Today's forecast calls for a "wintry" mix (shouldn't that be "wintery"?), and a possibility of freezing rain on Tuesday. The weatherman tells us that the freezing rain will fall south of us, and so we're hoping we won't get it. It makes for an enchanting landscape, but the damage it does...oh my. I wonder if I could create some kind of garlic wreath or threaten the weather with a silver bullet or something...maybe ward it off with voodoo. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Moving it up, there was just this little bit to do, and so I stitched that.
Then, I moved my hoop down again, and this is where I'll start this morning. I'm just about halfway across this large piece.
After getting myself around and getting dressed, I tied the first row of French Roses blocks.
I'll just keep going with this one row per day until it's finished.
It's a thin, flimsy fabric. It had the colors and the feminine appearance I was looking for, but the sheerness of it bothered me. Also, I found this pink, and it's another I suspect came from the same person. It's heavier, but still a rather loose weave.
After auditioning a few more, I decided to go ahead and use this, but I backed it with an iron-on stabilizer to give it a little more heft. Then, I made 31 sashing strips.
Also, I needed 20 cornerstones from the pink.
And then I was ready to start sewing. Here's the first block. I'm just taking these off the top of the stack. There's no particular order to them.
And I liked the look of that, so I sewed the first row of blocks together.
And then I kept going until I had the first two rows sewn together.
It was late in the day by then, and I was getting tired of sewing. Before leaving the sewing room, I took this picture so you could see how I plan to finish this. I found that "laundry day" fabric in my stash. It's leftover from the Sundress quilt. It was used on the back.
My goal is to bring out all the pastels in the quilt blocks. They're mostly pinks, yellows, blues, and aquas.
So, it was cold yesterday. Our furnace ran almost nonstop. It was a good day to spend in my sewing room. As you might remember, my sewing room is also the furnace room. When the furnace is running, it warms the room by its very presence. Of course, my mornings never start without a little slow stitching. I finished what I had in my hoop.
By then, I was ready to do some serious sewing. I went scrounging through my stash for fabrics to use to sew together the Domestic Affairs blocks. I came across this one. I don't know when I acquired it. I'm certain it was a gift from someone...probably my friend who was distributing the stash of a quilting friend of his who passed away.
It seemed a good choice for this quilt. I believe I have enough to piece together a back too.
Today's sewing is going to look a lot like yesterday's. I'm hoping I can get the Domestic Affairs quilt all sewn together, but that might be a tall order. When it's finished, I'll want to sew together a back before I can move it to the "to-be-sandwiched" pile. I have just two quilts left on my "to-be-quilted" large quilt pile. There are now eight quilts on the "to-be-sandwiched" pile. That will probably happen later this summer. Doesn't the mention of summer sound optimistic right now?
Okay, so I hope y'all are staying safe and warm. There were some terrible scenes out of Portland in yesterday's news. They experienced much higher winds than we did here, and we saw lots of pictures of downed trees. Some fell onto houses and cars, and at least one person was reported dead. So, stay warm and dry, my friends, but keep your eyes open for falling trees too. Better yet, just don't go out, okay? On the other hand, the reported death was from a tree falling on a house. So, okay. You can stay in, but please wear a helmet. One can never be too careful.
11 comments:
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ~ John Ruskin
Things aren't much better here on the east side of the country. High winds, cold (but not as cold as many other areas) and light snow. But to the west of us about an hour's drive, it's probably a blizzard right now. Good old lake effect snow. Buffalo Bills playoff game postponed til tomorrow. My furnace is running almost all the time, too. This old house leaks like a sieve. My hands are freezing and I'm about to go find one of the space heaters. Or, I could turn on the iron and press some fabric, I guess. The power is on, the heat still works, I guess I won't complain. The only tree anywhere near my house is a candidate for being blown down (on the neighbor's property), but, if it does, it will hit my car, not the house.
We are at a balmy 20 degrees this morning. We are so grateful that the winds have died down for the day. We are still being the hummingbird feeder in to thaw out every few hours. The warmer is just not keeping up. Our youngest daughter was lucky and only lost power for about an hour last night. She lives in Fairview. They were just getting ready to try and come to our place for the night when it came back on. They were worried about trying drive here but the temps in the house would just keep getting lower. I know Sadie would disagree but you can only lay around under quilts for so long before you have to move.
Oh that sweet fabric is perfect. Your description of the weight of the fabric reminds me of some tana lawn Liberty fabric that a friend brought me from London.
Still haven't found the right project for it.
Our farm got as low as 14F and is now 23. We have a little over 4 inches. Last night we were getting ice pebbles the size of peas. I love sewing by snow light and am taking advantage of it for the next few days. The cats (3 of them are Maine Coon) are very adventurous for about 3 minutes outside. I have 2 hummingbird feeders and switch them out every 30 minutes.
Safe - but definitely NOT warm. I'm missing my snug warm house, as I am here at my daughter's big drafty old craftsman house. But with a -45 windchill there probably isn't anywhere that is warm. I did bake - a pizza - last night which kept the kitchen warm briefly. Today the sun was shining and it got all the way up to -7 briefly. The furnace has been running pretty non-stop here too.
I just love your quilts that blend applique and embroidery. This one is really pretty.
The laundry day fabric will be perfect for your stitched blocks, and the little bit of yellow between looks great. They are so pretty! I especially love the new one you are working on with the camper.
You have accomplished so much!
January weather is typically cold. I can do it as long as we get spring earlier this year than last.
I just love the fabric you chose, those Domestic Affairs blocks are sweet. The sundress quilt is beautiful. Noce progress on your embroidery.
Domestic Affairs is coming together beautifully. You picked some very pretty fabrics to use for the sashing and corner stones. Everywhere seems to be in the deep freeze. At this point, I'll be thrilled when we see freezing again on maybe Wednesday. Stay warm, dry and safe.
I love the fabrics you have chosen for the Domestic affairs quilt. It's cold her but very warm compared to your temperatures.
Boy, that fabric couldn't be any more perfect for those Domestic Affairs blocks! Winter has definitely arrived; I'm ready for spring now!
I would say your stash dive was definitely worthwhile because you found something that looks great with those pretty blocks. My recent stash dive (read that as a massive dump of fabric onto the floor) yielded a piece of really interesting pre-print that's currently forming the basis for my latest landscape. Proves if you keep something long enough you'll find a use for it.
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