4/4/18

Luxuriating in Leisure

This might be the first morning I've had nothing on my agenda in many months. I drove into town yesterday and got my hair cut and permed. Usually I'd be whining about how much I hate getting my hair permed, but this time I was looking forward to it as an act of mercy. Now it's stinky, and I can't wash it until tomorrow, but it feels so much better having my unruly mop tamed somewhat.

While I had serious intention of getting out and weeding yesterday, all I really wanted to do was take a nap. Serious lack of energy and a cold day easily discouraged me from working in the yard. As I've shared with a few of you, I'm strictly a fair-weather gardener. After my nap, I ventured into the sewing room to consider my options.

Having finished the latest Snow Globe block, it was time to trace out the next one for Friendship's Garden. First, I had just the tiniest bit of reorganization to take care of, moving all my embroidery projects into larger bins (I'd "smallified" them for the rigors of RV travel). Now they're safely back at home in their larger spaces. Also, I hadn't trimmed any of the finished blocks to size, and so I did that with the six Snow Globe blocks I've finished. Here they are:


It's hard to get a good picture of them because of the stamped background fabric. Also, I generally store these pieces on hangers. These have been folded up in a box for so long the wrinkles seem fairly permanent. They'll hang out eventually, but for now, no amount of pressing would get rid of those fold lines. It's good to be back home where sewing is a priority.

Now I've traced out the second of the Friendship's Garden blocks. This one is called "Friends are Flowers."


Now it's hooped up and ready for stitching.


While I was doing this, I was digging around in my stash to see what fabrics I might use in this quilt. If you look at the image from the pattern cover, you can see that it's set fairly simply.


It's a small quilt, finishing at just 36 x 36 inches. I might decide to add another border to it and make it a little larger. For now, I was just looking for what fabrics I might have to use where the green sashing is, and I came up with something perfect! It's one of the older fabrics in my stash, and it's just been waiting around for its turn to shine. Will you look at that!


It's even called "Garden Tools!"


Well, that got me pretty excited. The little cornerstones will be simple enough to make from scraps.

By that time, the day was almost over. We had dinner and watched TV for a while. Just as we were getting ready to go to bed, I got a very impulsive bee in my bonnet to bake some bread. I chose one of the simplest loafs I've made in the past and mixed up some dough so that it could rise overnight. And "dough" seems a perfect word for this endeavor because I got into bed and said, "Doh!" This is why one should never embark on a baking project before bed. When I thought about it, I should have known I couldn't take freshly unfrozen starter straight from the refrigerator and expect it to do anything at all. When I got up this morning to check the dough, it had done precisely nothing. Okay, so back to the breadboard.

This morning I took both starters out of the refrigerator and fed them again. Now, I'll leave them at room temperature for a few days and just keep feeding them until they are robust again. Already they are bubbling, and so I'm sure there are living yeast at work. I can actually see movement in the white starter.


The whole wheat starter is a little less active, which is to be expected.


For now, I might bake something using commercial yeast just to scratch the itch I have for baking something. It's been a long dry spell on the baking front.

It's going to be an NBS day (Nothing But Sewing). Despite having several projects on the go, I have something of a clean slate on the list of projects in my brain. Some might say my brain is a clean slate, but let's not go there, okay? Just be nice. So anyway, Big Bertha is in for her annual maintenance. Whatever I decide to do, I'll be working with Pfelicity. Pfelicity is best for just straight seams. I really miss Big Bertha's knee lift when I'm doing applique. So...free motion quilting? I could start quilting Quiltmaker's Garden...but you know...Quiltmaker's Garden and I have baggage, so never mind. And then there's Wind in the Whiskers, and well, let's just say I haven't completely lost my sanity yet, so I probably shouldn't push it.

But then I got an idea to get a start on something brand new in the "Shop Hop" project I've been planning for years. All I needed was some shops for hopping, and certainly I've done that...all over the country and in our neighbor to the north. So what the heck? No time like the present, eh? (That "eh" was in your honor, Canada.) So here's what I have in mind.

I'm going to cut each swatch to 8 inches unfinished, but across the bottom, I'll cut a strip where the embroidered name and place will go. In order to embroider it, I need a piece of fabric large enough to fit in an embroidery hoop, and this caused me some consternation. Cutting just strips would mean wasting a lot of fabric when I trim them to size. After thinking about it, I decided to print out eight names and places on printer paper. Eight, because each row will have eight blocks. Then I'll cut a piece of fabric large enough to embroider all eight names and places, and then cut the strips after the embroidery is finished.

This morning, I chose eight swatches from the bin, in no particular order, and then selected a font and size that worked for my purpose. Here they are printed out. The font is fairly large, and so it took two sheets for eight names, being sure to leave enough space between the two that I could cut the final strips to 1 1/2 inches.


The font needed to be large enough to embroider, but also small enough that I had more than a quarter inch on each side. The finished strip will fit in a 1-inch space with just a scant 1/4 inch on each side.  I hope this all makes sense. It makes sense in my feeble mind, but explaining it is harder.


So I'll start with just one to make sure it all fits the way I want, and I'll get started on that today. More explanation of my vision for this quilt will follow.

Aside from one small housekeeping chore, it's going to be NBS. And now, I'm getting dressed because doing nothing but sewing is urgently calling my name.

14 comments:

Anne Kirby said...

why would you dress for sewing lol? jammies sound good to me!

DeeDee said...

That fabric for the sashing is just perfect. It's going to look great when it's finished. I also love that you name your machines. I do as well. My main machine is Sally and my embroidery machine is Ellie. My smaller machine is Kitty (named by my son because it's a Janome Hello Kitty machine).

I'm sure it must feel great to be home. We are traveling right now in Washington DC and we head home tomorrow. Sally is in getting her annual cleaning so I'm hoping she'll be ready when we get home.

Looking forward to seeing what comes from your NBS day and the fantastic quilt your putting together from your travels.

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

Well--talk about being back in the saddle again--girl--
with baking bread and sewing--you are there!!!
enjoy,di

Kate said...

So glad you've got the plan all worked out. I'm looking forward to seeing this fabric travel journal come together. Hope you've been able to get in a full NBS day.

quiltzyx said...

It's an NBS day, why, oh why, did you think you needed to get dressed??

The Snow Globes look so happy sitting side-by-side, just waiting for more to join in the fun.
And I agree, perfect garden tools fabric!

I see the bubbles starting to come up & can almost smell the bread baking.....

Vroomans' Quilts said...

All those happy projects! Perfect fabric find for the 'Garden'. Fresh bread - hmm, I so love it.

Dorothy said...

NBS=jammies to me :-)

SJSM said...

You are going great guns! I understand getting dressed. Somehow getting dress says I’m prepared for my day. I also find being dressed is more comfortable as jammies don’t provide the same support I need to be comfortable when moving around. I need my shoes and, er, um supportive clothing not to chafe. Jammies are wonderful when you don’t have to do anything but lay around. Baking bread, sewing, pressing and checking on other household duties and a NBS day! Enjoy the leisurely time to accomplish your goals.

piecefulwendy said...

I'm not a wear your jammies all day kinda girl. I have to get dressed, but my sewing clothes are pretty close to the comfort of jammies! Ha. I hope you have had a grand day of sewing (reading this a day late, as usual) and I hope those starters get bubbling so you can make your yummy bread. If I lived closer, I'd pop over for a taste. What a great fabric find in your stash! Perfect for your quilt. I used fabric for binding yesterday and noticed the date on the selvedge - 2004 - what?! When did my fabric become vintage?! Time flies when you're having fun! Enjoy your day!

Debbie said...

Bread in the oven...smells like home to me. Glad you are back and making progress in all things!

Lyndsey said...

An NBS day sounds perfect. I was going to have one on Friday but John wants to go walking so I've moved it to Saturday. The garden tools fabric will be perfect for the sashing.

Quilting Tangent said...

Enjoy your sewing time.

suzanprincess said...

I used to dread perm day because of the smell, but learned that while shampooing is a no no, rinsing well with plain water worked wonders--got rid of most of the odor, didn't harm the curl, and the bit of crème rinse I used soothed my sore scalp. Putting off the shampoo for an extra day or two also helped my perm last better.

I've been so enjoying traveling vicariously with you and two of my three favorite pastimes (cats, quilting, and baking)--thanks for all your interesting and educational posts! I'm always pleased when I see a new Cat Patches email. =(^.^)=

Brown Family said...

THat green will look so good with the garden blocks. I understand your lable idea. THat should work beautifully.