5 finished blocks

Let me tell you, this is some slog here.  This moves so slowly that it almost qualifies as slow stitching.  But it's fun, I get to play with putting blocks together, and planning colors, and that's what I like to do.  Matching the points is nutsy, at least for me.  But I seem to get most of them somewhat correct so I'm happy.  No ripping out unless the points are really a mess.  As Jenny Doan says:  "Better finished than perfect."  And that's my motto, too.  Plus, when the whole mess is put together, who is going to care about a not great point?  You're going to look at the colors and sparkle, not those dopey points.  At least that's what I tell myself.

At first I thought I'd just sew these guys together, but that's a lot of matchy matchy stuff, and I'm not that crazy.  So, the current thought is to border each block with a 1.5" strip of something light with pale green.  I have the perfect fabric, but it's not enough and I don't know where or when I bought it or if it's even available today.

On the other hand, here's a loaf of bread that I made today.  It's a caraway rye bread, with a bit of rye (not too much since I hate working with sticky dough), lots of caraway seeds, and a special ingredient.

It's not sourdough, 'cause I'm way too lazy to deal with sourdough, but it has a bit of sour flavor, just enough to give it some zip.   2 TB of dill pickle brine.  Yep, add the leftover brine from a jar of dill pickles, and you get that lovely sour rye moment.  Good stuff.

I'm in love

with my new AccuQuilt!  I've resisted buying this gizmo for a long time, and finally gave in.

Wow!  Perfect 2.5" strips for binding a quilt in record time.  Took me longer to iron the wrinkles out than to cut the strips.

You have to understand that I cannot cut a straight line, even with a rotary cutter, plastic template, or any other device.  But this gizmo is amazing.  Now if it would only sew a perfect seam.  Hah.  But at least the cutting is perfect.

You perfect quilters out there, don't even bother to give me hints about cutting and/or sewing.  I've been doing this for 8+ years, and I haven't mastered either the seam or the cutting.  Just not going to happen.  But, with this marvelous cutting machine, I can cut cleanly and accurately.  Whoo hoo!

I'm in love!

Knitting and quilting

Mismatched socks for Miss P, she who inevitably loses socks, therefore I make singleton socks that don't match.  She loses one?  Doesn't matter; she has plenty more.

64 stitch sock, helix pattern with 3 yarns.

I also have a shawl on the needles, but no sense in photographing it yet; it's messy as usual.

More hourglass blocks.  Such fun! This is not a design board; the blocks are just plopped down randomly.

Take a look at the center points of each block.  They match!  And I didn't pin them; just sewed them.  whoo hoo.

How I make those hourglass blocks

So here they are, a bunch of hourglass blocks.  I have often said that I cannot sew a straight seam nor cut a straight line, either.  Honest -to-goodness truth.  But I am an expert knitter, and one thing I've learned after a gazillion sweaters, socks, scarves, shawls (rarely hats), is how to fudge, and how to take advantage of whatever tools there are that will help me.  So, I use top-quality needles and excellent yarn, almost always wool.

When it comes to quilting, I've found that I also need the best tools for how I work.  Not only am I a crummy sewer and wonky cutter, but triangles and those lovely bias sides, really do a number on my piecing.  About a year ago, I bought Brenda Henning's Triangulations CD.  And that's how I can make these quarter-square blocks.  Everything is stabilized by the newsprint paper that I use to print out my blocks.  Here's a look at how the process works for me.

So, this is the paper for the size I'm making.  I print it out on newsprint, which works fine in my printer.

This is what it looks like after sewing on the dotted lines and cutting on the solid lines.  Ignore that pinch of paper on the orange triangle.  That's just how I put it on the table.

Pressing the triangle open.

Pressed open and on the right side.  At this point, I tear out the paper backing.  Since I use a tiny stitch, it tears off easily.

Here they are, right sides together, ready to be sewn.

Is this labor intensive?  Yep, but at least I'm not gnashing my teeth over my usual out-of-whack pieces.  I just noticed that the top piece looks like it's stretching.  Nope, just the camera angle.

And here you can see how nice they come out.  Who'd a thunk it?  Not bad for a wonky seamstress.

Playing around

with hourglass blocks.  These little guys measure 3.5", and will finish at 3".  I figure I'll need about 400 of them! 

This is not a real layout, just me playing around with them.

Yesterday's eggplant dish proved to be adorable, but not very tasty.  Both the Hubz and I found the eggplant very bitter.  I love the idea of the little eggplants, but not the taste.  I did find another recipe that I might try.  The other possibility is to use Japanese eggplants, which don't taste bitter to me.  We shall see.

Hourglass blocks and food

The latest hourglass blocks.  These take so much time that they almost qualify for slow stitching.  It is a nice rhythm, though. Same blocks in both pictures, just moved to the left.

Food!  The Yarnarian is still cooking Indian, just not taking photos.  But look what the Hubz got today at the Indian grocery store:  baby eggplant.  Are these not the most adorable veggies in the world?  I have recipes for them made in the Instant Pot, as well as one on the stove top, but I'll probably try the IP one first, just because I can.

Knitting?  I'm working on a pleasantly mindless shawl and the endless socks.  This time it's another mismatched sock for Miss P. 

It's time to sign up for this year's Sock Madness.  Why do I do this?  The socks are always way to large for me, I often don't like the complexity (I've made so many socks in my lifetime that I want simple TV watching socks), and I'd rather be knitting something else.  BUT, I love the goofy idea of Sock Madness and the camaraderie,  and the lunatic fun of it.  I also like being on a super fast team with my role being canon fodder.