More Sewing for the New Stove

This is something I probably should have made for my kitchen a very long time ago.

As soon as I drape a kitchen towel over the handle of the oven, it's gone. With five other people walking through the kitchen, most of the time I don't even know who to blame. Half of the time, Hubby is blaming me when I've got the towel in my hand because I'm using it. 

Over the years, we've had a couple of different hanging towels with velcro. Those were a pain and got stuck to the other towels. I wound up throwing them out. 

Pinterest is full of tutorials for hanging towels with cute buttons, but I don't do buttons without a very good reason. I also don't have the patience to make bows in cute little ribbon ties....and you know someone would tie it to the oven with a double knot and I'd wind up having to cut it loose. 

A few weeks ago, I saw some hanging towels that used a big buttonhole to secure them in place. No buttons to fall off. No velcro. I love buttonholes about as much as I love zippers, but I was willing to give it a shot. 

This is not a buttonhole. It's a big slit with two layers of zig-zag stitching around the raw edges. (So yeah, it's pretty much a buttonhole. But I didn't use the magic foot or worry about what size it was going to be, so it doesn't count as one.)

These are the tutorials I was inspired by and then was too lazy to pull up and actually follow:

Buttonhole Hanging Dish Towel  -- This one is easier than what I did and the method I think I'll use if I make more of these with real dish towels.

Fancier Hanging Dish Towel  -- This one is prettier than mine and would make nice gifts, especially if the towels were embroidered.

Toes

After Sock Madness forced me to learn to cast on toes the right way, I thought I was a convert. But I'm still happily using my cheater method. It works just fine and doesn't require me to think as hard and once I'm wearing my socks, no one sees the tips of my toes but me.



These days, I read as many thrillers as I can get my hands on, so as soon as I saw Since She Went Away by David Bell it went on my list. Wanting to recapture some of her old spontaneity, Jenna Springer called her friend Celia and arranged to meet her best friend at the park at midnight. Events at Jenna's house delayed her and when she reached the park the only trace of Celia was a single diamond earring.  For months, Jenna has blamed herself. The media, which latched eagerly onto the story of the "Diamond Mom," blames her as well and when, at a particularly stressful moment, she verbally lashes out at a reporter, they start to ask if she knows more than she's telling. I immediately liked the characters and wanted to know the rest of their story. They felt like real people and felt like their secrets were as plausible as secrets in this sort of book can be (except for one scene near the end which I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to accept.)



I suppose it's a sign that you like a mystery series when a news story about a local glass company being forced to stop production makes you wonder where the fictional characters are going to get the supplies they need to keep teaching their classes. The third Webb's Glass Shop mystery, Cracked to Death, is out and this time Savannah is teaching a class on how to melt glass bottles into useful objects. A pair of bottles brought in by one of her students catch her attention. They're obviously old, so she wants to do some research before putting them in her kiln. When the student's body is found on the beach with the remains of a third bottle in his dive bag and one of her employees becomes a suspect, the local police rely on Savannah's glass expertise. So far each of the books in the series hasfeatured a different glass technique which always ties in with the murder mystery. There's plenty of vicarious crafting and an intriguing mystery.



Tracing the Bones by Elise A Miller is another of those domestic thrillers I love so much. An unhappily married woman whose writing career consists of jotting ideas on whatever scrap of paper she can get her hands on becomes entangled in the tragedy that strikes the perfect couple next door. The plot kept me asking questions and turning pages, but was never believable enough to me to shake that "it's just a book and this could never happen" feeling.

Disclosure -- I was provided with advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit 

Lozenge Update

Either this is most of the lozenges, which means I need to cut a bunch more pieces....or I've got more lozenges in a plastic box somewhere and need to figure out what safe place I put them in. I counted while I was cutting and I'm sure I started with enough for a 60x60" quilt.

I love long term scrappy projects like this one, but they sure make it easy to forget what you've already done and where you put it.

This post is linked to Jo's Country Junction. 

Possibilities

A couple of years ago, these three lantern blocks appeared in my sewing room. They're scrap bag orphans, not my own handiwork. And, while I'd love an entire quilt made of them, I know I wouldn't want my blocks set on point or assembled exactly that way. 

Last summer, the half square triangles appeared. There's a strip of eight of them -- maybe someone's abandoned border? -- and I put them in the pile of orphan blocks that I'll find a use for one of these days. It wasn't until much later that I realized the lanterns and half square triangles might play well together.  Then I found the blue stripe.

I think I've got the elements of a pretty little quilt here! There's enough of the blue stripe to use some for the front and also have a coordinating backing.

Since there's no way I'm going to fuss with stripes for the setting triangles, would you go with white or solid black?

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Self Control

There's a costume shop in town that always catches my eye when we drive by. How could it not when at one point they had the plant from Little Shop of Horrors in the display window? On Saturday I saw the ad for their going-out-of-business sale and Teenage Daughter hopped in the car. 

The ad said they had fabric and sewing machines, which was all the excuse I needed to indulge my curiosity. 

If I needed tuxedo dickies or swim caps, that would've been the place to buy them cheap. Or an adult size fish costume... or feathers... or sequins... It was a lot of fun to look and I'd love to know the stories behind some of those costumes.

There was fabric and it was very reasonably priced. Zippers were five for a dollar.  I behaved myself and only bought a white shirt for Quinn to use as a paint smock and a pair of (new in package) fishnet stockings to use for a science project we saw on Pinterest.

I kind of wish I'd brought the boys along, because they definitely would have talked me into buying the moon mask from the top picture. I spent a little too much energy talking myself out of that purchase and I'm already regretting it just a bit. For three bucks, I could have  called it a Halloween decoration. Or hung it next to the purple cow.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 5 1/2 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 12 yards (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 6 1/2 yards

Yarn used this Week: 0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 3550 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 5526 yards
Net added for 2016: 1976 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

A Quilter's Mixology

Long time readers of my blog will know how much I love curved piecing. It's been a while since I made time to actually do any of it, but those curved pieces make my heart go pitty-pat. Especially when there are Drunkard's Path blocks involved.

A Quilter's Mixology by Angela Pingel has several unique projects that aren't like anything I've seen in all of my searching and drooling. I love those paint drips, but the quilt as written is bigger than anything I'd be likely to use. I'm hoping I can find a tiny drunkard's path template somewhere and make a wall hanging.

Some (but not all) of the patterns are sized to work with the Sizzix and AccuQuilt drunkard's path dies, which is nice. I'm always happy to find new ways to use the tools that I already own. 

Disclosure -- This one was a library book. 

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {6/24/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Red Crosses

I've been wanting to make a Red Cross quilt since I read World War I Quilts a couple of years back. They're just so pretty.  Red 1 1/2" strips swiped from another project, some white muslin from my rapidly dwindling bolt, a couple of evenings, and I've got a cute little doll quilt to show for my efforts.

No pattern, just an idea from a vintage quilt I saw somewhere online -- 3" cross blocks (which are really just nine patches) and plain squares in between. Easy as could be. If I was doing it again, I'd make sure that all of the solid bars were crossing in the same direction, but one I saw what I'd done I wasn't excited enough to take the top apart and reassemble it.

This post is linked to Finish it Up Friday.  

Rabbits?

What do you see when you look at the pattern this self-striping sock yarn is making? I don't think it's suppose to create a deliberate pattern, but I definitely see rabbits. Teenage Daughter saw deer, Teenage son saw Kokopelli, and Hubby thinks we're all nuts.



Kiki Lowenstein finally had her baby! It feels like I've been on pins and needles forever anticipating Glue Baby Gone and the book was definitely worth the wait. (I actually read it the day it was released, then somehow forgot to write about it.)  After a delivery that definitely didn't go as planned, Kiki isn't coping well. Postpartum depression, a discussion with her teenage daughter about which pictures should not be shared publicly, a newborn stolen from a local hospital....there's a lot going on in this one -- and that's before the ending leaves readers hanging and waiting for the next book.



Ellie Haskell is summoned to St. Roberta's, the boarding school she attended as a child, to recover a stolen lacrosse trophy. Although Ellie enjoyed novels about the boarding school life, her memories of her own school experiences are less than perfect. Goodbye Ms. Chips by Dorothy Cannell is a cozy mystery that never really managed to pull me into the plot. There was nothing about the book that I particularly disliked, but there was also nothing I loved.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy of Goodbye Ms. Chips. I bought Glue Baby Gone with my own money. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit 

Lozenge Update

If I was making my lozenges according to Bonnie's instructions, I might be done by now...but as soon as she said that 2 1/2" strips would make the lozenges too small, I knew that was how I wanted to make mine. The more different prints I can fit into a scrap quilt, the happier I am. And the smaller the blocks are, the more prints there's room for.

It's been two years since I laid out my finished units and took that picture. At this point, I have no idea how many I've got done or how many I still need to assemble, but I've got a box of cut pieces that I need to make into lozenges, so that's probably the easiest place to start for now.

This post is linked to the UFO Challenge over at Jo's Country Junction. 

Design Wall Monday

I cut the 2" strips for this baby quilt a couple of months ago and finally decided to see if the blocks would look at cute in real life as they did in my imagination. I think this plan is going to work -- especially if I quilt them in big spirals!

The little Red Cross quilt had been tacked up over my sewing machine since I finished it. Reminder -- it does NOT take long to baste a 15x21" quilt. Or to quilt it.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Home Again!

Actually we've been home since Thursday night, but yesterday was the first chance I had to settle in and think about some sewing. 

I didn't find any fabric to buy while we were on the road, but as soon as we got home I bought a yard of solid blue for an upcoming project and pulled fabric from my stash for two other things I've been wanting to make.  If only the Row by Row Experience had started a bit sooner! We drove through six states and must've passed at least a dozen quilt shops.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 4 3/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  1 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 12 yards (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 7 1/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 3550 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 5526 yards
Net added for 2016: 1976 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Some Parents Take Their Kids to Disneyland

We took ours to the hotel that inspired The Shining. Our family spent Monday night at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. 

Even though I'm a huge scaredy cat, I've now spent the night in two haunted hotels. When we checked into the Clown Motel in Tonaphah, we didn't realize what a reputation the place had -- or that there's a cemetery adjoining the parking lot.  This time, our haunted hotel stay was deliberate.

The first time Hubby and I drove through Colorado, I knew that The Stanley, the hotel that had inspired the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, was there somewhere. Sidewinder is a fictitious town so I went through every single hotel listing in the AAA book and couldn't find it.

By our next trip, I'd learned that it was in Estes Park and was hoping we could find it. Things were more complicated before smart phones and GPS. But once you're looking in the right town it's almost impossible to miss --

The first time we stopped there, which was a few years back, the tours for the day were completely sold out. Even if you're not staying the night or taking a paid tour, you can see a lot of the main floor. Doorways to the music room and billiards room are open but roped off.  They keep a close eye on that staircase. Going up to our room, we were stopped and politely asked which room we were staying in.

There's a staircase at each end of the three guest floors. I kept getting myself turned around and losing track of the elevator, not to mention which floor I was on. After the tours were done for the night and the visitors in the lobby had gone home, Teenage Son and I roamed the halls to get pictures without strangers in them. This is the staircase outside Room 217.

While we were taking that picture, a couple asked if we were ghost hunting and offered to show us around their room, which was one of the notoriously haunted ones. I'm pretty sure that following a guy back to see his haunted hotel room is one of those things you're not supposed to do, right? We politely declined the opportunity to visit Room 401 and its womanizing ghost.

I loved the old elevator and rode it every chance I got, even by myself a couple of times. And although I was sure that I'd  get spooked in the wee hours of the morning (and that my husband and sons had some plan to make sure it happened), nothing about The Stanley was scary.

There are a couple of spots on my photos that I could claim are orbs if I was so inclined. I blame my camera lens and beginning photography skills. Harder to explain was the wall of the room the boys slept in. A two foot wide patch of plaster was very hot to the touch.  We moved a chair to make room for the rollaway bed and the hot spot moved with it. The best explanation I could think of was that the sun had warmed the wall, which was opposite a window, but it was just as hot the next morning.

The building was gorgeous and I want to read more about F. O Stanley, the man who built it, and his wife. I wonder if there are any other haunted hotels I could talk my husband into visiting. He's not into ghosts, but the history of this place alone made it worth the trip.

Next on our list of dream hotels, The Inn at Old Faithful. I just checked, and it looks like that one is haunted too.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {6/17/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

The Foot

This is the only one of the anatomy books that makes me a bit squeamish. I don't want to think about those bones, especially the little toe, too much or about that spot behind the ankle. Even though I don't know what Hubby's injuries felt like, I can imagine them a little bit too vividly.

Nothing left to stitch now but the lungs and ribs...

Another Skein of Green

I found that last skein of green yarn that I was looking for. It seems jarring, but when I look at actual pictures of creepers the shades of green range from very light to very dark. Guess I should ask my resident gamers what they think.

My thought is that I need another shade of light green to add to the mix.

Creepy Crawly Things in Our Back Yard

When I was a little kid, I'd look in the yard for pill bugs. There were usually some under the big wooden spool on the porch. Now I'm a homeschooling mom and know that the actual name for pill bugs is woodlouse and that they're crustaceans....and I've got sons who can't be bothered with little bugs because they've got bigger things to hunt.

(Yes, this guy was in my yard. And about four feet long.) 

The boys are also smarter about it than I was and have put out a piece of metal flashing so they can predict exactly where the snakes will be.

A couple of  times a day, the youngest one will go out and check and there's usually someone under there. So far, most of the snakes are quicker than he is.

I'm not a fan of reptiles myself, but I do appreciate that they eat the mice and  moles and other critters I love even less. So they're welcome in my yard. And the kids know that, while the snakes at our house aren't poisonous, they ones in Arizona and Utah probably are.

Unlikely Mending

After kicking around in the since last summer, my floppy hat was starting to come apart. I thought briefly about trying to sew it by hand and then realized that my Janome would be able to sew through that braided paper much easier than I could do it on my own.

I was going for functional, not perfect, and I think it turned out pretty well for a quickie repair job.

Who says quilters don't do mending?

What Would You Call This?

I know what it is. I just want to know what you'd call it.

The tag says it's a pool rack. And the thrift shop guy who sold it to me asked if we had a pool table. And now I'm kind of confused about the whole thing because I thought I knew what pool racks and gun racks looked like.

A few weeks ago, I was playing around on Pinterest and found this project.

Wouldn't that be perfect for displaying interesting scraps while I figure out what to do with them? Just one problem... to make it I need a gun rack. I know that Hubby had one like it when we were first married, but that was five moves and almost twenty-five years ago. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw it, but it was before any of the kids were born.

If I asked him about it, I'd have to explain what I wanted it for. And he probably wouldn't know what became of it. It might be in the barn, but the odds are probably slim to none. (When we were moving into this house and I was in the hospital on bed rest with our youngest, Hubby left a quickly packed utility trailer full of our stuff in the barn. Someone noticed our absence and helped themselves, so there's still a lot of stuff that might be in a box in the barn, or might have left with them. I'm still trying to account for a dresser.)

If Grandma was still alive, she'd have known exactly what I was looking for and found one dirt cheap within the week. Because she had fairy godmother powers like that.

But I was on my own, without much time to put into the search. Maybe the fairy godmother thing is rubbing off a bit because it wasn't long before I found this one at a local thrift shop for  two bucks. That's definitely a better deal than an afternoon crawling around in the barn and attic. Now I'm on the lookout for some cheap dowels.

Since I bought this one, I've seen two more beat up versions, both labeled "Gun Rack" and both priced at twelve bucks.

Quiltmaker's 1,000 Blocks

I've been wanting a copy of Quiltmaker's 1,000 Blocks ever since I saw the book mentioned on Bonnie Hunter's blog. I bought most of the magazines as they came out, but I'm not the most organized person and I love the idea of having all of the blocks in one permanent binding.

Which brings me to my biggest complaint about the book now that I have it in my hands. I didn't realize when I ordered it that the book comes with a CD. I want to be able to pull out a book from my collection and make a quilt without messing with the computer. (Having to enlarge patterns from a book also makes me cranky.) I love online patterns and downloadable PDFs, but I want my book to be usable as a book.

I did put the CD into my laptop to see how it would actually work (unlike another book with an unexpected CD, which is still sitting on the shelf because I refused to deal with it) and the PDF file are easy to load and use. But with CD drives becoming a thing of the past, I'm thinking of printing out all four hundred pages and getting them spiral bound at the local print shop.

The book is huge and weighs and absolute ton, so I realize that they couldn't have included the templates in the book itself without reducing the number of blocks.

There's a lot to love about this book, in addition to the huge variety of blocks. There's an index by designer, so I  can find my favorite quilters easily. Some of the quilt blocks have layout suggestions.

I'm excited to see how many of these blocks I can use as inspiration for baby quilts. That's always been my plan for the magazines, but I think I've only managed to make one of them, Jonah.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {6/10/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.