Snowballs Make a Perfect Border

Coward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs.

~Ambrose Bierce

Quilting

The snowball borders are finally sewn on the Wheel quilt. Wheee!

Snowball border on the Wheel quilt

Oh, joy! Not that the quilt is done but at least the top is finished. It's too large to get a full photo right now. Hopefully that can happen once it's quilted. Next will be an excavation of my stash to see what white fabrics lurking there could become a back. I can't remember any right now but am certainly not purchasing more before checking the piles already here.

The quilting plan will also take some time. While the backgrounds are not solid white, they are very low-volume so the stitching will show. What will look good? Does the sashing need any or can it just be SID? Fortunately my trusty vinyl is at hand so sketches should be easy.

Clearing Out my Stash

I pulled fabric for six more totes. Although I'm trying to make some for young men, they all look like a tote for little kids or little old ladies. Perhaps solids will work better for older boys. Next month I'll look for those. Each tote uses two fabrics: one yard that becomes the inside and sides plus half a yard for the front. The print in the top left is in two other totes {middle and left on the bottom row.} It's a beautiful {to me} Rose and Hubble print that's so old my hair wasn't grey when I bought it in Lewisville TX. There wasn't enough for a big shirt and it's been sitting in my stash long enough.

Six tote bags

I also finished a dozen pillowcases which should keep my whole family provided. The king size ones take a yard plus a third for the cuff while the standard take two-thirds of a yard plus a third for the cuff. Most of my one-yard lengths got a serious look to decide whether they would work for either a pillowcase or tote. This batch took twelve and two-thirds yards. Now they are ready to gift throughout the year.

Twelve pillowcases

Masks and Gowns

No new masks. Like Robin, I think I'm done until something needs to be replaced but six new isolation gowns this week. In addition, five gowns were sent to me for minor repairs. It's great to have a large group of sewers but would be better if they would read the directions. So that was not so fun but hopefully these were "first round" mistakes. Sewing 4 Good has a small group of paid sewers at a southern California shop but many volunteer sewers. As businesses reopen, I believe we volunteers will fade out; however, all our hospitals and care centers have spent their budget. Some are even laying off staff in the middle of this pandemic. So we will be sewing through the end of the year and probably beyond. Not as fun as quilting but way more important.

Reading

I alternate books online with physical copies but almost always am on the waiting list. A whole bunch came due this past week so I chose The Cuckoo's Calling, the first of a series of crime novels by  Robert Galbraith. That is a nom de plume for J.K. Rowling. {I must be the last reader to find out she has a new series.} Her protagonist, private investigator Comoran Strike, is a disabled Afghan vet looking into the death of supermodel, Lula Landry. I enjoyed it and placed a hold on the second one.

Movies, TV, Etc

We just finished the fourth of nine episodes of Home from Apple TV. If DH wasn't so adept I wouldn't have found this series and it's wonderful. Each looks at one builder or architect in one location, what they built, why they built it, how they were inspired. The homes are stunningly different, from a Swedish log cabin inside a greenhouse to the tiniest apartment in Hong Kong. That place had moveable walls. Not like Japanese sliding screen, these move like shelves in my chemistry lab and reconfigure the space for cooking, working, entertaining, or sleeping. If you see it, let me know which episode most intrigued you.

Enjoy the day, Ann

A Fail and a Few Finishes

'Home is the place where, when you have to go there,

They have to take you in.'

                                    'I should have called it

Something you somehow haven't to deserve.'

~ The Death of the Hired Man 

by Robert Frost

My mother used to quote the first two lines to us but I didn't know the author although I'd read many of Frost's poems. I'm fortunate to have a large family that gets along. We write; we call; we visit. What a blessing to just belong to this group; people who have known you all your life. {Although I'm now old enough that's it's generally me who has known them all their lives.} In another sense, family encompasses a larger group. We all share this beautiful blue marble, the only home all of us have ever known. That makes us all one family. Please make good choices. Stay the course.

Tree blocks as a possible border for Shadow Stars

The trees were supposed to border the Shadow Stars but they don't have enough weight. Is that because they are on point? Would bluer green leaves make a difference? Would colored setting triangles? {As opposed to the empty whiteness of now.} IDK. The trees don't seem to have a relationship with the stars even though I deliberately made tiny triangles to echo the tiny squares. Now it looks like they should have related more to the star points. {Does that make sense?}

How easy it is to see problems with a digital camera. Disappointing but not a complete loss. They will be useful somewhere else once the "much too dark" trunks are replaced with lighter fabrics.  It's not exactly a fail as they will wait in the Parts Department until becoming a different quilt.

On the other hand, I found a useful way to move several older pieces of fabric along. They were purchased specifically with my grandchildren in mind but never made it into a quilt. All will be moving to larger beds this summer in a musical chair progression. Out of the crib to the trundle bed. {What do you call the crib mattress without the sides? The one that is barely off the ground.} Out of the trundle bed to the toddler bed. Out of the toddler bed to the twin. So these fabrics will become pillowcases to celebrate their growth.

Many people posted pillowcases with enchanting crocheted edging. My grandmother taught me how to do this so I added it, too. Mine look more old-fashioned. Well, not exactly, but they aren't as bohemian chic as the ones I've seen online. But they look adorable to me. For two cents, I'd keep them for myself.

Pillowcases with crochet edging

Other animal prints made nice cases, too, but crochet didn't fit their theme.

Children's pillowcases

Cases can be made with cuffs or a flap - an extra bit of fabric to hide the pillow and keep it inside the case. Mine just have the cuff but I may try the flap later and want to keep the instructions in one place. My {standard} pillows measure 18.5" x 29.5" so my case should finish 20" x 31". Yes, it could be narrower but this will be easier to get on and off. DH's king-size pillows are 20" x 36" and need pillowcases that finish 21" x 40".

1. A pillow with a cuff
• Three-quarters of a yard for the main fabric; a third of a yard for the cuff
• From main fabric, cut a single piece for front and back 41" x 28" each.
• From alternate fabric, cut front cuff 41" x 10".
2. A one fabric pillow with a flap
• Cut one piece 21" x 75.5". 
• Use the other half of the fabric to make a second pillow.
3. A two fabric pillow with a flap 
• Seven-eighths yard for the front; one and one-quarter yard for the back.
• Cut front piece 21" x 32.125" and back piece in another fabric 21" x 43.625".

Shell crochet edging

Crochet edging supplies:

• a thick tapestry needle with a rounded end 
• a steel crochet hook size 2
• Size 8 pearl cotton in any color you choose (one ball edges three cases for me}
• washable marker
• ruler or guide marked 3/8"

Crochet edging:

1. Mark the pillowcase at 3/8" intervals about 1/4" from the edge.
2. Use the tapestry needle to make holes without breaking threads in the woven fabric then
3. Make a single crochet in the hole followed by 3 chain stitches.
4. Repeat around the edge of the pillow.
5. Slip stitch into the beginning.
6. Two chain stitches.
7. Seven double crochet in the first opening {the 3 chain stitches}, 1 chain, 1 single crochet in the next opening, 1 chain. Repeat around the edge.
8. Slip stitch to the beginning of this round. 
9. Tie off and bury threads.

Seven pillowcases finished. Three with cuffs only; four with crochet.

And twenty-five more face masks. No more sheeting or pillowcase ticking and only two yards of batik left. I line them with 100% cotton t-shirts. One good thing is that I'm finally progressing on DH's t-shirt quilt.

Reading

Each of my children grew up with a different books series which I read as they did. They certainly made interesting dinner conversation. For the oldest, it was Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The original book, The Golden Compass {known as The Northern Lights everywhere else in the world} was made into a movie and recently into a television series.

Recently I discovered a prequel trilogy is being published. The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage begins shortly after Lyra's birth and concerns how she arrived at Jordan College. I'm ready to reread the original books.

My contributions have been to stay home, make masks, and donate money to my favorite charities.  It's all I can do. Stay safe everyone.

Enjoy the day, Ann