Sunday Sevens 05-31-2015

Tags

bags, Columbia River, cooking, Kennewick, Pasco, quilting, recipe, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Sunday Sevens, Wade Park

Much sewing–and thinking about sewing–happened here this week.

I’ve been playing around with quilt blocks made from my new Mary Engelbreit fabrics.  It’s been forever since I pieced quilt blocks, so I needed the practice.  No idea what these will be used for yet.

(The blocks are freebies from Craftsy.)

Working on replacing the zipper in this orange cycling jersey I made for my honey a couple of years ago.

Note to self:  DO NOT SEW ZIPPERS SO SECURELY.

Settled on a plan for the barkcloth I got the other day:  (yet another) travel bag, a tote bag for short trips.

I will enlarge this pattern a few inches and maybe add some pockets to it.  If I can be bothered, that is.

Discovered the solution to the “too many leftovers” problem this week:  put leftovers on grilled pizza and serve ’em again.

This one had grilled marinated chicken and veg from the previous night’s dinner; I just added some green onion and mozzarella for the pizza.

On Friday, I went over to SCRAP Tri-Cities to volunteer and–what do ya know–they had more Mary Engelbreit fabric.

SEWING THEMED Mary Engelbreit fabric.

I was, of course, helpless to resist.

I’m setting these aside for the moment since, at last count, I had 5 projects planned (plus 3 more I’m considering:  summer PJs, another BOM, and a scrappy quilt)  And I need to finish the jersey zipper and the blouse I’m making before I get distracted by shiny objects again.

On Saturday evening, my partner and I went out for a walk.  Temp was still close to 90F–summer has arrived here!–but there was a steady breeze off the water and it was very comfortable.

(Enlarge for geese.)

This is Wade Park in Pasco, looking across the Columbia River toward Kennewick.

Have an excellent week, everybody, and may the sewing mojo be with you.

STH

ETA:  Corrected date in title.  CALENDARS HOW DO THEY WORK?

Snow Pea Quilt is Done!

Tags

Kumiko Sudo, McCall's Quilting, quilting, sewing, Snow Pea Quilt, UFOs, vag-tastic

W00T!

Another UFO down!

Just to recap, this was a UFO from a long-ago hand applique quilting class.  I found it in a drawer with all the pieces cut and the first block almost finished and decided to finish it.  I wasn’t crazy about the blocks, but I did like doing the hand-sewing and thought I might like the quilt better when it was all assembled.  And I did.

I think my problem with the blocks was the pastel fabrics; as I recall, the quilt shop where I took this class had a less-than-amazing selection of suitable fabrics (read: NONE OF MY BELOVED BATIKS), so I had to do my best with what was available.  (Note to self:  if I ever take a quilting class again, do it at a store that carries batiks!)  I like the blocks much better when paired with the darker border.

Here’s the original quilt; it’s from the August 2001 issue of McCall’s Quilting and the design is by Kumiko Sudo.

I took the class because I liked the 3-D flowers in the design and I wanted to learn how to do needle-turn applique.

Verdict:  I doubt that I’ll ever do this kind of applique again.  It’s pretty fiddly and, even after doing this, I still don’t feel like I’m very good at it.

My mother, who took the class with me, finished her quilt long ago and was quite distressed at the . . . shall we say . . . gynecological look of some of the flowers.

I noticed it, too, and as I sewed, I thought about whether it would seem strange to me to have a vag-tastic quilt on my wall.

NOPE

VULVA QUILTS 4 LYFE

(Shamelessly stolen from the late, lamented Regretsy.)

The instructions recommended minimal quilting on this thing, so I hand-quilted around the flowers, did some stitch-in-the-ditch, and machine-quilted a simple ribbon pattern on the border.

I used this very cool thread that I bought for yet-another quilting class (and, yes, there’s a UFO for that class, too):

(Partner showed me how to use the macro setting on his fancy camera and I am loving it.  Shows all the cat hair super well.)

Here’s the back of the border where you can see the quilting:

I procrastinated on quilting this because I was a bit anxious after the last quilting I did, but I am really happy with how this turned out.

And so happy to have another UFO done!

YAY ME!

STH

Sunday Sevens 05-24-2015

Tags

cats, Columbia River, cooking, Dayton, Lewis and Clark Trail State Park, recipe, SCRAP Tri-Cities, sewing, Sunday Sevens, travel, Waitsburg, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series in which we share seven-ish pics from our week and chat about what we’ve been up to.  Thanks, Natalie, for getting it started!

I had a busy week here with lots of getting out in the warm weather.

On Sunday evening, partner and I met the final three riders of the weekend’s 600k bike ride with this:

Well earned, I’d say.  They started 6:00 a.m. Saturday and finished about 8:00 p.m. Sunday, with only a 2-3 hour nap on Saturday night.  Quite a heroic (if nutty) feat.

Tuesday was another walk with my mother on the banks of the Columbia River (this sagebrush and cheatgrass is typical vegetation for this area):

Wednesday’s dinner was Indian food:  Vegetable Biryani Rice and Hamburger Kebabs from Madhur Jaffrey’s “Quick and Easy Indian Cooking.”  Another cleaning-out-the-produce-bin-before-I-go-to-the-grocery meal.

On Thursday, another walk:

Then on Friday, this happened:

And this:

And, um, maybe this, too:

We have a brand-new creative reuse center here:  SCRAP Tri-Cities!

They just opened on Friday and you know I had to be there.  It’s not like I can be expected to resist something that combines my love of crafts AND my love for a screamin’ deal.

I got some GREAT stuff, and all kinds of ideas are percolating in my head on how to use it.  The Mary Engelbreit fabric in the last pic is going to be combined with some stuff in the stash to become a quilt.  And the fabric with the big orange flowers in the first pic–which I think is possibly-vintage barkcloth–is about to embark on its new life as a tote bag, once I decide on the right pattern for it.

SO MANY IDEAS.

And one more nature shot, this time from this weekend’s trip to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park, outside Waitsburg, WA.  What a gorgeous place, on yet another river, the Touchet.

Be sure to check out Flickr for lots more pictures from that trip.

Have a great week, everybody, and get outside if you can.

STH

Sunday Sevens, 05-17-2015

Tags

bags, cooking, cycling, Kennewick, La Cartera, recipe, Starbuck, Sunday Sevens, Zintel Canyon Park

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series in which we post seven-or-so pictures from our week.  See Natalie at Threads and Bobbins for more info.

Hoo boy, it has been a week of ups and downs here!

Last week, I got the exciting news that I won this adorable bag from La Cartera!  Monday, I received the bag and it is BEAUTIFUL!

More pics to come–I took it on an adventure this weekend.

Tuesday morning, I had this conversation with my honey:

Partner:  I’m going to pop ’round the doctor’s this morning about the [SCARY SYMPTOM] I’m having and feeling weird.  I told you about that, didn’t I?

Me:  WHY NO YOU DID NOT

Followed later by this conversation:

Me:  When you said you felt weird earlier, what did you mean by that?

Partner:  Oh, I just meant I’m having [SUPER SCARY SYMPTOM].

Me:  AAARRRGGHH

So I made cookies.

I totally get why people make food when somebody is sick.  Because 90% of diagnosing and treating an illness is actually sitting around waiting–for tests, test results, doctors, medications, whatever–so making food gives you something constructive to do (other than sitting around fretting) and it helps to nourish and strengthen the sick person (and all the people sitting around fretting with them).

He’s okay for the moment–both SCARY SYMPTOMS are almost gone–and more tests and visits to specialists are in the works.

For this week’s walk with my mother, we went to Zintel Canyon Park in Kennewick.  This was absolutely essential, as they’ve got a team of 200 goats there working on the landscaping.

Most of them seemed to be on their break when we were there.

Please enlarge:

Another thing I cooked this week was Kale and Pasta Salad, which I’m mostly posting because several people I know have asked me, “what do I do with this kale stuff?”

I put the kale in my colander, then pour my hot pasta over it to soften the greens a little.  Be warned if you make this recipe that it makes a TON.

Cats recharging their batteries:

This weekend, my partner and I are helping run a bike ride–riders choose a 400k route or a 600k one.  Beautiful ride through grasslands and wheat fields in mild weather, though the tailwind they had Saturday morning turned into a headwind in the afternoon and made these hills outside Starbuck pretty challenging.

Have a great week, everybody, and be sure to care for the people you love in whatever way you can.

(Oh, and Flickr is having some trouble with uploading, so I’ve just now finally got some extra pics from LAST week up there and can’t get this week’s pics to upload.  Will keep trying.)

STH

Sunday Sevens 05-10-15

Tags

Blue Bridge, cooking, CozyAfternoonQuilt, Kennewick, quilting

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series in which we share seven-or-so pics from our week.  Natalie at Threads and Bobbins is the one who got this all started.  Thanks, Natalie!

My week can be summed up with this picture:

Spring allergies clobbered me this week, so there was a fair bit of sitting around and sniffling while drinking hot chai.

I spent some time working on my quilt UFO.  I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I’ve got an idea in my head that I’d like to get that quilt done before the Cozy Afternoon BOM starts next month.

I’ve got three of the four blocks finished and am making good progress on the fourth:

Stems are done, now it’s on to the leaves (needle-turn applique, the hard part) and flowers.  Then I can assemble the thing.

More pizza this week.  I’m calling this one “I need to go to the grocery store but can’t be bothered” pizza:  turkey Italian sausage, canned artichokes, and all the odds and ends from the produce and cheese drawers.

Another walk with my mother on Thursday in Kennewick.

Went to the Pasco Farmers Market on Saturday with my mother and sister and scored irises!

Bonus close-up shot:

I have some outdoorsy things planned for this coming week, so there should be some good pics coming up next Sunday.  And extra pics always go up on Flickr.

Have a great week, folks, and enjoy the springtime (sniffle).

STH

 

Cozy Afternoon Block-of-the-Month Quilt

Tags

CozyAfternoonQuilt, embroidery, quilting, sewing

Okay, so I sort of have a bit of a problem with fabric scraps.

There’s this:

And then there’s this:

And there are three or four shoebox-size boxes of other colors.

Oh, and I almost forgot this bin in the closet:

This is not altogether a bad thing, since it means that I can always find an appropriate piece of fabric for a small project, like a bike bag or a sewing tool organizer.

I would like to make a dent in this, however, as it’s starting to feel a bit overwhelming and taking up a fair amount of space in my small sewing room.  I’m starting to have that slightly-frantic HELP TOO MUCH STUFF feeling in here.

Hence, this:

I saw this on someone’s blog (sorry, whoever it was, I don’t remember who you are to give you credit!), spotted the blue version with the hand embroidery and thought YES.

You have the option to just put a square of fabric in the center of each block, do hand or machine applique there, or embroider it.

Here are the fabrics I have in mind for the blocks:

And the setting triangles and binding will be made from the fabric I bought in Pendleton the other day:

I’m thinking about using the blocks to make a runner for my ginormous dining room table.

This is a great stashbusting project because you only need 1/4 to 1/3 yard of each of the six block fabrics, then you can use the blocks however you want, depending on what other fabric you have (fabric requirements here).

The BOM starts June 1 and goes for 5 months.  Fabric kits are available here.  Oh, and there’s a fabric giveaway here (closes Sunday, May 10).

Sign-up page is here.  Anybody interested in doing this with me?

STH

Sunday Sevens 05-04-15

Tags

bags, Heidi, Kirkland, Lake Easton State Park, sewing, Totem Lake, travel, Washington

(Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series in which we share some photos from our week.  The ever-fabulous Natalie steers the Mother Ship.)

A busy week and another weekend away!

Monday, I took on my least favorite household task.  Behold this magnificence:

The good news is that I’ve finally found a pattern to make with that white embroidered cotton.  The bad news is that it involves this mess:

Partner asked me for a new cycling bag in the hope of having it for the weekend’s bike ride.  He likes to keep his brevet card, ID, cash, and phone in a simple zippered bag that he can grab when he gets off the bike to go in a store or restaurant.

Here’s his old one, which I made maybe a year ago:

He decided he wanted a black one out of a fabric with a little more body.  We found some in the stash and I used the tutorial that Beth recommended here.  I changed the dimensions and added a phone pocket to the front and loops for him to attach the nylon cord that he uses for a shoulder strap.  I used plain white broadcloth for the lining so that it would be easier to find things inside.

I would have liked to take more pictures, but he immediately grabbed it and stashed it in his bike stuff somewhere.  He and I were both very pleased with how it turned out.  Many thanks to Beth for the very handy tutorial!

On Friday, we headed to Kirkland (a suburb of Seattle) so that my honey could do a 400k ride on Saturday morning.

I am fairly certain that the fact that this “art” in our hotel room was bolted to the table is not the reason I didn’t sneak it into my purse and take it home with me.

Saturday I met up with my BFF Heidi and we spent some time wandering around Kirkland.

PLEASE enlarge these pics–you totally need turtles and baby ducks on a Monday.

On Sunday, we headed home, with a quick stop at Lake Easton State Park to check out their campground.

Yep, I guess that’ll do for next month’s camping trip.  😉

Have a great week, everybody, and get outside for a bit if you can.

STH