Now what's going on here, you might be asking. Well, as you might guess, the cooktop was absolutely destroyed when I did my canning over the weekend. Our cooktop runs on propane and it has electronic sparkers to light the burner. We use oven cleaner to get the worst grime off, and when I've done this in the past, I sprayed oven cleaner on the electronic sparkers (even though I tried not to), and gummed them all up. Of course, that required the assistance of the Resident Engineer to get them working again...and it was a pain. So now, he cleans the cooktop when it is at its dirtiest by first wrapping the burners and sparkers in tin foil, and then spraying oven cleaner and letting it sit for several hours. Not a bad scheme on my part, eh? Mess up bad enough and you get banned from doing the job. (Polishes fingernails on shirt.)
So this is how the cooktop was looking yesterday. Now, mind you...an apple pie for two does not require a cooktop for any reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, I used this as an excuse to stay out of the kitchen the whole live-long day. We were all better off for it. Maybe today I'll get to the apple pie.
It's been a busy month canning, and there's no way I'm going to get bonus points on my monthly goals. Just now I went through the blog posts for the month and found that I've spent 7 days of August canning. That's not a complaint, but it works well as an excuse for not keeping up with my sewing goals. With that in mind, I've kind of decided to power on through with the Blushing Aspens until I have all the leaves made. Yesterday, I made the third leaf for Section 4 and then sewed the whole section together.
Of course, I had plenty of help in the sewing room.
"Hey Smitty! Mom's back in the sewing room! If we bother her enough, we can probably score some of that dried catnip!"
Great idea, Gracie...and whoa! I'm trapped in a cat trap! Gracie! Get Meowt!
So, cats aside...I managed to get both Section 3 and Section 4 finished yesterday. It was a little tricky making the leaves with stems. For one thing, I had to relearn the notion that when you sew strips of fabric together, you need to sew on the diagonal if you want them to come out in a straight line.
It only took me one time ripping out that little seam to figure that out. Yeah...I'm real smart that way.
Also, it was a little tricky because of the way I'm trimming the blocks. When I made the freezer paper templates, I also draw in the seam lines around the outside of the block and the inner stem. Around the outsides of the block, I'm trimming them to one-half inch from the seam line, and the seams within the block are trimmed to one-quarter inch. That's because I need to sew the pieces together before I can trim the block to size. Also, I learned that I must first trim the blocks before removing the freezer paper, or I'm in a world of hurt with no markings to use as a guide.
So, you might guess that the first leaf was a bit of a challenge. When I get something finished, I always let out a high-pitched "Ha!" in amazement at my stupelligence. (I just made that word up. It means when you're kind of stupid about something, and then you figure it out, reassuring yourself that actually, you are quite intelligent. Stupelligence. Get it?) And so when this one was sewn together, try to imagine me saying "Ha!"
followed quickly by a lower pitched "Oh..." when I realized I'd sewn the stem in backwards. The wider end should be at the wider end of the leaf. And then my disappointed "Oh..." quickly turned into a big "Oh well," because I'm not a bit worried about the quilt police noticing that one. In fact, you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out, would you? Just say no.
So anyway...with that, I had this bit of the runner finished.
And then I finished the second leaf in Section 3 and sewed the two sections together.
Ha!
And so all of that to say that these aren't difficult once you get yourself a system in place. That's why I think I'm going to power on through until all the leaves are made. If I don't, I'll have to figure all of that out again when I come back to it. Bonus points, schmonus points. I'm resigned to not getting my list completed in August. There's always September.
Today, maybe I'll bake a pie, and for sure I'm on to Section 2 of the runner, which is the largest of the five sections. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any way to avoid doing a couple of "Y" seams in this do you?
Look at those two little filler sections in the middle. Do you see a way to piece those together while avoiding the dread "Y" seam? If so, please enlighten this stupelligent person.
14 comments:
Hopefully, the instructions will tell you--but I think a 'partial' seam technique would be easier than a y seam. If you Google 'partial seam', there are all sorts of tutorials.
Hopefully, the instructions will tell you--but I think a 'partial' seam technique would be easier than a y seam. If you Google 'partial seam', there are all sorts of tutorials.
Partial seam will work. The leaves are looking good.
Could you work those as partial seams? or are they too small. Rather than rush to finish, take your time and enjoy it - there is next month and even the next.
Aw, man, how did three people beat me to the partial seam suggestion? Also, my husband would be very impressed with your "mess up so bad that you're banned from doing it" technique. It's his favorite thing to do.
I'm really loving the table runner, those colors are fantastic and No I wouldn't have noticed. Great job figuring out how to get the husband to clean the stove top.
Fun post. I can only think of a partial seam/Yseam technique. Sorry. But I will share that I've had great luck using baking soda and dish soap to clean our propane stove. Works great on the stainless and doesn't create the mess and smell of sprays. Just pour out some baking soda directly on the stainless and add a few drops of liquid dish soap. I then use a dobie sponge or a toothbrush to blend the two together and scrub the stove. Not 100% perfect, but in most cases it works great.
QuiltShopGal
www.quiltshopgal.com
Gracie is also pointing out that she counts at least 5 kitten violations right there on top of the cutting table. Plus, Smitty had told her that he's the resident engineer and now she's confused.
I always look forward to your posts!!! Love the new word...OED will add it this year if they have their wirs about them! Thanks for the grins and giggles!
I always look forward to your posts!!! Love the new word...OED will add it this year if they have their wirs about them! Thanks for the grins and giggles!
You are too funny. Get meowt. Where do you get all these cat words?
Silly...I speak Catonese. Doesn't everybody?
I hope Gracie was able to release Smitty from the cat trap!
The runner is looking mighty fine - and I go along with the partial seam team for those little rectangles in the center.
I love your new words. Your really should publish your own dictionary so I can convince My Guy to let me use them when we play Scrabble. Hopefully your helpers are all accounted for an not still stuck in cat traps and you've made bunches more progress on your leafs.
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