LUNCH WITH A BIRD

 A Coopers Hawk flew quickly and closely by as it swooped into our backyard while Darrell and I were having lunch on the deck.  I thought it was carrying something.  It landed in the trees in the back of our yard.  With binoculars I got a closer look.  It was a Coopers Hawk and it appeared to have a pigeon.  

We left it alone.  Later we found evidence that it did indeed enjoy it's pigeon lunch.  When Darrell went to dispose of the remains he noticed it had a band on it's leg.  

I did some searching online and found the band was distributed by a Pigeon Racing Association.  There was a phone number for reporting the band number  and I called it.  That person told me the band was sold to someone in Seattle.  I called him and let him know of  his pigeon's demise.  "Dang", he said.

WENT DOWNTOWN

 Darrell had to go downtown to pick up his repaired camera lens at Glazers.  On the way we stopped at Honest Biscuit to get breakfast sandwiches.  We took them to the Sculpture Garden in Magnuson Park and sat and looked out at the bay.  Then we walked over to see the Ai Wei Wei installation of his "Zodiac Animal Head" sculptures.

I saw this beauty on our way out of the park.

We walked by the famous metal tree sculpture that was being enjoyed by a crow.

BUTTERCUPS!

 We harvested our Buttercup squash today.  Jelly did not help.  But she's going to guard them for us.

TURN OF WHICH CENTURY QUILT

 Here's a quilt I made in 1998 using only fabrics from an RJR Fabrics Smithsonian collection.  It was made for the Log Cabin Challenge.  This a pineapple quilt.  The squares are 7" that I paper pieced.

I call it "Turn of Which Century?"  it is about 59" by 73"

I entered it in the Evergreen Piecemakers Quilt show in 1998, it won the President's Award and was votedcome in 3rd place for Viewers Choice.

FINISH #17 FOR THE YEAR

 Here is a quilt that wasn't on my UFO list.  But, I had a strong desire to make it and see if it looked like I'd imagined.  I think it's different than I imagined, but I like it.  It works.  Today I quilted a pantograph onto it.  I was making the binding while Erik the longarm was working on it.  When it was done, I sewed the binding on while on zoom with the BP Finish it Friday group.

This is Finish number 17 for the year.

It is called "Dragonfly Dance" it is 38.5" by 49.5"

DRAGONFLY DANCE

 When I was in Tucson in February at a workshop there were other workshops happening at the same time.  One of them was a quilting workshop with a pop-up quilt shop.  I resisted going to it until someone in my workshop came back with some fabric I found very interesting.  So, I went down and bought a yard, it is called Dragonfly Dance.

Yesterday I cut the fabric into 6" squares.  I only got 30 out of the yard.  Then I cut some dark teal and black e bond fabric that complemented it.  I paired them and made 60 half-square-triangle squares out them.  

Today I trimmed them to 5-1/2" squares and sewed them into a small quilt top.  It is 38-1/2" by 49-1/2".

Then I found some fabrics in my stash and made a backing for it.

SUNFLOWERS

 I love sunflowers.  I planted some seeds this year not thinking I'd get any flowers because we don't get a lot of sun in our yard.  But, lo!  I have flowers.  I'm so happy.  And the bees are loving them, too.

MORE PEACHES

 We bought a box of peaches, about 18 pounds.  I canned a few quarts a few days ago.  I canned the rest of them today.  

ANOTHER BASKET

 Here's how I procrastinate:  I make a basket.

I made one today.  This one was made using some of the recently purchased dyed cotton rope.  It came in an 8 yard length.  I used all of that plus the white cotton rope.

BLACKBERRY JAM

  We went early to Sunset Park in SeaTac , just north of the airport and in the path of incoming flights.  It was a pleasant morning, Jelly went too.  We picked two small buckets of blackberries and were home by 9:30am, a bit scratched up although I wore long sleeves.

Jelly got to sniff around a bit, but wouldn't help with the picking.

Lots and lots of blackberry bushes in this big park that used to be a housing development.  The county bought them all and tore down the houses because they are in the flight path to SeaTac Airport.  There is somewhat of a grid of asphalt roads left.  There is a  Community Center and a nice arboretum in one corner of the park with parking.

After lunch, I processed the berries.  They are now 8 half pint jars of Blackberry Jam.  

FINISH #16

I trimmed the excess from the newly quilted "Seven Plus" quilt and sewed it's binding on today.

It is done!  This is Finish #16 for the year.

The quilt is 54" x 72".

And it took 7 years and 6 days from start to finish. 

SEVEN PLUS QUILTED

 The Black and White quilt I've been working on has been named "Seven Plus" because it took a few days more than seven years from start to finish.  I used some red and black fabrics from my stash of old fabrics and made the backing yesterday.

Then this morning I loaded it onto the longarm, programmed a pantograph and got busy quilting it.

I finished up by the end of the day.  It's off the machine.  And while it was quilting, I made some binding.  Maybe I can do that tomorrow.

FINISH #15

 Here's another little quilt made from a Charm pack and white squares.  This is Enchanted.  It is 36" by 45".  And it's the 15th finish of the year.

RHUBARB STRAWBERRY JAM

I cut up some rhubarb and cored and chopped some strawberries in the morning.  Then, after lunch I turned them into jam.  I did it that way in an attempt to not overtax my arm/shoulder by breaking up the activities.

 

 

BLACK AND WHITE AND A LITTLE RED

 I started making this quilt on August 11, 2019.  I made six blocks and decided it was done.  I put it away and a few years later got it out and thought it should be bigger.  I made one more block, got bored with all those precious seams needing matching and put it away.

I ran across it again a few days ago and went back to work on it.  I made more blocks and now I think it really is done.  It's a quilt top, 54" x 72", and it only took one day short of seven years.  Maybe that should be it's name.  The Seven Year Quilt.  But then, really, it's still not a quilt.  It may be an Eight Year Quilt before I get it quilted.  We'll have to wait and see.

TOMATO JAM

 Darrell gives a lot of his sawdust to a gardener friend who sometimes brings us eggs from his hens.  Today he gave us some beautiful tomatoes, ripe and lucious.  I wanted to make some Tomato Jam, but needed a few more Romas to make a batch.  So, this morning we went to the West Seattle Farmers Market.  I bought some Romas, some Dill flower heads (for pickles later)  and some Rhubarb.

When we got home I started making the jam.  I peeled, chopped and cooked the tomatoes,  Then, along with some garlic and herbs, sugar and balsamic vinegar, cooked everything into jam. 

Then processed the half pint jars in a water bath.  Yield: 5

WINNOWING THE SCRAPS

 My scrap buckets, but only 10 out of the 12, are overflowing.  So, I decided yesterday to do something about that.  I sorted them into pieces that are strips, pieces that are small and can be cut into 2-1/2" squares, 3-1/2" squares and 5" squares.  The strips will be sorted by width and joined together, someday.  Today I finished them up.  

Yesterday, after sorting most of it.  It still needs to be pressed and cut to size.

Trimmings

After everything was sorted and cut to size, this is what is left.

This bucket is now under control.  Success!

ENCHANTED QUILTED

 This quilt was made with a charm pack of 42 5" squares called Enchanted.  So, this quilt has been named Enchanted.  Me and Erik quilted it today.  Erik was making problems for me again.  But, that was okay,  I'm getting pretty good and finding ways around his problems.  So, the quilt got quilted and it looks good.

FINISH #14

 I made some bias binding and got it sewn onto the Patricia quilt I quilted yesterday.

It is 36-1/2" by 45-1/2"

It's done.  It's Finish #14 for the year.

I really like it.  I might not donate it for a while.

NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS

I had nothing but problems quilting this quilt top.  The top was made in a Patricia Belyea Workshop years ago and has some Yukata cotton prints in it.  I ran across it in my UFO bucket a couple of days ago and thought it deserved to be a quilt.

I started out with a quilting pattern of a geometric type pattern.  I set it up on the longarm and started it.  It made the first part then went around the first part again, and then started on it again.  I stopped it.  What the heck.  It had went over the same lines repeatedly for no apparent reason.  And I didn't want it to do that across the whole quilt.  So,  stopped it and picked all that stitching out - which took a while.

I erased that program and picked another and set it up.  Then got the machine working.  This one was stitching out right, one time around to make the pattern.  But, when it got to the next section of the panto the program would stop and want me to pull up the threads so it could go on.  Those of you who longarm will know what I mean.  For the rest of you, that meant I had to stand there and push the button to get it to do each section.  So, I did.  It's a small quilt.

,

And I got it done.

GRAPEFRUIT MARMALADE

 I made some Red Grapefruit Marmalade today.  

Peel the rind off, leaving any pith (white parts) behind

Peel, peel, peel.

Chop, chop, chop.

Then (no photo) I extracted the inside fruit and juice, omitting anything white which will cause bitterness (this is a little difficult).  Added it to the cooking rind, added pectin and sugar and then boiled.

Boil, boil, boil.

Pour into jars, seal and put in waterbath to process.

Wait for it to cool.  5 half pints.

I can hardly wait to give it a try!

STRAWBERRY JAM

 Darrell and I went to the West Seattle Farmers Market this morning.  We were looking for some dill for making pickles.  But, we spotted some beautiful organic strawberries and bought a box ($28).   We continued wandering looking in every booth and did find some dill fronds but no flower heads.  

When we got home I got busy making jam.  Darrell helped with the mashing once I cleaned and chopped them.

And after a lot of cooking and stirring and more stirring, we ended up with nine half pints.  

FINISH #13

 I found this little quilt in my bucket of UFOs.  I'm not sure who made it.  I know I didn't.  So, I'm going to assume that my sister Sue did.   It was quilted already, all it needed was binding.  So, I made some black bias binding and sewed it on.  So it's done.  That was easy!

It is finish #13 of the year.  It is called Pinwheels and is 35" by 35".  It will get donated.