Lynn Carson Harris

Morning Kayaking

B and I got up early and took our new craigslisted kayaks out for a spin.

We realized that it has been a really long time since we have done anything by ourselves. 

It was a nice quiet morning.

We saw lots of swans, 

and some interesting plants.

Flashback Friday

1982. I made this dress for some of the festivities of High School graduation. I know I wore it to the evening event that honored the top eight boys and top eight girls in the class.

Summer Scheduling

I've been working and sewing like crazy lately and beginning to feel like Miss P was getting the short end of the stick. We've changed around our daily plan and have made more time for some "fun for her" stuff.

She really enjoys a good popcorn picnic with stories in the yard. We are happy that our heat wave broke for a few days and have been spending a little more time outside. 
We have been trying to have fun with our chores too. She liked giving the garlic bulbs haircuts yesterday. We have also mastered the "two minute tidy" where we set the timer for two minutes and then both tidy up very fast. We can really get a lot of stuff put away in two minutes! That's a fun thing to do right before we play a game or start to fix dinner.

I've been trying to sew before she gets up in the morning, after she goes to bed, or while she is busy with a project of her own. Sometimes, though, she wants to help with the sewing. Today we whipped out some Free Market Fancy improv blocks. 

Well, I'd better go. She says it's my turn for Spirograph.

edit: Thank you ROssie for pointing out my typing slip. The fabrics are FLEA Market Fancy, not free market fancy.  

I May Need an Intervention

The other day when I posted pictures of the half inch hexies I was basting, Chawne asked if I needed an intervention. Well, maybe I do.... 

That project is not the only crazy tedious thing I've been working on. Back in December after Miss Petunia got her dollhouse for Christmas, she and I started working on a few things for it. First, we decided to make a braided rug. I found three different colors of crochet cotton, white, pink, and a pink/blue/green/yellow variegated in the sewing room.  We braided, and braided, and braided. Then it sat for a while. Occasionally we would remember about it and braid some more. We filled a spool with braid.  A few days ago I thought we should start stitching it. 
We take turns stitching; I go around the corners but she is pretty good at stitching on the straight sides. 

It is slowly growing into a longish rug for the hallway. I think it is turning out pretty great. Miss P wants us to stich faster so it can be finished!

Other noteworthy items:
- M now has a triathlon racing bike and fancy shoes clamp to the pedals. I'm too old for that sort of foolishness. I wouldn't remember that my feet were stuck to the pedals and would fall over at stop signs.  We went to the high school track where he tried it out and Miss P gained a little confidence on her two wheeler.  The track was a big hit; it's much easier to ride there than on our dirt/gravel driveway.


Miss P's baby celebrated her first birthday (again).We'll use any excuse for a cake around here.  P and I also made a baby gown for the baby as a birthday gift! Fun times.

A couple of evenings last week we went up to the lake to try to beat the heat and get cooled off at the end of the day. Friday, the lake water was so warm it was like swimming in bath water - not as refreshing as I had hoped but still fun because we all went together.

What fun family things have you been doing?

Hand Stitching Prep

Have you seen that Katy is hosting a hexalong on her blog? She has posted a few tutorials on how to get started. She is such an enabler that I decided to play with some hexagons too. Katy's pattern calls for 1.5 inch (measured on one flat side) hexagons. I like the look of the 1 inch ones so I'm using those. It also helps that I already had 1 inch papers. 

The other night I emptied the scrap bin and cut hexagons in groups of six. I just held the paper template to the front of the fabric and cut a hexagon with quarter inch seam allowance with my scissors. Some pieces of fabric were large enough that I could fold cut six at a time with my sharp Ginghers. The Kona sample pack of the new colors I got at Quilt Market was perfect for the centers. 

I was also compelled to try some hexies in the 1/2 inch size. They are so cute. I don't think I'll be making a whole quilt from them but they will be fun for smaller projects.

For those of you who are not familiar with English Paper Piecing, it is a traditional method for hand piecing quilts. The fabric is basted around a paper foundation and held to shape by the paper so that the pieces can then be sewn to each other. 

Some people use glue or a fabric glue stick to baste the fabric to the paper foundation. I prefer to thread and baste them without stitching through the papers. This way the basting can stay in after the papers are removed. The basting stitches will keep the seam allowances in place until the quilt is put together with the backing. Here's a picture of one that I have basted. I take two stitches to start  - the second stitch traps the thread tail and keeps it tucked toward the center. Then, since I'm left handed I proceed counter clockwise turning down the seam allowance and taking one tiny stitch to hold the fold together. On the last corner I take two stiches so that I can again trap the thread tail. This method is pretty quick.

The next step is to stitch them together into flower shapes. They could be sewn together in any sort of pattern but I'm making flowers for this project.

I'm getting a bunch of these ready and put in a bag for portable sewing. It'll be a great project for the car.

American Chestnut

It's been hot and muggy here for quite a few days. I went out for a quick stroll after a two minute rain shower this evening. Really, I dashed out to get the little chicks out of the rain and by the time I was back inside and had dried off my feet the rain had stopped. Still, it was nice while it lasted. We are weary of moving the soaker hose around the gardens.

Anyway, I mentioned that I went for a short stroll-- I noticed that the air behind the barn was thick with a heavy pollen odor. 

The American Chestnut is putting on quite a show.


And now it's time to go start quilting a quilt!

Good Mail Monday!

Liberty  lifestyle cottons.

Fun fabrics from Liberty in the mail today! It's a good thing I'm basting my current quilt project because I want to play with THESE!

Mosaic Bee Blocks

I have been doing lots of sewing these days but most of it is SECRET sewing so I can't share it just yet. 

This morning, however, I made these Mosaic blocks for my bee. Helen asked for Mosaic blocks in purple and pink using Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial.

I used scraps and Kona PFD for the grout.  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I am eager to see this quilt put together. There will be so many different pinks and purples.  

I have a long "to do" list so I'd better get back to work. I'll be thinking about everyone who is dealing with the big power outage and heat wave this weekend.