What I'm Working On

Obviously a work in progress, just the top. What could be simpler than a cherkerboard?  Oh, but sewing all those little two inch squares together?  Well, yes and no. I did sew them all together but not one by one. There's a quicker and easier method. I won't try to explain but lots of how-to books show you. 

Early this month I went to a garage sale of fabric (calling it a "yard" sale is a pun, really, there were many yards of fabric and many quarter yards and many pieces of various sizes). Lots of pieces had been crammed into gallon baggies. One of those contained many strips cut 2-1/2 inches wide and many. many of them were navy with small white print, some were white with navy prints.  Maybe Betty, whose sale it was, (she's moving and destashing) was going to make a quilt something like this. I don't know. I had to add some whites of my own and of course the red border. 

This has a backing (red, white and blue, of course) but it won't be finished until the weather turns cooler. Summer is a time, for me, for making tops not for dealing with three-layer quilts on my lap as I sew.  Given all the very fancy designs I see in the magazines, something about the simplicity of this checkerboard is very soothing to me. Should I call it a "modern" quilt?  It seems about as far from modern as possible but maybe it's simplicity would put it in that category.

Belated

I think the hanging plants on either side of my mini patio (mother's day gifts) are called dendronia. This photo was taken this morning after a very refreshing shower. Our weather has been so variable one doesn't know what to expect from day to day. Today is very lovely now.

I keep forgetting to take my camera. With a small group, I had tour through an historic house -- really three that have been amalgamated as one for a long time. One was started in 1690 and added to not long after. Another was brought over from Nantucket "on the ice" the owner said. That is mind boggling. Nantucket is a good 15 or 20 miles across open water. A third house was  build in 1750 and when it was moved from somewhere to become the back part of the extant house, I don't remember.  The outsides were original, the insides kept the fireplaces (in every room) and floors but much else was different, which is not to say it's all new. The house was surrounded by an informal and somewhat densely planted lawn -- so much so (and it was such a warm day) that the mosquitoes came out and attacked.

The wonderful thing is that Rte. 6A on the northside of the Cape is lined with houses or every vintage, all different from one another, some very grand (and they are mostly B&Bs or institutional, with art galleries.  But many modest houses, probably others this old too, most not so old, few are very new and new ones have been designed to fit in.  Strict zoning rules keeps commerical signage  away and means that some commercial buildings are actually hidden behind others -- which was true of "Jack's Outback" which is a breakfast and lunch place behind other commercial buildings that I didn't know existed until I was led there yesterday.  It's a very curvey two-lane road where floral plantings are always a delight and where all Christmas lights must be white.  I love it and drive it often.  There are still many, many surprises, I'm sure.