Sister's Choice Quilts

Just Get It Done

I have two gorgeous quilts that I got back from my quilter, two, maybe three years ago. And I haven't used them. Why? Because I am too d%*n lazy to hand sew the binding down. 

I have been making mug rugs for friends and family this year, and have gotten lots of practice machine sewing bindings on those little things. Yesterday I decided to apply the technique to two much larger pieces. I got out two unbound quilts and pinned the binding in place, then machine sewed it. It took about an hour to do two quilts.

And you know something? They turned out just great. I stitched in the ditch and only had to go over two or three spots where the binding didn't get caught on the underside. If I were entering the quilts in a quilt show, maybe I'd sew the binding by hand. But seriously, the machine stitching looks unobtrusive and is probably stronger than hand stitching. Darn, I think it looks pretty good.

The only downside is that you do have to wrestle with a big old quilt, and your fingers get pricked a lot with the pins. But done is a good thing, right?  I am so happy to be able to use these pretty quilts. 

Hope you had a nice 4th of July, if you are in the States. We ended up staying home after all. I had a big allergy attack and after a couple of benedryls, I was good for nothing but jammies and my slippers. 

I think a lot of sewing is going to happen at my house this week.  WooHoo!

So I Made a Pie

I am staying with my dad a few extra days this week. One of my sisters is moving into a new house and my other sister and I are covering for her while she gets settled in.

I am always trying to come up with menu ideas that appeal to my dad. He has a very small appetite, and doesn't care much for pasta or carbohydrate-laden dishes such as casseroles, Mexican dishes etc. He's a meat and potatoes guy, and loves his veggies. 

Yesterday I decided I'd make him a chicken pot pie, and it was a big hit. I had fun making it, and he seemed to enjoy eating it. I used half a rotisserie chicken for the meat. For the veg, I diced a potato and a carrot which I boiled for a few minutes (4 or 5) in a pan of water. I diced half an onion and a celery stalk and sauteed them in 5 T of butter. Once they were softened, I added 4 or 5 T of flour to the onions and celery. Once that was kind of pasty, I added 1 1/2 C of chicken broth and 3/4 C of milk and whisked it around until the sauce was nice and thick. I added salt, pepper, a bit of Lawry's seasoning salt, and some thyme. You could add frozen peas at this point, but I don't like 'em. Put the drained carrots and potato in the chicken mixture and stir. Mix it all up and pour it into a pie dish lined with one Pillsbury pie crust. I carefully placed the second crust on top and crimped the edges. Make a few little steam vents. I then baked it at 425 for 30 minutes. 

I was worried the bottom crust would be soggy, but it wasn't.  I was quite happy with the result. It was super easy, and wasn't even really a proper recipe. 

I'll be home Sunday, and we plan to celebrate the 4th with our son-in-law, who always does a BBQ. Next week, get ready for some sewing posts, because I have some catching up to do!

Do Not Buy This Iron

Do not waste your money on this Rowenta DW9280 iron. My husband spent over $150 on it and gave it to me for Christmas to use for my quilting. From the start, it was a leaky mess. I tried for around 4 months to make it work, but it was truly the worst iron I have ever used. I thought maybe the leaking had to do with the fact that it shuts off after 8 minutes of non-use and then has to warm up again. If you use it before it reaches its temperature, it leaks. 

Since it was such a fail, I purchased a $90 CHI iron, which has been amazing. It stays on 30 minutes before the auto shut-off kicks in, it beeps when it reaches the "cotton" temperature, and again if it shuts off. It has a gazillion steam holes and presses beautifully. Best of all it has not leaked once. 

I didn't want to waste the Rowenta iron, so I brought it downstairs to the laundry room to use just for ironing clothing. When I iron clothes, I stick with the task until all the ironing is done. There is no wandering off and giving the iron its 8 minutes to shut off. I am using it continuously. 

So, you see what happened in the photo above. I had been ironing nonstop for a half hour or so when I started to press these jeans. And look at that big ugly blob of leaked water. No reason for it. The iron was at temperature, all was fine. And then that happened. At least it wasn't my white linen blouse. Typically this iron would wait until something white was under it, then let loose with a blast of yellowish water that would stain the fabric.  I think it is possessed by the devil.

I cannot tell you how much I hate this iron. Ok. Rant over.

 

Escape From the Heat

We decided to get out of Dodge and head up into the mountains to escape the heat. We had planned a little getaway for the first couple of days this week, but at the last minute changed the location of our destination to a cooler place. The temperatures hit the triple digits this past weekend and made us rethink our plans. Instead of wine tasting on the Central Coast, we are now up in the mountains at Lake Tahoe. As you can see the lake is gorgeous.

Since it was pretty last minute, the Air B&B we ended up with is pretty pedestrian, but we are spending most of our time outside.

I've hit a major glitch with my computer, in that all my photo files are now something called HEIC instead of jpeg, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to convert them to be able to post in a blog post.  Keep your fingers crossed that I can figure it out...

In the meantime, I hope you had a good weekend and that your week is off to a good start.  Hope to be back with a regular post on Wednesday.

 

 

Blockheads 4 All Caught Up

No time to sew yesterday, but at about 4:15 I ran upstairs and got these two easy Blockheads blocks done in an hour. That wasn't amazing, they were pretty simple to piece.

Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts showed her planned layout on her blog yesterday, and I really like it. The only thing is, it would call for a darker background, which I have never done before. I would have to think about what color would work with the blocks I have made. Maybe a light grey.... I dunno. Darker setting backgrounds are kind of a thing lately, and I am not sure if I love them.

Busy day planned for today too. I am heading to my father's house a day earlier than usual this week. He had an appointment with an audiologist this week and is very excited about getting hearing aids.

Hope your week is going well!

Rollin' Along: It's Official- I'm in Love

I can't tell you how much I am loving working with this fabric. "Cozy Up" by Corey Yoder. It is so cheerful, yet has a late summer/fallish vibe, that is right up my alley. And what's not to love about a granny block? Or in this case, a Great Granny Block.

This large 17 1/2 inch block is the center medallion for this "Family Reunion" quilt from the Rollin' Along book, compiled by Lissa Alexander. 

I won't lie, I had to concentrate when lining up my fabric squares for this block, but it all turned out ok in the end.  The seam ripper may have gotten some exercise, but it wasn't too bad. 

The next round of granny square blocks will be a bit less taxing. And I love making an oversized block and trimming it down to size. 

Is anyone else making this little quilt? I think it will be adorable when it is finished. I'd love to know what fabrics you are using if you are sewing along, so please share.

Midnight Moon Catch Up

Yesterday I did get caught up in the Midnight Moon sew-along. I knew I had weeks 10 and 11 to do, but discovered I had somehow skipped week 7, All good now, all done. That star block in the middle of the upper row?  I did that three times. I just could not get the colors right. The block on the far right in the upper row is called Darting Birds. I made that one three times too. I kind of hate it. It is a weird block:  easy as sin, but and it was hard to get the colors/contrasts right. I may have to sacrifice that one and come up with a new block.

The Rollin' Along sew along is about to start. I got my Cozy Up fabrics all starched and I am ready to go with the center Great Granny block.

Our weather is warming up, but I am looking forward to it. I love sitting out on my porch reading my book and getting some fresh air. There is a limit though. If it is over 100 degrees, I do not last long! Early morning is the best time to sit out. 

Best of all is the time I have been finding to get some sewing done! 

Ozzie had a birthday yesterday. 15 years old, can you believe it? He definitely has mellowed in his old age. He's still annoying, but not nearly the scamp he used to be.  Here he is, about 13 years ago with a ball of yarn I had been saving for something nice.