Marsbarn Designs...

the fabric gods smiled up on me and those projects are moving

After that frantic night of trying to figure out how to stretch my navy cotton to fill in all the blanks in that queen sized quilt,  we stopped at the fabric store yesterday.  And lo and behold, the fabric gods smiled.  There it was, my very bolt.  I hadn't seen her since October, but I recognized the cryptic notes on her cardboard core.  I bought all that was left (2 2/3 yards) and rushed home to undo all of the ugly joins I'd done to try and make my previous supply work.  All of the blocks are in progress, and two thirds of them finished.  

The lap quilt's blocks need to be trimmed and then laid out.  I'm so happy with these blocks!  
(I did take photos of the quilt, but as there are lots of purples, and my camera refuses to record purples without sunlight, I have nothing to show you.  I keep hearing that sun in on order, but it hasn't arrived yet. So perhaps I'll have a chance later this week.)

The mini project for a friend's business is done and bundled up like a rainbow in a sandwich bag, so that is another thing off the list.

So now, the order of the day is to shower and prepare myself for my first baking class.  Most of the supplies were transfered to a friend's larger kitchen yesterday, so I just have to pack up the stragglers and the girls and we are off.  It should be great fun!

one project takes off, another gets grounded

I'm currently working on three projects in tandem.
I have two quilts running at once, plus a mini project for a friend.
I cut, pin, and prep a pile of pieces from each project on one day, and then I sew the next day.
Yesterday was a supposed to be pin and prep day, but I got distracted and started sewing, too.

The lap quilt that I've been struggling with is finally coming together.  The pieces that I pinned on Lady's Art Friday, I sewed together on Sunday. I didn't peak at them until they were ready for pressing, and they made me so happy.  Chatting while I cut and matched fabrics was exactly what I needed to free up my creativity. Yesterday I started a new round of matching, and I was really grooving in the color play.

When those blocks were prepped, I started work on a commission I've been noodling with since October.  I don't normally take commissions, especially not Queen sized ones.  They take me ages and ages to make, because I have to fit them around the other sewing I've got going on.
But, lately, I've been moving right along with the blocks.
Until yesterday, when I confirmed a lingering fear.
I didn't buy enough of my sashing material in October.

Total project fail.

This quilt uses a sold, dark blue background between all of the blocks.  Today I am going to go to the fabric store and try to match a sold, dark blue 8 months after I bought the first piece.  Oh, yes.  This is like trying to find the holy grail.  Crap.
I stayed up until midnight last night piecing, sewing, and cutting trying disprove my math, but no.  
I am simply going to be short. 

The Original Square Bottomed Dice Bag

Ah well, it had to happen eventually, but it still makes me sad.

 

Someone out in the vast expanses of the Internet has started making dice bags that look suspiciously like my original design.  Sure, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make a reversible, square bottomed dice bag that stands up and has a drawstring closure with a toggle,  but there are other ways to make them. So, it is distressing that these bags are identical in design, dimension, and price as mine.  

I knew that this would happen eventually, but like I said, it still makes me sad.

(The image above is of my own dice bags, which can be found here.)

blessed nothing

The sweethearts were away this weekend with Big E's folks, which meant I was able to do absolutely, blessed nothing.

This is that good nothing.

Friday night I thought, I should do some picking up and then I should sew.
Instead, Big E and I went out to dinner, came home and watched Babylon 5 DVDs.

Saturday morning I thought, I should make some pastries.
Instead, I walked to the bakery and bought an entire box of pastries so I could take nibbles of all the treats I normally don't have.

Saturday afternoon Bunny and Claude came to visit.
I thought, I should plan dinner.
Instead, we bought take out, and ate in the takeout containers.

Yes, I normally enjoy all of the things I didn't do this weekend.  But gheesh,  it was nice not to do them.

This afternoon the girls come back, and this morning... I just don't know.

Maybe I'll do a bit of fun sewing, but maybe I'll do a bit of nothing.

Quilting block, or when the fabric stops doing the work for you.

Sometimes I get this gut feeling about a project.
It's not so much a calling, as much as it is a kick to the head.
Something says, "You will make this NOW."
And I pretty much say, "Okay." and get to work.

 

The fabrics normally fly from the bins and throw themselves on the cutting table.  (It's like the Magician's Apprentice, but at the beginning before the dark madness  begins.)  The projects have such drive, such need, they make themselves. 

 

More than a month ago now, I had one of these "kick to the head" moments.  I knew I needed to make a quilt for someone I'd met, but the fabrics just didn't come to me.  I have struggled, and struggled, to start this project.  I stack fabrics, organize and reorganize, and they just don't talk to me. 

I have never had this happen before.

I've had fabrics I didn't know what to do with.
I've had projects that stalled at the starting gate because I wasn't into them. 
I've made quilts I hated all the time I made them.

But this potent feeling of purpose without clarity, this driving need to act without that spark of inspiration to allow me to move forward?  This total deafness to my chosen medium?  This is new, and thoroughly unpleasant.

So today, I got out stacks of fabric and tried to relax.

I drank my coffee, and chatted with friends, and then, while I was still distracted by conversation, I covertly began to cut pieces.  It's like I have training wheels on my quilting mojo.  If I move slowly, and don't look too closely at what I'm doing, I might just make it work.  Perhaps, once I'm mid-project, and have momentum behind me,  I'll look around and see what it is I've made.  

It's Ouija meets quilting: I have to stop trying so hard, and see where the spirit takes me.

Wait a minute, if the girls are there, does that mean we're going to be ALONE?

Almost there....

So close, so very close.

I've been so wrapped up in end of school/beginning of summer stuff, that I kind of forgot that Sweetheart G and Little e are off with Big E's parents this weekend.

Yes, I forgot that this was a date weekend.

Oy.

I'm going to blame this lapse in brain power on mental exhaustion caused by my on-going battle against clutter.  (Hey, I heard that snicker!) 
I've been working on decluttering my kitchen,
or at least I've been trying to limit the piles (to 2 or 3). 

Anyway, tomorrow is a Ladies Art Friday,
and I am going to try and break my Quilter's Block.
Yes.  It's true. I admit it. 
I have Quilter's Block.
I simply can't make up my mind about what I'm going to make.
The compulsion to make this quilt is strong,  but my fabrics just aren't talking to me, or rather they are arguing so loudly I can't hear them anymore.
So, tomorrow I am going to play with my fabrics and see if a little positive reinforcement will make them play nice.

She said it was one of the best gifts EVER

Today we gave Little e's first grade teacher the quilt we made for her end of year gift.  We were blessed with an experienced teacher who made a 30 child, first grade classroom run so smoothly you could overlook the number of desks in the room. 

The teacher said it was one of the best gifts she's ever gotten. 

And I discovered I'm a wimp.

I gave Big E grief when he squirmed during his award ceremony.  It made him all squiggily to hear his praises sung. So, I feel compelled to be honest and report my own tummy rumbling queasiness when confronted by Little e's class.  It's been three hours, and I still feel unbalanced by it.  

Parents and students said, "Thank you!", and they clapped, and I got a gift. (BLUSH)

It was completely lovely, and warming, and then I couldn't eat carmel corn during teatime.  
See what I mean?  I'm a total wimp. 

soup's on

I made some chicken stock this morning just so I could smell it.  

Making soup this morning was one of those cathartic acts.

There was the chopping and sauteing, followed by simmering. And then the smell of the onions and carrots breaking down, and the ginger giving up it's bit of heat.  I can't imagine it will taste as good as it smells right now.  But maybe, that's not the point.

Baking up a little something new

A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me if I'd consider doing a baking class for older kids.

Well, that sent my mind a-whirling. 
What would I want in a class?  

Hmmm... I would want part science, part art, and a whole lot of reproducible instruction. (What is the point of taking a class, if you can't reproduce it at home?!)  Oh, and maybe a microscope.

So, my mind has been stewing away on new thoughts, recipes, and plans.  In addition to the main course of how to make a dish, there would need to be a heavy flavoring of the how and why a recipe works.  You have to understand how something is built to make it your own.  

I've come up with four lessons to start with, but there are so many more thoughts percolating in my brain.  I've attached the flier explaining them, if you'd like to take a peak.

Download Baking classes flier version 2

carmel corn

When I was a little girl, my Auntie H had a friend who made the best carmel corn.  When I was old enough (boiling sugar is not for the wee folk),  I was allowed to copy the recipe.  That original copy is still the one I use.  (I was in a total panic when I misplaced the recipe last year.)

This recipe makes an insane amount of carmel corn, but it can be halved.

Carmel Corn

2 cups popping corn
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup of butter (or 2 sticks)
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup karo syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda

(You will need a sunny day and two large roasting pans or four 9x13" pans to bake the carmel corn in.)

Pop the popcorn.  Keep in mind that this is a lot of popcorn, and you will need to be able to fit it all in the oven.  Arrange popcorn in heatproof pans.

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.  

Combine the brown sugar, butter, salt, and karo syrup in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Removed from stove and stir in baking soda until dissolved.  Be very careful!  The syrup will foam up and is very, very hot.

Pour sugar syrup over popped corn, and stir. Bake carmel corn at 250 degrees for one hour,  stirring the corn every fifteen minutes.   (At first the carmel will clump, and not cover all of the popcorn, but as you stir during the baking process the carmel will slowly spread to more of the corn. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir to get as much goodness on the popcorn as possible.)

Cool carmel corn completely before packaging in airtight containers.