Thursday, September 11, 2008

I’ve been sewing--- but every time I try to take a photo of the progress there seems to be an obstacle… It’s raining, the camera battery needs charging, and People drop by the house… so we’ll just have to hold onto the suspense.

I’ve been in Wichita Kansas this week for an Aviation seminar. While the seminar for fine, there’s no doubt my heart is at home. Don and Ransom were bachelors without me. And though every one of Ransom’s water bowls was empty he lived and I count the adventure a success. Ransom has almost caught up on his water intake too.

I did make some purchases.
I saving up fabric for a homespun project, so that’s where the yellows and purple pieces come in. I have a couple of friends into “pink” so those were definitely stash builders. I have just been in love with the Kansas Troubles piece so I purchased 3 yards just for the sake of that.

My final purchases were wool pieces for my Saltboxes in the Corner quilt. Wool is pricey… never purchased any before. I’ve had several pieces in kits but never purchase that kind of fabric as stand alone pieces. Should I pre-wash the pieces before appliquéing with them? I’d appreciate any advice.

It’s not a tornado or a hurricane… this is the current view from the back ‘covered porch.’

Don and I had decided on Direct TV as a treat now that the kids are fleeing the nest. But as it turns out, we have way too much forest for the high tech satellite device. So we were going to cut down 2 trees for the project. We had a forester come in and gave me serious talking to about tree safety, about how thinning out certain trees will allow others to flourish. He also talked to me about disease in certain trees and conservation. Well, he won me over, and 25 trees came down. I’m not sad… my garden will grow better. The house will be safer, trees will get bigger and truthfully after the mess is cleaned up, I don’t think I’ll even know their gone. It’s kind of like thinning the garden out… it only hurts for a little while….Oh --- and—we decided against Direct TV… We decided we didn’t want to become couch potatoes and that it probably wasn’t really good for us any way… regular cable would suffice….

Maybe tomorrow I can get the quilt blocks photographed and include another post….

Fall is settling in….
From the Covered Porch……..

10 comments:

Carolyn said...

Don't you love the feeling that fall is settling in? And the best part of having the trees taken down is there will be fewer leaves to rake! :o)

Libby said...

Don't I know how it hurts to thin the garden . . . but I know it must be done *s*
Looks like some really great purchases from your trip. You do want to felt your wool - hot water wash, cold water rinse, a tumble in the drier. The fibers will lock together (felt) and you will be a happy girl.

Cornbread and Beans Quilting said...

Very nice shopping spree there!!

Isn't it so interesting to learn about nature and how it works. I'm pretty facinated about how doing controlled burns and thining of trees is actually really good for backyard woods.
I applaud your decision to skip Direct TV. You get a million channels and still nothing good is ever on. Better to quilt, read or book, or rent a movie. And with the extra money you will save each month you can buy fabric!! =)

As far as the wool goes. Sometimes you purchase it already "felted" which means it has been submerged in hot water and hot air dried. It causes the fibers to lock so that when you cut it up it doesn't ravel. If the wool you bought is not already felted then you definately want to do that before you start working with it.

rachel griffith said...

take before and after pictures of your trees {and yard}...
you'll really like to see the difference in 5 years.
:D

i'm SO happy that fall is creeping in!!!

tami said...

I love fall. It's my favorite season.
Kansas Troubles is my favorite fabrics. That is a beautiful piece. I have been known to design an entire quilt around a piece of Kansas Troubles. I can't wait to see what you make out of it.
I always felt my wool even if it has been previously felted. Just wash it in hot water and dry it. It will be great to work with.

Patti said...

Presuming you got felted wool, you don't need to wash it. You will just love working with it. If it isn't felted - that is you can still see the threads and the weave and the edge ravels, then wash it in hot water and tumble in the dryer to felt it well. Most wool is sold already felted, and has been washed in the process.

McIrish Annie said...

I bet your wool is felted but if not follow the advice given. If you find you are loving wool, start checking out the thrift stores for 100% wool skirts. They are easy to cut up and then you will have your own supply of felted wool CHEAP! I've been doing it for a while now and have a nice little stash.

Jeanne said...

I LOVE your yellow and purple homespuns!
Jeanne

Susan Tidwell said...

We have been with direcTV for many years, and loving it - just switched over to DVR so we can record stuff (actually I blogged about this today).

Interesting to hear about your trees, we have many trees that should come down, but worried about the expense and the mess they would leave. Did your people do a good job? Did they remove the stumps?

Love your quilts! Have a great day.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

We were paying $80 a month for some sort of entertainment package for cable tv - but Scooby-Doo was coming on at 8:30 - much too late for School Boy. Soooo - I called the company and downgraded to basic (a $50 savings!). That solved that issue! Now we get our news out of Detroit, which is very funny seeing we are in E. Canada! But really - there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in the what is available to watch! With some of the savings I bought SB a few Magic School Bus videos and he is as happy as ever!
Great idea to thin out the trees! For lots of reasons.
Cheers!
Evelyn