Stuff That is Still Inside My Head

I’ve been playing with Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) here and there as I have time. I’ve figured out the drawing tools; I am so used to Illustrator that whenever I go to another drawing program, I expect it to behave the same way and get frustrated when it doesn’t. I have been able to figure out how to draw blocks and color them, though, and this morning I even discovered how to print the templates for a block I drew. Margaret may remember this one:

One of the ladies in our church had an antique quilt made by a family member. I can’t remember for sure if it was just the top and it needed to be quilted or if it was a quilt that needed to be repaired, but our quilting ladies worked on it and it was on display in our fellowship hall for a few weeks. None of us had ever seen the block, though, and it took some sleuthing to discover the block’s origin. According to The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns by Jinny Beyer, this is called Noon and Night, and it is attributed to Laura Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 1934. I’ve wanted to recreate a quilt from this block and decided it was time to get it out of my head.

I can see why this isn’t a popular block. There are six components to each quadrant of the block, and they don’t lend themselves well to rotary cutting shortcuts and/or chain piecing. EQ8 will print out a sheet with each unit, including the seam allowances, which is very helpful. I am going to play with this a bit and see if I can come up with an efficient way to put it together. I may also get a quote from Accuquilt on making this into a custom die.

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The baby robins left the nest yesterday. I was a nervous wreck. One must have flown earlier in the day, because by the time I noticed that they were out hopping along the porch rafters, only three were left. I saw another one leave, and the last two must have flown after I went to bed. I had a talk with Lila about leaving them alone, and I also had a short discussion with a garter snake on the ground near the porch just in case it had ideas about dinner. (I have no idea if garter snakes eat baby birds, but I wasn’t taking any chances, and this was not a small snake.) The fawn was cavorting around the front yard and the four baby turkeys and their mamas are still hanging out near the chicken coop.

I also seem to have acquired a pet raven or a crow—I know there is a difference, but I can’t get close enough to this one to tell which it is. I’ve been putting old/rotten eggs out in the woods rather than in the compost bin. The crows like them. Apparently, this particular bird has decided that I need to do that on a regular basis, because it shows up every day in a tree near the house and harangues me for a few minutes.

I said to the husband that all I need is a giant toad to appear in the driveway and my life will be complete.

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I spent some time organizing my sewing stuff yesterday, putting parts into labeled bins by machine model. The husband is going to see about getting me that industrial shelving this week and then I can get all the machines and the bins off the floor. I also got the 31-15 treadle operational. My college friend, Scott, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, also acquired a 31-15 in a treadle this week (I may have enabled that purchase slightly). We’ve been chatting back and forth about our machines and comparing notes.

And I gave the BMW a spa day. I’ll take it through the car wash this week, but I went over the inside with a shop vac and hoovered up all the bits of chicken feed and pig feed. Sometimes I feel bad about using my BMW as a truck. Until Dodge makes one that gets 40 mpg, though, I’ll keep driving my station wagon.