One Done, One Ugh

So I went spelunking out in the garage and found a few interesting things.  Another of which was one of the quilt tops my grandmother made.  There's at least one other, which at some point I'll get back to repairing - one of the fabrics is literally rotting away, and as it's only about 30 years old, that says something about the quality of that one fabric.  But I digress!  The one I found is in good condition, and of fabrics that are dated enough that I feel like they're starting to come back into style?  More importantly, if I quilt it up and give it to my mother for Christmas, it will hold a bit of extra sentimental value, as something made by both her mother and her daughter.  It's sized for a twin bed, which my parents don't have, but I lay twin quilts crosswise across double and queen sized beds, so hopefully it will be okay.  So I've put that quilt top on a hanger in the closet.  Five down, two to go!

For my sister's quilt, I checked with the guild president that it's okay for me to shop all the fabric that I'm storing for the guild out in the barn, and have paid the treasurer the per-yard amount that the lady in charge of the fabric sale has set.  So I have enough of a couple matching fabrics to (hopefully not too garishly!) piece the back of that one.

For my dad's quilt, I found backing fabric from my own stash in the garage.  I also cut out the binding strips today and sewed them together, as well as two contrast bands for pillowcases.  I'm hoping there's enough extra of the backing to do the bodies of the pillowcases.

And for Wonderful Husband's quilt, I did actually remember to snap a picture before hanging it up!

I'm quite pleased that I got all the directional prints, well, directional.  And there is some very careful piecing in the top and bottom of that outer border. :)  It's to be bound in the black/gray blocks that's the sashing.  It's not quite a bed size quilt (62"x76") so I'm not planning on pillowcases to go with.

And since other things were going okay, I sketched out and cut out the dinosaur quilt for Jazzy:

You can see where Jazzy was helping me color!  And, yes, the outer dinosaur fabric really is that colorful.  I left my math visible in the bottom of the picture to show you how I do in fact try to measure things pretty carefully and make sure I have enough fabric.

Except no matter how proud you are of exacting methodology, it is inevitable that you will SCREW UP once in a while.  Say, by calculating for the sashing to be 2" instead of 2.5".  And thus not having enough fabric for the bottom and two side sashes!

Fortunately an online search turned up the fabric at a quilt shop in Michigan, and I was able to buy two yards.  Enough to finish the sashing, and to make the bodies of two pillowcases, since this will be bed-sized.  But since it'll take a week or so to arrive, I'll piece what I can of the inner part, then switch over to another project.  Probably working on all the requisite backings and bindings and pillowcases for the rest of the Christmas quilts.

Apple season!

Woke up a quarter hour early this morning to the sound of pounding rain paired with thunder and lightning.  It all went away by the time, an hour and a half later, that I was walking Jazzy to his bus pick-up.  This afternoon we had intermittent high winds; the lawn (and the roof of the barn, which Wonderful Husband had just cleared) is covered in small pine branches.

I did suffer a brief bout of inspiration this afternoon and dragged out my heating mats and seed starters.  They're set up on the kitchen counter for the next couple weeks, with placemats underneath, planted with leeks, spinach, and Swiss chard.  I also figured out how to fold a parchment paper envelope for the Black Krim tomato seeds I'd saved, so those got tucked away.  And I crushed all the eggshells I've been saving, so they're taking up a lot less room and are ready to be fed to the hens once they start laying.

And since we had high winds, there were even MORE windfall apples on the ground!  I gave the bird-and-or-rabbit-nibbled ones to the chickens, then started in on the rest.  I made Dorset apple cake (thank you for the recipe, Mary!), of which Wonderful Husband had two slices, and a batch of unsweetened applesauce, currently cooling in the fridge.  The boys love turning the apple slicer/peeler/corer.  Good thing, too - I have at least twice again as many apples still sitting on the kitchen counter.

And there is, amusingly, ONE quince on the quince/pear tree this year.  There were bucketloads last year, so I'm guessing it, like one of the apple trees, is alternating.  We're planning to get all three trees professionally pruned when they're dormant in January; we'll see if that helps even things out.

Quick Catch-Up

I've been plodding away at things.  I finished up the flimsy for the quilt I want to give Wonderful Husband for Christmas, and have it waiting in the closet.  Currently the quilts hanging there are:

--for father, flimsy only

--for sister, flimsy + 2 pillowcases + binding

--for husband, flimsy + binding + backing

--for niecelet, flimsy (Goodwill find) + binding, backing in progress

I want to do quilts for Jazzy and Squiddle also, and go through the vintage quilt tops I have and pick one out for my mother.  Whether or not I'll be able to complete all these by Christmas, who knows.  There may have to be some photos and IOUs.

I did also complete the masks I was working on - five for Jazzy, six for Squiddle, and four for Wonderful Husband.

Gardening wise, I pulled the two tomato plants that were done for the year, as well as most of the squashes.  And since the bi-weekly yard waste bin was going out this week, and that was all that was in it, I took the loppers and started whacking back the bushes by the apple trees.  At some points they're twelve feet deep!  So I filled the bin, and hope to again this week.  I'd like to get rid of those bushes and put in some lilacs and hydrangeas where they are.  Also, our neighbor gave me 30 tulip bulbs this morning, so I'm considering where I want those to go.  (And, I need to harvest some apples to give to her and the neighbors across the street....)

We got several inches of rain over the weekend, and I'm amused that the grass where the chicken coop has been is growing back greener and lusher than where it hasn't been.  We shifted them back to starting position this afternoon, and in the process they all escaped!  That was a fun half hour, trying to get all five of them back into the coop.  Eventually we managed, though not before one (Sassafras) took refuge ten feet up in a tree.  No eggs yet, but theoretically they should start laying by next month.  They're in the middle of being transitioned onto layer feed.