Good heavens, it has been almost two months since I posted last! It isn't that I haven't been doing anything, just that ... well, you know. One day blends into the next. I can usually remember what day of the week it is, but the date -- sometimes I only remember that it's late-August. Even our clocks are uncertain lately, with this one five minutes ahead of that one, which is twenty minutes ahead of another one, as though time is literally moving at a different rate in each room of the house.
Above is the Color Wheel Sampler from Dropcloth Samplers. I fell for the cheerful exuberance of Rebecca Ringquist's designs and had a hard time deciding which of them I wanted to stitch, but chose this one to start with, at least. The thread colors aren't given, which is fine when you're willing to wing it, but what spoke to me about the original was its colors as much as anything else, and so I was a bit dismayed that the only clue was the photograph on the packet. I appreciate interesting color combinations, even unusual ones, but feel more than a bit uncertain when called on to make the combinations myself, so I spent quite a long time at Michael's yesterday poring over a list that had taken me quite another long time to write up from online DMC color charts the day before, trying to decide if this color was close to the original color, or if that color clashed just a little too unpleasantly with the one next to it. As you can see, I was unsure about the yellow-oranges! Some of these I bought, some I had already. (Yes, I write the numbers on the "bottom" of the paper bobbins. It seemed that very time I put one back in my storage box, the slits that hold the ends of the thread kept getting snagged on the bobbins already in the compartment, so one day I just started turning them around.)
In the spring we bought a pair of pop-up raised beds, to put at one side of our front garden, which thanks to the Tree in our back yard is the best place for sun-loving things to grow. I had envisioned herb beds, popping out for a bit of basil or sage, and chose a couple of heirloom dwarf tomato plants to try starting from seed. I don't know if it's me, or just that starting tomatoes is not like growing nasturtiums, say, but I carefully planted at least two dozen seeds and had less than half of them get above the edge of their seed pots, and two survived. Neither is the one I was really looking forward to, the cherry "Dwarf Velvet Night," alas -- the healthiest one is the bonus one the seed company sent along with my order, "Dwarf Sleeping Lady".
Not sure which the other one is yet, maybe "Dwarf Beauty King" or another "Sleeping Lady". It's in behind the French beans, between sage and basil -- a bit cramped, but things didn't quite grow (or not ...) according to plan!
How have I run a household for twenty+ years without knowing that you can grow cuttings of green onions on your kitchen windowsill?? When you buy a bunch at the market and use the green part, don't throw away the rest! just put the finger-length remnant in a jar of water, and in literally just a couple of days, if it has enough roots to start with, you will see a new length of green pushing upwards. We got two or three full-sized stems or more from each one before they got pale, presumably from lack of soil nutrients and sun, and then I planted them outside. All but one or two are now growing happily. Recycled onions -- amazing!
Wow, how often does this happen? four hypergems in one round!
A three-tiered "dumb-waiter" table, from a hand-me-down House of Miniatures kit. From this angle, you can hardly tell that despite my checking and re-checking, I still managed to glue it crooked. Oh well -- the color turned out nicely!
I wanted to make a cover for Julia's bobbin lace pillow -- you spread a cloth over things when you are not working on the project, to keep it from getting dusty or fiddled with by inquisitive pets (if you have them, so in our case the first is much more likely). It seemed to me that large-ish quilt blocks would make excellent covers, but in scouting around the internet, as one does, I came across the “All in a Row” quilted placemat, and thought with a few modifications it would suit very well. Julia has a large pillow, so the cover would have to be significantly larger than a placemat, and although I was tempted to batt it as in the original, I was concerned that that might make it a bit heavier and stiffer than one would want -- it wouldn't do to dislodge anything when covering or uncovering the project, obviously. I also found this pack of fat quarters on sale, pretty but not twee. Perfect!
While I was dithering, I decided to get my feet wet, as it were, by sewing up a bag to take to the farmer's market, since I can walk there and back quite easily. It is the Summer Festival Sling bag, a free pattern from Swoon. This fabric is the last of a unknown remnant I got ages ago -- I had already made a roll for my increasing stash of crochet hooks with some of it, so there wasn't enough, no matter how I turned and pieced it, to do more than the two sides and the two inner pockets, but I like the finished bag a lot, and it is quite handy! It has good-sized inner pockets to hold change and reusable produce bags.
This didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but there it is. I enlarged the dimensions by 147% -- I don't remember now why such an odd figure! -- though in hindsight perhaps I should have made the patchwork strip a bit deeper, to enjoy the patterned fabrics more. As I said, I sorely wanted to hand-quilt it, even without batting, as it seemed an excellent small project for getting into that, but it also occurred to me that the pins on the lace pillow might get caught in larger stitches (which mine would almost certainly be) and pulled out, which is not what one wants in a lace-pillow cover cloth -- quite the opposite in fact -- and so in the end I did the whole thing by machine. It did go together very easily, though, so my slight dissatisfaction is not at all with the pattern, but most likely from my not being able to realize my fantasy of hand-quilting something!
I do like the fabrics, at any rate -- that dash of algae green is a nice touch, to keep it from being too sweet!
This is why the thought of pins snagged on quilting stitches was a concern --
Julia is already miles ahead of me with bobbin lace, but that is in fact her only hobby at the moment, where I have a myriad of things that catch my interest -- but I've been slowly turning out bookmarks, which are an easy beginner project as they can range in complexity but are small enough not to be daunting. I still need practice, but I'm getting better ...
How nice to hear from you and with a varied post to enjoy. Such a variety of projects, no wonder you lose track of the date.
Posted by: dawn in nl | August 30, 2020 at 07:45 AM
I would want color numbers for those embroidery threads but even armed with details like that at the store, you'd still have to choose from available stock. It's going to be nice, though, and you will enjoy all the bright colors
Posted by: Sarina | August 30, 2020 at 02:31 PM