Garlic Knots and Green Things

Is it just me, or does it feel as though we’ve moved through the Bubble of Slow Time and are beginning to acclimate? This week went fairly quickly, with doctor appointments and errands. I did plenty of housework, laundry and sewing, and  the garden is mostly planted  - Bruce will finish up the carrots, pumpkins and sunflowers today.

As far as the stores and economy opening up, it’s way too soon in my opinion. But that just means that we’ll continue to stay home and only venture out as necessary. We still have to do occasional grocery shopping and pharmacy visits. I’m glad our grocery store is maintaining their senior/high risk hours and social distancing. We wear gloves and masks when we go out, even to the nursery (to buy some vegetable starts to supplement our seeds). Restaurant dining? Maybe outdoors somewhere down the road, but not now. We do some drive-through food ordering (warm food only. Salads and drinks we’ll furnish). I’m over 60, overweight (pains me to say that), with sleep apnea, rheumatoid arthritis and high blood pressure (controlled with medication). I’m a walking high risk poster child person.

But you’re probably here for the sewing part, so let’s get to it. May is for sewing our dark green scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It’s so nice that there are plenty of greens outdoors now too. I’ve got to take a walk around the yards and photograph some of the trees and flowers!

Anyway, here are 9 Split Nine blocks. I love playing with all the potential layouts with these versatile blocks!

I needed one dark green Beachcomber block, so that was next.

Here is a sampling of some that I’ve sewn so far. It sorely needs some red and yellow, don’t you agree?

And then the strings. Always strings! There are 14 of these 6.5-inch (unfinished size) blocks. Some may go into a “Creature” (miscellaneous color-themed) quilt. Maybe, maybe not. I’ll be playing with some green orphan blocks this next week to see if I have enough to do something.

This is how I’ve been doing my string blocks lately. Last year I was given a large roll of sheer fabric (think sheer curtain fabric, probably a polyester or other synthetic). After donating yards and yards to some of my Quilts for Kids friends, I saved several yards of this wide fabric for myself, and cut it into 6.5” strips. From those strips I cut out 6.5” blocks. I use them as the foundation for piecing my string blocks. It has the advantage of being lightweight and doesn’t need to be removed like paper. 

The only disadvantage is that they have to be pinned to my design wall, because the sheer won’t stick itself to the flannel. But that’s so minor. They wash up beautifully, too. 

And then I used the rest of my small crumbs to make six crumb blocks. These will go into the orphanage or a that green Creature quilt if it materializes. 

Last week I was pondering layout ideas for my RSC garlic knot blocks, and asked for your input. First, thank you to everyone who responded. Between the comments I’ve had over the last two or three weeks about Bruce’s surgery, the Paula B Blog Hop and the garlic knot dilemma, I’ve been overwhelmed with comments. Thank you! It’s so nice to know that you lovely people are reading along, offering kind words and opinions and just generally being supportive. I’m still working on responding, although I know I won’t get everyone. And several of you are No-Reply commenters, so I have no way to personally express my thanks.

Anyway, the most popular option, which also happened to be the one that Bruce and I were leaning toward, was the scrappy mixed color layout with the blocks all facing in one direction. So, that’s what I sewed together this week. 

My goal for the coming week is to get Garlic Knots layered and basted, as well as the pink and blue Happy Blocks flimsy. As far as quilting, I’ll focus first on another International Sisters wallhanging, then move on to Garlic Knots and Happy Blue and Pink as time permits. 

Bruce continues to improve. The picture below was taken a week (maybe 2?) ago. The “We’re #1” foam hand was sent as a joke to Bruce by his daughter Emily and her husband Chad. They know his sense of humor, and they were spot on! 

This past Tuesday, Bruce had half of the stitches removed from the amputation site. The swelling has really gone down. He goes back in about 10 days to get the rest of the stitches out. He also had a long planning meeting with the prosthetics people, and some of the parts and things for his custom prosthetic have been ordered. He will soon begin wearing a special sock over the stump which will help shape it for accepting the prosthetic. The process will take a few months, but it is well underway. Meantime, the only thing Bruce hasn’t been able to do is trim his left hand fingernails or cut his meat. But I bet that will change when he gets his prosthetic! Seriously, his can-do attitude and total lack of self-pity have kept his (and my) spirits elevated. It does my heart good to see him out in the garden planting and doing all his puttering around. Life is good!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.