the arcs and anything else I add will be.  But those decisions will depend on the border fabric....

Most of the quilts I make are made one step at a time, not knowing the end at the beginning, and I decide the next part of the quilt as I go along, but most of my quilts are made of blocks.  And I can always take as much time as I want to make decisions. 

But wait, I really am having fun.  A challenge can be fun, right?  I'm enjoying the challenges, just not the pressure of a time constraint.

On a different topic.  Do you cut away the fabric behind an applique?  I know one or two people who do and another one or two who don't. 

What about you?  I always have for several reasons.  First, because it's easier to hand quilt one less layer of fabric and, second, because I see that great expanse of usable fabric and think how it's going to waste.  What's your opinion and experience?  Leave it or cut it away?

The weather hasn't helped my energy—physical, mental, or creative—this week and last.  We haven't seen the sun since Monday, the 22nd.  No matter the time of day, from dawn to dusk, it has been grey or greyer and sometimes foggy.  It is beautiful.  It also makes me feel like sleeping for a few hours in the afternoon.  The weather forecast tells me tomorrow will be only partly cloudy.  I'm looking forward to seeing the sun!

I love winter when it snows.  There's still a chance for it this year.

I hope you're happy, healthy, safe, and enjoying whatever you're doing.

--Nancy.

Quilting Everyday Patchwork

I really like this Maple Star and it's wonderful scrappiness.

It's one of the blocks in the second-from-the-bottom row of Everyday Patchwork.

You can hardly tell from the photo that I met my goal of finishing a row of hand quilting.  In fact, I finished one row (I was about a third of the way along it), then finished another complete row, and am beginning the next row.  That gets me to only the second row of blocks.  I really have to pick up the pace -- faster quilting or more time quilting -- if I want to finish this quilt any time in the next year.

The weather has gotten colder here with a chilling wind.  When I looked out the window just a few minutes ago I saw snow on the ground and it's still snowing!  I believe this is the earlier snow I can remember in my life in Ohio.  It's crazy!

I'm linking this post to October One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up at Stories from the Sewing Room.  Thank you for hosting, Anne-Marie.

--Nancy.

Between the Old Year and the New

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day always seems busy to me.  It's a catch-up time for unfinished things, especially ones that need to be finished before January comes.  And then there's planning and preparing for the coming year, particularly as regards quilting, family history research, and blogging for both.

Burgoyne Surrounded is not one of those essential things, but the top is finished as far as the extra blocks.

It is now four blocks by five blocks and measures 75" x 94", which seems seems huge.  My husband and I sleep in a queen-size bed and my thought for this quilt is to add an applique border on the long side to make it closer to 82" x 94" so I can lay it horizontally across the bed.  Neither of us likes the weight of a quilt handing over the end of the bed, and I love having extra on the side so I can pull it up and wrap it around me.  So it might work

I'm envisioning the border across the top appliqued with oak leaves and acorns, which means I'm almost right back where I started two months ago when I decided against a border all the way around the smaller version of the quilt.  I think that must have felt too daunting to me at the time.

I have lots of  leftover 1½" squares and strips to be cut.  I don't know if I'll make another Burgoyne Surrounded quilt or not yet, but they'll become something.

For years now I've made my own purse-size calendar book.  Many years ago I bought one that worked perfectly but when the new year came, they weren't making that style any more.  So I made my own.  Closed, it measures ~4½" x 7". 

A couple of years ago I bought a ream of paper and took it to a binder who has a guillotine paper-cutter and a machine to punch holes in the edge.  Old school, I know, but I go with the idea that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I'm also a person of habit and love consistency in some everyday things.  When the last week of the year rolls around and I don't have my calendar book finished, as happened this year, I feel rushed and focus my attention on just it.  Yes, it takes time to make it but I love it.  And now it's ready for 2023.

Christmas passed almost without my catching and enjoying it.

One of our favorite Christmas activities is going to Merry Tuba Christmas.  Thank goodness it was inside this year!  I love this experience for so many reasons.  The feeling of being inside a whale with the blubbery music all around fills me with wonder.  One of the other reasons I love it is because the audience is invited to sing along to some of the carols.  It reminds me of when I was a child and we sang from small booklets of carols.  Except with Merry Tuba Christmas, for someone who can hardly carry a tune, it's a great pleasure to know that the tubas are so much louder and cover any mistakes I make.

We baked Spritz cookies--so festive and delicious--

and made Buckeyes.  Yum!  From experience I now know that buckeyes are best with real butter (as opposed to vegan butter).

And the last event of the Christmas season came today when we visited the Nativity in the city.  It is a life-size or larger display of the Annunciation, of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem, of shepherds in the fields with their sheep, the Wise Men, Herod, and Mary and Joseph with the Baby.  My photos do not do justice to the atmosphere of the environment when in person among these displays.

This display has been set up every year since 1931 by State Auto Insurance.  For many years it was in front of the building, elevated in a narrow space between the sidewalk and the building.  It was okay but a few years ago they created a small park where they arrange the figures in groupings to create scenes.  It is amazing to me that a secular insurance company can create an environment that feels so special and spiritual, holy even.  There is a sense of hushed reverence and awe while in that little park.  

The weather now, in the 60s, feels like spring.  But on the Friday before Christmas we had snow and the temperature was -5 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of -32 degrees.  No doubt the 26 mph winds helped it feel so cold.  I think that's similar to what many experienced around the U.S., except, of course, the Buffalo area was worse.  I love the snow, not so much the negative temperatures.

This is the last post of 2022.  I would breathe a sigh of relief that the year is over but I'm not letting myself do that yet.  The way this year has gone, anything could happen in three more hours!  It ain't over till it's over, as they say.

Happy New Year to you!

--Nancy.

The Summer Lapsed Away

a poem by Emily Dickinson

            As imperceptibly as grief
            The summer lapsed away,—
            Too imperceptible at last
            To feel like perfidy.

            A quietness distilled,
            As twilight long begun,
            Or Nature spending with herself
            Sequestered afternoon.

            The dusk drew earlier in,
            The morning foreign shone,—
            A courteous yet harrowing grace
            As guest that would be gone.

            And thus without a wing
            Or service of a keel
            Our summer made her light escape
            Into the Beautiful.

I know the calendar gives us a date for the beginning of autumn but it never seems so specific to me.  Summer days, autumn days, back to summer heat, then autumn's cool, and finally more autumn than summer and the leaves change colors.  Autumn is my favorite season but I also love the transition from summer to autumn.

--Nancy.

A Churn Dash Quilt Top

A finished top!  Not perfect, but finished.  I love it!  It will be such a feminine quilt and reminds me to think of the girls and women who used churn dashes to make butter.  I wish I had batting and backing to layer and quilt it now.  Quilt tops always seem fragile until they become quilts and I hesitate to do much more than lay them on the floorThe top measures 69" x 90¼".  A little long, maybe, but it will shrink with quilting and washing/drying.

I made the side and bottom setting triangles larger to extend the width and length of the quilt.  Without the side triangles being wider the quilt's width would have been 61".  When Lizzy of Gone to the Beach reminded me how stretchy side triangles can be I took extra care, but you'll notice a little waffling in the photos above and below.  I may go back and redo some seams but I think those will quilt out.  What do you think and what is your experience?  Do they need improved? 

In a recent previous post I wrote about the challenge of cutting such large triangles--21" square, cut diagonally twice--for the sides and bottom.  I didn't have a cutting mat large enough to cut 21" fabric squares so explored cutting options.  I finally decided to cut strips of fabric 10½" wide as if I were using an Easy Angle ruler, then cut the strips into triangles.

I have a 6" x 24" ruler with a 45-degree angle marked on it, which I tried, but I didn't trust it for accuracy.  I also tried using the 45-degree line on the cutting mat but didn't trust that, either.  (I knew that having an accurate 90-degree angle at that corner was important for accuracy.)

I finally used my 12½" ruler to cut the triangles. I was careful to align the ruler exactly at the upper edge of the fabric where the 90-degree angle was.  (For you observant readers, the triangle below is for the top of the quilt and not for the sides or bottom.)

I was happy with this method for cutting triangles, though it took extra steps compared to having a larger cutting mat and ruler.

This quilt is the first I've ever made using the same background fabric for all the blocks, and it's the first quilt I've made using a white background.  I'm not a huge fan of white but I think it works for this quilt.

Finishing this top completes my One Monthly Goal for September so I'm linking to September One Monthly Goal Finish at Elm Street Quilts when she posts the goal finish link-up.  Thank you for hosting, Patty.

Also, I decided to make this top to sew-along with Chookyblue's Churn Dash Quilt-Along.  Thanks for the fun, Chookyblue.

I'm linking this post to
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Brag about Your Beauties:  a Pageant of Finishes
> Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina Marie
Thank you for hosting, ladies.

Autumn's here!  It pushed summer aside yesterday.  On Wednesday, the temperature went above 90^o with high humidity.  Yesterday it was in the 60s, and this morning it was in the 40s, both days with sunny skies.  I think we'll have an early autumn, as far as leaves turning colors, and I wonder if we'll have an early and hard winter.  For now, we're headed into my favorite season.  I hope things are good in your life.

Thanks for visiting, reading, and leaving a comment (if you do).
--Nancy.

Little Cabins, Autumn Slips into Fall

I had leftover coral/salmon/peach/melon fabrics from the churn dash blocks I've been making.  Most were small pieces and many were narrow strips.  When I first thought of the churn dash blocks I deliberated about whether to use grey fabrics or a light fabric as the background.  I chose the nearly-white and I love it, but still, the grey and coral were in the back of my mind.  And then the leftover strips seemed perfect to try out those two colors together.  Here are 20 3" (finished) blocks.

Log Cabin blocks are fun to play with. They're akin to HSTs but with more interest.

The layout possibilities are almost endless, but with only 20 blocks, also limiting (and out of balance for some layouts).. 

With a 4 x 5 layout, this quiltlet will measure 12" x 15".   I believe those 1" centers are the smallest pieces of fabric I've ever sewn.   Even with short strips I think log cabin blocks are labor-intensive unless they're sewn as leaders/enders.  (Just playing around in the layout below.)

I'll sew the blocks together after I choose a layout.  I don't really want to make more--I don't have many small scraps left--but at this point, the only layout that really makes sense to me is the second one.  Is it called Fields and Furrows?  One thing I noticed with such small blocks is that there are equal amounts of fabric in the seams and in the top, which means the top is a double layer.  Maybe this one will become a tied quilt because I have no good ideas how to quilt through two layers of fabric plus batting/flannel plus backing fabric.  Big stitches on such a small quilt?

I have no intended purpose for this quiltlet other than to see the colors together.  Had the fabric scraps been large enough I may have made grey and coral churn dash blocks.

I found the first leaves of autumn on the ground this past week. 

Along about the middle of August, even if we have hot, humid weather, there's a day when I suddenly realize that summer's slipping into fall.  The quality of the air changes, the angle of the sunlight changes, and it just feels like fall will be here soon.  I love this time of year!

In my August 6 post I commented that I love rain- and thunderstorms, and I do, except when there's a leak in the roof.   We had a wonderful storm this past Saturday--wonderful until I walked into the bathroom and discovered that the counter was covered with water, then noticed the floor was wet, and then realized water was dripping along the side of the doorway.  It got worse and rain poured from the attic to the first floor and down to the basement.  What a mess.  The roof is still under warranty but because the damage was done by (likely) a raccoon, it's not covered.  There's a long section of valley that's been chewed or scratched away.  This is the third time we've had problems with raccoons.  Why do they love our house?  Why not one of the neighbors' houses?!  (Not that I'm wishing bad things for our neighbors!)  You know that saying, "When it rains it pours?"  Challenges have been pouring in and around our house and home all year.

On a happy note, we had chocolate croissants for breakfast this morning.  My daughter finished four 12-hour days last evening, has today off, and works two days in a row, tomorrow and Wednesday.  She suggested croissants for breakfast today and I readily agreed.  Yum!

I'm linking this post to
> Monday Marking at Love Laugh Quilt and
> Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Thank you for hosting, ladies.

I hope you have a good week this week--no illness, no house/home problems, no car problems, good progress on whatever you're working on, etc.

--Nancy.

One Monthly Goal for August, 2022

From these fabrics—using more of the lights than the darks—I'll make more churn dash blocks, as many as necessary.  I'm guessing I'll need at least 12.  That's part of my One Monthly Goal for August.

The other part is to decide on the layout for these blocks (straight set, on point, sashing, no sashing, alternate plain blocks, etc.) so I'll know how many more blocks to make.

If I can do that, I'll be set to sew the blocks together for a finished top in September.

We had rain yesterday!  Glorious, beautiful, drenching rain.  It hammered the roof and soaked the ground.  It was so dark we needed lights on to read during the day.

I love a good rainstorm.  I only wish I could send some of our rain to you who have so little this year.

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal August linkup at Elm Street Quilts. Thank you for hosting, Patty.

--Nancy.

More Churn Dashes and Oh, That Hot Weather

Another blogger (I'm sorry I can't remember who) commented that she works on one thing at a time until it's finished.  That's mostly true for me this month because I've focused on these churn dash blocks.  Below are the second and third groups of eight for a total of 24 blocks.

This is group two.

Some salmon-y peaches, two pinkish ones, and there's the almost-purpleish one on the right.  It might be removed.

And this is group three. 

Several light salmon, a cantaloupe, a deeper coral, a print, and several pinks.

So far, each block is a different fabric.  I can't help but wonder whether or not they'll be friendly and play well together.  Maybe some of them will have to form a group of their own?  Or maybe placement will be the key.  (As always, the color isn't accurate.)

Here are all the blocks together.

I'll begin repeating fabrics soon, carefully choosing which to use more than once.   Definitely not the pink-that-looks-lavender in the center section!

I still don't have a plan for the layout.  After I finish the next eight I'll lay them out together and play.  Always a fun time!

And the weather!

Here we are into the fourth day of summer.  Last week, a full week before the first day of Spring, Summer decided to push its way past Spring and brought +100-degree temperatures that felt like 112.  The heat plus humidity plus high dew point combine to make it feel like a sauna.  One of those evenings we had thunderstorms which knocked out the electricity in some areas around us, but not ours.  The next evening, our electricity went out (in such heat!) for 12 or so hours.  Hurray that Spring decided to retake the end of her season and we had comfortable temperatures again for three or four days.  Summer has definitely claimed its time now!  It is a sad thing how much the weather affects me--energetic on sunny days, sleepy on rainy days, and just miserable on the hot, humid days (unless I'm in air conditioning).

My daughter, who was and still is an ICU nurse with Covid patients, went through the worst of the pandemic without catching it.  Last week she tested positive!  As Covid goes, it's a fairly mild case, for which we're very thankful.

Whatever you're doing, I hope you're healthy, happy, and enjoying life.

I'm participating in Chookyblue's Churn Dash Sew-along.  On the right sidebar of her blog there is a list of  the 40 participants.  I hope you'll visit at least a few of them! 

I'm linking this post to
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Off the Wall Friday at Creations... Quilts, Art.... Whatever
> Beauties Pageant at from bolt to beauty
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.