Barn Again

You thought I was kidding with the "Barn Again" title, didn't you? Actually, I did work on the barn again, and all the pieces are in place now.

Did you notice the cat? Every barn needs a cat, right?

So the next task will be to stitch down all the pieces. Keep your fingers crossed for me, because I may have shot myself in the foot by using spray baste rather than fusing them down. It occurs to me that this is a good use for the lightweight Invisafil set I acquired recently via Massdrop. If you've been following along, you know I've been experimenting with different threads recently. The Massdrop sets are a bargain for someone who's wanting to try something new. These are 100 weight polyester threads.

Some of the barn pieces are tiny, and so I'm going to want to use a 60/8 microtex needle and fine thread to keep them from fraying as I stitch around the edges. The set I purchased comes with many colors to choose from.

The barn is trimmed now and basted to a batting. I'll stitch down the pieces and then add the details before giving it a quilt back and quilting it. There is still much to do, but I have another free day today. I'm hoping to get well along.

Also, I finished quilting the background of the Poinsettia Sampler yesterday. There were four sections left. In one section, I was trying to copy Lori Kennedy's "Happy Flowers" motif, which didn't work out at all. I ended up doing a motif of my own creation. If I've learned anything from these samplers it is that free motion quilting is very forgiving. As long as you have your tension adjusted correctly, you can pretty much do what you want. Trying to copy without success? No problem. Just do whatever you're doing and it'll be fine.

In another section, I did what our Sit Down FMQ group called "tucking in the baby". These wedge shapes are hard to gauge when it comes to the sizes of things, and so I added that "string of pearls" in the middle.

The next design was my adaptation of what Leah Day calls "Star Flower Flow". Again, the wedge shapes made it difficult to do just the way Leah Day did it, but it works.

Finally, this divided loop de loop thing.

Here's how the piece is looking so far.

The barn is my top priority today, but I'm still hoping I'll have time to work on this some more. I'll be switching back to the white thread now and stitching two wavy borders around the outside edges. Inside the two lines, I'll fill in with holly leaves and berries. When that's finished, it'll be ready for binding. Kind of a fun little project.

As I'm writing this, the loaf of Crusty Cranberry Walnut Bread is in the oven. It's a little scary to bake. When I got up this morning, I pretty much doused it in flour and then enfolded it in a tea towel for a second rise. After about two hours, I was supposed to heat the oven and the Dutch oven to 475°F...so HOT! When the oven was ready, I was supposed to use the towel to "flip" the bread dough into the hot Dutch oven. Since I was trying mightily not to burn myself in the process, I managed to throw flour all over the room. Nevertheless, the bread is in the oven now. Possibly all the flour has had a chance to settle while I've been writing to you. Between vanilla and flour, there's never a dull moment in my kitchen, nor a clean moment either. Perhaps I need a sous chef...or a housekeeper. As if.