Apples Away

It was a busy day as usual, but also a day to catch up on some little bits of sewing I had stacked around the sewing room. For one thing, I took a center seam in the middle of one of my first shapeless face masks. I wore it when I got my haircut last week, and it was so freaking big on my face, it almost fell off a couple of times. Since it's one I'm not fond of, it's one that works for getting color on my hair, etc. I don't care if it gets stained. And I fixed the "bigness" of it by sewing a half-inch seam down the center. Now that sucker will stay on.

Even better, the day started with a trip over to Erik and Mae's house to pick apples from their tree. It's so heavily laden in fruit that one of the large branches broke off. No worries. It just made it easy enough to reach the apples without a ladder.

We picked two five-gallon buckets, and that should keep us in applesauce for a while. I'll be processing these today. I'll probably only do about half and save the rest for tomorrow.

Also, we enjoyed munching on their cherry tomatoes. I forget what the name of these is...something about "sweet millions." And boy, oh boy...they really were sweet.

They have dahlias in a pot too. So pretty. I love dahlias. Next year, I want me some.

Back home, I got going on the stitching for the next "I Believe in Snowmen" piece.

And I stitched the third corner on Chicken Buffet's binding.

And then I harvested about 3/4 of a bowl of green beans and three more zucchini.

I'm happy to say I'm keeping up pretty well with the zucchini harvest. Last night, I made this dish for dinner. (This is a picture I swiped off the internet.) This is Fettuccine with Zucchini, Beet Green Pesto, and Poached Egg. If you click on the link to the recipe, you'll see the original recipe uses asparagus in place of the zucchini. But, yeah...I'm sneaky that way. And it was good with zucchini too. And it used the beet green pesto from a few days ago. A win-win of a recipe.

In the sewing room, I finished up the quilting on the "Stitch" sampler. I was just meandering in this block, and so I made my way around and through...

After cutting thread, I fixed the embroidery I'd forgotten to stitch. Easy.

And then I went to work on the left panel. With that heart, it seemed like a heartsy-fartsy-artsy motif was in order for the rest. It didn't take long, and it was all finished.

Sadie helped me square it up and flatten it out for a photo.

Here's how it looks.

The binding strips were already cut, and so I sewed them on. Now it's awaiting it's turn for hand-stitching.

Here's how it looks from the back.

And then, the last little stitching thing I had sitting around was to add a sleeve to the Summer Holiday quilt. I finished this quilt some time ago, and I was planning to enter it in the Oregon State Fair this year. Then, the fair was canceled. I still hope to enter it eventually, and so I made a 4-inch sleeve. If it ever goes to the fair, it will still need a label.

Smitty encouraged me as I sat doing the hand-stitching.

And now it's ready for hanging. That's on today's to-do list.

So, my August goals are complete. Next up, if I can find time for sewing, I'll start working on my challenge quilt. The prompt is "The Sea." As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm planning to put some of my grandmother's doilies and dresser scarves to work in this one. As I dug through all her stuff in my mother's cedar chest, first, I was intimidated by the sheer volume. Then I dug around looking for colors that might work in my piece. I wasn't completely satisfied with the choices I had, but I still thought they'd be acceptable.

I took a closer look at them yesterday. I can recall my grandmother sitting with the tiniest crochet hook...no pattern, just some thread...or floss...I'm not exactly sure what she was using. And then she'd just go to town making these tiny chain stitches and connecting them to make lace. And then she'd attach it to some fabric to make gazillions of little things like this.

I only have a few pictures of her, and most are from when she was quite young. This is how I remember her. This is my mother's family. My dad was taking the picture. Missing from this shot was her older brother, Willard. He died before I ever got a chance to meet him. My military family stopped off in Idaho on our trek from Virginia to Hawaii in 1962. It was the only time I met my grandfather. I spent three gloriously memorable days with him. After we arrived in Hawaii, he died a few months later, and I never saw him again. Yeah...that's me and my friends in the front. My mother in the red sweater, and my brother on the left. The other two people are my Aunt Joan and Uncle Leland.

So as I sat at the sewing machine yesterday, I happened to glance to my left and saw this bit of embroidered "lace" hanging on the thread rack. I'd completely forgotten about this, but it's exactly what I want for my challenge quilt.

Look at those eensy-weensy chain stitches. I used to crochet, but I always used a much bulkier yarn and a huge hook. But I can also recall a visit from my grandmother when we lived in Hawaii. I have a very clear memory of sitting beside her and her teaching me to do this. As for the pieces pictured above, I'll still probably use them in my quilt, and I'll put the fabrics to work too.

Okay...so I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. I only meant to tell you I'm going to use this in my challenge piece. How I'll find time between canning adventures is another question.

So poor Mike has to go to the dentist this morning. I managed to put off my visit until October. He'd probably like some breakfast before he leaves, so I guess I'll go do that next. The apples will keep me busy today, but I'm still hoping for some sewing time.