9/5/18

Winding Down Summer

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was heading out on a day of many stops. It's my least favorite kind of day...a day spent in the car, heading here and there, accomplishing nothing at home. And there's no place I'd rather be than home. Being away from home makes me tired and cranky.

My first stop was to drop off two quilts for the Northwest Quilter's Expo, scheduled for the end of the month. That took positively forEVER because the woman checking in my quilts couldn't find my name on any of her lists. And my question is this: Why so many lists? Why not have just one list...alphabetical...instead of having a separate list for each category? Anyway...finally I was on my way to Salem to pick up my quilts from the Oregon State Fair. And that leads me to my next gripe: The Quilt Police.

Okay, so here's the thing: It's an added bonus, in my opinion, to get some constructive criticism on quilts I've entered in shows. I've changed my way of doing things on a few fronts and it's improved my quilt-making. From comments by judges I learned that the stitches on my hand-stitched bindings were too far apart. Also, I've learned to be more careful about tension. A judge once pointed out that I'd cut the corners off some pinwheels when I sewed on the binding...and I hadn't even noticed that. So all of that to say that ordinarily I appreciate comments from judges.

Let's talk first about Quiltmaker's Garden.


These were the comments:


Okay...so reasonable comments. "Strive for all intersections to meet precisely." Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, I was pretty careful with that quilt. When I got it home, I strived to find some intersections that didn't meet precisely, and I was hard pressed to find any. But, okay, point taken. Don't be human while quilting. Got it.

Here's where my goat was gotten. The Quilting Snowladies.


These were the comments.


So here's an example of what they're talking about. Metallic thread in cornerstone snowflakes: Good. Metallic thread in block borders: Bad. What? At reading that comment I said aloud, "Oh, Shut! Up!"


And, excuse me, but whoever heard of "traditional colors?" And, excuse me even more, but do traditional quilts make reference to "global warming?" And here's another thing about these quilting "snowladies." Have you ever heard of a snow person with anything other than ambiguous genitalia? So as long as we're complaining about stupid stuff, how about these "lady" snow people? Well. Enough said, and I rest my case.


Moving on. In disgust, I tossed the Quiltmaker's Garden onto the floor unceremoniously while I folded up the Quilting *Trans* Snowpeople. Smitty took that as an invitation. "Go ahead, Smitty," I said. "It was made by a mere mortal, after all. Who cares if your furs stick to it?"


Speaking of Smitty, his painting came yesterday. Isn't this cute? Now I need to find a frame for it.


Even the envelope it came in was cute.


He's a humble cat, and I think he was embarrassed when I showed it to him.


As I mentioned a few days ago, I've been gearing up to bake some bread. The loaf I'm baking is a three-day process, and I started last night by mixing some of the starter with water and white flour. It looked like this when I was finished.


It sat at room temperature overnight. When I got up this morning, it looked like this.


This morning, I'll add some whole wheat flour, rye flour, and spelt flour to it. Then I'll knead it for five minutes. Then it will go into the refrigerator for 24 hours to be baked off tomorrow. I'm actually making two loaves this time around, but I'll start them a day apart. There's still plenty of starter left in the jar.

As for this starter, it's making me crabby too. It's overflowed its jar four times in the past couple of days. It's good to have a robust starter, and I've tried keeping it stirred down. Still, when I'm not looking, it bubbles up and out of the jar. When I got home yesterday afternoon, I had quite a mess to clean up, even though it was contained on the plate. It had hours to dry and it was something akin to cleaning up spackling paste. It's not looking so perky now, is it?


I'll feed it one last time this morning since I'll need it for the next loaf to be mixed up tonight. Then, into the trash with whatever is leftover. Please don't tell me to save it. There's another jar already in my refrigerator awaiting the next bread-baking binge.

This morning I went out to take some pictures. Some of our trees are starting to show their fall colors. This maple tree is down at the far end of the field.


This is the small dwarf Japanese maple in front of the house. It has an orange sheen over its top.


This is one of the Japanese maples around the side of the house.


The seed pods that were bright red last week are changing to a deep wine color.


While I was out, Miss Sadie came galloping up to see what all the fuss was about. This is one busy little lady.


Also, I got back to my slow stitching this morning. It's gone begging the past ten days or so, but now I'll be able to get back to it with some regularity.


Finally, I meant to post the canning tally with the pantry pictures yesterday. Here's a list of the canning I've done this year.



Phew...makes me tired looking at it. And I'm not finished yet. The farmers have committed to another 40 lbs. of tomatoes. Possibly, I can pick them up this Saturday, but it might be next Thursday. I'm hoping for Saturday. Today I'll get out and pick some plums. I want to bake a plum torte with them today. That takes just 12 plums, and it's so easy and quick. Also, I want to try making some barbecue sauce with them, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. It's been so busy for the past ten days or so that the house is an absolute wreck. I must do some housework today. But all work and no play makes me a dull quilter, and so I'll do a little sewing today too. It's high time, don't you think?

15 comments:

Debbie said...

Rant on...quilt police need to be slashed and pinned where it hurts!
You have had a very successful canning season. Enjoy the fruits of your labors:)

Unknown said...

Barbara, I completely agree about the judges. Give us something to work on. Really the glitter comment was ridiculous, but it's your quilt and you like it. So there, judge!

Love the blog, BTW.

Sharon in Colorado

I will also have a quilt at the expo.

Quilting Babcia said...

Aww, Smitty is just too embarrassed to admit how much he loves his portrait! You could make frybread on our sidewalks today, it's so hot. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather so we can have at least one more tomato-basil pie before the tomatoes give up for the year. Quilt police are banned here, and I like it that way!

Sally Trude said...

Well, on the quilt highway, you don't get to choose which policeman pulls you over. So results vary.

Here are Molly's comments: Not enough cat hair. Stinky. Smells too much like boy cat.

crazy quilter said...

I know you understand those quilt judge people hate to find the perfect quilt so they always have some negative remarks, even if they find the perfect quilt they still have a negative comment. I understand constructive criticism but geez metallic thread on a traditional colored quilt? What exactly makes them think it is traditional ? Her opinion ? Not true ! It is all so subjective I never fret over the negative comments. I won a blue ribbon on a quilt at at show one time and the comment was about the binding color
What she didn’t Know was I did not have enough of any of the fabrics I used in the quilt to use for the binding and searched at least 10 quilt shops and online shops for something right..I do wish I had the crystal ball with me when I purchased the fabric for the quilt to buy more than I needed , .. needless to say the judge was not impressed.. that quilt also won judges choice in the same show .
You have been so busy on the canning front I am so impressed! You inspire me to be like you! Even though I have never canned one darn thing! Hope the housework went fast so you could get back to the sewing room. Your happy place. I adore Smitty’s painting. Now we must impress on the creator to do Sadie , sweet Sadie can,t be left out!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

That is one of the reasons I hate to put my quilts in judged shows. Although judges are to be non-bias, you know their personal side is going to show thru. Super canning list there and I know it is going to grow. Love those two sweet furkids!

Sue said...

I think sometime the judges really search for a negative comment- that's why I don't enter shows anymore- the comments drove me crazy!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I stopped here on Bonita's hop. You have a great blog with the perfect mix of stitching and other subjects. Yes, I can SEE you love cats. Me, love them but I'm a definite Pooch lover more. Thank you for blogging and thanks for making your blog an inviting place.
xx, Carol

piecefulwendy said...

I shudder to think of what the judges would say about my quilts. I know I'd get the same comment on my binding, since I space quite liberally. The metallic thread comment I don't agree with. I think it adds a little pizzazz to the quilt. Cannot believe that starter is still overflowing; I don't know what you put in there, or what's in the air, but something really has it going! Pat yourself on the back, Barbara, those quilts are beautiful. Love the portrait of Smitty. I should post my cats on her page and see what happens.

Denise :) said...

Judges are dumb. LOL! Anyway, I generally throw the comments away or steel myself to lavishly sprinkle them with salt. To go with their pepper. Hahaha! I think both the quilts were top notch blue ribbon winners. So there. How's that for a comment?? I do see a bit of blush in Smitty's cheeks. LOL! As much as I love summer, I'm looking forward to the transition to fall. Truth of the matter is, I love each of the seasons in their time! :)

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Our last quilt show had judges with comments for the very first time. Most of us were NOT happy with the comments. My Peter Pan quilt was quilted with stars (3rd star to the left, then on til morning). Stupid judge said that the quilting didn't go with the quilt. BTW, a quilt from a panel, with 6" plain squares surrounding it won in that category. REALLY??? I've found that machine quilting judges don't like hand quilting, and vice versa. Very biased judges.

QuiltE said...

*shakes head* at judgy quilt police!
You don't even want to get me going on the Fair Judges, who really are not fair in their judging and comments. I don't know about your Fairs but here, most anyone might be the judge, quilter or not. So do I pay much attention to their comments? Nope! I think the one that got me the most, was not their comments, but when I stood looking at the placings, to see my quilt in 2nd, which I can handle, but saying to myself, whyyyyyyyy?? as the winner was totally pathetic in every which way you can think. Meanwhile, I hear a discussion of others behind me arguing the same but very vocally out loud as to whyyyyyy, and giving all their rationale as to their judgments. They had no clue I was the 2nd placed quilt. I just smiled and moved on. Honestly, I try to see if I can figure out the logic of placings ... but often not. Like I said, just grin and move on .... taking what I want from the experience and ignoring the rest.

Kate said...

If judging quilts is anything like judging science fairs, it's usually pretty easy to find something nice to say about a project, especially one that was well done. Providing useful and meaningful critical comments is a lot harder. Not that I'm not trying to excuse the critiques, just point out that they are harder to write, even more so if providing critiques is not something you practice. In fact the better the project, the harder that exercise is. So just look at it as your projects were so good, they were struggling to write something that was useful feedback.

Brown Family said...

That is a lot of canning.

Beth said...

I've been away for awhile, and am catching up. That picture of Smitty's bowed head with his portrait in the background in gorgeous! (Handsome even on the Mr. Smitters scale.)