A Day for Firsts

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy day yesterday, but it doesn't feel as if I have much to show for it. We mopped the floor in the morning, and I mopped myself out the door so that I could hoe the garden. While I was out, I was thrilled to find enough ripe blueberries that it made sense to pick some. Up until now, they've been ripening one at a time. Now, they are ripening in clusters, giving me hope I can actually do something with them. Just look at these babies:

So, I picked the first of the blueberries. Probably I have about a cup here. It isn’t enough to do any baking with them. Most of my recipes require 2 cups or more. There are plenty more on the bushes, and I’ll be checking them every day for a while. Eventually I’ll have enough for some muffins. Or bread. Or cake. The mind reels with possibilities.

And then I tried this recipe for Granola Cups for the first time. And this gave me an idea for using the blueberries. So, I’m a little disappointed with how these turned out. I’ve linked to the recipe, and I’ll tell you my thoughts. First of all, it says it makes 8 servings. And since it’s cooked in a muffin pan, my thinking is that I should have filled eight of the muffin cups. But I had enough for more than nine. I’d only sprayed nine of them, and so I stopped when I’d filled them. They looked like this when they came out of the oven.

It’s hard to see in the image above, but I used a small ladle to press the centers down, making a bowl shape for them. The recipe suggests refrigerating them for 20 minutes after taking them from a 350 degree oven. That just seemed weird to me. Who puts something that hot into their refrigerator? 

So, I allowed mine to cool on a rack. When they were completely cool, I tried removing them with a plastic knife. All but a few broke into pieces. I ended up removing them to a custard cup to hold them together. (It also held the bowl shape intact.) Possibly if I’d refrigerated them for a bit after they cooled off, they might have held together better. I’d like to try them again sometime and see if it helps.

This morning we made breakfast from them. Here’s where the blueberries come in. The recipe would have us drizzle them with honey, add a dollop of Greek yogurt, and some sliced strawberries. We used the blueberries in place of the strawberries. Also, I wanted something a little more flavorful than plain Greek yogurt, and so we used vanilla yogurt. Here’s how they looked before we ate them. Even if they didn’t come out looking like cute little bowls, they are pretty tasty.

So, I’d like to try this again now that I have some other ideas about how to make them work. Cooling them and then refrigerating them before removing them from the pan could be all they need.

In other firsts, I turned the first corner on Ruth's Legacy. I was nearing the second corner when I stopped.

It should be short work to turn the second corner today. If I’m feeling energetic, I’ll try to get around the third corner too.

And then I made the first row of blocks for the Butterfly Garden quilt. So far so good.

Okay, and that was the end of my sewing day. 

Mike has spent the last couple of days changing our cell phone service provider from Verizon to T-Mobile. We’ve had Verizon for a long time (AT&T for a long time before that). Verizon kept increasing the price, and so we decided to make the change. Part of the deal with T-Mobile meant new phones for us, and so we spent the rest of the afternoon “porting” our old phone numbers to the new phones. It ended up being quite a hassle, as those sorts of things are apt to be. It’s all set up now, though, and things seem to be working as they should. I suppose we’ll find glitchy things here and there, but the new phone is operational, and the old one is dead. It must be my week for new electronic gadgetry. 

Now here’s the thing: I’m a person accustomed to change. When you grow up a military brat, you learn early on that the only constant in your life is change. So change is good. I’m one who likes it. But when it comes to electronic gadgetry and computers, I absolutely hate change. It’s as bad as when they rearrange the grocery store. Just tell me the rules, and then don’t change them, and we can avoid bloodshed. I’m just sayin’…the new phone better not give me any trouble, or we’re gonna lock horns.

Mike is heading out today for his first vision exam since his cataract surgery. He’s pleased as punch with his new eyeballs. Colors are noticeably brighter, and his vision is much improved. He’ll be fitted for some sort of reading glasses at today’s exam. As for me, I have a couple of housekeeping chores on the agenda, and I want to water the flower pots. Of course, I’ll be checking on the blueberries. 

When I get back to my sewing, I’ll continue on with the quilt binding. And then I’ll start making the third row of blocks for the Jawbreakers quilt.

As you might know, I’ve made this quilt before in reds, pinks, and purples. It was so much fun making it that I decided to do another one in greens, blues, and aquas. I have my messy scrap bins pulled and I’ll start doing the cutting today.

This is another project that requires a lot of cutting, and so I’m not sure if I’ll get very far sewing the blocks together. Once the cutting is done they go together pretty quickly.

So, off I go. Fingers crossed about the blueberries. I’m really in the mood for something baked with blueberries. What kinds of fruits are ripening where you live?

Math is Hard

Good morning, my friends. It was good to get back to my sewing yesterday, even if I was determined to do most everything wrong. The only thing I was able to do right yesterday was to stitch my way across the “[L]ove" portion of my embroidery piece.

From there, I had to decide whether I wanted to move to the left or else down. I opted for down since I can continue stitching the border all the way around. It hardly matters, but it made more sense in the moment to continue around clockwise rather than back and forth.

Next, I was ready to square up and sew the binding on Ruth’s Legacy. When I cut binding strips, I probably do it like most people. First I figure out the total distance around the perimeter of the quilt, and then I add 20 inches for good measure. I’ve never had a binding come up short until yesterday. What? How is that possible?

Okay, well I suppose there’s a first time for everything. There was plenty of that same fabric to cut another strip and sew it on. So, I did that, and then headed back to the sewing machine where I noticed this as I sat down. Doh!

Oh well…I just continued on with the strip in my hand. I put the strip from the floor back with the remaining yardage. I’ll use it another time. Now the binding is ready for hand-sewing.

From there, I turned my attention to the project I’m calling “Butterfly Garden.” As I’ve mentioned, I’m working from a photograph I found somewhere at some point in time. As it so happens, this is the "Arcade" pattern from Fabric Cafe. I'll be doing mine differently from theirs. My blocks will be larger, and I'll be doing five blocks across and six down. Here’s the photo I’m working from.

Some time ago, I figured out measurements for the various pieces in the blocks. Now, I needed to be certain I had enough of all the fabrics I’d selected.

Sadie helped me figure this out. 

As it turns out, I have plenty of fabric, except for the black. Since I keep black on hand all the time, ordering more was an easy decision. As for the rest, I’ll probably have enough to make another quilt at some point in time. 

Well, you might know all that thinking and adding and measuring nearly broke our brains. Sadie was so ‘zhausted, she curled up for a nap when we were finished with that part.

From there, it made sense to try making at least one of each of the two blocks in the quilt. This first “+” was pretty easy. It ended up at the 9-1/2 inches I was expecting.

Then, I moved on to the second block, only…somehow I had my thinking all wrong on this. I probably added the middle section to the strips on the left side and came up with the 9-1/2 inch measurement. But that completely ignores the strips on the right side. Duh. So, the block actually ends up at 13 inches (unfinished). 

And, ya’ know? That ain’t workin’.

It was easy enough to refigure it and bring the block on the left up to size.

I’m just sorry I cut those pieces too small and generated an orphan block. I suppose I’ll use it at some point in time…maybe on the quilt back somehow. For now, it’ll just go into the project box and I’ll be able to figure a way to put it to work.

Okay, so those are the two blocks I’ll be making for this quilt. There will be 15 of each. I’ve decided to make two of the block on the left and one of the block on the right to finish up the first row. And that’s probably how I’ll fit this project into my workflow…one row per go-round until I have six rows. I’ll finish it off with a couple of borders when it gets that far.

Today is a floor-mopping day, and the floor really needs it. It’s kind of a sticky mess after the canning I did over the weekend. Also, I have in mind to do a baking project. It was one summoned up to use all the frozen egg whites I was hoarding. I ran out of egg whites before I ran out of ways to use them, but I still want to try this recipe for “Granola Cups.” If they’re good, I’ll link to the recipe in tomorrow’s post. 

As for sewing, I’ll get to work had-sewing the binding for Ruth’s Legacy. In the sewing room, I’ll finish the first row of blocks for the Butterfly Garden. If there’s still time left in the day, I’ll make another row of blocks for the Jawbreakers project.

That’s an ambitious day I’ve laid out for myself. Let’s just see if I can fit it all in. What’s keeping you busy today?

A Feel Good Day

Good morning, my friends. It was another no-sewing day, but it was a good day just the same. Matthew and I met up to walk the Eastbank Esplanade in downtown Portland. The weather was perfect. It was also a day for testing out the capabilities of my new camera, starting with the morning's sunrise.

Matthew and I walked this same route back in April. It’s a distance of just under four miles. Back then, I took a lot more pictures of the landscape, the bridges, and some of the buildings. The pictures from yesterday's walk were mostly of the blooming things kind. If you want to see more pictures of the Portland waterfront, you can find my April post right here. If you look at those photos, the first thing you'll notice is that the graffiti was cleaned off the sign below.

Somehow my camera got into a weird setting. Without realizing it, it was taking a burst of three photos at a time when I had it set to "P" (program mode). Looking at the screen, it looked as if the photo was fine, and the burst of three shutter clicks was simply an annoying sound. I'd spent some time in the morning trying to figure it out, but to no avail. As it turns out, it actually was taking three photos in rapid succession. It’s just slightly visible in the photo below. I'll say more about it toward the end of this post.

Some more blooming things. I think these are a kind of gaillardia.

Below, you can see the problem with the three photos in a single frame a little bit too. But I love the gaillardia, and so I included this photo, even if it doesn’t appear in sharp focus.

Eventually, I set the camera in "iA" mode (intelligent auto). It got rid of the three shutter burst, and in fact, was taking just one photo. I'm glad I made the switch because all of my photos might have been ruined otherwise. These are sweet peas.

What are these? Bluebells?

This looks like a poppy. It was large…about the size of my palm.

This is a hydrangea.

Here, we crossed over the Steel Bridge. This is the Willamette River looking south. The next bridge you see is the Burnside Bridge. We’ll walk under it in a few minutes.

Oh…and here we are already. The Portland Saturday Market has been a thing for as long as we’ve lived in Oregon. I’ve actually only attended once when a friend visited some years ago. It’s essentially a craft fair.

It’s set up here under the Burnside Bridge every Saturday, March through December. It looks a little spooky when it’s all empty like this.

We’d walked about 2/3 our distance when we reached this row of shops and restaurants next to the harbor. We decided to get a bagel and something to drink. It was warm, and we needed some hydration.

There were lots of different flavors of bagels and schmeres to choose from. We each chose a plain bagle, toasted. Matt had plain cream cheese on his. Mine was a pesto cream cheese. If we’d been thinking, we might have chosen one of those giant cookies on the left.

We each had a watermelon lemonade and then sat outside to eat and chat. It was a nice interlude in a shady spot. We had a view of the harbor from there.

Walking on, we met a contingent of Canada geese. When Trump claims Portland is a war zone, this is what he’s talking about. Canada is attacking…with geese. Sorry, Canada. We shall overcome. Have you heard about our army of crows?

Okay, and after our bagels and lemonade, we had about another mile to walk to get back to where I’d parked. Matthew rode his electric skateboard to our meet-up, but I gave him a ride home. After I dropped him off, I made my way to one of Portland’s two Ronald McDonald houses. 

My goodness, how this hospital has grown. More than 30 years ago, I did an internship at Legacy Emanual Hospital for my social work studies. It’s been a long time since I’ve returned to the area, but it is unrecognizable. The Ronald McDonald house in the image above is a new structure. When I approached the door, I had to push a button on an intercom to speak to the front desk. Without speaking, the doors opened, and I dropped off the quilts. They were gratefully received, and I was grateful to find a place for donating them. For me, the giving away of quilts is the best part of making them.

Okay, so let’s talk about this camera issue. When I took it out of the box the day before, I turned the dial to the “iA” (intelligent auto) setting. At some point, I put it in “P” (program) mode so that I could change one of the settings. It was still working fine. Then, that night, while I sat in bed, I perused the owner’s manual and made some changes to some of the settings. Then, when I woke up yesterday morning and took the sunrise photo, I noticed it was doing this three-click burst. The pictures looked fine, and so I tried to figure out how to turn it off. I couldn’t. And so it was disappointing when I took the pictures off the camera after our walk and found several of them that looked like the images below.

Oy. And I couldn’t figure it out. In frustration, I restored the camera to its factory default settings. (Despite resetting it, the time and date were left intact.) Now it’s working fine. As an experiment, Mike typed a question into his new AI chat window…part of the Edge browser…explaining the problem and including the pictures above. Within seconds, AI came up with a few solutions. I believe the first solution it offered was probably correct, but I’d already fixed the problem myself. In any case, if I have more problems with the camera, I know how to get some input about fixing it.

Okay, and so two no-sewing days in a row has Smitty completely demoralized. He flopped on my desk, bored out of his kitty mind.

We’ll take care of that today. First, though, it’s a grocery shopping day. It’s senior discount day, which usually saves us a few bucks. Our list is relatively short, and so I expect we’ll be home before noon. If I’m remembering right, there is one easy housekeeping chore on the calendar. Otherwise, I can get back to my sewing. I want to get the binding sewn on Ruth’s Legacy, and then I want to figure out if I have enough fabric to make the Butterfly Garden project as I’ve envisioned it. Probably I have plenty, but I’ll sleep better if I do the math and make certain of it.

There are leftovers for dinner tonight, and so I think I can safely say that nothing will get between me and my sewing this afternoon. It’s going to be warm, and my basement sewing room will be cool. It sounds pretty good right now. Have a good day, Everybody. Try to stay cool.

Picture Perfect

Good morning, my friends. It was kind of a mish-mash of a day. Things seemed out of order, and not everything was accomplished. It hardly matters. My calendar is flexible. 

The only sewing I did yesterday was slow sewing. I finished the upper right corner section, and now I’ve moved my hoop down to capture the “LOVE” section.

The bird feeders were empty, and I wanted to check on the vegetable garden. My sun-dappled cat was already lounging outside when I made my way to the garden.

Since I wasn’t going to get another chance to hoe the garden until Wednesday, I decided it needed to be done. That meant delaying the rest of the cherries until after lunch, but they’re done now. That’s all I’ll do with them this year. Below are 7 pints of cherries in simple syrup. There was another pint, but I can only fit 7 in my canner. I decided to just refrigerate the one remaining. It’s just a good excuse to eat that one right away.

Okay, and when the canning was finished, a delivery arrived. I’ve been in the market for a new camera. My old Panasonic got messed up on one of our trips when it got some fine grain sand into the telescoping lens mechanism. I had it repaired, but it hasn’t worked right since. For the past several months I’ve been using an old Nikon Coolpix, but I’ve never been happy with it. It takes terrible close-up shots. And all of that to say I’ve been looking for a good point and shoot camera. They seem terribly expensive right now…tariffs, you know. In any case, I finally settled on this Panasonic LUMIX FZ80D. It’s a larger camera than I wanted, but it still falls into the point and shoot category. It’s a fixed lens camera, and it works very much like my previous Panasonic camera

Taking it out of the box, I turned it on. It barely had any battery power, but enough for a short time. It prompted me to set the date, time, and location. It went through a few more prompts, but I simply turned to my right from where I was sitting and took this shot. Sadie was napping there on the geriatric kitty pole.

So I plugged it in and charged the battery for a bit. Then, I took it outside and took some random shots. It has a nice grip that felt good in my hand. I was standing a distance back for this shot of the purple hydrangea…maybe 15 feet away. I wanted to see how well the zoom function worked.

From the same spot, I zoomed in on this one flower. Pretty sharp.

Walking around to the front of the house, I was about 30 yards from the bird feeder. The feeder happened to be in shadow at the time. Still, it was able to get a pretty sharp image of the goldfinch.

As I stood there, this robin landed on the vegetable garden fence. Here, I was standing about 50 yards away. I’m pretty happy with the detail in the bird’s feathers and feet.

Then I zoomed in closer, which puts me into the digital zoom mode. It’s not as sharp, but not too bad either.

And then…what the heck, here’s a shot of the corn.

Turning a little to my left, these are the beans. The sprinkler was running, making things kind of bright.

So I turned down the exposure compensation. It’s not so different at this setting…maybe a little less glare. Mainly, I was just testing the different functions to see if they worked as expected.

Walking back toward the house, I stopped to get this Shasta daisy. It was breezy and it was blowing back and forth. Still, it did a pretty good job with this close-up. My Nikon camera would have produced a white blur.

Here’s our friend the Edda clematis, still blooming away. The next three shots were taken zooming in closer and closer to check its close-up capability.

Closer.

Even closer. I’m pretty happy with how these shots turned out.

Walking across to the dahlias, I took a close-up of the Fuzzy Wuzzy dahlia.

This one was for show and tell. It’s our crazy calla lily. It has put up another new leaf, and to the left, another shoot. Maybe we’ll see a flower eventually. It’s pretty when it blooms.

Finally…these petunias. They were along the way as I walked back to the house, and so I took their picture. No other reason.

Okay, so everything seems to be working properly, and I’m happy with the close-up capability. I spent some time reading through the manual last night. It has some “scene” settings I’d like to experiment with, but that will have to wait a day or two. Today Matthew and I are meeting up for our walk postponed from last week. I’m also dropping some donation quilts off, and I expect all of that will take up most of my day. When I can get back to my sewing, I want to sew the binding on Ruth’s Legacy, and then spend some time looking at the new project I have in the wings…the Butterfly Garden.

Speaking of the Butterfly Garden project, my friend, “Crew at Cabin Central,” made a comment yesterday that motivated me to do a reverse image search for this quilt pictured in yesterday’s post. I can’t remember where or when I saw this picture, but this is the quilt I’m going to make.

With a reverse image search, I was able to find the original pattern. The pattern is called “Arcade,” and it can be purchased here. The original pattern is for a lap-sized quilt. I’ll be making mine larger than that.

Okay, so if I’m going to have time for slow-stitching before I leave, then I must get going on it. I’m looking forward to seeing Matthew, and it’ll be a good opportunity to give my new camera a workout. I’m hoping to have some good pictures to show tomorrow.