Knee deep in June

'Long about knee-deep in June, 
'Bout the time strawberries melts 
On the vine,  James Whitcomb Riley

The berries are ready at the local you pick garden.  I have missed them the years we have not lived here, 2 buckets in about a half an hour and it would have taken less time if I hadn't eaten so many. But a strawberry warm  from the sun..............they dripped down my chin.
Yesterday I went to Sioux Falls and had lunch with a girlfriend.  It was fun to catch up and tell each other how fabulous we look.  I visited a couple quilt shops and the yarn shop.  I did need batting but the rest well it was there what could I do but appease my fiber addiction.  I even made a detour to the little town of Dell Rapids to their wonderful big quilt shop and found a few more pieces that I really do need for a project I have in mind.  As I was driving down a county road a string of little ducks were crossing the road.  I hit the breaks hard good thing there was no one behind me and where was mama duck?  Everything in the car went flying glad I didn't have 2 buckets of berries,  the ducklings all made it across, somersaults and all in the draft of my car.  It must be tough to always walk with goulashes especially when a car is bearing down on you.  --Ann--

Ta da da done

 The big quilt is finished!!!!  I left the very center for last because I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to quilt it.  After sewing all the other feather rounds and borders and many sketches on paper and wax paper I had the confidence to stitch the center.  Planning, practice, patience and more planning and practice. The only thing left to do is name the quilt and make a label.  It goes to its new home in July.  --Ann--

Iris

 My friend who got me into quilting asked me to help weed the iris garden at McCrory Gardens.  I know I said when we moved I was not going to garden anymore but I really miss it.  Imagine missing crawling around on my hands and knees in the dirt.  I helped her and a few other ladies tidy up the iris patch before many were blooming.  I stopped after Bible study the other morning and wouldn't you know they had the sprinklers on so I was trying to take pictures and watch the sprinklers and not get soaked.  So I would step in on the mulch from the back side of the bed and click click and quick step out just before the sprinkler came around again and do it all over again on a different mulch path.  The flowers were probably at their prime a few days earlier.  --Ann--

Friday Knitting

 I'm getting so close to finishing the sleeve of the sweater.  I always wait until I'm done with the sleeves and tried it on before I remove the waste yarn just in case I have made a dreadful mistake and have to rip the sleeves.  Then I have a safe restarting point.  And guess what?  I started another pair of socks.  I started these while I was working on machine quilting the log cabin fan quilt.  I would quilt for a while then give my arms a rest from moving the quilt around and think about how to continue with the quilting. The stitch pattern is the moss stitch also called the seed stitch, its 2 rows of k1, p1 the 2 rows of p1, k1 so simple.  It really softens the color changes.  A hot weekend in the forecast, might be good to turn on the ac or stay downstairs and binge watch something while I finish the sleeve.  --Ann--

Sewing lessons

 I'm helping my niece with some 4-H sewing.  The first day we made an apron it turned out very nice and I missed a photo op.  Then she made some potholders from the left over fabric.  She also had fabrics for this pattern.  Sewing patterns have changed since the last time I sewed a garment.  Oops change that bought a pattern, I've been using the same nightgown pattern for decades. Anyway the suggested fabrics do not list a knit for the pants just fabrics for the tunic.  Do any of those fabrics say knit or even hint at a knit?????  and where does the 20" zipper go???  I'm thinking we will just do what the directions say so I measure her hips to figure out the size and compare to the envelope, the sizing is for an adult woman! the pattern pieces looks too small and niece is a skinny girl.  I measure the pattern pieces minus the seam allowance then I add a half inch to the outside seam.  We cut out the pattern I even let her use my super sharp gingher scissors.  Then I read the directions for sewing.  There it suggests a ball point needle and a stretch stitch ah ha the pants should be a knit!  I look at the back of the pattern again.  See that black bar with the arrow at the bottom of the packet?!???  That's how far the knit is supposed to stretch even though a knit was not suggested.  Time to toss the directions and do it my way. I knew we cut the pattern large enough so it should fit.  She sewed the center and side seams with a long stitch so she could try them on, I was determined they were going to fit and fortunately she had a matching zipper which she was planning to use in a little pouch.  She learned how to sew in a zipper, center back seam.  Remember back when zippers had a raised thread woven into the zipper fabric??  That isn't there anymore.  I basted the zipper in so she would know where to sew.  She did a marvelous job on the zipper.  She tried them on they fit nice through the hips but there was a lot of fabric at the waist so she learned how to sew darts.  Next was the waistband which we did with all the seams concealed and ran an elastic through it.  They fit perfect.  While I was pinning and basting she was playing with stitches on my machine and found one she liked for the trim on the tunic.  She became a master at threading the machine as she tried out different threads.  She is going to use the same decorative stitch on the hem of the pants.  I was exhausted by the time she went home but what fun to teach someone who wants to learn. We will finish the top another day --Ann--

Round by Round

Round by round I'm making progress.  First I draw some possibilities on onion skin paper, then I draw the possibilities full size on wax paper.  Then I sew a couple rounds and pause for a while to think about how to quilt the next round.  Round by round I'm getting done.  --Ann--

Ta da da done 2

Another one finished binding and all.  I signed and dated it in machine quilting stitches  I frequently wait with a label until it goes to its next home because I like to personalize the label. --Ann--