Spring in December

My gardens are confused.  Some plants are still blooming from summer, some are blooming early and some are coming back up!  Two weeks of warm, wet weather is having a dramatic impact.  Here is a ginger lily that has continued to bloom since August.  Although we have had several frosts, this is close enough to the house to be protected.  It should be long dormant by now.

In addition to the lily, I have geraniums still blooming.

This Daphne bush usually blooms in late January, but here it is, blooming the earliest I have ever seen it.

Of more concern to me, are the spring bloomers that are emerging.  My forsythia is beginning to bud.

Some of my early perennials  and bulbs are also beginning to come up.  These are purple spiderwort. I also see daffodils and other plants beginning to emerge.  If we actually do have winter this year, I don't know what the result will be.

On a different plant note, we were in the mountains this past weekend, and found this huge leaf.  I think it is from an American Sycamore tree, but I am still trying to verify that.

M. C. Escher

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of going to see the NC Museum of Art exhibit The World of E. C. Escher: Nature, Science and Imagination.  What a fabulous collection of Escher works!  Of course I was familiar with a few of his pieces, such as

And this one

I do love his work with staircases.

Some of his other  pieces I was not as familiar with, but I the concepts were not new to me.  

I believe there are quilt designs to be had in some of this work.

In conjunction with the Escher exhibit, the museum has  da Vinci's Codex Leicester on loan from Bill Gates.  Escher studied da Vinci's work, and was inspired by him.  Interestingly,  this Codex is written backwards, so that it could only be read in a mirror.

The exhibit is here until the middle of January.  Definitely worth a visit.

More rain

So, I guess I have failed at the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge!  I have missed several days.  But, holiday travel and general busyness has gotten in the way.

The rain keeps me from garden work, but it does allow more time for reading and quilting.  Last night I reached the half way point in quilting the Orange Peel quilt.  I hope to be finished by late January.

I have also pieced five units for the tumbling blocks.   I am still slow and deliberate with the hand piecing process, but it is getting easier.  Here are two of the units.

A Christmas Tradition: The Crap Line

A number of years ago, we started a Christmas tradition, the gift line.  My husband loves yard sales, and is a champion at finding great stuff.  Some is unique, some is fun, some is just down right weird.  But what to do with all this treasure?  Gift it!

When we started this, we would wrap everything for the gift line.  Here is how the line works:  Everyone lines up in some agreed upon order.   The first person picks a gift;  he/she can keep the gift and sit down, or pass it to the next person in line, and go to the back of the line.  The gift makes it way down the line, with everyone having a chance to keep it or pass it.  If it reaches the end, back to the original person, he/she takes the gift and sits down.  After everyone has gone through, we line up in a different order and start over.  We usually have enough gifts for 5 or 6 rounds.

Somewhere along the years, our oldest grandson labeled this the Crap Line.  Well, it is true that there is a fair amount of crap among the treasures.

In recent years the process has changed a bit.  Now each family unit contributes gifts to the Crap Line.  Beginning last year, enough identical paper was purchased, so that all gifts look alike.

Here are some of this years presents.

We had the Crap Line last night.  Some of the highlights included a return of Soap on a Rope (I think this is the 3rd year for it);  a box of rocks (geodes, crystals); an electric guitar & amplifier (yard sale treasure); green suede jacket (also yard sale).  And:

Once all the presents are opened, a fair amount of trading goes on.  All unwanted gifts are left behind for the party host to dispose of.  Some return to the Crap Line the following year, some get re-gifted, and some go one to yard sales or second hand shops to become someone else's treasure.

Quilting dreams

There are so many quilts that I want to make.  Someday, I intend to appliqué a Baltimore Album style quilt.  I also want to make a Drunkard's Path and a Railroad.

This is Railroad (very similar to Jacob's Ladder).  I already have blue and white fabric for it.

I also want to play around with more string quilts.  I have a few interesting ideas.

Over the last year or so, I have received several boxes of old quilt magazines, from various friends.  Some date back to the late 1970s.  Going through them has been great fun.  I do it at my leisure.

As I go through the magazines, I cut out pictures, patterns and articles of quilts I want to make, or tips I find helpful.  I have one notebook for appliqué, and one for pieced quilts.  I suppose this feeds my inner librarian!

At any rate, it does help me keep my quilting space in some order.

I am more than half way through the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge!
http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-31-day-blog-writing-challenge

Random things

I have spent much of today wrapping presents for the family Christmas get together this coming weekend.

Here are a few random thoughts that occurred to me while wrapping.

In the category of odd Christmas decorations, how about a Mr. Potato Head Santa?  I found it strange, but apparently the kids on the street love him.  He lights up at night.

My husband likes to keep his phone in his shirt pocket.  A few weeks ago, he bent over to pick something up, and yet again, it fell out.  But, this time it hit the floor in that perfect spot, so it cracked the screen.  He was able to get the screen replaced, but how to stop this from happening again?  I suggested we try a small piece of velcro.  I used the sticky backed velcro, and the looped end piece.  The phone has not slipped out of his pocket since.

Out for a walk, and then an evening with needle and thread.  The unseasonable warm weather continues.  Looks like we will have mosquitoes, not snow, for Christmas.

Hand Piecing

I have been quilting for years, always by hand.  My piecing has always been by machine, until now.

Recently I have met several quilters who also piece by hand, so I began looking at tutorials and books about hand piecing.  I had also decided to make a Tumbling Blocks quilt, and much of what I read indicated that I might find the pattern easier by hand, than by machine.

I have  been practicing with scraps, so that I won't mess up the beautiful batiks I have for the Tumbling Blocks.

Here are some of my samples.

This is my first attempt at hand piecing.  Not too awful from the front.

The back doesn't look near as nice.  I wasn't sure what to do with the seams, so I pressed them open.

After some more study, and practice, here is my most recent sample.

My center points are nearly perfect.  And the back is much better.

I believe I am now ready to work with my beautiful fabrics.  It will be a long process, but I will post updates periodically.

I will add, that I am hand piecing for pretty much the same reasons that I hand quilt.  I love the portability, the quiet time is affords me, and my great control over both the fabric and my stitches.

Why I hand quilt

I am often asked why I choose to quilt by hand, rather than by machine.  At times there is even an derisive tone in the asking.  It is easy enough to say "because I want to", and leave it at that.  But, here is want I really want to say.

Hand quilting is peaceful and renewing.  I work at my own speed.  I can work in total quiet.  I can watch a move or TV.  I can listen to music or an audio book.  I can carry on a conversation.

Hand quilting can be portable.  I have both a floor frame and quilting hoops.  I usually choose to use a hoop, so that I can quilt wherever I want to.  I can move around the house, and I can take the quilt with me.  The hoop also provides flexibility in turning the quilt in whatever direction works best for the quilting.

This is a lap quilt that I completed earlier this year.

I find hand quilting to result in a softer quilt.  This is a personal preference, no doubt, but it is mine.  Machine quilting is exact, can be nearly perfect, but I find it makes for a stiff quilt.

This is a machine quilted piece from a quilt show.  Not my work.

This is another piece I completed earlier this year.  I spent the first few months of retirement finishing UFOs.

With hand quilting, it is easier to fix mistakes.  The stitches are not as dense or tight, so they are easier to pull out, if need be. Admittedly, I pull out a fair number of stitches!

Hand quilting is certainly much slower than machine quilting.  Depending on size, it can take me anywhere from two to six months to finish a quilt, if I am able to work an hour or two most days.  But I am in no hurry.  I do not sell quilts, and I have yet to enter a show.  Quilting, and my quilts, bring me great joy.  And that is my goal.

This and That

Aren't these coasters adorable?

My sister-in-law hand paints these.   I have suggested she use quilt blocks too.  A plug for her Esty site:  ARMADesigns.

Mulch is all in place, and the front bed tilling is finished.  When I was pruning back a lantana bush, I found this pretty little volunteer.  I am not yet sure what it is.  Possibilities are Arum or Wild Ginger.

The work continues

Three cubic yards of mulch, two of sand, and one of compost, is a lot of garden material!  The sand and compost have been put in the front vegetable bed, and in one of the back retaining wall beds.  The back bed is tilled, and the front bed nearly finished.  In a couple of months we will get soil tests.

Doesn't this look like lovely soil?

I have spread about two thirds of the mulch.  All of this is for the front yard.  Weeds be gone!

I have finished And West is West by Ron Childress.  I am not sure what to say about this book.  It is very well written, thought provoking and rather disturbing.   There are three main characters, Jessica, an Air Force drone pilot who is discharged for a security breach; Ethan, a Wall Street quant, who develops algorithms to allow his bank to trade currency based on world terrorism, in milliseconds;   Zoe, who, it turns out, is the connection between all the divergent threads.  I didn't particularly like any of the characters.  I found them all pretty self absorbed. Each make bad decisions with drastic results.  A troubling question (or maybe it is the true theme) raised by this book is, what is the result of lives spent engaged with technology, rather than people?

Updates

It is day eleven of the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge.   http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-31-day-blog-writing-challenge

We are having an unusual string of very warm days, so today will be another day spreading mulch and cleaning out the garden.  We put all of the sand and compost into the front vegetable garden yesterday.  "We" still need to rake out the sand, and then till it all in. (I don't actually run the tiller!)

I have spread about a third of the mulch.  Already this front bed looks so good!  I have thinned out many plants, and added things that will attract and sustain butterflies.  Some fennel is still green.

I always seem to have several quilts underway.  In additional to piecing the Orange Peel, I am cutting and preparing to piece a Tumbling Blocks.  I have decided to hand piece this, using the method that Jinny Beyer recommends.  You piece together in sections like this, doing the six pointed interior "star", and then adding the six outside pieces.

I have marked my seam lines on the dark fabric with a ceramic marking pencil, and on the light fabric with a standard mechanical pencil.  Why do this by hand?  That will be another blog post.

Mulch time

Odd as it seems, the arrival of a load of mulch is pretty exciting for a gardener.  Today is mulch day.  We are also getting sand and compost.  Our soil is lovely Carolina red clay.  The garden beds have to be heavily amended to be fertile.  We, of course, compost, but that is not quite enough.

The sand helps break up the clay, so that the soil will drain better.  The compost adds nutrients.  More compost, less added fertilizer.

The mulch will help protect my perennial roots from freezing, if we get a long cold snap, and will reduce the weeds next summer.  The hard work this week will pay off come next summer.

My avocations due blend together.  Thinking about flowers, I am considering doing a large appliqué quilt, something in the style of a Baltimore Album.  I am rather new to appliqué, but I have been practicing.  Here are a couple of blocks I have made.  I did the one on the left first.  I see definite improvement in the second one.

Mouse update!  We caught one.  For several days the mouse had taken the food out of the trap.   This morning we had him.  Not sure if this was the only one, so we will continue to put the trap in for a few days.  Not many people have to check their mouse trap before they drive.

Decorating

I am not much for holiday decorating.  I don't do Easter or Halloween or any other holidays.  I do put a flag out for 4th of July.  My Christmas decorating is minimal, at best.  No Christmas quilts or sweaters.  Just a tree, and perhaps some candles in the windows.  I do have Christmas napkins!

That is not to say that I don't like to see decorations.  I just don't like to decorate.

I thought about that on my walk this morning.  Many in my neighborhood have their Christmas decorations up now.  Some are quite traditional, some modern and trendy, and some just plain different.

I did not have my good camera with me, just my phone.  Its camera is poor, and I don't use it well.  But, here is a taste of the sites I saw.

 Elf in a window box?










It is a Sesame Christmas for these kids.

There are usually at least two of these giant Santas on the street.  Only one spotted this morning.










This looks like a fox to me, but I believe it is suppose to be a tiger.  That is an Auburn University flag to the left.

I think I will leave the yard to the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and other critters, and let nature be my decorator.

Antique quilts

When I was a child, my mother had a double wedding ring quilt which her grandmother had made.  It was never used, and rarely seen.  But I use to get to look at it, and I fell in love with quilts.  I don't know what happened to that treasure.

In my years working as a museum curator, I studied many quilts.  My quilting today is greatly influenced by traditional patterns, although I do love working with modern fabrics.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to participate in a quilt identification day in Goldsboro, NC.  My job was to photograph the quilts.  All were wonderful; some were stunning.  I do not have the history of these, other than they were all family heirlooms.  No matter, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures.

Log cabin, sunshine and shadows.  Here is a close up.

This quilt maker had a wonderful way with colors and hues.

 It is interesting how she laid out the four red blocks.  It is difficult to tell what color the now tan block was originally.  Perhaps green.

And here is my favorite of this group.  The workmanship is amazing.  It appears that the tan was originally green.  Signs of green thread as well.

I have not done much appliqué work, but this has inspired me to put it on my list of to-dos.