Half square triangles progress

I have 149 squares stitched together, and still need about 100 more.  While I don't like cutting fabric, I adore the sewing parts and the ironing.  The best part for me has been admiring the fabric colors.  All my faves are accounted for.  No purple in sight, just how I like it!

This afternoon after sewing and ironing a huge stack I had fun arranging them in different ways to see how I may want to arrange things in the final quilt.  I think my original idea still wins.  Here were the options:

Original Idea

Zig-zaggy

Diamonds

I think the finished quilt will have a higher percentage of pure white halves, but I got some cuttin' to do.  I think the zig-zag would work better with more white pieces, but I'm not sure it looks that great with the few reds I want to incorporate.  I will do this again when I have all the squares.  I am limiting my colors to just blues and greens, with a little splash of red thrown in here and there.  I am soooo tempted to tear through my stash and incorporate some of my other pinks, greens and browns....but I must use self control.  I think it will look better with my color scheme.

I have to admit, sewing has been damn good to me this year!

I've even been reading fiction books with sewing themes.  A couple of months ago I finished the Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas.  Now I'm listening to Oh My Stars by Lorna Landvik.  Both books take place in the 1930s.  Persian Pickle is from the point of view of Queenie, a young member of a small town depression era sewing club.  Talk of the club and its members frames a quaint murder mystery which plays out.  Oh My Stars is a little more complicated, and I'm not yet halfway through, so I will have to report back later on it.  So far, so good, though!

Reformed Toga Becomes Skirt

Disclaimer:  my husband is quite possibly the worst photographer of all time.

I bought 5 yards of fabric in 2006 for the purpose of becoming a sweet toga:

I really, really wanted the fabric to become a dress.  I bought a pattern, opened it up, said "oh, fuck" and put both the pattern and the fabric away.  It's resurfaced a few times.  Made an appearance as a pillowcase, then took a detour into skirt territory:

Simplicity 2906

Summer skirts

I've made a few wardrobe changes since the last time I blogged about dress--I stopped feeling the need to stay completely plain and simple.  I've moseyed on over to the solidly feminine category, though I would still say my clothes are mostly modest besides the fact that some of my shirts are still a little tight around the chestal region.  I wear a skirt almost every day (what legendary comfort!).  I still wear the long skirts I made before, but I sometimes add fancier shirts or earrings.  Lately it's been very hot outside (in the 90s) and I got to thinking that it would be nice to have some more summer skirts.  Simplicity patterns were on sale at Hobby Lobby this week for $1.99, so I bought a few to try out.  I also went to Hancock Fabric for the fabric, and found that Butterick patterns were on sale for $0.99 there, so I snagged one of those as well.  Hancock Fabric has some pretty fantastic sales, including discount fabric areas.

The first pattern I tried during this spate of renewed interest was Simplicity 2184.  I found the red fabric in the discount area.  I decided on that particular fabric because there is a small amount of it in the quilt-in-the-works and I thought it would be nice to have extra if I needed it.  It would also make a nice apron, I think.  I'm completely in love with that lace trim.  This was the first time I used elastic in a sewing project.  It was ridiculously easy, and the skirt only took a few hours to finish.

I also finished the skirt that I mentioned in this post.  That is to say, I finished in in January but haven't blogged about it yet.  I wasn't all that wild about it at first because it's pretty much the only item in my wardrobe that is pink, so I don't exactly have shirts to match. BUT last weekend I went on a tour of a brewery (complete with all-you-can-drink free samples of their brew) where I snagged a green shirt that says "Real Ale Brewing Company" that I think looks nice with the skirt. 

Sewing is good for the soul.  Every time I enter the fabric store it's like entering a wonderland of colorful delight.  I talked to a lady at the library yesterday who said that she gets fabric off of Freecycle for free, but she doesn't have much time any more to sew.  And would I want her to bring me some fabric she doesn't want?  Heck yes!  We'll see if this conversation bears fruit.
 

Another Bread FAIL

Wheat bread just does not cooperate with me.  I blame it on the electric mixer.  My mother in law gave us a 1970s electric stand mixer that she bought at a garage sale.  It was not adequate.  The sticky wheat dough traveled up the mixing utensils and tried to escape from the bowl a number of times before Ollie and I gave up that idea.  Of course, using man-logic, Oliver had to push this new power tool to the max and tried mixing the dough full force until he would admit defeat.

I will trust in my own two trusty hands in the future.  My hands do so many great things for me.  They make me beautiful shawls and hats, nifty yarns, delicious edibles, keyboarding letters, and most recently beautiful mountain folk music.  I've started practicing a song called "In the Willow Gardens" which is played in waltz time.  It sounds so delicate and lovely despite the lyrics being about a young man who poisons his lover.  I think it's my favorite that I've learned yet.

I finished my Holden shawl just in time for Easter last weekend.  I keep reading articles about women aspiring to Biblical womanhood.  Some may take this as old fashioned, sexist or degrading.  I think the Proverbs 31 woman has great strength, responsibility and joy.  The proverb speaks in depth about such a woman's capable arms and hands:

"She selects wool and flax

and works with eager hands"13

"She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard" 16

"In her hand she holds the distaff

and grasps the spindle with her fingers" 19

"She opens her arms to the poor

and extends her hands to the needy" 20

Perhaps the best line of all:

"She is clothed with strength and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come." 25

All too often these days the tasks of feeding and providing for one's family seem to be regarded as trivial and basically unimportant.  I think there has to be something special about a person using their capable hands to create homemade, homegrown, hearty foods and specially created handmade clothing and other items.  It seems so much more special to do things this way rather than merely earning money to buy generic store bought made-in-a-sweatshop things or waxy buckets of greasy chicken.

So many people work and work and work so they can buy things and things and things.   I swear I will try to do things differently.  Living an "old-fashioned", compassionate, simple way in which people are the greatest treasures in life.  Where the simple, loving actions made by dexterous hands can be esteemed and respected. 

Sugar Hill ;)

A Time to Speak

My greatest wish at precisely this moment is to be able to express myself verbally without awkwardness or hesitation.  To be able to speak the exact truth without having to bumble and mumble.  To be able to say unpleasant things in a tactful, honest way...or be able to say them at all, ever.  Maybe it's wrong to admire a fictional character, but Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet is a paradigm in the gift of eloquent speech. 

I was reading through Ecclesiastes a few weeks ago, and the line that I most reflected on was, "a time to keep silence and a time to speak".  Every day I choose or feel constrained to keep silent about many things which maybe I shouldn't.  The first barrier to following this suggestion totally is the challenge of knowing which option is best at any particular moment.  This is what I struggle with.  Should I ask a question?  Will they think I'm stupid?  Do they already know this?  Is what I want to say relevant?  Is it a given?  Will they say, "well, duh"?  Is it important enough to risk speaking out?  What will they think of me?

I realize that the real problem is my tendency to worry too much about what others will think of my words.  I have been contemplating Quaker theology for the past several months.  One of their testimonies is Ingegrity, which as I understand it involves being truthful and plain in all aspects of life including speech.  Historically many Quakers have taken to plain speech in which they choose not to use hyperbole, sarcasm, metaphors and such because those techniques cause the speaker to say things that are not forthright or technically truthful, even if they could be understood by the listener.  I don't have anything against the above sentence flourishes, but I feel the need to be more truthful in the way of speaking precisely what I'm actually thinking.  Not masking my ignorance about something, not laughing at a joke that I don't get or don't think is funny just to make the teller feel better.  Not hide my true feelings about a given topic based on what I think the other person wants to hear. 

Seems like a tall order, but something worth working on.  I've always been a woman of few words (as long as you don't ask my husband).  Maybe it's finally time to try sowing some new seeds in my life and see what springs forth.

Old Molly Hare

Here is my rendition of Old Molly Hare complete with hammer-ons, pull-offs, double thumb, and drop thumb.  My very first extra-thumb action!