Seven Sparrows

Family of Seven

::Today was our first real snowfall-that-stuck of the winter season. We've had a fairly mild winter--most of my scarves and mittens have stayed in storage, and there have only been a few days when my eyeballs felt like they were freezing in my head. I needed to get a few things from Coolidge Corner this afternoon so I bundled up and headed into the storm.

My neighborhood is filled with folks who keep their bird feeders well stocked, year round. Excellent for the birds, not so great for the skunk that lives somewhere in my hood nor the squirrels who frolic on my roof when I'm trying to sleep. {Well, good for them, but not for me!}

I stumbled upon a bird feeder hidden behind a sparse hedge up the street and came upon about 50 house sparrows buzzing and flapping and flinging themselves through the snow and each other to get to a full container of seed.

To the right of the feeder was a simple garden urn, with seven sparrows standing sentinell 'round the rim. I hoped they'd stay still so I could pull my camera from my pocket and take their photo, but they flittered away. I stood very still, and they came back. I kept snapping away and after about 50 shots I got the one above. Good thing because two frames later the neighbor woman opened her front door to get her mail and they all fluttered away.

I love the number seven. There are seven people in my family immediate family. It's always represented a symbol of love and hope for me. I'll take these little darlings as a sign of good things to come.

Happy New Year!

Stay warm!

XO Terez

And Cut!

PS here are the little guys one frame later, breaking their mark. I love the little guy hidden in the lattice under the porch. Can you see his little head peeking out?

Old Shale Update

Progress

It's been slow going, this Old Shale scarf I'm working on. With the 18 stitch repeat, I've got 54 stitches I have to pay attention to. The first three sittings I ended up ripping out most of my stitches, despite the stitch markers. Then I finally got smart:

Life Line

See that white thread? It's a lifeline. Literally.

I read a tip somewhere out in blogland (I'm sorry, I can't remember where) that for complicated wavy knit patterns, you can save yourself a lot of grief if you pull a needled and thread through a row you are certain is correct. Right next to the needle, under the loops. That way, if you do mess up, you only need to rip out to the thread.

Needling It

I pulled one of Mamacat's doll needles from her pin cushion while I was home, and use a double strand of Perle cotton as a place holder. The funny thing is, since applying the fail safe, I haven't had to use it yet. {knock on wood}.

Step Back, Review

Every night I do about 12 rows. At this rate I'll finish when the spring equinox hits, but that's ok. This piece is more about the journey, not the destination.

XO! Terez

Half Square Triangle: Fussy Cut DIY Template

Fussy Half-Square Triangle

This morning I popped out of bed with an idea of a quilt I wanted to cut up. It was 6:30. I had today off. Why the rush? Most of the fabrics I wanted to use were pre washed, but three important pieces were not. And I don't have laundry in my building. And it was 16 degrees outside.


Too the bathtub I went!

To the Tub

I tossed in half-yards of some Lizzy House, Amy Butler and Sandy Gervais. Woolite. Warmish water (to help with the pre-shrink).

No dryer? No problem! The radiators were on and toasty warm. A fan helped circulate the air. About 90 minutes later, I was in business.

Dryer Dilemma: Solved!

I was ready to cut. And cut. And cut.

Peach and Pink Palette

When I got to the Sandi Henderson Meadowsweet, I knew I wanted to be verrrry careful. For this quilt I've challenged myself to tackle the half square triangle block. For most sewers, it's pretty basic. I'm intimidated by the bias sewing and a bunch of other jazz.  And I want to control exactly what appears on the triangle when the seams are sewn and pressed. Because you lose a half inch of the square, diagonally down the middle, when you sew it up, it's not as easy as imagining the square folded in half to get what you want.

"I need a custom ruler," I think to myself.

Well of course, I'll just make one!

Do It Yourself

First I traced out a 5 inch square on some template plastic. Then I drew dotted lines down the diagonal center, both directions. I wanted to know what part of the image would be lost by the center seam, to I drew a line 1/4 of an inch from the center line on either side.

Seam Allowances

I then drew a 1/4 inch boarder around the whole square--so I know exactly what fabric will be lost in the other seams.  I traced out my template with water soluble fabric marker like this:

Tracing the Square

See how the solid red diagonal line goes through the center of the flower? That's what I wanted. The top left triangle, when matched with a solid, will press open and look like a sun rising. That does mean the bottom right triangle will look different when pressed open, but that's ok. I'll save it for another project.

Bordering Brilliant!

So now my half yard of "vintage paisley" looks like Swiss cheese--if Swiss cheese was orderly and had sharp cube shaped bubbles. But it worked! Stay tuned.

XO Terez

Disappearing 9 Patch

Disappearing 9 Patch Draft

This year I was certain I would make Christmas gifts for most folks on my list. It seemed like a good idea in September, but not such a good idea on December 23 when I was sewing the wrong-side-to-the-right-side of some complicated items. I had to walk away, fly home, and finish the little guys on my parents' Pfaff at the last minute:

Pin Cushion Cut-astrophe

They are darling pin cushion caddies from Anna Maria Horner's Seams To Me book. In the end I was able to save them, and give them, but for now perhaps should stick to straight lines and two dimensions. You'll notice on the lower right of the photo above a half-finished pin cushion that I was making for my sister-in-law, Michele. I loved the red-white-blue combo and started playing around with some fabric I had left at my parents' house combined with pin cushion scraps. I started sewing random 16-1/2 inch 9 patch blocks and came up with this:

9 Patch-Patch

I knew all along while sewing these delights that I was going to put them under the knife, like this:

Split Patch

I also knew I'd be doing this:

Cut Into Corners

Which let me do this:

After walking away from it, and packing it up, and hauling it back to Boston, I still love it. I need to add some more darks and I have a few more patterns and solid to blend, but I'm off to a good start. I'll keep you posted.

XO! TEREZ

Kitty in the Mist

Kitty in the Mist

::Bebe
::Anna Kat
::Kitty Kitty
::Anna Wysocki
::Boo Boo
::Baby Baby
::Mon Bebe

Whatever we call her, we love her, all 19 of us (me + one HH+ one Mamacat + four brothers + three sister-in-laws + six nephews + three nieces). I took this on New Year's Eve Eve, when I noticed she was sheltering herself from the ever-present-Portland mist in a tunnel under the rhodies.

That's Portland, Oregon, by the way.

White Stag {for those of us old enough to remember!}

XO! TEREZ