I’ve been sick since the morning after I last posted here. Functioning sick, with a cold, but still pretty miserable.

There’s been a fair amount of crafting going on, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary enough to share. So I thought it might be fun to make a short list of the things I’ve been digging over the course of my week of self-care:

Sloane Crosley. Her book, I Was Told There’d be Cake, was good company on my first day of sniffly, snotty misery. I gave it four out of five stars on goodreads, but it’s tempting to bump that up now that I’ve realized dioramas were involved.

Janet’s adorable quilt-in-progress. I think there’s a strong sense among people that know me that I must really want a baby, because nothing would make me happier than making baby stuff all day. And because I have this ridiculous love for, like, Pottery Barn Kids catalogs. But really, I think children would be so time-consuming. When would I have time to make baby stuff?

Pushing Daisies and Waitress. I think pie is about to be the new cake.

twitter. I know, I know.

But where else could this happen?

When I cut apron ties at a 90-degree angle - and who doesn’t??? - I always save the remaining triangle. I don’t particularly enjoy cutting triangles, so I’ve been stuffing the scraps into a baggie for about two years now.

I finally decided it made sense to line them up on some big muslin scraps (left over from quilt backing) to see if I can sort of turn them into squares.

Will it work?

I mean, this is about the last thing any of my quilting teachers would have encouraged. But with this many scraps, of a relatively small size, I just can’t be bothered with too much fiddlyness.

I’ll keep you posted.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d started, and then quickly finished, the “Summer Breeze” quilt from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, but what I might not have mentioned was that I didn’t follow the instructions exactly.

That’s not even true. I followed them to the letter, until I didn’t.

If you own Joelle Hoverson’s book, you might be surprised to see the quilt laid out and covering so much of a queen-sized bed. You might also be surprised to see it made up of seven stripes instead of five.

Why seven stripes? No numerology here. I used them because I had them.

Here’s what happened: I cut the fabrics as I was instructed to do. The first phase of this involved folding a long cut of quilter’s cotton lengthwise and cutting into four strips. Those are the big strips of houndstooth you’re seeing in the photos. Then, I cut 45″ (or 42″ or whatever, the whole width of the fabric) strips from that and four other fabrics of varying widths.

Yes, I am being intentionally vague about measurements, because I’d really like for people to buy the book.

As you might imagine from the pictures, I mixed up the 45″-wide cuts, sewed them together in groups of four or five, varying widths and prints as much as possible, pressed the seams, cut them into chunks, and stacked them up to make the horizontal striped sections of the quilt.

The technique yielded a really cute combination of stripes. However, it also turned out to be way more stripe-age than I needed. I guess if I were really picky about fabric position, I’d have been happy with so much to work with, but I can’t imagine making a randomized, strippy picnic blanket is really a fun activity for the overly picky.

Plus, there was the fact that I was only about to use two of the long houndstooth pieces I cut. To be fair, the instructions do call for the remaining long cuts to be used as binding, but I determined the print was too busy for that, and used a dark brown Kona cotton with some of the leftover striped bits integrated in. So if you end up “going big” on this quilt like I did, make sure you have enough of something
to use for binding.

So, after a bit of head-scratching, I determined I didn’t have another use for the stripes I’d made, and added another column of those, as well as an extra houndstooth strip. My finished quilt is somewhere around 81″ square - small for my bed, but could make a good guest quilt, or fit a twin that sits high off the floor.

If I made this quilt again - and I may very well do so - I’d either proceed with the modifications I’ve just detailed (might as well go big if you can do it without any extra effort!) or make the original eliminate a few of the widest 45″ cuts. I’m sure there are almost infinite ways to make this project less of a yardage-eater, but that might involve more math than I generally feel like doing.

I’ve had a bit of a tummy bug for the past almost-week, which has been as annoying as you might expect, and VERY poorly timed. What’s worse than a whole day of feeling fine, capped off with fresh yuckiness in the middle of a new episode of Dexter? Ugh.

When ill, I am usually more than capable of keeping up my normal craft load - it’s things like trucking to the grocery store and the post office that I can’t manage. But rather than work, I’d typically prefer to balance things out by sewing up something that’s going to really excite me, like a new dress.

I spent Friday evening - and no more time than that! - on the Prairie Girl dress from Favorite Things. And I was so pleased with the results, I couldn’t wait to take photos, as you can see in this dark and grainy shot:

I kind of like that the quality is SO BAD. It looks like it was taken a gazillion years ago, and has since faded. Too bad my camera is less than a year old, and a tipoff to the photo’s modernity.

And, because my Mac is a better photographer than I am, here’s a quick shot of the top part of the dress:

The white tank top is mine. The pattern did include pieces for an optional sew-in dickey and slip, but I used heavy enough cotton that the slip was not required, and, in the interest of finishing up sooner, I decided just to layer the dress over one of several tops I already have.

I wore this very proudly to a party on Saturday, and then the weather turned cold. So pride comes before the fall, or Fall, even, after all.

I think my cleaning and organizational kick has really paid off - in the form of a bunch of 9-patch blocks I made about 10 years ago! I found them all crumpled in with some forgotten scraps and supplies. I should take better care of my things.

I should start by remembering I have said things.

I’m really excited to integrate these into my sampler quilt, which hasn’t grown since I last posted about it.

I know this is a terrible picture, and not even a good subject for a blog post, but I feel better - physically lighter and just better - now that I’ve organized the cupboard that serves as my “pantry”:

The inaugural email sent to the The Vintage Housekeepers Circle today charged us with baking a Wednesday Cake, and though mine is not as frilly or fancy as the lovely Alison suggested, it’s going to be served underneath lemon curd.

Oh, lemon curd! Even the promise of you is happy-making.

I don’t know of a better lemon curd recipe than Martha’s. And I mean that quite literally - this is the only one I’ve tried, but I’m happy to concede I am a curd n00b. My cupcake book has a slightly different recipe, and with a passionfruit variation, which I would have tried had I been able to find passionfruit nectar. As it is, I have a lemon tree out front, so I’ll go with Martha’s instructions. They’re what I know, and the lemons are free.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so domestic in just a few short hours. I need to decide if I want to keep on housekeepin’ on, or do something entirely frivolous so I don’t burn out….