It's not been one of our finer weeks. Over the weekend, we discovered that we have severe termite damage along the walls on the front porch. The first company already came out to give us a quote on treatment. It was pricy, but not as bad as I expected. The second company is coming this afternoon. This photo is the corner. It's so bad. Devastating. Our house is only 12.5 years old.
I decided to sew something for fun this weekend. May I present to you the 4" x 6" dumpster fire.
This is a paper-pieced block by Sagebrush Patterns. I purchased it on Etsy and I made the smallest size, all from my scrap bins. I don't know that it was a fun sew, but it was a sew and it felt really appropriate. This is a gift for my husband. He likes the dumpster fire term. I thought maybe he'd take it to work and use it as a decoration, but it's still sitting on the counter. 😕
I decided to try Wonderfil Deco Bob 80 wt thread to piece this: I've seen many recommendations about using very fine thread for paper piecing. Not gonna lie, I really struggled with it and felt like my seams were really easy to pull apart. If anyone knows what the trick to using this thread in your Bernina is, please let me know!
Meanwhile, I've been getting to know Lucey 2. She has a much smaller available throat space than Lucey 1. I'm finding that there is about 15" (or maybe 17" if I really push?) of available stitching space and I can only fit around 12" comfortably and still have space to realign. I'm still learning.
Lucey 1 has about 18" of available stitch space and I can go 16 - 17". The frames are different, as is the throat of the machine. Lucey 1 has a square throat and the dead bar is right against the vertical frame. Lucey 2 has a rounded throat and the dead bar is several inches from the vertical frame.
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| Lucey 1 |
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| Lucey 2 |
The fabric advance pedals are opposite (forward/wind on the right on one and on the left on the other), which makes it interesting when you've built a lot of muscle memory! The on/off switches go in opposite directions too.
Here's what I've quilted since last week.
Jackie's sampler quilt, quilted with Stipple.
A donation quilt from the small guild, quilted with Hot Nights (flames).
Kim's large quilt, quilted with Radiate (sideways fans). I also fully bound this one.
Charlene's first Christmas quilt, quilted with Holly and Berries.
Ann K.'s quilt, quilted with Basic Swirl. I need to attach the binding to the front.
Charlene's second Christmas quilt, quilted with Celebrate Petite.
Finally, Ann K.'s next quilt, quilted with Abracadabra. Also needs binding.
Out in the garden, things are doing okay-ish. We've still been getting tons of rain. I harvested one tomato and two cucumbers.
There are lots of tomatoes still on the vine. The peas are mostly burnt out. There is at least one zucchini growing! I have not determined what creature is nibbling on the blossoms and asparagus.
Surprisingly, there are signs that the asparagus is still actively growing new stems even though the plants are mostly feathered out (or whatever you call it). Two of the three clumps of pumpkins we planted outside the garden are very bushy. My sunflowers were coming along nicely, but the deer got them. One still has leaves.
Speaking of deer, we have a mom and twins living in our yard.
The deer seem to be chewing everything in sight, but they have surprisingly left my day lilies alone recently.
Oh, and our neighbor around the corner sent us this picture he took through their windows into their back yard. 😮 My first thought was that it is a mountain lion. I learned that mountain lions, cougars, panthers, and pumas are the same thing. We all decided it was probably a bobcat since its tail is short. It looks big though!
the dumpster fire quilt is funny - the real damage - it not - I am so sorry for you!! thats a lot of stress - and I hope it gets fixed soon!
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