A Mystery

No, not the quilty kind!

A real mystery.  And I hope at least one of my readers knows the answer or can point me in the right direction.

While Mr. Hillside was unloading the rental van at House 2 this morning, I decided to clear my sewing off the kitchen counter to make room for unpacking and sorting. 

Mystery stain

I had left these scraps on the granite (or granite composite) countertop after cutting pieces for my RSC sampler block a little over a week ago.  They were not stained when I left them! 

Both fabrics had been washed before cutting, probably with Gain, and dried with Bounce (please don't lecture me about fabric softener).  The iron on the ironing board showed no signs of having leaked.  The fabric was near, but not ON, the Olfa cutting mat.  The undercabinet lights were not on.  The Keurig had not leaked.  The only potential culprits I could see were a banana and an apple in a nearby bowl.  I know that apples create an off-gas as they "mature."  Could this be what happened?  And what should I do to remove the stain?

HELP!

Finding Home

Notice I didn't say "finding A home."  We've already done that -- just need to get rid of the existing  one!

Ever since Mr. Hillside and I began thinking about where we wanted to spend our time once we were no longer in charge of his mother's care, I silently worried that we would choose a remote location or a closed community and become social hermits.

Well, the happy news is I have found "home," at least if they'll have me!  Last week, while at House 2 (a/k/a the new house, the lake house, or the house at the Glade),  I visited a quilting group that meets in a church twice a month, working on both "encouragement" quilts and their own projects.

Quilts before and after quilting

A devotional period and lunch are the bonus!  They call it "Devo and Sew."

Look at this lunch spread!

I can't think of when I have felt a warmer reception or felt more "at home."  I am more than ready to move!

Scrappy Saturday

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Dashing off a quick post before we start painting today -- 

finishing up on the places that were not accessible when the painters were at House 1 in December.

To occupy my mind while Mr. Hillside was making the round trip to Nashville and back to house 2 in the snowy weather on Monday, I made a Squared Away block in April's RSC colors yellow and gold.

Squared Away Block 4

I am making these monthly blocks in jewel tones of the RSC color.  I think this rich yellow fits that theme.  I didn't get any further with my other yellow project, though.

Loosey Goosey

I've had several people ask about the source of this pattern.  It is not a "pattern" per se, but, rather, a technique than can be incorporated into quilts in a number of ways.  I used it initially as a border on a round-robin quilt challenge last year.

Cindy Williams, The Math Whisperer, has come up with an easy, two-at-a-time technique in various sizes.  It is in this book which also includes several other quick and easy techniques. 

The best thing is she has done all the math for you.  The book is self-published, not available on Amazon unfortunately.  I will research further to see if I can find a source or a way to contact her directly.

Have a Scrap Happy Saturday, y'all!  And be sure to stop by soscrappy for lots of yellow goodness.

Catching up

Life in Between

There was a lot going on last week and I feel like I have left a few things dangling on the blog. It's time to catch up.

The Class on Thursday with Yvonne Fuchs/Quilting Jetgirl was a half-day workshop focusing mostly on value (light/medium/dark) and fabric selection.

Yvonne Fuchs

Even with all my cutting done before the class, I didn't accomplish very much.  The pattern, Wayward Transparency, is not difficult -- just half-square triangles, squares, and rectangles -- but the block assembly requires a lot of attention to position and I managed to get several HSTs turned the wrong way.  I'm sure that's never happened to you (wink-wink).

Beginning of Wayward Transparency

Even with HSTs misplaced, at least you can get an idea of the 3 shades of fuchsia I am working with.  The class was at a small shop near Cookeville, about 1.5 hours from Nashville.  Since I couldn't drive myself, a fellow guild member provided transportation and we had a delightful time getting to know each other better during the commute.

The Ankle is not totally out of confinement yet.

Ankle Brace

On Friday the doctor told me to ditch the walker and start putting my full weight on the booted foot for 10 days.  (Frankly, I was already doing that most of the time around the house.)  Then next Sunday I graduate to the ankle brace.  I'm hoping the follow-up visit with Orthodoc on May 4 will be the last!

The New House.  Mr. Hillside and I continue to split our time between House 1 (current permanent address) and House 2 (future permanent home, a/k/a the lake house or house at the Glade).  I realize I'm not always clear where I am when I post here on the blog and I apologize.  Soon after I'm released from the doctor, we will make the new house our permanent abode.  Or as permanent as it can be with limited furnishings ...

Each time we make the 2-hour drive to House 2 we bring a van load of stuff from House 1 in an attempt to declutter it enough to put it on the market.  So far we have moved 90% of our studios and about half the kitchen.  Even with the best planning it seems there is always something we want or need at "the other house"!

We drove up Friday afternoon in order to avoid the severe storms that were predicted to come across the state on Saturday.  Nashville was spared, but Son-2's family in Arkansas was right in the path of the storm so it was a tense night.  I hope my readers were spared from all the wild weather on Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday DH unloaded the van before the storms rolled into East TN and then he treated me to a birthday dinner at one of the Glade's two community club restaurants.  On Sunday Son-1 and wife took us to lunch at the other club restaurant.  They had spent the weekend visiting several state parks in East TN.

DH and I spent much of Sunday assembling a rolling kitchen island.

You know, a big kitchen is nice, but when you have to cross the great divide to get freshly chopped vegetables over to the stove or need to find a landing zone for groceries to go in the fridge, an island is nicer.  My birthday gift from my Main Man!

The weather. What's up with this?

Scene at House 2 this morning

Fortunately the snow showers have stopped and most of the accumulation has melted.  DH drove back to Nashville this morning to pick up another load.  Temps will be below freezing by the time he gets back and there are several big hills between the highway and the lake ...

Are you as ready for Spring as I am?

An Exciting Day

On many levels

First, I'm getting out of the house with a friend!

Second, we're going to a quilting class with Yvonne, the Quilting Jetgirl!

We will be learning about building transparency into our quilts.  The class is Wayward Transparency.

photo from Quilting Jetgirl blog site

I will be working on a mini in shades of fuscia.  Stay tuned!

Wildlife Wednesday

Rear Window

I feel kinda like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window -- stuck with a broken foot, watching the world through my kitchen window.

Well, it's been an active wildlife day.  Unfortunately, it's hard to capture them on a smart phone when they are naturally camouflaged.

First to visit in the early afternoon was a huge owl.

Look in the middle of the photo on the horizontal branch, above the green bush ...

Later in the afternoon we were visited by a wild turkey wandering up through the neighbor's yard.

These creatures are SO big they actually make noise walking through the leaves.

Cabin Fever

Five Weeks ...

... five long weeks ago today I headed down the slippery slope to the lake at House 2 and broke my ankle.

THE slippery rock

I am truly grateful that it was not more serious (could have broken a hip, could have slid into the lake), and I'm thankful for the caring treatment I received at Cumberland County Medical Center.  Nevertheless, I feel like I've been in house arrest ever since.

The first few days while we were still at the lake I was in a temporary splint and supposed to walk with those crutches you can see in this photo.

Temporary splint

I never did master those crutches!  Thankfully we had taken my tractor seat up with us to go with a temporary sewing table setup.

This turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.  In those first couple of days, when I was sleeping on the sofa that came with the house, I was able to zip down and up the hall to the bathroom in the dark of night.

After the first visit to an orthopaedic specalist, I was put in a boot and given a walker, with instructions to keep weight off the foot, to sleep in the boot, and only remove it for bathing.

That's when we had the great idea to put the tractor seat in the big walk-in shower at House 2 so that I could reach the hand-held wand and the controls.  The first time it worked like a dream.  The second time I managed to slip off the seat, scrape my butt, and land on my tail with all my dignity out the window.

I know, that's TMI so I'll spare you the picture of my bruise; but I feel it's my public duty to warn you of the hazards of a tractor seat in the shower!  Back at House 1, I am using a teak bench in the shower.

At least it can't roll out from under my soapy behind!  After two weeks I was allowed to remove the boot for sleeping and instructed to put more weight on that foot with the boot on.

I may have taken that too literally as recently I have been toddling around the house without the walker.  My theory is, if it doesn't hurt, then it's not hurting me.  Yep, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

We've been back to the lake house twice since the accident.  I have been to the doctor twice, the grocery once. church once, longarm quilter once.   In five weeks!  Talk about cabin fever!

So I go back to the orthodoc on Friday.  Does anyone want to lay odds on whether I'm released to drive?

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Progress

Yellow and Gold for April

So glad I had the presence of mind to bring one of my RSC18 projects home with me last Sunday.  I managed to get all the geese made for Loosey Goosey early last week.

And I started assembly yesterday.

I have also spent time working on That Purple Project which, quite appropriately, is more yellow than purple.

I still need to pull scraps for the Squared Away RSC18 Sampler block.  Since I've been making those blocks in jewel tones, I want to peruse my yellow scrap box for something that can qualify as "jewel" tone ... not particularly easy with yellow.  Maybe topaz? Or citrine?

Linking with Angela/soscrappy and Cynthia/Quilting is More Fun than Housework.

Panic Averted

Can you believe a quilter without needle or thread?  That was me at the beginning of the day on Thursday with all my many handwork kits already moved to the lake house.

My first concern was having a color of thread that I could use when turning the binding on That Purple Project.

That Purple Project

In the end I decided that a yellowish beige was the safest choice because it would blend with the borders of the pieced side in the event I had stitches go through to the front.

I have a bobbin filled with that color so first crisis averted.  My box of Wonder Clips was in absentia, also, but I have plenty of sturdy pins so I could manage with them to hold the binding over the edge.

Now for a needle.  A needle.  Any needle.  All I could find buried in my tool box (which I have been meticulously insisting come with us as we go back and forth between houses):

It feels like I'm using a telephone pole after working with betweens!  At least the eye is big enough for me to thread without assistance...  Note to self: add handwork tools to all machine tool boxes.

A Little Progress is a Good Thing

No matter how small, some progress means the project is moving along ... right?  And anything I can do while standing or sitting in one place saves me from dragging that 100-pound boot all over the house.

So yesterday I stood at the end of the kitchen table and, by moving the quilts instead of myself, I managed to trim both quilts that came home from the LAQ on Monday.

Trimmings on top of Watermelon Stars

Then I sat at the end of the kitchen table and stitched the binding onto That Purple Project.

Binding on That Purple Project

My options for thread to do the handwork are somewhat limited to some very basic neutral colors; I'm going to try dark gray before I make Mr. Hillside take me shopping!

Back from the LAQ

And One Monthly Goal

Since I still can't drive, Mr. Hillside and I ventured out together today to run a few errands -- returning a cable box, repairing my glasses and, most importantly, picking up two quilts from my long-arm quilter.  Both quilts were an effort to finish up UFOs that included the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month in 2016.

Ohio Watermelon Stars

That Purple Project

I have plans to give one of these quilts to a lucky recipient at the church women's breakfast this month.  Here's my dilemma:  my stash has been entirely relocated to the house in the Glade and the breakfast will be before our return.  What's a girl to use for binding?  Hmm ...

On the bright side, I did remember to bring yellow scraps home to work on my column of Loosey Goosey for RSC2018.  But none of these scraps were big enough to cut sufficient binding.

The Geese are Loose

Also, in anticipation of an upcoming class with Yvonne Fuchs/Quilting Jetgirl, I brought home a box of several fabric options to use in the class.   So, what do you think?

Possible binding for That Purple Project

I think it is perfect for an already scrappy quilt.  And I'm going with it.  Now to find a place to trim the quilt ... I have the tools to cut here as well as a machine (or 2) for stitching.  Stay tuned to see if I get this done by April 14.  In fact, I'll make that my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for April!

Linking with Patty at Elm Creek Quilts to declare my OMG for April.