Stories from the Sewing Room

Hello!  I hope you are having weather as nice as we've been enjoying these past few days.  I think we have had our two weeks of spring and are moving right into summer temperatures.  This is sort of a joke because for the past several years it seems like we have gone from wearing winter coats to wearing shorts in a two-week time period each spring.

I haven't done any sewing at all because my machine is out for cleaning.  I've quilted two quilts. Here's a sneak peek of one, made by my friend Annie.  Isn't it looking awesome? The panto is Sunrise Skateland from Julie Hirt and the quilt pattern is Bar Charts from Broadcloth Studio.

I decided to splurge and purchase charm packs that include every single Kona cotton color.  It's really hard to tell from the little chips on the color card what the fabrics are going to look like at a larger scale.  I'm trying to figure out a good way to label, organize, and store these.  I feel like I should put each charm square onto a backer of some sort to help with longevity (and maybe cut down on the amount of lint that charm packs give off), but haven't come up with a good solution yet.  Please send suggestions!

Using the RK website, I was able to see which colors are included in each pack.  I started with the new colors 2019 pack and pulled out the color chips for this set.  The colors in the charm pack appear to be in the same order as the list of colors on the website.  If this continues to be true on the 85-piece packs, it will be very helpful.  Some of the colors are so similar.

The kids and I planted the first seeds in our veggie gardens last weekend.  We put in chives, snap peas, and a row of lettuce.  I didn't take a picture because it would just be a picture of dirt!  😆 We'll add another row of lettuce this weekend.  In a few weeks we will add in green beans, cucumbers, beets, and dill.  Sometime in May I will find a tomato plant I like.  My husband will plant some seed potatoes at some point.  He has put in three permanent strawberry beds outside of our veggie garden enclosure and the plants are looking very healthy.  We will be able to harvest our crop this year.   

The pear trees will likely not produce again.  The Bartlett pear tree has very few blossoms and the Moonglow has none.  I believe we need to amend our soil and if that doesn't help for next year, I'll need to bring in a tree expert.

My area of the world has a lot of limestone (hence needing to amend the soil).  We occasionally find geodes on our property.

I made some rolls last weekend that actually turned out!  The recipe used the bread machine to make the dough and then you form, rise, and bake them.  They looked great.  I felt they were quite dry, but my family liked them. I like the idea of just making the dough and then shaping it into a normal shape.  I'll probably look for and try more recipes that use this process.

Finally, I have been making a small amount of progress on my OMG.  I have one side bound.  This picture shows that I am ready to round the first corner.

I'm getting my second vaccination Friday!