Good morning, my friends. It's another frosty morning here at the Three Cats Ranch. Our temps haven't been above the teens in about three days. We're expecting sunshine today, but still very cold temperatures. And freezing rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Oy. This is how our day looked yesterday...gray...the color of concrete.
This Northern Flicker was all puffed up in the cold. He'd also like to point out that the peanut feeder is empty, although I've never seen flickers eat the peanuts. The jays are the ones who will empty the peanut feeder in less than an hour. Possibly the jays paid him to sit there and look miserable.
That was my view as I tied the second row of blocks on the French Roses quilt. After tying the third row today, I'll be more than half finished.
From there I moved into the sewing room to finish off the Domestic Affairs quilt. First, I needed to deal with this mistake I'd made earlier. When I finished this 12th of twelve blocks, I trimmed it too short on one side. I didn't mention this in an earlier blog post, probably because it was still stinging, and too painful to write about. I sewed a "mercy strip" to the left side, but it wasn't enough to capture in the seam when I sewed the sashing strip to that side.
It's a small thing, but I knew it was going to bother me every time I looked at this quilt. So, I gave it quite a bit of thought and I consulted the Resident Retired Engineer for his opinion. Remember this block when I used some poofy lace to make lace curtains in the windows?
Well, I still had plenty of that same stuff. What if I sewed a strip to each side of the block?
Okay, not bad. And it hid that seam. So I stitched a zigzag down the outer edge to keep it from curling up. And then I sewed it into the rest of the quilt top.
When I had all the blocks sewn together, it looked like this.
I still wish I hadn't done that, but I think the lacy stuff looks better than a seam.
From there, I added the yellow stop border.
And then the final border, and my quilt top was finished. It ends up at 43 x 53 inches.
I got lucky with that "laundry day" fabric. Since it had been used as a quilt back previously, I had quite a bit left from the cut-off edges. I was able to get all the border strips from those, and that left me plenty of yardage to piece together a back. I love it when I can completely use up something from my stash.
I still need to finish the back, but I cut the binding strips. I'll finish off the back today, and then this one can go into the to-be-sandwiched pile.
I had absolutely no kitty help yesterday. Sadie had the Do Not Disturb sign out.
Okay, so I'll continue tying the French Roses quilt today, but I'll need something else to take up the rest of my spare time. Next on my list is to quilt a small quilt, and the next one on the pile is the Dwell in Possibility stitchery.
It's a small quilt, and so it shouldn't take long. I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do with the quilting, but I'll figure something out.
Mike and I are considering making a trip into town today. We're concerned about losing power with freezing rain on the way. Our generator has a full gas tank, and we have a little bit left over in a gas can. Still, we'd feel better prepared if we had a little more. The generator won't power the whole house, but it will keep our freezer and refrigerator running. And I'm hoping the power will stay on, but it's good to be prepared. That will, of course, depend on whether we can get out to the main road. Our driveway can be treacherous in the snow.
If the news broadcasts are to be believed, I think most of the country is in this deep freeze. I hope y'all are staying safe and warm. It's good weather to stay home and sew.
9 comments:
Mistakes are the portals of discovery. ~ James Joyce
Yes, make that trip into town. Better prepared. We're -12 at the moment (supposed to get up to -2). We're supposed to get above freezing on Wednesday. I like that butterfly. Stay warm!
A very elegant solution to a difficult problem. Yes it's cold even in south Texas. It is always better to be prepared as those weather guys are forecasting on models and we all know sometimes it's garbage in and garbage out, so the forecast is completely off. Stay safe if you get out and about.
The embroidery on that moth is so pretty! That will make a delightful mini.
Stay safe and warm. Hopefully you'll be able to stock up again. I need to venture out today too and go to the grocery store.
It's always a shame when you make an error but you have resolved it very well. The little moth quilt is very cute.
The lace sides look wonderful. Have you considered adding lace sides to more blocks so it is a design choice and not hiding a mistake?
I wondered about the same thing as Carole suggested - add some lace to a few more blocks (randomly or in a pattern of your choice) and the lovely solution to your 'oops' block becomes a design feature.
I love seeing all of your embroidery projects. I need to include some in my projects as well. Thank you for sharing your journey so consistently.
Marian in British Columbia, Canada
Your little Dwell in Possibility piece is lovely. I like the colors you've chosen. We are presently at -6 this morning (feels like -23). I may need to go out for cat food. Ready for this cold snap to move on.
We've had precious few glimpses of the sun over the past six weeks although now the temps have dropped so dramatically it's made a brave effort to put in an appearance. So done with gray days! Good days to stay home and sew for sure.
Post a Comment