Unless you're a new follower, you know I'm not fond of ditch work, but it's a requirement for me to quilt on a domestic machine. It breaks the quilt into working zones that I can focus on for the free motion quilting that I love. The ditch work on the double wedding ring quilt will go around every piece of fabric...and those arcs have a lot of little pieces of fabric. It's very precise work and therefore very slow. It takes about 45 minutes to get warmed up. That's when I get relaxed enough that I can drop my shoulders back where they belong and lean back and just go with it.
I have theories about the precision of ditchwork. Don't try to fix every error, but there are some errors that just need to come out. Sometimes, I'll get out of the ditch and it will be a couple of inches before I can get back into it. I need to stop and pick that out. It's not going away and it's not getting better. But, if it's just a little error, I leave those until the end and then fix what I can find. For one thing, this is the beginning of quilting and most small errors will not be visible after all the quilting is in. And, for another, my standard of perfection is different at the end of a quilt than it is at the beginning, and I'll be willing to accept a lot of little errors rather than go back and pick them out.
After the first round of ditch work, go back and fix any puckers in the back. Do it now, before you get too far into the quilting because later, they'll be locked in by all the quilting and the only way to fix them will be to hand sew them down. And, a pucker at this point may be large.
Yesterday, I was out in the yard doing some watering. I heard a sound and looked in a bucket and found a baby. It must have fallen in and the mother couldn't get it out. Based on the amount of poop in the bottom of the bucket, I think it had been in there a day or two. Glad I found it. I laid the bucket down next to the deck so it could get under there. I noticed that something had dug under the greenhouse and now I know what it was. The possums go there every year to have babies and my little bit of edging did not stop them. They just found a new way in, so I feel pretty confident he was reunited with his mom last night.
I have finished the drapes for the sewing room/office. Finally. You can see how they wrap around the corner of the rod and go back to the wall. That blocks a lot of light from this westward facing window.
And, they look nice open as well. This is my favorite place to do appliqué or hand sewing. It's so light and bright.
This week, I got pictures of the plumbago, which is going nuts right now. I don't grow a lot of blue flowers, so this is a nice treat.
The hummingbird bush. This is constantly full of hummers and butterflies right now.
And, this clematis that came from my Mom's. She had bought a bag of clematis tubers and then got sick. I brought them home after she passed and this was the only one that was still viable. It's a real beauty and has done better this year than I expected it to. It's currently in a pot, but will be going in the ground in this same spot before cold weather.
Rob was looking at paint chips for work on Saturday and I saw this display and it just sang out to me. I love colors. I love mediums more than darks and lights. I guess we all do. But, if you've ever tried to make a quilt out of just mediums, it doesn't go very well. You have to have the dark and the light to make the stuff you love show up.
The indictment of James Comey is a new level of corruption. As citizens of the U.S., we are not used to this level of corruption and we aren't prepared to deal with it. And, Trump knows that. That's why he's doing it. It's a surprise attack. Shock and awe.
I have no solutions. This is Texas and there's no one to complain to because the politicians here are so experienced that they're teaching trump new ways to be corrupt and racist and bigoted.
Everybody have a great week! I hope you all find the equivalent of a baby in a bucket to rescue and feel good about. We need things to feel good about.
Lane
