A tiskit, a tasket

a blue and yellow basket.

 With every other color in the rainbow.

This is an Edyta Sitar pattern; however, I made my basket using 2" squares.  The finished block measures 14" x 15".  It's very unusual for me to try such a large design.

A dear friend taught me how to do bias handles.  Imagine that, 45 years of quilting and I'd never made a handle.  There's no stopping me now.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Yes indeedy, it's a top!

 Blocks were slowly worked on.

 Then put back in a box,

 while I prepped pieces for a few more squares,

and put them back in the box.

Finally, all the blocks were completed and it's now a top.

Yes, indeedy!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .  

Boring Tuesday farm report is long overdue, isn't it?

There are 2 kinds of blossoms on pumpkin plants and each only lasts for one day.

 Most days I'm out there counting.

 And hoping we get a few of the beautiful flattish ones.

 The surprise this year was a couple small pie pumpkins,

 and a few that start out somewhat globular,

 but slowly end up rounded.

This vine wanted a better view and decided to climb up the bunny hutch.

We're up to 10 pumpkins, 3 varieties so far.  Dear friends wait expectantly for fresh table displays, roasted seeds, and scrumptious soup.  I don't eat it, but they do.  I simply enjoy watching them grow.  Thank goodness a volunteer crop showed up this year.  I'd hate to disappoint my friends.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Clean walls, new quilts.

Spring cleaning has commenced, which included washing down all the walls.  It seems texture paint requires that.

 Instead of sticking to one particular style,

 I mixed things up a bit.

And changed locations of where I usually hang them.

Of course no one actually eats at this table, it's "chust for nice" as the Pennsylvania Dutch are fond of saying.

Now the flowers . . . they were a gift from a thoughtful friend who's gone back to CA.  Nothing brings in sunshine like flowers.  Thanks again J.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

I wasn't going to watch it . . .

but I did.

Folks renting the neighbor's house could not see the eclipse from their porch, so I invited them over to my south 40.  Since they had extra glasses, I was able to join in the fun.  My kind of party, no driving, a cold wine cooler, and new friends.

It really was quite spectacular.  Sorry you couldn't be here.

In stitches' . . .

Attention, attention, may I have your attention.

After gleaning information from various sources, we'd just like to know how many of you actually plan on traveling to Western North Carolina for the eclipse?

And how many will be staying home to sew?

As I understand it, every hotel/motel, campground, and rental home has been booked for months.  There's a possibility of cell phones not working due to excessive usage and internet not working for the same reason.  And I was told yesterday that NASA has already arrived.  (Bring up the music, ta da).

Lowe's has been selling the special glasses for awhile, but our local eye doctor is offering them for less at $1.00.  It's a shame I won't be renting out my front deck and yard, as they are perfect observation points.

A local school is renting out 250 parking spots and their cafeteria is gearing up to cook 3 meals a day. Many stores in town are closing, but restaurants will also be open and very busy.  However, no matter how you slice it, there is still NOT enough room for 65,000 to 100,000 people in these small towns to park, eat, etc. etc.

So if you're coming, do have a plan, a destination spot, and as Yogi would say, a pic-a-nic basket with plenty of water, as well as an extra gas can.

Authorities are urging residents to treat it like a snow storm.  We're to buy gas and groceries ahead of time and "stay off the roads" due to excessive traffic.  Since no one seems to have a clear indication of attendance numbers, Dolly asked me to take a poll.

Feel free to send me your opinion on all of this hoopla.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

In Progress #1

 top is now together.

It's queen size.

The alternate blue square has tiny navy pin dots.  Just enough to make it interesting.   I enjoyed making this one so much, I've decided to do one in twin size also.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Fried chicken and . . . .

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¾ cup shortening (or a mixture of butter and shortening)

1-1/3 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add shortening.  Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in thoroughly. 

Stir in buttermilk and mix until dough holds together.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ½ inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2-1/2" cutter.  Gather up scraps of dough and roll out.  Cut additional biscuits. 

Place biscuits on a lightly greased cookie sheet, bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned on top and dry on the sides. 

********

When time allows, baking bread is something I love to do; however, I've learned that biscuits require a special touch.  The mixture should be worked as little as possible so as not to toughen the dough.  Remember not to twist the cutter as it goes in the dough; a straight up and down motion is best.   

This recipe comes from a 1987 Early American Life magazine article entitled "A Picnic in the Deep South", so you know it's good.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . . 

First order of the day.

Clean up.

Here's the sewing room 2 weeks ago.  I've been pulling a lot of fabric to prep and trim up.

However, a total of 6 stores in 2 days yielded NO liquid starch.  It's like the dinosaur, extinct overnight.  Sheesh.

So this week will involve more tidying and cleaning off the table in order to finish assembling BIG blue / yellow, (3,840 pieces).  This was begun last December I believe and put away for awhile.

It's in 4 sections.  The yellow borders will go on as soon as I locate liquid starch to prep the fabric.

A recent visit to the Mennonite Market shows how much rain we've had this summer.  Sooo green!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

We're up to 11!

You've already seen the green ones made with 2" strips.

 And this 9-patch was made a few months ago.

 The fun one finished recently.

 And those you didn't see yet . . .

6 more QOV tops made

with 2-1/2" strip pieces cut last year and sitting in a  . . .

 baggie!

 

Dolly is supervising.  She just had a bath with 6 oz. of conditioner to help the itchy hot spots.  We're having a very difficult time with hot spots this summer.  Staying in the cool AC room and sewing is about the only thing that helps.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

New day, new look.

You'll notice the blog layout has changed.  Do let me know what you think.  If the titles are hard to read, the text is hard to read, or you think everything should be changed to hot pink and magenta.

Just kidding on the pink / magenta part.  But you knew that.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

The sad, now happy quilt top.

Remember this one?

 The idea was okay, but the right side arc was simply blechh.  Very unprofessional.

 Ahhh, much better.

Late last night, I decided to explore a possibility.  So I removed several of the vertical pieces from the original top, until I had a unit that was roughly 18" wide and cut 3 squares using my largest square ruler (16-1/2").

Other left over 2-1/2" wide pieces were assembled into units 36" long (twice the ruler size plus a bit) and roughly 18" wide.

Sometimes a 2" strip was needed to make the unit wide enough.

This was all improvisation mind you, based loosely on a quilt I made in 1998.

You can do the same with your left over / donated strips.  Pull out your largest square ruler, piece vertical strips and cut them 2 x ruler size + 3" = length.  Assemble vertical strip units into a rectangle with the width being 1 x ruler size +2".

Be sure to starch final units, as those strips can get squiggly.  From each unit, you'll get 2 blocks.  Make enough blocks for the size quilt you'd like.

By using a 16-1/2" ruler, final measurement with just 12 blocks is  roughly 48 x 64, a nice nap size.

I'm naming this one "Everything Works".  No doubt Alycia will find just the right veteran to present it to and it will keep someone warm this winter.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .