Piecing things together

The ten half-log cabin blocks are now complete …

and arranged in what may or may not be their final order …

For the record (because this blog is about process as much as product), here’s how I’m anchoring my starting points these days: a tiny knot in the seam followed by a tiny backstitch to hold it in place …

And I’ve pretty much given up on ironing my seams before stitching them together. I just tear the cloth, use my fingernail to turn down a seam allowance, stitch the edges together (10 stitches per inch with a single strand of DMC floss), trim the excess, and repeat …

I love how the cloth lays flat when stitched this way, which was inspired by Jude’s paperless piecing technique.

And if the eagle-eyed among you noticed a discrepancy in the order of the piecing, well yes, I did get myself turned around and had to undo a bit …

So now I’m off to make nine-patches out of the cloth bits along the path …

Celebrate

Did you know Wednesday was Vanilla Cupcake Day?

I can’t tell you how useful my Sandra Boynton calendar has proved to be this past year. I may just have to get another for 2022.

Meantime, P and I made sure we celebrated the day in style …

Gifted to P on G’s birthday

I’ve been dye-ing to tell you …

Don has been creating garden beds in our backyard and topping them with pecan mulch …

When he put the leftovers in one of the front beds, we discovered the neighborhood cats no longer liked “using” it as a litter box …

Unfortunately, it rained while some of the mulch was still in the bed of the little black truck, which then leaked out and stained the driveway …

The good news is, that gave me an idea. I asked Don for a shovel-full of mulch to which I added a couple of gallons of water. After letting it sit in the sun for a couple of weeks, I strained it out and dunked some cloth in the liquid gold that resulted …

with rather good results, I dare say …