We had a beautiful, much needed rain last night.  Most of the gardens have been weeded and seeded. Last night’s rain and today’s sun will help the annuals on their way.  I still have three gardens that need the beautiful, strong weeds pulled.  One will have to wait until the painters finish that side of the house. Hopefully, they will paint that side first so I can plant the seeds.  I’ll work on the gardens that go up the steps from the driveway to the house tonight after supper as I don’t like to work in the noon day sun.

     

     

The lettuce came up from last year’s crop.  There is almost enough for a nice salad.

When the stairs gardens are finished, I will have  to decide if I want to remove the garden by the road.  It is very overgrown with weeds and most everything is rootbound.  It is the most beautiful garden in late May and early June with all the Lupine, but after that there is nothing,   I would miss the Lupine by the road. I have successfully transplanted some to the other gardens so they would be still here.  The road garden is  usually is the last garden to get in order and  most of the time, it just does not get weeded.  I may surprise myself and clean it out.

Several flowers are beginning to show up, letting me know that they survived the winter. Some are in different places.  I have no idea how they got there, but will leave them alone as they seem to like their new spots.

There is no grass in the ditch along the road.  The state did a wonderful job last year cleaning out the ditches and the culvert.  They seeded the area but the grass didn’t grow.  It might have winter killed with the road salt.  I’m sure that if I leave it alone, the grass that is on the bank will migrate to the bare spots and I will have grass by summer’s end.

I made the 3-2-1 microwave cake mix with 1/2 box of lemon cake and 1/2 box of angel food cake.  The remaining half of the mix was in the cupboard and I made the most delicious cake mix cookies with it.  It makes about 18 cookies so there are not many left around to tempt me.

1/2 box lemon cake mix.  There are different amounts in different brands, so measure what is in the box and divide by half.  Or you can double the recipe and use the whole box.

1/4 c olive oil   1 egg      about 1/2 c shredded coconut    about 1/2 c chopped nuts

Mix all together.  Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Absolutely yummy

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

Gaa Barge and Mile a Minute blocks are both made using scraps. Gaa barge is usually sewn as an art quilt.  The Mile a Minute is made from strips and pieces.   Although, they can be made with coordinating fabrics, the usual way is to use the scraps unseen from a pile of fabric scraps. Sewing blocks this way makes for some unusual colored blocks.  They have multiple colors and patterns that you would never put together in a quilt if you thought about it.

When you have as many blocks as you need, you should arrange them on a design wall.  I use a white sheet on my bed.  Some colors are predominate in the blocks and they should be scattered around the quilt and not placed in one section.  When the blocks are where you like them, you have to decide what color to make the sashing and border.

The amazing thing about the mile a minute block is that if you want the quilt in a blue room, use a blue sashing.  If you want it in a pink room, use pink sashing.  Whatever color you use for the sashing will bring out that color in the block.  The whole quilt will look like that color.

When I taught the Mile a Minute block, I used the four small pieces to show how this works.  All four blocks have the same gaa barge center.  The surrounding colors make each block look different.

       

Most of my mile a minute quilts have three borders.  The first one is about 1 1/2″ wide and is the same color as the sashing.  The second border is a Mile a Minute block cut down to 2″ to 3″ wide and the length of the pieced square.  These pieces are sewn end to end to make the length of the four sides of the quilt.   The third border is about 4″ wide and is the same color as the sashing or a darker version of that color.

These blocks can be made a few at a time, using fifteen or twenty minutes at a time after concentration on sewing a complicated quilt.  A quilt can be made without even thinking about making it.  Seam allowances are not important. Just sew a straight seam,  Thread color is not important.  Use leftover bobbins and whatever color thread you want to use up.  This is no thinking sewing. Cutting blocks after they are sewn makes each block the same size.  I like to use a 6 1/2″ square ruler and a rotary cutter to make a 6′ finished block.  The blocks can be used in any quilt block pattern that has a 6″ part.  You can also choose any other size block that you want.

Have a great day and happy sewing.

One of the prettiest gaa barge pieces is made of cut out flowers from a small leftover piece of fabric and small strips of green fabric.

The background was quilted before the scraps of fabric were added.  They are not held down by tulle, but are stitched down in a random fashion. The edges of the leaves and flowers are loose.  It took just minutes to make.

The background is a hand dyed piece.  The mottled look was made by pre folding the white fabric before putting it into the dye bath.  I dye using the baggie method and pre folding the fabric to get the look that I like.  There are several ways to pre fold the fabric.  Each way gives a different effect.  With the mottled or designed fabric, you can get realistic leaves and flowers for applique.  I often dye going from light to dark, depending on how much dye I put in the baggies.  The last batch of dyeing that I did had recipes to follow to move from one color to another.  Sun dyeing is also a lot of fun.  The only problem is that I find it very hard to use the dyed fabric.  It is so pretty to look at.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The Tapestry was made in the back door quilting method.  Different blocks were made with different methods.  After they were made, They were put together like a jigsaw puzzle.  Strips were inserted to fill out some spaces.  After the whole piece was together, a backing was sewn on.  The Tapestry is very heavy.  Very few people have seen it as it is too heavy to take to show and tell.  I spent many wonderful hours with special friends as we all made our own versions of the Tapestry. Each one was different.

Two machine embroideries, stipple quilted with a border.

The twisted ribbon had squiggle free motion quilting around it.   The beads were applied with the sewing machine.  You will notice that the same rose fabric was used in different ways in the blocks.   Jewelry and several other small objects were added to many of the blocks.  Fancy buttons were added.  Neckties were turned and couched down.  Many laces, some antique lace were applied.  Several of the blocks were piped.  Some with double piping.  Built in stitches were used as well as lots of free motion quilting.  If we could think of a technique, we used it in this piece.  When my friends do see it, they spend lots of time discovering all the little things in this quilt.

I did have the Tapestry appraised and was shocked at the low appraisal price.  They said that it wasn’t even a quilt because it hadn’t been quilted through all three layers.  It was appraised by a traditional quilter.  Art quilts do get more recognition now.

                    

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I installed my mailbox today so I am officially in Maine.  Miss Molly has adjusted to the change of scenery very well, although she is nervous when the cayotes sing at night.  They are still on the other side of the valley. but I still go out with Miss Molly in the evening.

The lilacs are in blossom.  The deer must have been hungry this year as there are no blossoms at the bottom of the bushes.  They enjoy snacking on the flower buds.  One year, we had just one blossom that they couldn’t reach.  I’m glad that the bushes are taller so we both can enjoy the flowers. 

 

 

 

The crab apples have outdone themselves.  They are so beautiful that I don’t mind that the fruit is too small to be of any use.

It’s lupine season in Maine.  I have a pink lupine along with the purple.  Lupine is a biennial.  The pink lupine is in a different spot every other year.

 

 

 

 

 

Several years ago, I made twelve little wall hangings, one for each month of the year.  When I think of it, I try to change the wall hanging on the first of each month.  Each one has an embroidery pertaining to the month.  I feather stitch the edge of the two borders.  The small pieces are a perfect size to try new background fillers.

April showers bring May flowers.  May’s wall hanging is a Donna Dewberry embroidery.  It is fun to watch the pictures  come alive as each color is added.  I tried painting in the Donna Dewberry method once and I didn’t think that I did very well.  I came across my paintings the other day and they’re not bad.  I should try it again.

    June is a picture of a little boy and his dog.  He is out of school and is fishing.

The weather is finally warming up.  I think we will have summer after all.

Gave a great day and happy quilting,

I was at the grocery store looking at vegetables when a friend came by for a chat.  We were standing by the eggplant when I remarked that I didn’t like eggplant.  I had it once when I was a child and it was tough and bitter.  That was the time when bigger was supposed to be better.  She told me how to cook the small eggplants, so I bought one and thought that I would try it once.

It was delicious and I will definitely make it again.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees.  Slice the eggplant into 1″ slices and coat the eggplant with olive oil on both sides.  Sprinkle with onion salt.  Bake for 20 minutes, turning once during this time.

I made a sauce to go on the eggplant.  Fry 1/2 cup each of onion, green pepper, and orange pepper in olive oil for a few minutes.  Add 1 diced garlic clove and fry for a few more minutes.  Add a can of mushrooms and lots of basil.  I had 1/2 jar of leftover pizza sauce in the refrigerator, so I added it to the pan.  Any tomato sauce would be fine.

When the eggplant was done, I covered it lightly with the sauce .

For a side, I spiraled some zucchini, which I cooked for 2 minutes.  Now that I’ve mastered the spiralizer, it is fun to use.  The product has to be firm. Be careful of the blade.  It’s very sharp.

 

 

I also had some delicious cheesy onion  biscuits.

Ingredients

1/4 c chopped onion   3/4 c flour    1/8 tsp baking powder      1/8 tsp baking soda   1/8 tsp salt    1  Tbsp.. shortening     1/4 c shredded cheese    1/3 c buttermilk

Microwave onion for 1-2 minutes.  Cool for a bit.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cut in shortening until mixture resembles small crumbs.  Stir in cheese and onions.  Stir in buttermilk until just moistened.  Turn onto a floured board and knead 8-10 times.  Pat or roll into a 4″ circle.  Cut into four wedges.  Place 2″ apart on a greased cooking sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.

I keep powdered buttermilk in the refrigerator and use it when a recipe calls for buttermilk.  When I make this for myself, I cut the recipe in half so that I have two biscuits.  They are so good.  I would eat all four at once.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

It has been fun designing all the 32 pieces in the Gaa Barge series.  I have enough scraps taken from the wastebasket or swept off the floor to finish the remainder of my challenge.  I had originally planned to make one a week for a whole year, but gardening got in the way and the series wasn’t finished. Maybe, I can finish the series next winter when the snow flies.

The cat and dog pieces were made with purple and other dark fabrics for the background and tan fabrics for the animals.  The made fabric was made in the mile a minute method.  The patterns for the animals came from a child’s coloring book.  The cut out animals were fused down and then zig zaged around the edges with tan thread.  The lines of the drawing were zig zaged with black  thread.

Shortly after I made these two pieces, I taught a class on this procedure at a local quilt shop.  The pieces were my sample pieces.  They were at the shop when a photographer came to take a picture of the owners.  One of the pieces was grabbed and put under the needle of a sewing machine.  The colors went with a piece that was on the wall behind them.   I enjoy seeing my animal in the picture on the wall when I go to the quilt shop.

Have a great day and happy quilting,

Several years ago I hand dyed lots of fabric.  I just couldn’t cut it up for a quilt.  It sat for a long time in a bin.

I saw a quilt pattern called October Weekend and thought of the dyed fabric.  It would be just right for the project.  The pattern was diagramed like a cross stitch.  Some of the squares were whole.  Some were half square triangles and some were three pieces. I cut each piece separately, and arranged them on a flannel sheet so they would be in the right position on the quilt.  It seemed to take forever to make this quilt. This was made when I worked on one quilt at a time.    Not at all like today when I have four or five going at once, not to mention dozens of ufos.

After the quilt was pieced, I did find three mistakes.  There are probably many more, but when leaves fall on the forest floor, it doesn’t matter.

The leaves are hand quilted with veins.  The black background is hand quilted 1/4″ apart.  When it was finished, I renamed it “Autumn Madness”. Looking back, I really did enjoy making this quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting,

 

All the babies in my family receive a quilt when they are born. The quilts are loved and well worn.  As the babies grow older and transition to a big bed, they often get a big bed quilt.

One of my daughters had a set of twins, a boy and a girl.  I used a panel to make them their crib quilts.  The quilts were alike.  Very quick and easy.

 

When the boy went to a big bed, he received a red, white and blue log cabin quilt.  This quilt was made from cotton fabric.

The girl also received a log cabin quilt.  I had bought all the left over fabric from a quilt shop that went out of business.  Some of the fabric was shiny satin and other delicate fabrics.  This was a wrong choice.  The 1/4″ seams frayed and the quilt was unusable after a few washes.  Live and learn.  I should have made bigger seams.

I have two more little boys that are going into big beds soon so I should get busy and make quilts for them.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

This is one of my favorite quilts.  I made it when I first started quilting.  It is machine pieced and hand quilted.  For some reason, it is very comfortable to sleep under.  For years, I took it to the Vermont Quilt Festival to place on my bed.  It is my home away from home quilt.

I collected the teal, blue and green fabrics in this quilt for several years.  There was something missing.  At the time that I was planning this quilt, I was teaching some of my co-workers how to quilt. As I was showing the students the fabric, one of them said “See what I bought at Keepsake Quilting ” and threw the pink fabric on top of my pile.  It was the spark that this quilt needed. I called Keepsake and read the information that was on the selvage to them.  A few days later, I had the yardage that I needed to make this quilt.  This one is also machine pieced and hand quilted.

These two quilts are still in my collection.  Someone once asked me why I had so many quilts.  My response is that some people collect salt and pepper shakers, I collect quilts.  It just takes more space.

Have a great day and happy quilting.