Pink Quilt and the Shibori Dragon

I finished hand-stitching this pink quilt in the wee hours this morning. While sewing, I watched a documentary about the importance of supporting local businesses over box stores. That being on my mind, I perused the yellow pages this morning and found that we do indeed have a local quilting supply store, The Shibori Dragon. The Artist and I headed over there and she and I had a great time browsing, as she helped me pick out four gorgeous fat quarters for an upcoming project. You can drool a little yourself over their selection here if you want to, although I highly recommend an in-person visit, if you can do it. It is a place full of beautiful things. As I have found with photographing my quilts, fabrics really need to be seen first-hand to be appreciated fully.

I'm especially excited about finishing this little quilt, because it is going to our church quilt drive, and I have for so long wanted to make and donate a quilt like this. I am amazed that I actually finished it. It is a triumph for me.

I hope some little girl loves this quilt until the fabric thins and wears away to nothing, as my little girls have loved the simple quilts I made so long ago for them.

July Afternoon

What would you do on a Saturday afternoon in July if the sun was warm and the sky blue? If you were a medium sized grey bird, you might sit at the very top of a tree and make a skreek sound, then wait for a bird much like you to skreek in reply, so that you could repeat your own skreek sound again. You might sing this duet over and over again for a long while, and be quite entertaining for people walking on the path beneath your tree.

We listened to such a bird exchange while walking today, accompanied by the percussion provided by the popping of the black pods of the Scotch Broom bushes, broadcasting their seeds under the heat of the sun.

We also snacked on wild huckleberries in the shady woods; the first I've had in years. Refreshing.

Summer Evening Walk

Today's walk was as the sun was beginning to set. The trees smelled good. And the breeze made a lovely rustling sound through the leaves.

Example of a Grateful Heart

I was very touched by Sara's post today. She is a woman who appreciates all of God's creations, including the people around her. How thankful I am for such examples in my life.

Basting a Quilt with Safety Pins

I don't use a hoop or a frame to quilt. I just use lots and lots of safety pins to keep things in place. I flip the quilt over after pinning and make sure everything is smooth. Most of the pins are concentrated on the square I am currently working on, and I move them after each square is completed. (I'm hoping to get about 500 safety pins for the next project, so I can pin-baste the whole quilt at once, and then just quilt away. )

Inspirational Motor Home. (Yes. Really.)

Thanks again to Aly for pointing me in the direction of Sara. Here are some posts of her very nice motor home.

Children's Nook

Just climb the stair, and turn hard to the left. It's all waiting for you. (Will you please straighten up the doll house while you're there?)

Quilt Top: Two Hours' Worth

I love this method of quilting. The top goes together so fast. Above is what I began with this morning: the fruits of last evening's labor of ripping sheets and pillowcases into three-inch wide strips of varying lengths. (That's the roll you see with the red and white checks on the outside.)
I sewed the strips together randomly, into longer strips of 72 inches each.
I used my sewing table to measure. When a strip reached over and back again, like this one, I trimmed it off, rolled it up, and tossed it onto the carpet below.
Here are the fifteen 72" strips rolled up and ready to be sewn side by side.
The strips were sewn five wide.
The fifteen rolls made for three five-roll-wide strips, each about 72" in length.
I cut these strips into squares, using the triangle measuring technique I used to use for paper airplanes.
I then pressed each square so it laid flat.
Before two hours was up I was arranging the squares into the pattern I will use for the quilt top. Now all I need to do is sew the bars that will join the squares all together.

I also love this method because it is chock full of surprises. I don't know what the squares will look like until they are cut. Great fun!

Raspberry Freezer Jam

Today was freezer jam day. Hooray! I love the smell, the color, and, oh boy, the taste! FarmBoy and I made raspberry jam when he got home from work. We began with the pectin we had left over from last year's jam-making . . .
. . . and two flats of raspberries which I purchased from a local farmer this morning. These I washed one cup at a time in a colander . . .
. . . and smashed with a potato masher in my big measuring bowl, because it has a flat bottom.
Six boxes, half a flat, yielded exactly six cups, enough berries for two batches of jam.
Soon we had seven batches worth of smashed berries, to which sugar was added. (We kept back three boxes of berries to snack on fresh.)
It takes 5 1/4 cups of sugar to sweeten 3 cups of smashed berries, and that, plus one box of pectin, makes one batch of jam, about 7 cups.
Once the berries were smashed and sugared, I cooked the pectin, one box at a time in 3/4 cup of water, boiling it at a full boil for one minute.
Then we stirred the pectin into the sugared fruit. (These are FarmBoy's lovely arms. See why the mosquitoes won't leave him alone?)
In a short time we had lots of little jars ready for the freezer. (Just four batches more to go . . . )

Epitaph

Right among the headstones at the National Cemetery where my dad is buried was this round marker, seen below. FarmBoy said that it is the sort of headstone he would like to have when his time comes. He said that it was perfect, except he would like an E and D added to the word DRAIN.

We have experienced more bumps in the road this week, but I have tried to spare him by setting up appointments with psychologists and psychiatrists on my own. He has plenty on his plate with helping to care for his dad, who is in the hospital again, along with his numerous church responsibilities.

I am very thankful for good and caring professionals, and for good insurance, and for a very kind husband who does so much for his family and others (and who keeps his sense of humor).

Decorating Inspiration for Small Spaces

Thanks so much to Aly for dropping by and sharing a favorite blogger. Here are pictures of Delight's little house. Very inspirational!

Today's Walk

We walked out in the marshes again today. Here is a picture of the largest marsh. Just makes you think mosquitoes, doesn't it? FarmBoy got bitten, despite wearing the Buzz Off insect-repellent shirt I bought him for his birthday.

He is just an attractive, lovable guy.

More Tiny Houses

I don't know why I love these little houses so much, but I do. Here are some more.

Birthday Girl

Somebody has a 75th birthday tomorrow. We all had fun having dinner together tonight. Lots of reminiscing. Lots of laughs.
Doesn't she look pretty and shimmery and golden?

Katrina Cottages

Does anyone else think that this is pretty intriguing? Katrina Cottages at Lowe's.
There are some more photos here on Flickr, too. These little houses can be really quite beautiful.

Kitchen Window Still Life

Better Pictures of the Blue Quilt

Here are better shots of the whole blue quilt. This one is my favorite so far because of the hand-quilting. I discovered that I enjoy that part of quilting very much, even though it takes a lot of hours to do. As you can see, the quilt is made up of fifteen squares, and each took just over and hour to quilt.

The top went quickly, though. I used the random piecing method again, which goes very fast. I just ripped fabrics into three-inch wide strips of various lengths, then sewed them together end to end. I then cut that one long strip into fifteen strips of about 70 inches in length each. These I sewed into three lengths, each five strip wide. These then were cut to make the squares.

This is another small quilt, just 45 by 70 inches. Just right for a child to snuggle up in.

A Kindred Spirit

Amy's post at Happy Things so spoke to my heart today. Here is the link. Do you feel the way Amy and I do about such things?

Colonel Puckering Quilt

I finished another quilt today, this one a collaborative effort. Kate wanted a quilt for her bedroom, and picked delicious and daring fabrics which I never would have thought to put together. Today we found a teddy-bear soft throw to use for the back, and I finished it up. What a gorgeous result!
(Thanks to Kate for the photo, too, and for the wonderful name.)

Blue Quilt, Put Right to Use

It was gratifying to go downstairs this morning, and see the new blue quilt crumpled in a chair. Someone put it right to use. That's what it was made for.

Golf Course Walk

Kate and I walked around the Chamber's Creek golf course today. It was five miles of trees, sand, water, sky, and huge hills.

We loved every minute of it.

So Many Stitches

No complete picture yet, because it's 11:47 p.m., quite dark, and the photo taken with a flash turned out bad. So this is just an announcement that I just now finished the blue quilt. This one took a little longer, because I hand quilted it. (Some of the many stitches are pictured here on the right.)

I really did it!

Berry Time

I ran out of berries for my breakfasts, so FarmBoy agreed to pick some with me on our walk this afternoon. I picked enough blackberries, the first of the summer, for my yogurt in the morning. We also found some black raspberries, which he called Black Caps, the first I had ever encountered. They looked just like raspberries on a raspberry bush, but the red ones are still "green" and the ripe ones are just the color of ripe blackberries. They were too tart to be good off the bush, but I added sugar to them at home, and made them into syrup for our dinner of whole wheat pancakes. Yum!

Best of all, though, on our walk today, were the thimble berries, which we ate right off the bush. They produce lots and lots of foliage, with few berries, as seen above. But they are worth scrounging around for. They are very sweet and have a nice texture, like fresh strawberry jam right off of a bush. Highly recommended!

Humanitarian Reminder

My husband and I helped out with packaging food orders for the needy on Wednesday, and I was able to purchase and bring home this bag of nonfat dry milk from the storehouse. As I cut it open today to begin a batch of yogurt, I was touched by the many languages on the bag. I was reminded of all of the good-hearted people who labor regularly to be sure that the hungry are fed throughout the world.

Can you identify the five different languages on this bag?

Sunday Shots of Green

Thanks to Kate for these beautiful pictures from over by the water. Didn't get out today myself. I'm glad she was able to, and that she brought back and shared these healing views.

Neighborhood Walk

Met a New Friend on Our Walk Today

Homemade Yogurt Revisited

I keep tweaking my yogurt recipe, and the results get better and better. Here are the supplies for my latest version. My new discovery is that I can use the whey I drain off of one batch as the liquid in another. Here's how it's done.

At about 9 a.m., I begin the first batch by mixing two cups of dry milk powder into two cups of warm water in a clean quart jar. I stir about a quarter cup of good plain yogurt into this as a starter, fill the jar to the brim with water, and place the lidded jar into the yogurt maker, and plug it in.

About twelve hours later, 9 p.m., the quart jar is now filled with warm yogurt, which I pour gently into a strainer lined with a coffee filter. The strainer sits inside a larger bowl to catch the whey. This all goes into the refrigerator.

About twelve hours after that, 9 a.m., I have delicious, thick, creamy yogurt in the strainer, and whey in the bowl underneath. I use that whey in place of some of the water in a new quart jar, as I begin another batch of yogurt, and I eat the freshly drained yogurt with berries and homemade crunchy wheat cereal. This breakfast is delicious and very nutritious, and inexpensive as well.

The Morning After

It is always good to count fingers and toes on the fifth of July, and find that everyone still has ten of each. The barbecue was great, and the show was fun, and today is blessedly quiet.

Visiting Dad at the National Cemetery

Today we visited my dad's grave site, as we do every fourth of July, at the National Cemetery in Covington. He passed away on July 4, 2000. Our visits are the best part of Independence Day for me. I am so glad my dad is where he is now, though I still miss him a lot. It's beautiful, isn't it?