A stack of quilts to finish

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I took advantage of a rainy day, to pause on the outside work, and laid out some quilt tops that I’ve made. Six or 7 years ago, I started my first block-of-the-month quilt, and I’ll talk about why in another post, but here are 3 of them.

I could quilt edge to edge, but I’m in no hurry, so I’ll custom quilt them. Edge to edge is a single, repeating design over the entire quilt. It can be intricate or simple and the possibilities are endless. Custom quilting is like it sounds. As you might have guessed, custom quilting takes a lot more time.

And neither is more right than the other. As with all things quilting, you get to choose what works for you, what you have the time and budget for.

The funny thing I have discovered, on quilts with lots of prints or piecing, simple can be just as good; lines, grids, wavy lines. Once it’s washed, you don’t notice the quilting as much, as it gets that wonderful crinkly texture.

From left to right: Getting to Know Hue, Color Love, Judie’s Album Quilt

But, it’s a fun challenge, so these three quilts will be custom quilted.

And, I’m going to load the first one on the left, because I think I know how I want to start!

Have a great day,
Your Friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

T-shirt Yarn

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Long before we ran out of elastic, people were upcycling jersey t-shirts into a rolled “yarn” to use to make rugs, potholders, and to tie up tomato plants.

The annoying thing about sewing garments out of a jersey knit, is how it rolls up before you get it sewn together. That’s also the cool thing that makes it easy to turn into a cord.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Countertops, What Countertops?

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I’m sitting here in the dining/living room. Our barnhouse is very open, so the rooms don’t feel like rooms, except the bedrooms. Those are definite spaces with doors.

I’ve been watching a female oriole build her nest about a foot above last year’s nest, in the hackberry tree just beyond our patio. I’ve decided to focus on that, instead of the incredible disaster that is my kitchen and dining room table right now.

I can honestly say, it is never “company ready” on a day to day basis. It’s not a pigsty, but things pile up on the countertops and table, sometimes in the corners, as I've blogged about before. I decided awhile ago, that I had to choose between, having a super organized kitchen, that is always put away, with countertops that are always cleaned off, OR, having time to create art, sew and make quilts. I choose the latter, but in truth, it will drive me nuts if I let it. And, then my family suffers, because I go after the chaos with banging cabinet doors, swift movements, and no humor.

As happens often here on my blog, I really don’t have a solution, yet, to share that will solve this problem in my life. I don’t have a 3 step action plan for you. I’ve tried multiple organizing tips from other family, friends and even Pinterest; labels, task buckets, and minimizing.

What I have to do for myself, in this situation, is to focus on the relationships in my household, first. And then, with kindness, set forth my plan, in words….instead of rushing about, flying off the handle about this bad habit or that. I have trouble with the kindness part, with my family. I can do it with complete strangers. We often become that way with the relationships that are closest to us.

Just 2 days ago, I noticed my honeybees were especially active outside the hive, and I was afraid they were getting ready to swarm and I didn’t have my swarm trap built or up. I had a plan, I went after it. I snapped at my hubs of 35 years, because his shop has always been chaos, and he couldn’t find the tools or wire that I needed, in the speed I felt I needed it. It really didn’t matter, the swarm trap. What matters is my relationship, and I often forget that, when I’m hurrying around, trying to accomplish things.

So, what to do. Minimize, simplify, organize, declutter? I don’t know. Balance? That mythical, guilting idea, that we actually should strive for and achieve?

All I can do is continue to be mindful of relationships first, and establish some of the above tactics to make it easier to live in our house, continue fixing it up, and not have it fall into piles and piles of stuff that I have to clean up.

Feel free to leave some comments. Maybe you have a mindset or method that I can try. P.S. I like to have a tidy, but not sterile home, love to bake sourdough and make messes in the kitchen, and would prefer to sew over cleaning, every day. And, I live with my husband and son, who can look past piles of stuff, even better than I can. If you can help, apply below! Ha!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Memorial Day Monday

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We moved out to an acreage 5 years ago. I was charmed by the land, trees, birds and wildflowers, and the peace of the location. The house was, interesting.

We decided to buy the house with an enthusiastic realtor prompting us, very skilled in pointing out the plus sides so we wouldn’t pay attention to all the negatives and overwhelm of the house project ahead of us. And there was a lot of that.

My best friend, who grew up in the country, told me to go outside, anytime I got frustrated with the house. Which, I have done.

We have 1 neighbor down the hill, which we thought about contacting AFTER we bought the house. Luckily, we were blessed with the most amazing couple who have helped us over and over.

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and today is Monday. I’m trying to get to the point. Across the road from us, is an old cemetery. There are headstones dating back to civil war times. Every Memorial Day, the groundskeepers spruce up the cemetery, and get ready for a gun salute. Cars line up along the road, outside out house. And they have a short ceremony, and a gun salute to end it. We always watch from our deck and take a moment to remember, honor the dead. And its such a meaningful moment and something I look forward to each year.

Not this year. The cemetery manager decided not to have the event, due to Covid19. And, I’m a little sad. I love to see people show up, often with younger generations, to teach them what Memorial Day means, besides barbecues and days playing on the lake.

As a child, I remember Memorial Day as a day we spent seeing Grandparents. At my dad’s parent’s farm, Grandma would get out rusty coffee cans, that she saved from year to year, and fill them with iris and peony stems that grew in long rows close to the windmill. I can see it so clearly. We would load those cans full of flowers and take them to the cemetery. I don’t remember much after that, because I’m sure we were playing with cousins. Then, we’d go to my other grandma’s house, my mom’s mom, and stop at grandpa’s grave.

We didn’t have many military people in our family, so I just remember Memorial Day being a time to decorate graves of family members. I don’t think that’s wrong. Some will say otherwise. It’s a time to slow down for a bit, be grateful and remember. You might do that other times of the week or year, but I do hope you do it.

And, I really don’t think it’s wrong if this is a time you get with family and friends, and have a barbecue. We live in such a fast paced society, that these National holidays, often provide the only time to take a break, and excuse to gather and enjoy community.

Today, I will miss the gun salute. I hope they do it another time, after the fear of Covid19 dissipates. I hope people gather and catch up and share some food. I hope people teach their children to decorate graves and honor the memory of those who passed.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

Mom`s rhubarb upside-down cake

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It’s rhubarb season and we had a wedding to attend, kind of. I could have flipped through recipe books and blogs looking for this recipe that my mom has made for many years, or, call my dad and ask him to take a picture of the recipe card and send it to me. That’s what I did.

This cake never disappoints. I don't buy shortening, so I substituted softened butter. The texture is a little more dense that way, but the flavor makes up for it. You might notice some missing instructions, common in my mom’s recipes, and even in the ones I’ve written down myself. I posted this on Instagram and many friends commented on the magic of hand-written recipe cards…often times, missing crucial information, that is stored in the writer’s memory.

If you google, you’ll find similar recipes, complete with all the instructions. But, if you want to use this recipe, my oven temp was set to 350 degrees, and it took 47 minutes until the cake tested done, which I did by lighting touching the top of the cake. The batter is very thick and you have to carefully spread it out over the marshmallows and rhubarb. It doesn’t have to look perfect, just cover the marshmallows. Shortening and all-purpose flour will yield a lighter cake. I used butter, superfine wheat flour, and guinea eggs. I used 4 guinea eggs instead of 2 chicken eggs, so that may have also had something to do with how thick my batter was. I’m never very prissy about my cakes.

Enjoy. If you have a favorite rhubarb cake recipe, feel free to comment below!

Your rhubarb loving friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter

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Cleaning those catch all totes

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The bane of my existence—-catch-all tubs, boxes, bags, totes and junk drawers.

Do you have a junk drawer? For years and years, I always ended up with a junk drawer in the kitchen. It would catch everything. Basically anything I didn’t want to set on the countertop, or actually throw or put away; screws, spare change, twisties, coupons, business cards. When we moved out to the barnhouse, I suggested….well, actually I told my husband, we aren’t going to have a junk drawer IN the kitchen, because there aren’t enough drawers for the stuff I actually use. That was all fine and good, and agreed upon.

But, do you know what? That same junk started to collect on top of the countertop in the corner. The odd bolt, malfunctioning garage door opener, dried up pen…collecting again, but now out in the open.

So, I made another move. We bought a nice, used black entertainment center. It’s more like a dresser, but the top 2 cubbies are open for a vcr or DVD player. Remember those days? They weren’t that long ago. I got 2 drawer type baskets to slide into those spaces and asked the hubs to use those for the junk drawer. All is fine and good, but it still fills up and leaves me with the task of sorting all the detritus.

Friends. It drives me crazy. Can I say that? It will finally push me to the edge, and I will devote whatever time is necessary to empty, sort, put away. Last week was one of those times. I started with the the assortment of Amazon boxes that had been repurposed into catch-all, “I will put this away later” containers. Because those weren’t enough, there were also a few shopping bags; not full, just keeping a few things together.

I put on some music, and started sorting, in the worst of all places, on top of the dining room table. I called my best friend, to share my woe and at the point where everything was sorted into categories, I lost interest in finishing. I told my friend, I wanted to wad up the contents in the tablecloth and just toss it all. But, I didn’t. And, the last bits are still on the table, taunting me.

I could have finished that task completely, but instead, I went out into the studio. There wasn’t just a drawer of stuff, there were piles and totes and tubs. The studio is where I have my longarm quilting machine, and where I will move my sewing room and coaching office, and have everything in one place. It is a big room. One of the things I’m most excited about is that it has painted plywood walls. It’s rustic. But, that means I don't have to use special picture hangers. I can nail stuff to the wall as I please.

I was worn out by bedtime last night. I need to figure out how to not have catch-all spots. It should be simple. Just put it where it belongs the first time. I sorted, tossed, arranged, and labeled. I even sorted through 3 small tubs of writing utensils. And the sad thing is, I have more tubs of pens, markers, and pencils upstairs. We'll cover that topic another time!

If you made it this far, or skipped ahead, do you have suggestions? How do you keep from having multiple spots where junk lands and stays?

Thanks!
Your frustrated, but “it’s a new day!” Friend,
Anne Dovel