Road trip report #2

Hello, everyone.  Here is another road trip report, still in Texas for one more day.

Leaving Kerrville,  we drove up to Lubbock. The drive was nice, though at one place we found a sign explaining that their internet was out and could everyone please pay cash? Which of course, as we were only getting coffee, was no trouble.

In Lubbock, we visited a museum we had not heard of before: the American Wind Power museum. It was fascinating. They have a lot of different windmills,  even a hand built one the the GI's used to power laundry machines during World War Two in the Pacific theater. They also have a whole collection of milling stones, the sort of thing that was often turned by a windmill. There are labels explaining what sort of material was ground with each type. They also have a large room full of model trains, which work, and even a Lego train layout. 

the Lego layout

The other photos don't come across to Blogger correctly, so I will have to wait and show them later. (They automatically turned on their sides. It's not a good thing for a subject like a windmill. )

Road trip report

Hello, everyone.  The traveling weather in the central US is lovely this month.

Day 1 report: we drove through San Antonio and on to Kerrville, an old town at the edge of the Texas Hill Country. 

We ate at a cute little place in downtown Kerrville.  The food was beautifully presented. 

This was a short day, as there things to do before we left home that day. Still a good start to our trip.

We grow'em big in Texas

Hello, everyone.  

I walked out onto the porch to check on the basil plant that was recently dug up and put into a pot--it had volunteered in the vegetable garden where there isn't room for it--and saw a dragonfly.

This is about 5 inches long, the biggest dragonfly I have ever seen.

We just looked at each other and went on with our respective days.

Finished placemats

Hello, everyone.  The placemats started a few days ago are completed. 

Front view:

The center accent for 2 mats pretty much uses up all of a fat quarter.

Back view:

I do like the spiral quilting for a lot of things: no stressing over which design, no worries about getting out of the "ditch" by a couple of threads, no real need for marking if your fabric has a suitable motif to make the center round. (Here, it was one of the turtles' shell plates.) I used pale blue thread for the quilting. 

The binding is sewn on by machine, with a canned fagoting stitch that came with it. I like that there are little side to side stitches that help convince the back side to stay reasonably flat.

I used the Superior Pima cotton thread for the first time in the bobbin with the binding attachment and it is very nice. The top of the binding attachment is a multi-colored green spool of 30 weight Sulky cotton.

The binding piecing gave me a number of pretty green small triangles, I have to find a partner strip to turn them into half square triangle blocks now. One of these days the various HST scrap blocks will turn into something. 😀

Starting on a pair of placemats

Hello, everyone.  I saw a pieced placemat idea online and thought it would be fun to try out.

Can you see the directionality in the center print? I didn't notice that at first! Fortunately the seahorses are right side up. 

I love these colors. They remind me of the beach--hence the sea life print in the center.

The fabrics are from stash, but I did cut into unused fat quarters that I had bought on spec. 

The second Leaf-Butterfly bag

Hello,  everyone.  Today's post is another little bag.

As before, all parts are from stash. Linen blend for the exterior, quilting cotton for the lining and strap. I made the strap adjustable, so a person can put it on the shoulder or tighten the strap to carry in the hand. It has boxed bottom corners.

Thanks to the lessons learned from Christine's Home Affairs, I measured and marked the boxes after getting the side seams figured out so they lined up correctly.  Mostly. And came out straight in the end.

It's fun to do a small project as a break from something larger, like a quilt. It gives a sense of accomplishment. 

Stash usage for the wins! Twice.

Hello, everyone. In the ongoing Battle of the Stash, I have achieved another couple of small victories. 

These are two pouches. The first is embroidered with a design from the Deer's Embroidery Legacy. It's a butterfly but it's also autumn leaves.

He's kind of cute, isn't he? The fabric is a linen blend pinstripe that was lying around and begging to be used.

The second has an applique design that I digitized myself...with the features in the software, it's not as intimidating as that sounds. This is the first time I tried sewing one out that I have done. 

The fabric is leftover chair fabric, rather thick, and the applique fabrics are quilting cottons. The pouch has an interior slip pocket.

The pouch exteriors, the linings, the zippers: all from stash. It feels so good to get fabric moved out of storage shelves and tubs, even in small increments. 

(Updated to add the link for the embroidery design source.)