Sometimes Life Requires Fudging!

I had visitors yesterday!

Around 1pm, I heard an ATV side-by-side vehicle making its way up our road.

So did SADIE! 

It had been incredibly quiet all day because of the snow ---and when you hear the rumble of an ATV you just know someone is headed your way.

Sadie was perching her paws up on the window sill and whining with excitement as Rick, Mona and Beanie pulled up into our deep snow covered drive.

Now 6 inches of snow might not be deep for you, but for us – who usually just get “a dusting” and call it winter—this was the most snow fall I had seen up there, and it all happened over night on the sly, so it was a sight to behold and a force to be reckoned with.

The plan?  While Rick and the roads committee took care of treacherous spots on our mountain roads, Mona and Beanie were coming to visit with me for a few hours.

She brought her newly adopted 1937 Featherweight, Winnie for her first Sew Day Out!

I am proud to tell you that Mona has finished her SECOND top – I took this photo the day we found WInnie in the antique mall:

Yeah, Mona!!

This one is going to get borders, so she will get her first lesson in adding borders to a quilt –on blocks that have bias edges!  There is nothing like going full steam ahead with NO FEAR! 

We are planning a “sleep over retreat” at my house here in Wallburg so we can get her quilts long-arm quilted.  She is in search of a backing for this one and just LOVES it.

So many lessons ahead – borders, quilting, binding.  Oh so much fun.

But we needed a project for her to sew yesterday.  And stash is limited at the cabin.  So a plan was devised:

Mona is making her first Scrappy 9 patches!

Her first quilt was 4 patches….so now we are on to 9 patches.  I’m having her do short strip sets so she gets loads of variety and not a lot of the same repeat.  She is going to dig through what’s left in that box of scraps & strings and see what she can get as far as 2” segments goes.  I’ll be digging for more “Stuff” for her here.  This is going to be a lap quilt for her mom.

We covered all of the basics…cutting, stitching with the right seam, and then of course…..fudging when all else fails!

The fudging happened in MY department:

Because sometimes THIS happens.

I am matching a pieced triangle to a solid triangle.  We KNOW the solid triangle is the size it needs to be.  The small one?  Well, even a mere thread off here or there can give you uneven edges.

To handle this I align the OUTSIDE edge of the unit, and let the short area just fall short in the seam, using the solid triangle’s edge to gauge my 1/4” seam.

The solid triangle’s edge is up against my guide.

And pardon my blue tape!  The double stick remountable sticking strip was NOT sticking and so I taped it down to hold it in place until I can get some more.  But it’s at the perfect seam for me so I am reluctant to replace it right now..it’s ugly, but I’ll deal!  Ha!

See how that short edge just floats away a bit from the edge of the solid triangle?

The seam FIXED my issue if I do it this way.  By the time I press, no one would know I was short within that seam.  The outside edge is what matters to keep the unit square and the proper size.  If I had aligned the inner edge instead of the outer edges, this unit would stay short in measurement and misshapen in appearance.

Measure Twice, Cut Once, and Fudge it to Fit!

And Beanie and Sadie snooze on!

On the home front – I am HOME!

There is another 4-6 inches of snow in the forecast, so last evening The Hubster came up with the 4wd pickup –he wanted to bring one of the 4 wheelers home here to work on, and we were able to get me and the van off the mountain. 

This is why there was no post from me last night – I was driving.  The only white knuckling happened going down the mountain and up Pumpkin Run which wasn’t bad.  By the time we hit highway 421 we were clear sailing all the way home.

I was so pooped by the time we got home close to 9pm that I just crashed.

And woke to this this morning:

Just a bit of white here in the woods off my back deck.

They are expecting BIG SNOW here tomorrow, but who knows if that will really happen or not.  At this point I’m looking forward to Tampa, Florida on Friday!  Something has to thaw out my feet at some point.

Since I am home – how about Quilt-Cam tonight at 9pm EST??

I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve got a Spider Web quilt in rows ready to assemble.  I’ll see you here!

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