Building a Barn

Good morning, my friends. Our chat will have to be quick this morning. We're donning our suits of armor in an effort to get Sadie to the vet this morning. She needs her immunizations. It's hard to believe, I know, but this little kitty turns into a bearcat when she's being forced to do something she doesn't want to do.

We still have a few more hours to live. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, you'll know Sadie won the battle.

Yesterday started with me stitching Tiny Treasure #47. This one has stem stitch, stem fill, lazy daisy and a French knot.

There's just one more to stitch. If I play my cards right this morning, I might be able to finish it before we need to go.

From there, I went straight to work finishing the final four panel blocks on the Amish Sampler quilt. The quilting is finished now, and it's ready for binding. I'm hoping to get the binding sewn on by machine today.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Here's a little closer look at the back.

Okay, and there was time in the afternoon to start on the first block of this new project. It's a little weird working with this spiral-bound pattern. I'm having to flip back and forth in the pages as I work. I finally used a paperclip to mark the important pages.

The first block I'm making is "The Milking Parlor." I'm using my scraps for this project, and so I'm trying to match the fabrics in the picture with what I have available, being mindful of contrast.

The first step was to make the block background. The blocks are large at 14 inches square. They'll be trimmed down some eventually, but I'm advised to leave them as is until I'm ready to so them together.

Usually when I'm doing applique, I'll fuse directly to the background. For this project, I'll be using a teflon pressing sheet to create the applique. This is another way the pattern is rather unconventional. The pieces are not numbered in the order they are to be applied, and so making them first on the teflon pressing sheet gives me flexibility to change things around if I need to.

I started with the small building, pressing it to the upper corner of my pressing sheet, and then I just left it there while I created the barn.

The drawings I'm tracing from are reversed for applique, but I noted the tree was not. It doesn't matter for this block, but I'll pay closer attention from here on.

With that finished, I could add the small building.

And then the silo.

With it all fused together, I could peel it up from the pressing sheet, and then fuse it to the background.

Now, it's ready for top-stitching. I'll do that first today. I like how the picture from the pattern shows the top-stitching done in a dark brown thread. It gives it a rustic appearance, and it adds contrast. So, I'm going to do all the pieces for this block in dark brown, except the windows. I'll do those in black.

Doing the top-stitching will be at the top of my sewing list this afternoon. Mainly, I want to get it out of the way so that I can square up the Amish Sampler and get the binding sewn on. Next on my list is to make backs for two finished flimsies. If I'm going to have to sandwich quilts soon, I want to do as many as I can. 

As I'm thinking about this, I'm realizing that I can sew the Raggedy & Friends project together and add it to the mix. Just now, I realized I don't yet have an image of all the blocks laid out together.

Already I have a backing fabric for this project, and so I might as well add it to the pile.

That's a lot to contemplate for a single day, and I doubt I'll get this far. But I'll just jump out there ahead of myself and say that when I have those three quilts ready to be sandwiched, I'll be ready to start another new project...this one:

It's another pattern I've had on my shelf for years. Time to get it going.

All right. I need some breakfast, and then I think I'll have a little time to work on my slow-stitching. As for packing Sadie into a kennel this morning, all I can say is wish us luck. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow if I haven't been reduced to shreds of flesh and bone.

Final Four

Good morning, my friends. Our weather has returned to Portland gloom today. We're expecting sun breaks off and on through the week, but rain most every day. I haven't checked the forecast to see when the sunshine will return, but it won't be for several days. 

My first stop yesterday was to stitch Tiny Treasure #46. This one has stem stitch, satin stitch, and fly stitch.

Since we were out of ice cream, I baked a skillet cherry cobbler for two. (Actually, this is a cobbler for four.) We had only vanilla ice cream, and so the evening could be saved if I baked something to go with it. This was my mother's recipe, scaled down and adapted to be baked in an iron skillet. It can also be made with canned peaches. And if you want to feed a crowd, you can triple the recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

While that baked, I quilted four more panel blocks. Now I'm down to the final four. After today, this quilt will be ready for binding.

Moving into the sewing room, I had the pieces cut to make the first row of blocks for the new "Jawbreakers" project. I'm using the same Gumballs quilt pattern, but giving it a different name for this second go-round.

The first step was to make and trim 40 half square triangles.

Also, I needed five 4-patches.

And then I could stack all the pieces for sewing into five quilt blocks.

Sadie helped me with this.

When I had all five sewn together, I laid them out as they'll appear in the row.

This quilt is created using just one block. As each block is added, it is turned 90° from the one before it. It's a little difficult to see what's going on, and so I've marked the image below to help some. 

The red dot appears where the four patch appears. The yellow vertical line shows the break between each block. Look carefully at where the four patch appears, and I think you can see how it works. The fifth block is oriented the same as the first one, but when I start the second row, I'll also turn that block and orient it like the second one.

Okay, and that was the end of my sewing day, but I took some time to trim the stack of half square triangles I've been sewing together as leaders and enders. I'm doing a better job of remembering to do these. And all that trimming of half square triangles gave me a sore wrist. I had a splint on it last night, but it feels fine today.

Okay, so I'm planning a pretty easy day for myself today. I'll finish the quilting on the Amish Sampler. But then in the sewing room, I'm starting something new. I bought this pattern ages ago...ten years, maybe. This is the picture from the cover of the spiral-bound pattern. It was designed by Kathy Cardiff and Taylor Olvera.

On the back cover is "The Story Behind the Barns." Oh my gosh, this tickled me so. I believe I've found my people!

Even her love of barns originated similarly to mine. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents were farmers. My brother spent quite a bit of time at the farm of my paternal grandparents. He was seven years older than I, and I have very little memory of their farm. On the other hand, my maternal grandfather was a dairy farmer, and I have vivid memories of visiting their farm. I loved their traditional red barn, and I have happy memories of playing in the hay loft with my brother. So, when I read this story (for the first time yesterday), it only increased my enthusiasm for this project.

This is the first block I'll make. It's intended to have cotton fabric as the background with wool applique. I'll be using all cotton for mine, and I'll be working with my scraps.

Already, I've pulled these next two fabrics from my yardage stash. I'm not exactly sure how much I have of either, but I'm hoping I can use one or the other for a border. It'll be a decision for down the line.

It was nearing dinner time by then. My last gasp was to check on the peonies. I was happy to see multiple buds on three of the five plants. (The others are still waking up from their winter slumber.) The first one is the "Lavender Whisper" peony. We planted this one back in 2023. I've yet to see it bloom because we've been traveling the past two springs. When we've arrived home, I've found only the spent blossoms.

I found a picture online, and so I have an idea how it will look. I chose it because it is fragrant as well. Here's how it will look when it shows itself.

(Image credit: Origami, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons)

This next one is showing a little bit of color, but I'm certain it's still weeks away from blooming.

To its left, is the coral sunset peony. It is the tallest of the bunch with at least a dozen buds showing.

Okay, so that was my day yesterday. We've already had our breakfast, and so my next stop will be slow-stitching. After that I'll get back to my quilting. And after that...barns! I'm excited to get started on that project. It's going to be a good day for sewing. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself too.

Something New

Good morning, my friends. Before I say another word, please join me in wishing this handsome hunka mancat a very happy 14th birthday.

My, oh my. How time flies. It seems only yesterday we brought home this little squirt.

He shows his age a little more now. Just like the rest of us, he has good and bad days. (Read that: "fast and slow days.") He's at an age where we know we won't have him for very much longer. Our first cat, Benjamin, lived to be 16. We also had a tortie named Krissy, and she lived to be 19. He's doing fine in his old age so far, but we remind ourselves daily to love him up while we still can.

It was a good day of sewing yesterday after taking a day or two off during the week. Of course, every morning starts with some slow stitching. This is Tiny Treasures #45. It has stem stitch, straight stitch, satin stitch, and lazy daisy.

There are three more days of these (including today), and so I decided to trace out Block 5 for "Home is Where My Flock Is."

Probably I'll get started on it by Tuesday morning.

I was in the mood to bake something, and so I baked us some Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries. I've linked to the original recipe there, but I've scaled it down to make it a "for two" version. Actually, what you see here are cookies for four. (They're big cookies.)

Usually when I bake these, I'm only baking two. Since I can fit four in my toaster oven, I decided to bake them for two plus two, and I'll freeze the extras for another day.

Okay, and then I got back to my quilting. I've been dragging my feet about this a little bit. Although I like my "Line Tamer" ruler for quilting straight lines, it's still difficult to hold onto the ruler while free motion quilting. I'd stitched a few inches on the first line when I remember...duh...that I had these square feet purchased some time ago. 

My machine is a Babylock Tiara II, but it is identical to the HandiQuilter Sweet 16 machine. Anything that will work on the HandiQuilter Sweet 16 will also work on my machine. I bought the feet in preparation for quilting this Strips & Stripes quilt back in 2023. It worked great for that.

So, I had to remind myself how to attach this foot to my machine...

And I especially like how I can snuggle it up to those corner seams so that I can quilt a nice square corner.

And that was a whole lot easier than trying to hold onto the ruler.

When I started on these borders, I was thinking there were ten bordered blocks. As it turns out, there are 12. And so I decided to break them up into groups of four. I did four yesterday. I'll do another four today and another four tomorrow. After that, it will be ready for binding. Here's a little peek at the back.

There was plenty of time left in the day to start on the next "Gumballs" quilt. As I've mentioned, I enjoyed doing this red version so much that I'm going to make another one in a different colorway.

This new one will be done in blues, greens, and aquas. So, I pulled out all my scrap bins, and went to work on the cutting for the first row of five blocks. Also, I didn't want to refer to them as the "Red Gumballs" and the "Green Gumballs." So, I started thinking of what else looks like gumballs. I know! Jawbreakers! So, these are the scraps I'll be using in my new "Jawbreakers" project.

Smitty read the cutting dimensions to me.

And then he helped me count them out as I cut.

It took what remained of my sewing day, but the cutting is finished now. I can start sewing these together today.

There was some time to get outside to see how the garden is growing. The Andromeda is developing its red foliage now.

And it's amazing what a few days of sunshine did for the tulips. There is another yellow one around the other side of the house. Apparently, the deer do not like the yellow-flavored tulips.

The Black Tartarian cherry tree is covered in cherry blossoms now.

The laggardly Bing is always about a week behind its brethren to the left.

Smitty was keeping an eye out for any furry mammals. 

The rain has returned for most of this week. It'll be good sewing weather. I'll continue on with my quilting, and make a stab at getting the first row of Jawbreaker blocks sewn together. Also, I want to bake a skillet cherry cobbler for two. We're almost out of ice cream, but flush with vanilla. That will go with our cobbler. 

If I run out of things to keep me busy, there are two quilt backs I need to make. I've not been in any hurry with those since I'm still waiting for a string of warm days to set up the sawhorse and plywood tables for sandwiching the 14 quilts that are in need. The most recent warm weather has been spent doing gardening things, but I'm reserving the next stretch of warm weather for making quilt sandwiches. 

Okay, so Happy Saturday, Everybody. I'm on my way to do some slow-stitching. What's on your to-do list for today?