Accuquilt – TooBusyForWork

Summer 2023 trip is begun!

There was a lot of prep work to get this trip started. First we had to get the motorhome repaired. We found a guy who does upscale fiberglass boats, and he did a great job with a quick turnaround. He said we were lucky it was before Memorial Day, because he gets busy as soon as people put their boats in the water! Then Kevin ordered the new solar panels, and my lovely son in law Nick helped him put them on the motorhome. They were luckily able to McGyver an approach to use the old mounting hardware on the new panels which saved him having to drill new holes in the roof, always a good thing.

I finished up the quilt I started at the quilt retreat too. It was cut with an Accuquilt Hunter’s Star die. I planned for it to go into my stash of baby quilts for future needs, but a friend I have been camping with for 8 years was diagnosed with cancer, so I sent it to her instead. It is PINK, way more PINK than I anticipated when I bought the fabric. I tried to tone it down with a dark quilting thread, but it didn’t do much for the PINK. I did experiment with my rulers on this quilt, and I like the result.

One thing I did differently on this little quilt was to sandwich it using pool noodles and basting spray. Why did I wait to long? It was so much easier to keep things straight and wrinkle free. I made Kevin buy me an extra set of pool noodles to I can do the bigger quilts I have too.

I also finished quilting 3 quilts for my quilt guild donation program. It is enjoyable, and I get good practice. I am still learning about my quilt regulator table, so practice is needed. I also had time to make a sample block from a new die I bought from Blue Wren, a circle in a square. It is basically a Drunkard’s Path variation where the circles adjoin each other. The fabric is not my favorite! I grabbed two fat quarters I didn’t like, and here is the result. I never would have tried this without the cutter, but I love it!

In preparation for the summer, I cut bunches and bunches of tumblers for a scrap quilt. I also cut 20+ bowl cozy sets out of a variety of fabrics for a class I am going to teach at the FMCA convention in Gillette, WY this August. The class size is 12, but there always seem to be a few extras, and I wanted some variety for the students to choose from.

Another preparation step was to buy a small bread maker. This makes a 1 pound loaf, just the right size for Kevin and me. It is quite easy to use, and we are taking it with us on the trip.

Really nice garlic butter rolls (we ate the others)

We tried to leave on Tuesday, 30 May, but we had to wait for an Amazon package that was late. We did get out on Wednesday, and decided to make it a long day. We drove all the way to Kearney, NE, about 450 miles, in order to sneak through a nasty wind storm forecast. We spent the night in the Cabela’s parking lot there, a place we have stayed in before. Lots of trains coming close by, but I put in foam ear plugs and crashed.

Thursday night we stayed in a fabulous National Forest Service dispersed campsite at Vedauwoo Recreation Area about 20 miles west of Cheyenne, WY. What a fabulous place! It is a popular climbing destination with a small campground but lots of dispersed but designated campsites. The rocks are amazing. We will definitely be coming back with the RZR to ride some of the trails. Absolutely no cell service, but the Starlink was ok with downloads of 8-15MB.

Lots of these rocks looking like giant building blocks

We are in Rock Springs tonight at the Walmart. As usual a bit noisy, but very convenient. Tonight’s dinner is salsa chicken in the Instant Pot and frozen Trader Joe’s Mexican corn. I better get going on it!

Been a long time …

I never seem to post much when we are just hanging around the house. We haven’t taken any fun trips, and we have mostly been consumed with medical “stuff.” Kevin had a knee replacement four weeks ago, and before that we had the series of miscellaneous appointments that go with having surgery. It didn’t help that the surgeon and facility was 1 1/2 hours away! But the results have been fabulous. He used a walker for just one week, and he tossed the cane four days ago. He still gets sore of course, and the strengthening exercises have a painful aftermath, but he is powering through it. His motivation is to get in good enough shape to drive south after Christmas. Good motivation as a snowstorm heads our way tonight and tomorrow!

We have made a change in the storage facility for the motorhome. The price for our indoor storage has increased from $220 a month to $379 over four years. We moved to outdoor storage for $45 a month. Of course there was a lot to clean out of the enclosed storage first, and the garage at the house had to be re-arranged to hold it all! Kevin managed to fit everything in plus the trailer with the RZR and two cars in the 3 stall garage. I was impressed. Keeping the batteries in good shape while stored without electricity has been a learning experience. We have a lot of solar, but there are parasitic draws even with the 12v and 110v systems turned off. The LiFePO4 batteries need to be kept about 50-70% in storage, so we had to play with some of the charger setting. I think we have it now.

We also hired our son in law to do install some landscape blocks to even out the slope in our lawn some. We had gravel that went down a hill, and every big rain would wash some of it in the grass. Now I will have a nice flower/shrub bed next spring. Oh, and it really is level even though I can’t seem to take a decent picture!

I have done some sewing, but not enough! I finally finished piecing the king sized quilt for our motorhome. I don’t have a picture though since it still needs a good pressing. It is a lovely Jewel Box design with rich colors on a charcoal background. I haven’t really quilted anything because I sent my Handi Quilter Sweet 16 display and c-pod to get updated. I am considering upgrading my S16 to use a stitch regulator table, and this was needed. The update is relatively inexpensive, but the table is not! Still thinking about that, but the update has some advantages just by itself.

I also am working on a “Mystery Quilt” Zoom class that uses my AccuQuilt cutting system. We get new “clues” every week, and we make the blocks called for. We don’t know what the final design will be until the last session on 26 December. The class is well run and the technology actually works! Here are my first two big blocks. There are also lots of little blocks that go with them that will be used in the final assembly. I only showed a few of those. The little blocks are of all types – tiny four patch (shown), bigger four patch, hour glass, kite, and others. The instructor is telling us to only finger press our blocks as we go, and that is so hard for me! But I am giving it the old college try, and I hope it works well. Pressing is a very power hungry task, and it would be nice to not do much of it while we boondock.

First block of the second week – 18” square

I still have the second block of the second week to do, plus a bunch more of the little blocks. I really messed up on the color contrast with this one, but oh well. Lesson learned.

I am also starting Christmas presents, though I am way behind. This year everyone is getting oven mitts, cut (of course) with the AccuQuilt. Here is the sample I am keeping for myself. I am pretty happy with the construction and the final appearance. I used my binding attachment, and it went together pretty well.

I also bought myself a bit of a present (shush, don’t tell!). I ordered a Handi Quilter “Mystery Ruler Box.” It had six long arm quilting rulers in it, and it only cost $50. Pretty good deal! I am not sure what I will do with the hexi, but I feel I will use the others.

I will probably think of something else I have forgotten in the last two months, but I can catch that later.

Looking back three months

Yup, it has been three months since I last posted. I am not really depressed, but it seems like the things I am doing just aren’t the things I normally write about. Today I looked back and realized that I probably should document some, so here is a very top level summary.

First is sewing. I have been doing more sewing than I have in the past. Of course I have been doing masks, probably another 150 since September. Most of them went to local schools. I have also semi-joined a local quilt guild that does a lot of donation quilting. I say “semi-joined” in that I went to one meeting, but I haven’t paid dues yet. They aren’t meeting right now, even virtually, so I will wait until they do to officially join. I have enjoyed quilting 6 quilts for them on my Sweet 16 though. It gives me a lot of practice, and it gets them done. Like most quilt groups, they have a lot more people who piece tops than those who quilt the completed quilts. The ones they gave to me, someone unknown to them, have mostly been among the ugliest quilts I have seen. Totally random patches of various sizes of old fabric, but they will keep someone nice and warm. These are twin bed sized quilts, and for 4 of them I just did a simple meander. One I practiced doing pebbles on, and another one got some ruler work. I didn’t take any pictures though.

I also did some non-quilting work too: three Hogwarts robes for some of the grandkids. I used a lovely poly/cotton gabardine, and they turned out wonderfully.

For quilting of my own, there have been a bunch of baby and children’s quilts. The first two were cut completely with my Accuquilt system. I got the alphabet dies for my birthday, and I think they do a great job on children’s quilts.

For a young girl getting a surprise cancer diagnosis

I made one for me – a Riley Blake National Parks panel with a wool batting. I will keep this in the motorhome.

Another for my daughter to give as a shower gift. I am quite proud of this one. All those triangles were cut with an Accuquilt 4 1/4” equilateral triangle die. I could not have done it without the die! Trying to keep the bias and non-bias edges straight would have been impossible, but the die cuts notches on the bias edges to use for matching to the next piece. Very nice!

“Fox and Friends” or, as I prefer it, “Foxy Friends”

Daughter and I like this one so much we bought the fabric to do another one in the spring.

Of course all sewists need to do something for Christmas presents, so I did microwave bowl cozies. I made a few, then decided a new cutting die would make it much easier. I ordered from Blue Wren, an Australian company who has dies that fit my Accuquilt. It took just over 3 weeks to get it from Australia, and I went to town. Thirty total cozies. This is most of them. A few had already been packed up.

And what else have I sewn? I actually did some machine embroidery too! Lake Volney is where one son has his cabin, so he wanted two beach towels with the name on them.

I also bought a new (old) sewing machine! I have been wanting a vintage Bernina for a long time. I could use it as my travel machine for the motorhome and as a backup for my beloved Bernina 440. I finally found this 830 Record, built in 1974, in great shape with loads of accessories. She is sooo pretty, though she smelled of cigarettes and mustiness. The repair guy who cleaned up her insides and get her oiled up got rid of the vast majority of smoke, and I figure I can eventually cure her of mustiness. I sold the Viking I had been using. I guess I am just a Bernina girl!

A classic mechanical Bernina. The knee lift goes in the bottom right but isn’t shown.

All the standard accessories plus lots of extra feet plus lots and lots of bobbins.

I am probably forgetting something, but this is long enough already. We are planning our trip to Arizona now; more one that later.

Traveling again! Badlands National Park

I obviously am not terribly motivated to keep up the blog when we aren’t traveling, so it has (again) been weeks since I updated. I will try to catch up. Warning: there is a bunch!

I finally got caught up on my donation sewing, and I am taking a serious break. I made 20 isolation gowns of a horrid fabric that turns out to be designed for outdoor signs! It was a very heavy double knit fabric, and a bear to sew. Each gown took 2+ hours, so it was a considerable amount of work. I didn’t take any pictures because I don’t want any nightmares of them! I also finished a box of “Button Buddies” which are small absorbent pads to fit around a pediatric g-tube. Those were for The Preemie Project, and I completed 600 of them.

The top one is the sample. The rest I sewed.

I was also very lucky that my son in law dug out a garden for me, and a daughter in law helped me choose plants and planted most of them! It is a shady spot facing north, so shade lovers only. Obviously lots of different types of hostas, coral bells, azaleas, variegated redbud shrub, Sweet William, and some others I can’t remember.

Left an empty spot for some type of garden ornament

Still did some more piecing. I got a new die for my Accuquilt cutter, a 7” (finished) Drunkard’s Path. I ordered a fat quarter collection from Connecting Threads, and here is the first sample I made. I am thrilled! Everything went together perfectly. It certainly helps to have perfect cuts.

I started saying we were traveling, but gave no information. We took a trip to Badlands National Park for Kevin to take night sky photos of the Milky Way around a new moon. We left on a week ago on Wednesday morning, and spent the night in Fairmont, MN at the Flying Goose campground. Nice little place with lots of long term residents, but well kept and good sized sites. Thursday we stayed in Al’s Oasis campground in Chamberlain, SD. Not bad, but more open and close to the highway. We then made it to Badlands on Friday morning. The NPS concessionaire campground is Cedar Pass. It is a series of loops with bump outs along the road for sites; the vast majority would never have held a rig as big as ours. Site 76 fit us fine, though we had to wiggle around some to get in. It is an odd site where we had to drive to the site the wrong way down the road so the door didn’t open into the street. I liked the view from the campground.

We saw lots of wildlife, as expected. In addition to the ones pictured, we saw bats, an owl, and we heard coyotes. There was a large nursery herd of bison I didn’t get a good picture of. There were also a number of bachelors showing off. This guy was getting a belly scratch on a post.

We saw a surprising number of mountain sheep in at least two separate nursery herds and one herd of males.

This girl was grazing by the road. We passed by 5’ from her in the car without her acknowledging our existence.

As good a close up as my little camera can take

Kevin found the guys, and this is from his (much better) camera.

It rained much of the time we were there, so we had to time our sightseeing carefully. The pictures show at least some of the beauty.

The whole purpose of coming was to get some Milky Way pictures, and the rain and clouds were bad until the very last night. Kevin got some spectacular pictures, though they need some post processing to get their full glory (he shoots in RAW format). Here is a taste.

Galactic core with the landscape highlighted by a passing carlight

The Milky Way core can only be seen in its entire glory in the summer. Saturn is the bright spot center bottom.

Since we lucked out with the weather on Monday night, we left this morning happy. We are staying in the KOA in Sioux Falls, SD. Pretty place with lots of trees and a huge pull through. We paid with points because $66 was expensive! Full hook up, and we will prep the rig for its next trip to Alabama next month. Oh, and while we were gone, I cut 80 blocks of Drunkard’s Path for Kevin’s lap rug. Two thirds of them are sewn, and I am very happy with my progress. I probably could have finished them tonight, but I thought I would write instead. Taking the Accuquilt and some dies seems like a very reasonable thing on long trips.

Life is looking up

We are still semi-isolating, it it is a lot better than full isolation. The local medical facilities are managing well, and the local hot spot is a meat packing plant that we have no interaction with. We are going to the grocery store by ourselves now, and it is so wonderful to choose fresh produce! We have ordered more takeout too. We wear masks everywhere outside except in our own car, and I made some more masks of a fitted style since Kevin has issues with his glasses fogging up. I even bought a die from Accuquilt to speed up production. I keep refining my design. This is the most recent.

Accuquilt die cut, bound with 1 1/2” double fold binding.

To get an even better fit I am going to put a small dart on the side. It has a tendency to gap there.

I have also been cooking. We ordered an Air Fryer lid for our Instant Pot, and it finally got delivered after 6 weeks (Amazon u essential items). It certainly does make good crispy things like tater tots are brilliantly. I made onion rings from scratch that were pretty good too, but I overcooked my diced potatoes. Live and learn. Kevin has been sous vide cooking steaks and a pot roast. Love the steaks, but the pot roast was bland even though he seasoned it. I think I will go back to doing that on the stove or in the Instant Pot.

My Accuquilt adventures continue. I got a great deal on a 12” Qube that makes bigger blocks like I will be using on our bedroom quilt. I also ordered a Drunkard’s Path die and a 1 1/2” strip cutter. Those haven’t come in yet, so I am working on my piecing skills. I still have a ways to go. Here are some examples and comments. And yes, I am being hard on myself. I really want my piecing to move up a notch. I picked up the fabric at a local shop, and the blocks will eventually become a baby girl quilt.

Flying Birds block looks good, but the first one ended up too small. This is the first and second one showing the difference.

See the 1/8-3/16” size problem in the closeup?

This is a Flying X block. It came out the correct size too. What a bear to put together though. Won’t make more of this one!

Dutchman’s Puzzle looks better. Best flying geese I have ever done, but still needs some improvement.

I have also been sewing some isolation gowns, but my serger is having issues. I can’t seem to get any of the repair folks to call me back! Frustrating. Oh, and I made 7 masks for a local non-profit. I intended to make more, but they didn’t get my fabric pieces put together well. They were the Olson masks with a spot for a filter. Hard to sew!

We did break our isolation to spend Mother’s Day weekend at a local lake. The Friday before my daughter called to say a campsite was open and to ask if we wanted it. We instantly said yes and began getting ready. It was a lovely weekend, and it was so nice to see a different view outside. We are looking forward to a couple of trips this summer, so we got our yearly diesel maintenance done at a local Freightliner shop. We also had them install the Koni shocks we bought a few months ago. They make a huge difference! The coach seems a bit smoother, and it doesn’t wiggle when we hit rough roads and pot holes. Our next trip is to Badlands NP in mid-June, and we will drive I-90 which is very bumpy, so the shocks should help. Kevin got reservations at the NP campground during the week of the new moon. He is looking to get some astrophotographs of the Milky Way which is at its best this time of year.

Life in isolation (heavy on sewing)

We aren’t really in quarantine, but we are self-isolating pretty solidly. We have done curbside pickup for a number of items, and I did go to a small grocery store a few days ago. My oldest son has been dropping off groceries once a week, but we stay at least 6’ away. And I did visit my primary care provider for a very sore shoulder. They were very cautious with no waiting allowed except in your car. The poor PCP was in full face shield and mask which made it rather challenging to do some detailed examination. She was able to schedule me a referral to the orthopedist for next week. The specialists are just now opening up their practices again.

But on to happier things! I have been sewing up a storm. I made 70-80 masks for family, friends, and a nursing home. I made a scrub cap for my daughter, but the pattern needs some more tweaking before making more. I also got a number of quilts finished, all baby sized. I apologize for the wrinkled. These have all been curled up in a closet.

These two were completed while we were traveling. I was determined to use up a bunch of batik scraps I had.

Scraps from a bedroom quilt. I love the brown/teal fabric.

I also had a bunch of his pink print from my granddaughters quilt. I pulled the pink and white from scraps, and the white was just too bright once I got the top together. A woman at a lovely shop in Lake Havasu recommended using a cranberry thread to pull things together, and it was a good choice. This is the same pattern as one below based on a 6” square.

I had to order fabric for this one. Friends of my second son are ardent UNI fans, so I went with this theme for them. Normally I just do an all-over meander on baby quilts, but I did free-form curvy lines on this one.

For a University of Northern Iowa baby. Their colors are (surprisingly) purple and gold.

I did this quilt with my brand new Accuquilt Go! cutting machine. I am not a good rotary cutter, and I have been thinking about one of these for a while. A local quilt shop had a special going, so I did it! I got the basic cutter, a 2 1/2” strip cutter, and a set of cutters for miscellaneous shapes that finIsh at 2” and 4”. The miscellaneous set is called an 8” Qube, and it is lovely. I particularly like the animal focus fabric. This is the pattern of the girly quilt above, but based on a 4” square.

Just a quick Accuquilt sample. Cute animal fabric, isn’t it?

I have also been cooking. I finally got over my fear of crepes, and we have had them a couple of times filled with eggs, cheese, and bacon. The left overs were enjoyed with maple syrup the next day. Multiple batches of brownies made me decide I really needed to stop baking when there are only two of us! We have had sweet chili grilled shrimp, Dijon salmon, sous vide steaks, and lovely Iowa pork chops.

I told you this was a more positive post! I am getting ready to start making masks again with a local non-profit. I said I would commit 10 hours a week. They think I can do 30 in that time, but I think I can do a lot more. I was making masks at a rate of 4/hour when I had to cut my own fabric, and this group will be providing fabric and ties or elastic. I am pretty efficient at assembly line batch sewing.

Kevin and I have been getting out on our bikes over the last couple of weeks since it finally warmed up. That has helped my mental state quite a bit as has a number of bright sunny days. I just wish we could go camping …