From the Bag

 An older friend who is no longer sewing gave me a small bag of fabrics she hadn't used.  Included in that bag was a charm pack of fall fabrics, along with a little card with a table runner pattern.

This week I made her project and later today I'll take it to her.  As you might expect from a pattern printed on a little card, it went together quickly.  

I like it because it used all the fabrics in the charm pack.  The pieces left over are duplicates.  Part of the fun of a charm pack is getting to enjoy all those 5" fabrics.

I did buy the background fabric with the tiny acorns and pumpkins, but I found the gold binding fabric in my ridiculously large stash.  I considered, but only for a moment, of seeing how long I can go without buying any fabric.

It would be a good goal, but sometimes, like with this background fabric, the right piece just isn't in my house.

It Starts Today

It starts today.  The big excavator is in the driveway, taking down the old stone retaining walls and removing the concrete on the driveway.  Dirt and concrete all go in the big dumpster trailer.

It's less noisy than I thought it would be.  And bigger, whatever than means.  I knew the project would be big, but maybe I didn't realize just how big.

I'm trying to not consider all the pieces of the project and just look at what's happening now.  These changes are the big ones.  Some of the smaller ones, the repairs, won't even look different when they're finished.

I'm thinking about color of the new block retaining wall.  A pretty tan, I think, would look best with the strange tan-ish brick on the house.  I have a couple of days to decide.  I think the thing to do will be to walk around the neighborhoods and see what other people have done, color-wise.

Caterpillars

 

Earlier in the summer, there was one monarch caterpillar on the milkweed plants, just one.  I looked hopefully every day.

Just when I was about to give up, there were suddenly three.  And it's just so thrilling to see those little striped creatures.

I have plans for more milkweed next summer.

Animal Baby Quilt

 

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I went to Apron Quilt Strings Quilt Shop in Maysville, KY.  The day was pretty, the quilt shop had many lovely fabrics, and we rode the Augusta ferry across the Ohio River after the shopping.

One of the fun things about Apron Strings is that the have a sale room, called The Vault, open just on Fridays and Saturdays.  And in The Vault were some panels perfect, if you bought two, for a baby quilt.  So I bought two.

As these things go, I quickly had a request for a baby quilt.  A little sewing, a little free motion and the quilt came together.  The backing has little paw prints, actually little kitten prints, but all the animals have paws.

The stripe on the binding was part of the panels, and you know how I like a pieced binding.

Pink Flowers

 

I've loved the bright pink flowers on my back porch this summer.  The pink colors are almost shocking.  Petunias and impaients.

I'm been lazy with gardening this summer.  Including with these flowers.  

I brought them home from the big box store and arranged them on top of the soil in the big planter - and never planted them.  And yet, somehow, they thrived, root bound in their little pots except for a few roots that escaped and found the soil.

Maybe I'll do the same next year.

Last year's morning glories came back this spring, but never took off.  A few vines trellised up the upright railings, a few purple flowers ame out, and then nothing. 

School Kit Bags

 

We've talked about comforters distributed by Mennonite Central Committee, but there are also school kits.  Last year almost 90,000 were sent to disaster areas overseas.

My church usually picks up already-sewn bags from a distribution center and fills them from a list of supplies.  This year people were especially generous and we had more supplies than bags.

It was my first time sewing a few bags.  I followed the directions for some, then used the serger to speed things up.  It was sort of like serging pillowcases.

It brought back memories of making Girl Scout kit bags and threading the drawstrings.  Back then, I just couldn't figure out how to make my drawstrings draw - I think my mother ended up doing it for me.  All those years later, I can do it.

Dill Bread

 A claasic cookbook for many Mennonite families is More With Less, first printed fifty years ago.

One of the events marking the 50 year celebration is Cook Through More-With-Less.  Participants signed up to receive a recipe assignment, make the recipe, and send back a photo.

My assignment was Dill Bread, which I'd never made, despite making the oatmeal bread recipe over and over again.

The deadline for sending photos is today, so of course I was making mine last night.  It's a savory bread, really good.  It took a long time to rise, probably because I added the cottage cheese cold out of the refrigerator.  Next time I'll warm it up.