Hold On, Spring
I was sewing upstairs yesterday afternoon when I heard what sounded like thunder. The problem is that lots of things sound like thunder around here:
Snow sliding off the metal roof
Trees falling down in the yard
Kids running across the porch
Car accidents in front of the house (we had someone wrap his truck around a tree in our yard about 10 years ago)
Actual thunder
It took me a few minutes of investigating to realize that it was, indeed, thunder. And it was accompanied by snow! And wind! Yay. I love Montana.
I was good and tied myself to my office chair yesterday morning so I could finish the tax prep. The construction company tax returns are done and filed, but all of that information is kept in QuickBooks and is easy to give to the accountant. The other two businesses and our personal stuff take longer. Because the IRS extended the deadline for filing, I’ve let that slide longer than I should have.
My reward to myself for completing that task was to make a baby quilt. I need to have a supply of them on hand. Specifically, I’ve been wanting to try the Scrappy Bear Paw Baby Quilt tutorial on Jeni Baker’s website. If I am going to gift a baby quilt, it should have a Montana theme, and what could be more Montana than the Bear Paw block? I loved the chambray version that Anna Graham of Noodlehead made. Anna suggests the Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed (55% linen/45% cotton) fabric as a substitute for the chambray she used. I pulled all of the Essex Yarn Dyed out of my stash and played with some color combinations.
[I understand that stores can’t always carry entire lines of fabric, but it frustrates me when ALL THE STORES in the same geographical area carry the exact same colors. Our quilt stores carry the grays, beiges, and denims of this fabric. Hobby Lobby has also started carrying it, but only in black, denim, beige, and seafoam green. And that’s the same lineup in every one of their stores, because I checked at all the stores in Washington on our recent road trip. I think it’s a shame, because this line has some really spectacular saturated colors in it.]
I have a lot of denims and grays. I also have beige and seafoam green. I am pretty sure I also have a chunk of a chocolate brown somewhere, but I can’t find it. That’s odd. Not only is my stash well organized, but I keep a running inventory in my brain and can almost always put my hands on a fabric within a few minutes.
One nice feature of this pattern is that it doesn’t use up a lot of fabric, and even smaller scraps work for the Bear Paw half-square triangles. Speaking of half-square triangles, I took this opportunity to try out the Diagonal Seam Tape that I bought on the road trip:
My overall impression is that the seam tape is a step up from painter’s tape with drawn lines. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from buying it. My issue, I think, is more that I don’t like piecing on my Janome. I use my beloved Vittorio, the Necchi BF, for piecing. I had to fiddle with the Janome’s settings quite a bit as the Essex is just a bit thicker than quilting cotton. In the end, what worked was to use my even-feed open toe foot on the machine instead of the standard foot. I suspect that when I make HSTs, I will have to do all of them on the Janome with the seam tape and then move to the Necchi for the rest of the piecing. (I don’t want to put the seam tape on the Necchi because the finish is a bit fragile.) The seam tape does result in accurately-pieced HSTs, although I make mine slightly oversized to trim down.
This pattern goes together quickly. This is the center with the four Bear Paw blocks. I still have to add the 6” borders on each side. Those will be in the same dark blue denim Essex.
The Essex is wonderfully soft and a great choice for a baby quilt. Because that fabric is a bit heavier that quilting cotton, I plan to use a lighter batting (bamboo?) or maybe even just a piece of flannel in between. I am curious to see how this quilts up. I think I will do what Anna did with hers and quilt a square spiral.
The weather forecast doesn’t appear to include more snow (I hope), but it is supposed to be cool through next week. Except for checking on seedlings and chicks, I think my outdoor activities will be postponed for a few more days.