Holiday weekend

We planned to leave for Minnesota mid-morning on Friday. As usual, the farm thought differently. A new calf needed Paul's attention and since we were driving separately while going together, I decided to get a head start and make the grocery store and cheese factory stops ahead of him. We agreed to meet in Osseo. A couple of phone calls between here and there told me Paul was about an hour behind me ... just enough time to stop in at Heart 2 Hands quilt shop in Neillsville where I found these treasures in the sale room. The print will be the back of the Rhubarb Patch quilt. The little "candy bars" (precut rectangles) will be a sewing play day treat.
After meeting in Osseo as planned, we were finally on our way and enjoying the drive together in separate cars. With my new point and shoot camera, I snapped a couple of fun drive-by photos by simply holding up the camera, clicking the button and hoping for the best. This quilt-adorned barn shows how well (or not) that works.

Then, there was Paul ahead of me. That was also fun.

In spite of my misgivings about this entire take-two-cars escapade, our separate drive together was turning out to be a pleasant experience.

Until we crossed the Mississippi. Not even all the way across. Paul hit a deer that ran up the river embankment. Never even saw it. I was right behind him and didn't see it either. My picture-taking was not quite so much fun anymore.
We still haven't heard the prognosis for Kit's car. Not good. So much for helping out Kit by bringing his car back to him. Assistance from a friendly Minnesota trooper, assurance that the car would be safe (though hardly sound) until after the holiday weekend and we were back on our way.

The rest of the weekend went much, much better. Our visit with Kit and Violet was wonderful. We went out for dinner on Friday night at The Ranch, a local Fairmont restaurant with this fascinating entrance way.
These handsome strangers add some perspective to the size of this work. The close up of one little portion provides an appreciation of the detail involved.Saturday's pontoon rental turned out to be a beautiful way to spend the day, even though this minnow was the biggest fish on any line.
Sunday's breakfast with Kit and Violet before heading back and choosing not to stay on the interstate was peaceful and relaxing.

Monday was planting flowers and weeding. All in all a great weekend. Hope yours was as good (without smashing up your son's car, of course).

P.S. The car, as it turns out, was totaled. Gulp.

Rhubarb Recipes

A two-crust Maple rhubarb pie starts with 4 cups of sliced rhubarb. Add 2/3 c. sugar, 2/3 c. pure Wisconsin maple syrup, 1 beaten egg, 1/4 c. flour and a dash of salt. Mix all. Pour into crust, top with remaining crust, cut in vents, bake at 425-degrees for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350-degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes. It will be delicious.

While slicing rhubarb, enjoy the lovely greens and pinks of the stalks. Think about what a pretty quilt those colors could make. Remember the scraps you begged (yes, begged) off your daughter and savor the delightful rhubarb-y colors contained therein.
Dig through stash to see if you have any complementary fabrics. Of course you do. You are, after all, no Mother Hubbard.

Get out your trusty quilt design notebook. Devise quilt recipe that echoes those pretty pink and green stalks while pie is in the oven.

As soon as supper is finished start cutting. Make a test block just to be sure you're on to something good. Get up early and cut some more. Continue getting up early and sewing like a demon for a week.

The following weekend, take sample blocks to quilt shop to find appropriate rhubarb-y colored border fabric.
Thank your lucky stars that you scheduled some vacation days just in time to finish the delicious 60 x 80" quilt top. Admire. Set aside to ponder quilting possibilities.

Beating the rain

The last border was finally added this morning, so naturally I had to rush this outside for a photo before the rain or any dogs knew what was happening.

This was a spur of the moment quilt made in the afterglow of finishing Alyssa's yellow and white one. Thanks to the scrappy generosity of Karen and Julaine, I was able to include a good variety of prints, which makes all of the 1930s reproductions more charming in my view. Although the blocks have been together for a few weeks, the outside border stumped me for a bit. The original pattern from the Moda Bake Shop showed just a narrow outside border. Not having enough of any one fabric to do that, plus wanting the quilt to serve on a queen size bed, convinced me to use 5" squares (finished size 4 1/2") just as I had in all the star blocks (I also made the quilt a row longer and wider than the original pattern). The narrow lattice used between the star blocks threw off of the math by an inch and a-half, so I trimmed 1/2" from three squares on each side, placed those randomly in the border rows and had a perfect fit. Really, this quilt could not have gone together much more easily.

The colors and fabrics here are a stretch for me. Far from my usual choices, I imagined working on this to be a bit of a challenge. Instead, it was a fun change of pace. Guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Enough quilting for today. The rain has not yet arrived and there are lots of weeds calling my name.

Catching up

It's important to catch up with old friends. Thanks to Alyssa, I was able to do that recently when she returned the log cabin quilt she had been holding hostage for her very own new quilt. Not for the entire duration of the wait -- the log cabin isn't quite that old -- but for the past year or so. At any rate, it's home again and out for a quick airing on this cold and windy morning. This quilt is among my favorites, I think, because it is my own setting design. Granted, it's hard to label any pattern that's been around for hundreds of years as unique; maybe it's more accurate to say that I didn't use a pattern. Rather, I did my usual scratching out of a very loose sketch because I don't have the patience to do detailed ones, started cutting "logs" and ended up with a quilt that was and is special to me. The little half-cabins in the valleys of the big blocks are what take it away from the usual setting by making a distinct border. The fact that the math and the sewing all came off without a hitch made its construction a very satisfying experience, which of course, adds to the special status.

By now you may be thinking that this sentimentality over an older quilt is simply a guise meant to distract you from the absence of something new. You're partially right. I can't show my newest projects. Top Secret! And I'm not quite finished with another not-so-new. At least not far enough along that I want to share. I'll try to catch up on that this week and catch up with you later.