Playing Chicken

Ever since returning from our short camping trip, I've felt a little off-kilter. One would think I'd be used to the feeling after so many years, but I'm not. Even feeling off-kilter can feel off sometimes. And I only bring this up to say that my days have often gone not as I planned at all. Yesterday was such a day. It was nearly 11:00 a.m. by the time I got an "early start" in the garden. Fortunately, there wasn't much to do there. I was picking the beans that were getting large enough, and there weren't very many:

There might be enough here for one meal. We have grilled steaks on the menu for tomorrow, and so I'll probably do something with them then. The rest of the beans are still at least a week away from being ready for harvest. This morning, I'll be pickling the beets I harvested on Saturday. Any left over will go into some soup for dinner tonight.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were talking about making a short trip into town. Mike had some coupons from the local feed store that were going to expire, and so we decided to go. It gave me a chance to pick up a few things to see us through dinners until Wednesday. Lately, my grocery shopping day has fallen on Mondays, which is one of my least favorite days to shop. Let's face it...all days are my least favorite day for grocery shopping, but some are leastier than others. (Yes, I just now made up that word. It's an excellent word, no?) So Mike got a good deal on some Traeger pellets and some birdseed. I managed to keep our grocery shopping to the produce, deli, and bakery section...all on the same side of the store...and so we managed to get out without me murdering anyone.

The trip into town took my 2007 Jeep Wranger over a milestone. Check this out:

Yes, these are the things that get you all excited when you're old. Young people, you have a lot to look forward to.

So when we got home, I headed into the sewing room to get a start on my challenge project for The Endeavourers. I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do, and I pulled all these fabrics, and some old doilies my grandmother made. You can see them in the lower left. They've been sitting in my mother's cedar chest for at least five decades. Nobody really wants this stuff any more, but it is still precious to me. I've wanted to use them in quilts for some time. 

So I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do for the challenge, but then I pulled out one of the first books I purchased when I learned to quilt. This one:

I've never actually made anything from this book, but I've always wanted to. When I looked at some of the techniques in the book, it kind of changed my mind about my challenge piece. It was so freaking cold in the basement though, I decided I needed to wait for the weather to cool off so we could turn off the air-conditioner. Sheesh. I doubt I could do any sewing with such cold hands.

So, instead, I went to the warmest part of the house...upstairs...where Eliza was perfectly ready and excited to get started on the quilting for Chicken Buffet. I had a couple of different values of purple thread picked out. I settled on this one for the top thread.

It's an Isacord thread. I'd hoped for something lighter, but I'm using the same black Bottom Line thread in the bobbin, and I couldn't get the tension adjusted to my satisfaction for such different colors of thread. The darker purple will have to do.

And then I went to work. I'm quilting random chicken feet meandering in the backgrounds of the blocks.

When it was finished, it looked like this. Since the machine-embroidered name of the block is also in that dark purple, I think the darker thread looks fine.

For the sashings, I'm doing a motif suggestive of chicken wire. This was actually my second attempt. I'd done something on a larger scale, and it didn't look right. It took about an hour to pick out the first attempt, but then I tried again. The space I'm working in is only 2-1/2 inches wide, and so there isn't enough room to do anything too fancy. 

In the cornerstones, I'm stitching one big chicken foot.

Only one block and the sashings on either side were finished when it was time to quit for the day. Today, I'll get going in earnest. I'd like to finish at least one row per day. That will have me on track to finish the quilting by Friday.

The clouds rolled in by late afternoon. It was still plenty warm outside, but comfortable enough to sit out and relax for about an hour before dinner. As we sat, I noticed two of the cherry tomatoes are finally starting to turn red.

This morning, I'll be doing pickled beets before getting back to my sewing. The weather should cool off some today. I'm hoping we'll be able to turn off the air-conditioning. It's nice to have it, but I much prefer open windows and fresh air.