A Positive Discovery

Yesterday, I was sewing along on my woven quilt and needed to push the button that enables the securing stitch. Well, I pushed that button--I thought--and continued sewing only to hear a very loud groan coming from my Bernina 200. I, of course, stopped immediately; however, it was too late. I had pushed a button that made a Wide zig-zag and I had a foot attached that wouldn't accomodate that. Long story short--I messed up my machine.
I had heard good things about the Bernina store--Accent Sewing--in Murrell's Inlet--which is about 68 miles from my house. Yes, we have a store here, but one doesn't always want to go somewhere just because it's closer. Anyway, we went up there this morning, were greeted as we came in the door, immediately saw the owner/mechanic, had the problem diagnosed and were told that it would be ready on Monday. And the price he quoted wasn't bad either. The shop had a really nice air about it. There was a class going on and everyone, obviously, was having a great time. I am pretty sure that I have found my "home" store! What a delight to feel that good about a Bernina store and if I buy another machine, it will be there. They also sell Baby Lock and I was able to get some new bobbins for my Quilter's Choice. So I call it a really positive day.
On another note: This spring I planted 3 tomato plants in pots near our sea wall (you can see a little of the wall at the right of the picture). I didn't know how they would do that close to salt water and, at first they looked REALLY bad with deformed leaves. Well, they picked up after about a month and have grown beyond my expectations. But, at that point I didn't want to go out and buy supports for them and my husband hasn't been able to make me the support cages he used to because he is supposed to stay out of the heat until his heart heals a little better. So, I started rounding up bits and pieces in the yard to do the job. My latest addition is a Charleston Bench that I picked up along the side of the road. The framework is good but the slats are in poor shape so it would do as a tomato trellis for now and then, hopefully, we'll make new slats for it this winter and have another bench for the yard. And there are LOTS of tomatoes growing on the plants. Since this part of the yard is where we have a lot of sun, next year I am going to try more vegetables there and see how they tolerate the salt air. It's worth a try anyway.

Weaving

I've made several projects using various weaving techniques--split oak baskets, placemats, clay vessels--and even some quilting projects. So, when I saw Simply Stunning Woven Quilts by Anna Faustino, I bought the book to see what she had to offer. Well, it's a book full of interesting methods of weaving. And her more complicated quilts are stunning.
Since I have had to stop on my present quilting project due to the need to order thread for the quilting (which I did), I decided to try one of her more simple projects. This one uses two large log cabin blocks with fabrics that go from light to dark. My first choice of colors were black and purple. I made the blocks and decided that I didn't really like that combination. So, I decided to try red and was pleased with the result.
I then fused Wonder Under to the backs of each piece, made the necessary markings, cut the wavy lines and began to weave. When you're using log cabin blocks as your background, you have to be fairly precise in your placement of the pieces or you'll lose the effect. And here is my finished woven piece. I still need to figure out if I want to use borders or add elements, but it was a lot of fun to do. As far as the directions in the book are concerned, they were pretty clear although I did change a couple of ways of doing things. I think this would make a good class to teach, but it requires a good bit of working room. It reminded my of when I used to cut my grandmother's pampas grass fronds and weave placements from them-- which resulted in a lot of cuts on my hands but much enjoyment. (and my grandmother even used them that day at breakfast). And probably, most of you made something like this from construction paper in elementary school.

A Turtle of a Thing

About seven years ago, I bought this book,Red and Green: An Applique Tradition by Jeana Kimball. I was interested in the idea of using two main colors in a. needleturned appliqued quilt and liked the patterns in this book. I actually started on it about three years ago. and, just recently, I finished the large center block. The idea of doing this quilt was that I would work on it while I was watching t.v. or riding in the car. However, my work came to a screeching halt about a year ago when I realized that I would not have enough background fabric for the entire quilt. (You'd think that I could have figured that out BEFORE I started, wouldn't you?) So I began searching for something that would go with what I had already done. And I quickly learned that my chosen background was not exactly compatible with most of what was out there (which is not too much of a surprise for an INFJ personality!). Anyway, I FINALLY found something that I could live with and will be using it in the center (which I did) and the corner blocks. I had already done one of the corner blocks on the other fabric, so I carefully removed the applique pieces and will be re-doing that one.
So this is where I am so far. Maybe it won't take me three more years to finish it!
And I've begun quilting my hydrangea quilt and have finished the main flower. Here's a close-up of what I've done with it. With so many interruptions that seem to be in my life right now, the progress isn't fast; however, what's the hurry?

Scents and Sense

For those of you who remember my quilt, Ladies of the Night, its inspiration plant is now in full bloom. I bought this plant last year at the Biltmore House and brought it back to Charleston in the fall. This picture was taken at night because I was so enveloped by its scent as I came back from my evening walk that I actually stopped and took a good look at the number of blooms. Time for the camera. It smells kind of like a gardenia, only more subtle and only at night--which makes it more unique. I lay on my back to take this picture of the single bloom. I bought a different variety here in Charleston and, although the plant is very large, nary a bloom has yet to appear.
Others of you may remember that my hard drive crashed a few weeks ago. That meant that, although I have hard copies of my patterns, I will have to retype all of them (andTHIS time, save them to a disk). It also means that I will have to redraw all of the graphics. Previously, I was using the drawing portion of Microsoft Word--which was somewhat cumbersome; so I decided--after reading some blogs etc, from other quilters--that this time I would use Corel Draw. Well, my rebate check arrived and part of it went right out the door to Amazon.com for the software. And NOW, enters the learning curve . . . I consider myself fairly literate with this type of thing, but it's defintely going to take more than a day or two to learn how to do all that I want. Things don't EXACTLY work like the book indicates they should or the book leaves out a somewhat critical step, but I'll get there. I did make this checkboard drawing this morning and it was about 15 times faster and easier than doing it in Word--so I'm hopeful. I'm thinking that I might try to find Corel Draw For Dummies though.

That Inner Voice

Do you ever have those "nudgings" that nibble at your awareness and tell you that maybe you should or shouldn't do something? I do--all the time--and, as time goes on, I am learning when to truly listen and when it's a fear or prejudice or whatever that is leaning me in one direction or another. I had something like that happen on Thursday night. I hadn't signed up for the quilt retreat that our guild has at Camp St. Christopher because I thought we would be gone all summer. Well, it hasn't turned out that way--for various health-related reasons. At the meeting on Thursday, Karen Kendo announced that there was a last minute opening. My first thought was, "Hum, maybe I should sign up. I would like to go." But something made me hold back and I didn't do it.
So . . .long about Friday afternoon, my husband had an A-Fib episode. He was in conversation with the doctor twice that evening and then the episode was over. However, the next morning his heart rate was twice its normal count and I ended up taking him to the hospital where he eventually had to be shocked back into normal rhythm and spent the night for observation. I brought him home this morning and he's very tired, but fine. If I had gone on the retreat he would have dealing with it by himself--probably even delaying calling the doctor and then driving himself into the emergency room (a man thing). So I KNOW that I listened to the right voice on Thursday night. This has happened too many times in my life to put it aside as mere chance. That still, quiet voice can be pretty loud at times.
And now for a lighter note, I am posting this picture of a car I saw this week at a repair shop. You might have to double-click on it to get the full effect but it looks like they repair cars at that shop with bandaids!

Progress Report

Well, I finished my Hydrangea quilt top yesterday and now am ready to start on the blanket stitching around the flowers, etc. I decided to try a different stitch and used a really pretty variegated thread and--no surprise--have been ripping out those stitches. It was worth a try though. I did about 6 flowers and realized that it looked like a very poorly done satin stitch--definitely not the effect I was going for. I always seem to go back to the blanket stitch for this kind of work. Now I'm getting kind of anxious to see how the whole thing turns out! I'm calling it Shady Ladies.
I also have made the baby quilt for our guild project from the "failed" background of the hydrangea. It turned out very soft-looking and will be nice for a little baby. This quilt didn't take long to make and quilt because, after all, I already had the center finished.
Smokey and I took a little time off this morning and rode up to Pinopolis, SC to see what lake living looked like there (pretty nice but also pretty far from everything) and then stopped at the remains of the Biggen Church in Monck's Corner. It was a very pastoral-feeling place and we walked around looking at the very old tombstones for quite a while. This church was rebuilt twice but a forest fire finally took it for good. At the end of our walking, I saw what I thought was a very unusual tombstone. You'll probably have to click to enlarge it to get the full effect. You can certainly tell from the design that this young man liked to fish and hunt. I guess it could be considered morbid, but so many tombstones have stories to tell and I enjoy listening to what they have to say.

Just A Little Update

Just thought I'd post the next step of my Hydrangea quilt. I chucked the second background and am now on the third--which I think will be a keeper. And now I'm dithering about borders--a decision that I'll have to make pretty soon as parts of the hydrangea(s) will flow into them. Since I'll be having company for the next few days, I'll have some time to think about it.