Percolating

Good morning, my friends. It's dark and foggy this morning, just as it was yesterday morning. It ooks as if we're into this gray world for another couple of days. We should have planted our daffodils last week when the sun was still shining. I'll tell you this: it makes Smitty very unhappy. He'd be out hunting small mammals. Instead, he's relegated to the woodbox sheltered by the eaves.

Oh well. There's only one thing to do...help mom with her slow-stitching. The flannel quilt feels better than the rain.

With his help, I've stitched this piece nearly to the end. There's a good chance I'll finish it up today. It doesn't look like a lot of stitching, but sometimes my stitching eyes are bigger than my needle.

So it's time to start getting the newest project ready for stitching. As I mentioned, Mr. Random chose the Tiny Treasures project from Kathy Schmitz. Her projects are fun to stitch because they include some of the fancier stitches.

They're small motifs at 1-1/2 inches. There are 72 of them in all. If I were to do this project as the book suggests, I'd be setting them as hexies like the one you see below.

Since adding this project to my embroidery dance card, I've done some sleuthing on Pinterest trying to come up with an alternative idea. Now, I know exactly what to do. 

In my Pinterest wanderings, I came across this free "Jumbo Leaf" pattern. As pictured here, this is a large quilt. The squares are 5 inches, and the quilt ends up at 70 x 70. But I can make those squares any size I want. If I make them 2-1/2 inches and then scatter the embroidered squares in with some scrappy squares, I think this could end up very cool. 

There are 115 full squares in the leaf and 72 motifs in the project. With those numbers, I could get a good distribution of the embroidered squares. The finished quilt would end up somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 inches square. A good wall-hanging size. Now that I've come up with this idea, I'm excited to get started on it.

Yesterday's sewing frustration adventure was to get started on the Fantastic Felines quilt. I might have saved myself a lot of grief if I'd read the whole pattern ahead of time. And doesn't every pattern suggest that in the very first sentence? And how many people actually do that? Not me. I'm more of a "damn the torpedoes" kind of gal. Read the pattern ahead of time? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Seriously? Ain't nobody got time for that.

Instead, I'll waste my time trying to figure out how to sew things together the hard way. And here, I take issue a little bit with the way the pattern is written. As it turns out, the section you see below was supposed to have been paper-pieced. I'll admit that while this project was robbing me of sleep a few nights ago, I was wondering how this was sewn together. I thought I knew, but it turned out to be trickier than expected. 

But here's the thing: who cuts all the little pieces before doing the paper-piecing? Some of you probably do, but I've always done it by picking a large-enough piece, holding it up to the light to see that it covers, sewing, and then trimming.  And I had all these pieces cut, so I simply sewed them together in the order suggested in the illustration. It took some trial and error, and then it ended up pretty ugly. But it has quarter-inch seam allowances at the points, and so I went with that. I made 24 of these.

They ended up so wonky, I despaired about how well they could be sewn together. They were created like square-in-a-square blocks using the smallest sections of the Fantastic Felines panel. When they were finished and trimmed, they were 7 inches (unfinished). 

I was trying with all my might not to lose any of those points. I did lose a few of them, but mostly, they're okay.

About that time, Smitty showed up to help me decide what to do next.

So these larger sections are 6-1/2 inches. I'm thinking I'll trim them smaller and then give each one a border to bring it up to the 7-inch size.

These sections of the kitty panel measure about 7-1/2 inches. It'll be easy to trim those to size.

Originally, I'd planned to do that same square-in-a-square design shown above with these smaller pieces. But after fiddling with those all afternoon yesterday, I've bagged that idea. Now I have in mind to sew these into four patches if I can figure the math to make them equal 7 inches. (That thought came to me after getting into bed last night, and so I haven't done any measuring to figure it out yet.) There are 33 of these, which means I could make 8 blocks from them with just one left over.

Also, can I somehow trim this strip and turn it into a 7-inch block? I don't know, but ideas are percolating.

So that's where things stand in the sewing room. I have lots of ideas about that project. Hopefully, the day will end with a solid plan.

Speaking of solid, this is the final version of Mike's non-skid foot pedal plate for my quilting machine. If you remember the pictures from yesterday's post, this one had ridges in the beta version. He decided to turn them into little pokey spikes to hold it fast on the carpeting under the pedal. And let me just tell you, that puppy will not slip.

Okay, so there's plenty on today's agenda. I'm going to get some minestrone started in my slow cooker. It's a good day for soup. Also, I'm trying to decide if my shoulder can tolerate a Bowflex workout. I'm thinking I might stick with the treadmill for another day. My shoulder is much better, and I don't want to get it flared up again. There's a little housework and then plenty of sewing and slow-stitching to do. So, I guess I'll get to it. 

Before I go, though, allow me to get out my bullhorn and make some noise.

Maybe some of you are planning to participate in the No Kings protests this coming Saturday. We'll be participating in our little town. We've found the protests to be energizing. As senior citizens with little power beyond our vote, it's almost literally the only thing we can do. Honestly, I'd rather be sewing than engaging in protests, but I've never felt so fearful about the future of my country. 

From today's soapbox, I want to tell you about a website where you can find protest events near you. The site is called Mobilize Us. There are maps, newsletters, and articles that can inform you of any events near where you live. If you are interested in getting involved, take a look, and sign up for their newsletter. And if you're not interested in holding a sign and marching, there are other volunteer opportunities available as well. 

Also, I couldn't be more proud of the City of Portland. If you're seeing reports about how war-ravaged the city is, if you wonder about how there is no glass in the few remaining store windows, if you're curious about bomb craters, wonder no more. You can get the whole skinny about the situation in Portland by clicking on this website: Is Portland Burning? The answer to that question will immediately become apparent.

Finally, I'm happy to see Portland's happy protests getting wider coverage. I'm giving you a gift link to this story from the NYTimes. For the truth about what's happening in our fair city, click right here. I guarantee it will put a smile on your face.

And with that, I'll leave you to your day. Before you walk away, though, can someone give me a hand getting off this box?