Final Four

Good morning, my friends. Our weather has returned to Portland gloom today. We're expecting sun breaks off and on through the week, but rain most every day. I haven't checked the forecast to see when the sunshine will return, but it won't be for several days. 

My first stop yesterday was to stitch Tiny Treasure #46. This one has stem stitch, satin stitch, and fly stitch.

Since we were out of ice cream, I baked a skillet cherry cobbler for two. (Actually, this is a cobbler for four.) We had only vanilla ice cream, and so the evening could be saved if I baked something to go with it. This was my mother's recipe, scaled down and adapted to be baked in an iron skillet. It can also be made with canned peaches. And if you want to feed a crowd, you can triple the recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

While that baked, I quilted four more panel blocks. Now I'm down to the final four. After today, this quilt will be ready for binding.

Moving into the sewing room, I had the pieces cut to make the first row of blocks for the new "Jawbreakers" project. I'm using the same Gumballs quilt pattern, but giving it a different name for this second go-round.

The first step was to make and trim 40 half square triangles.

Also, I needed five 4-patches.

And then I could stack all the pieces for sewing into five quilt blocks.

Sadie helped me with this.

When I had all five sewn together, I laid them out as they'll appear in the row.

This quilt is created using just one block. As each block is added, it is turned 90° from the one before it. It's a little difficult to see what's going on, and so I've marked the image below to help some. 

The red dot appears where the four patch appears. The yellow vertical line shows the break between each block. Look carefully at where the four patch appears, and I think you can see how it works. The fifth block is oriented the same as the first one, but when I start the second row, I'll also turn that block and orient it like the second one.

Okay, and that was the end of my sewing day, but I took some time to trim the stack of half square triangles I've been sewing together as leaders and enders. I'm doing a better job of remembering to do these. And all that trimming of half square triangles gave me a sore wrist. I had a splint on it last night, but it feels fine today.

Okay, so I'm planning a pretty easy day for myself today. I'll finish the quilting on the Amish Sampler. But then in the sewing room, I'm starting something new. I bought this pattern ages ago...ten years, maybe. This is the picture from the cover of the spiral-bound pattern. It was designed by Kathy Cardiff and Taylor Olvera.

On the back cover is "The Story Behind the Barns." Oh my gosh, this tickled me so. I believe I've found my people!

Even her love of barns originated similarly to mine. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents were farmers. My brother spent quite a bit of time at the farm of my paternal grandparents. He was seven years older than I, and I have very little memory of their farm. On the other hand, my maternal grandfather was a dairy farmer, and I have vivid memories of visiting their farm. I loved their traditional red barn, and I have happy memories of playing in the hay loft with my brother. So, when I read this story (for the first time yesterday), it only increased my enthusiasm for this project.

This is the first block I'll make. It's intended to have cotton fabric as the background with wool applique. I'll be using all cotton for mine, and I'll be working with my scraps.

Already, I've pulled these next two fabrics from my yardage stash. I'm not exactly sure how much I have of either, but I'm hoping I can use one or the other for a border. It'll be a decision for down the line.

It was nearing dinner time by then. My last gasp was to check on the peonies. I was happy to see multiple buds on three of the five plants. (The others are still waking up from their winter slumber.) The first one is the "Lavender Whisper" peony. We planted this one back in 2023. I've yet to see it bloom because we've been traveling the past two springs. When we've arrived home, I've found only the spent blossoms.

I found a picture online, and so I have an idea how it will look. I chose it because it is fragrant as well. Here's how it will look when it shows itself.

(Image credit: Origami, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons)

This next one is showing a little bit of color, but I'm certain it's still weeks away from blooming.

To its left, is the coral sunset peony. It is the tallest of the bunch with at least a dozen buds showing.

Okay, so that was my day yesterday. We've already had our breakfast, and so my next stop will be slow-stitching. After that I'll get back to my quilting. And after that...barns! I'm excited to get started on that project. It's going to be a good day for sewing. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself too.