Snow Happens...

How does that saying go: "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"? Well, sometimes SNOW happens too! The best laid plans, one for a retreat weekend with my quilting friends at a not-too-far-from-here state park, was preempted this past weekend for this forecasted snow event. Since the retreat was supposed to commence on Friday I jumped right in at home. Disappointed, but resolute, I pushed forward with determination to  make the weekend count!

Working solely from precut Tumbler scraps I was able to get this lap quilt (58" X 70") pieced by the end of the day on Friday, the snow began falling in the early afternoon. This is one of many that I've made this way (Leader-Ender style). I will quilt it up later this year and pass it along wherever it can be best used. The scene at the top was taken outside the sewing room window on Saturday morning. We had about 4" of the white stuff and it was done snowing by dawn. 

Our son and his family drove out to our house for some outdoor fun: rural-road sledding and snowman construction. Gregory had already called it quits by the time Frosty was complete and was indoors with Nana making hot chocolate!

Staying snug and warm inside, the remainder of Saturday and Sunday (church was canceled) were spent getting "No Scrap Too Small" joined into a 60"X 80" flimsy. Another lingering UFO comprised of 4-patches that had gone together L-E style for the past year, at least, were finally set together; I'm calling this one done. ✔

Here's the 10" block. Each one has 43 pieces, the bitty 4-patch sub-units finish to 2". I loved using them up and combining them with Low Volumes that I have squirreled away. All in all, it was a productive weekend.

Naturally I missed my friends, but it's not like I was alone in the sewing room, not at all! Our group has already rescheduled and have our collective fingers crossed that the snow won't return again, at least not this season. 

And sew, the decks are cleared and could that be an entirely new project already in the works? You betcha! This weekend was a perfect illustration of the fact that we are not in control, He is. So, it is up to us to turn an unexpected event into something else, something positive; to learn and to be thankful for whatever comes our way. Sometimes the unexpected might just be white flakes falling from the sky, and that's okay. What a great lesson! 

Life is Good!

Abécédaire

If you've read past posts you'll remember that I've  become a new (again) cross stitcher. I picked up this long-ago abandoned past time a few years ago. This one kept me occupied in the evenings for the month of January. A simple alphabet sampler, or abécédaire, in French (a word that I ❤️).  This was stitched over two on 32 count Belfast linen with the called-for floss colors. It presented its own challenges which were completely self-imposed. I stitched the borders first and, unknowlingly, totally miscounted! Counting is important in counted cross stitch! Sigh. The red corner block was stitched next, followed by the letters in the center, beginning with  "O". I blissfully stitched away, completing the center and bottom rows before moving upwards and, discovering, to my horror, that I needed to move the already stitched top border up two rows because of that initial miscounting mistake. I'd stitched way too much by this point to tear it out. Consequently, the top border is nudged right up against the selvedge. Groan. Live and learn. It's going to become a needle keep anyway... but, still. 🙄 This pattern is from "Needfuls" by Scarlett House. 

Life is Good!

 

Lessons Learned

I hope to be a lifelong learner; I pray that I never get to that place where I think I've learned all that there is to learn. My grandmother used to tell me that every day spent without learning something new was a wasted day. Recalling that now, probably told to me when I was Jr. High age, was most likely in response to thinking that I already knew it all!  We kept the grandchildren late last week while their mommy was recovering from an outpatient medical procedure. As enthusiastic Cribbage players, we always have a board and deck of cards out and ready for a game. Lynnleigh decided that it was time to learn and PawPaw was a patient teacher. I love my granddaughter's eagerness to learn something new. This game will takes years of learning and practice for her, but she's undaunted.

Here's my class sample from "Fast to Fancy Freehand Feathers", the longarm quilting class that I took up in Hampton, VA. Our instructor, Bethanne Nemesh, was excellent. I appreciated her method of teaching in a manner that let us loose for stitching, and alternately drawing, in well-timed sessions as we explored a variety of increasingly difficult techniques applied to feathers in quilting. I was especially excited by her demonstrations of body placement and showing us ways to protect our spines and posture while working at the longarm. A friend told me years ago if I ever had the opportunity to learn from Bethanne to take advantage of that; I'm so glad that I listened and that I did!

Last week I was summoned to Jury Duty. My daughter told me to take a book. I am so happy to report that I did just that. This is the third time that I've been summoned but only the first time that I have had to report. My time there amounted to waiting in the jury pool room and ultimately being released to go home. 

Round two of my dental implant saga happened on Thursday. I learned my lesson from round one: plan nothing for the rest of the day after sedation dentistry! I am now the proud owner of a threaded insert. All is well and healing continues. 

I decided to try out Kim Diehl's "chubby binding" method on my latest quilt finish. I happened to have her "Simple Seasons" here but I believe this technique is outlined in all of her books. I had ordered a Clover 1" bias tube maker some time ago and it worked great. This is the second new method of binding I've tried this year-- my bias binding of curved corners happened earlier.

I do like the results of the "chubby binding"; it appears as normal on the front side of the quilt and much wider, appearing as sort of a frame, on the back side as seen here. I have since basted this down for hand-finishing. 

As my "Vision 2020" scrap quilt challenge to myself progresses I decided to stitch up cut triangles that have been accumulating in one of my bins. This is a random block that simply grew under my needle. It has distinct possibilities...

Using a copy, cut and paste feature I photographed the block and combined it with itself in various settings; these are my favorite two, with the dark pinwheel center being the overall design winner. And sew it goes... 

Ultimately we're all learning as we go as far as dealing with the current, ongoing health crisis. We're learning how to deal with hunkering down, what we can live without and daily uncertainty. The afore-mentioned book that I took with me to jury duty is Kristin Hannah's "The Nightingale". If you ever had to stop and consider what, exactly, one can live without; this is the book to point out exactly that! Sure, things might not be as convenient right now as we would like, but what can we learn?

In the meantime, take care of yourselves; be smart and pay attention.

And, above all: be prayerful! 

That's the best and most powerful lesson that I've ever learned. 

Life is Good!

Up next: Moving to the "Finished" Column!

Quilt CATASTROPHE!

That title got your attention, didn't it? How about the picture? Yes, I am afraid it's true, this precious quilt did have a catastrophic occurrence! Read on and fear not, as you already know I am a happy-ending kind of gal and the quilt has been saved, but this post contains much needed information for future reference should a similar thing happen to you! As you might remember from a previous post, I have just finished this "Dogs in Sweaters" quilt and carried it along in the car with us on our recent road trip so that I could hand stitch the binding to the back during endless hours of seat time. The quilt was folded and packed in a tote bag in the back seat where I could easily access it. Also in the back seat was Hannes, on his stationary platform and an insulated water bottle filled with water for his travel bowl. Fast forward to the picture above. Imagine my shock and dismay when I unfolded the quilt to discover that there was a slight leak happening behind me; one that landed, where else, but on the red flannel fabric resulting in this uncontrolled dye bleed. After I had a mini-meltdown I recalled an article by Vicki Welsh: "How To Save A Bleeding Quilt". Just reading about plunging the quilt into hot, hot water caused my blood pressure to rise, but, at this point I had little to lose.

I followed Vicki's instruction implicitly. The bathtub was filled up, hot water was added and 1/2 C of Dawn dishwashing liquid. I agitated the water by hand, closed my eyes and submerged the quilt. In an effort to keep every square inch below water I put bin LIDS over the surface of the quilt and put the bins on top of their lids, filling them with water to weigh them down. Then I waited, twelve hours! After an inspection, which revealed some improvement, I decided to repeat the process just to be on the safe side.  After twenty four hours I drained every drop of water from the bathtub and rinsed in cold water before spinning the water out in the washer. It was placed on our patio table to dry in the afternoon sun. 

You can still detect a faint rosy-stain up near the top in the center of the back of the quilt.

Here is a close-up of the after the rescuing procedure. The faint line that is visible over the back of the dog is more a matter of shadow-through from a pressing error on my part during the construction of the quilt; I should have pressed the seam allowance toward the flannel; but the "bleed" is gone and I can easily live with the shadow-through, all things considered. I am counting my blessings and calling this an unqualified success!

There is still a reminder on the backside, but since this will hang on the wall I'm okay with that. 

The rescued quilt ready, once again, to be finished and hung.

Let the binding continue! I'm breathing one HUGE sigh of relief, I have learned my lesson in spades. Read through the linked article above, it might just be your best time spent today. I will be ever mindful going forward of pre-washing before I piece anything. In this instance, I purchased the flannels in a pre-cut stack and really hadn't giving washing them a thought. I won't make that mistake again. If in doubt, especially with a RED; test, test and test again! A little proactive checking ahead of time will keep your blood pressure in check. I am happy to serve as an example for the greater good!

Life is Good!