February already and more sashiko in the works

In January I finished Noelle's sashiko throw (no batting)... here are a couple of close ups and I will get photos of the whole thing this week when I give it to her! 

My niece Alyssa is making an improv "row by row" quilt for her sister and I'm helping with a couple of the rows - scrappy waves: 

And messy log cabin blocks - on my sewing/guest room "design bed" below - 

Another niece, Stephanie, had a baby shower and the food was set up so cute with a "book" theme... 

I forgot to get a photo of the simple baby quilt I made her!  It's nice to live 2 hours drive away now that we are in North Carolina.  I can't believe I've lived here three years already! 

Meanwhile our little local grand daughter Chloe sweet as can be here with one of the quilts I made her -  

Last week I basted another sashiko throw - this one for my brother and sister in law - here's the backing - and this time I'm experimenting using very thin batting in between the indigo layers. 

Basting went fast, easy with Netflix on my laptop - 

Per Susan Briscoe's instructions, I hemmed the throw right after basting.  Tougher to do with batting, however thin the batting is (Cream Rose). 

Two weeks ago Tommy and Camille went to Tokyo, and this week David was in Tokyo.  We tried hard to coordinate timing but it didn't work out so I stayed home.  

Here's Camille barely visible in a dish shop in Kappabashi (kitchen district).  

In other news...  after debating for a couple of years, it looks like we have decided to get a golden-doodle puppy (medium sized) in the spring (I put down a deposit).... Very exciting except for when I'm having second thoughts.  It is so nice to be able to leave the house without a care in the world.  And yet, I do miss having a dog! 

Hope all of you my far-flung quilty buddies are having a good start to February... 

xo

Cynthia 

More catching up - October and November - baby Chloe born!

Working backwards, with the happiest news, our fourth grand daughter, Chloe, was born just before Thanksgiving;).  

My favorite kind of selfie: 

I was Noelle's support person for her C-section - what an honor! 

Tommy, Camille, and their close friend Sophie were here for Thanksgiving and we just loved having them here - 

Leading up to all that and in no particular order - lots of kitchen time - a stash of granola to freeze for the weeks ahead - 

Our townhouse roofs were replaced over the course of several weeks -  

We went to California for my niece Megan's wedding - here at the rehearsal dinner the night before - Megan, me, my step-Mom Denise: 

And of course also to see grand daughters - 

They have moved to the "east bay" outside of San Francisco - 

The Halloween energy was big - 

Back in NC, ever hopeful about the election - but let's not go there. 

And an ongoing bathroom renovation - is there anything more disruptive, in a small home, than a bathroom renovation?  Ha.  But it was worth it.  My brother makes fine cabinetry and is always in demand.  

I had the walls painted SW Silvermist.  Custom medicine cabinets in natural cherry - 

Shower niche tile, combo of chambray blue and soft green.  The tile guys were here three times!  

Busy weeks, tip toeing around the bathroom renovation.  

A couple of concerts thrown into the mix - Vampire Weekend at the urging of Tommy - and we loved it - 

And Lake Street Dive - honestly, such a great band - warm up band was Tiny Habits, so good too. 

Pizza weekend with our nephew Joey and his friend Paul - 

Noelle and Keenan threw themselves a casual baby shower with southern BBQ and all the fixings - I brought salad, cupcakes and the finished baby quilt - 

In other quilty news I managed to finish doing the sashiko stitching on Kaela's sashiko throw, section by section.  I'm real pleased with it and will give it to her at Christmas.  It's raining today but I will get a better photo at some point soon.   

How do the days and weeks and months fly by so fast? 

xo Cynthia 

p.s.  What are your favorite holiday bakes? This might be a new favorite around here: 

Sophie Gee's Sticky Toffee Pudding 2024  

Sophie - Madame Superstar! - is Camille's bestie and she joined us for Thanksgiving this year.  The night before she left, Sophie made us her favorite dessert.  We devoured it!  Soooo good.  Her mom got this recipe while living in England years ago.  

Pudding: 

1 C water

3/4 C chopped dates 

2 tsp baking soda

4 T butter

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

3/4 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a 9" square pan.  

In a saucepan, bring the water and chopped dates to a boil, then remove from heat.  Stir in the baking soda and set aside. 

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs one by one, beating after each one. 

Gently fold in flour and salt, then stir in the dates and vanilla. 

Pour into the prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes, until cake is done.  The cake will be very dark. 

SAUCE: 

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C heavy cream

4 T butter

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer 3 minutes.   Keep warm. 

Serve the warm cake over a bed of the warm sauce, and topped with whipped cream.  YUM.  

Catching up! - baby quilts - August and September

The past four months have passed in a flash. Here is a quick catch-up about August and September!  

Over the summer I worked on a couple of baby quilts for Noelle's baby Chloe - 

At the end of July David and I drove up to Maine for a week in Ogunquit with our kids and grand daughters. 

The summer flew by! 

Then at the end of August we drove BACK up to Massachusetts to spend the whole month of September based there.  Yup, we were so hopeful about the election: 

It was wonderful to reconnect with some dear friends, and the place we still feel is "home" in so many ways.  Still, "you can't go home again" sort of resonates.  

While in MA, the most astonishing thing happened. Someone contacted me on Ancestry with a very strong DNA match, and it turns out I have a half-aunt, about my age - my Grandmother had had a baby and gave her up for adoption, later in life, completely privately and no one knew for all of these years. It has been an absolute joy and pleasure to get to know my "aunt", who is the spitting image of my grandmother, her birth mother!   

*Edited to remove a screenshot of a Zoom call, for privacy reasons 

In Massachusetts I also worked on a couple of baby quilt tops for great-nieces due in the coming months: 

I will do another post about quilty things seen during our time in New England, so stay tuned for that!  (If anyone is reading blogs anymore, lol). 

xo

Cynthia 

Simple baby quilt finish

Sometimes it's fun to interrupt work on other quilting projects, to make a simple baby quilt. 

Our nephew Tyler and his wife Johanna in Utah are expecting a baby girl in September.  They have recently adopted twin pre-schoolers (Tyler's Mom Amy, my sister-in-law, had fostered them as babies!), and so new baby girl will make three, and the whole little family is so excited.  

It is so fun to make the simplest of patchwork quilts.  Johanna sent me a couple of photos with the vibe and color scheme she wants for baby's room.  

and so I used what I already have to make the top.   I have a box of 3 1/2 inch squares and I started there, and then pulled from stash.  Bella Solids unbleached muslin, and Dream Cotton select batting, which is the mid-loft. 

I machine quilted it in the simplest way possible, on either side of the seam lines, with the walking foot. 

Little peachy flowers on off-white for the backing - 

 

Crinkly out of the dryer - 

Ready to send to Utah.  Like all the baby quilts I make, this one is meant to be used heavily and washed 1000 times, and it will only get softer and better over time.  That's wabi-sabi.  

Meanwhile, I am prepping for our family vacation to southern Maine.  It will be so nice to get out of the North Carolina heat for a week! 

xo

Cynthia