Posts from — May 2009

Raizl playing her cello

Raizl is about to have her bat mitzvah.  She’s a fun and funky thirteen year old, and she’s done some odd jobs for us, like watering our plants when we’ve been out of town.  She’s a very polite girl, and she’s starting to come into her own.  When her mother approached me about making a quilt for her bat mitzvah gift, I was slightly overwhelmed, particularly when I found out that Raizl had asked for it specifically.  Not just a quilt, but one made by me.

When C (her mother) and I met to discuss it, we spoke a bit about size and price, and the kind of quilt Raizl would like.  I was pleased that a wallhanging was desired, since that is what I am most comfortable with.  Traditional block-based quilts are not what I am used to making, so I began to relax a bit.  We then went on to discuss color and theme.  C mentioned the color scheme of the other quilt Raizl has (her baby quilt), and how some of the same colors would be incorporated into the invitations to the event, which have a stylized striped prayer shawl on their border.  These were suggestions to me, and as C said, I had free reign to interpret them.  I liked the idea of incorporating symbolic textiles, but I wasn’t sure what direction to take them in.

I spent a month or two mulling these ideas in my head, as I tried to figure out how to match the colors and subject with the girl I know.  I decided I needed to talk to Raizl herself, and take a few pictures, to see what became of it.  Raizl and her parents have two dogs (a dachsund, and a Boston terrier).  She’s also a swimmer (much like my niece, K, who’s of similar age), and she plays the cello.  I took pictures of her swim trophy from this year (Most Improved), her dogs, Raizl with the cello, and with a large fluffy scarf, to see if any of these things would suggest good quilt images.

Raizl's Bobblehead Swim Trophy

 

Raizl with a linen scarf, to suggest ideas

First Tracing of the photo

Tracing enlarged 200% with gridding

My next step is what I learned from Ruth B. McDowell, an amazing quilt artist from Massachusetts, and also an MIT grad, for trivia fans. Not only do I love the way she works, I love that she can explain technical details of piecing clearly in print. 

The next step is to alter the picture to make it pieceable.  I decided that it would be best, given my time constraints, to make this image with straight seam piecing, since they are quicker to put together than curved seams.  I used another layer of tracing paper over the image, and used a ruler to simplify the main lines of the image, and divide the image into sections that are pieceable.  For more details on how this is done, refer to one of Ruth’s books, which can explain it much better than I ever could.

After determining the pieceing lines,  it’s time to make templates.  Using freezer paper shiny side up, I duplicated the lines from the tracing paper onto the freezer paper with a fine tip Sharpie marker.

Creating the Freezer Paper Templates

After tracing the design lines, I labeled the pieces on the rough side of the paper with a pencil. This is also the time to mark any connection points or lines to match pieces together. I labeled the pieces with letters, to represent the features of the picture (one letter for background, one letter for skin, one letter for shirt, one letter for sleeves, one letter for the wood part of the cello, etc.) before cutting the templates apart. I also marked major sections on the original tracing for piecing sections. Then I cut the templates apart.

Next came the most creative part of the process- auditioning the fabrics for each piece, before sewing them together. This is a major reason I love this technique for piecing, besides the fact that you are assured to get an accurately sized top when it’s all together!

Auditioning fabrics before sewing

Auditioning Fabrics, again

 I ironed the template pieces to fabric, and added seam allowance around the template with a small rotary cutter, and then pin the fabric to its position on the original tracing, which I have placed on a piece of foam core.  After I’ve selected fabrics, I look at the piece through my color filters (clear red plexiglass and clear green plexiglass) to make sure the values are correct,  in case I want to make adjustments.  There’s a little waste if I have to recut a piece to get the right colors to come forward or move back visually, but it’s a small amount, considering the size of the pieces, and the advantages of auditioning more than one possibility.

Once I have all the fabrics selected, pieces cut, and pinned to the foamcore,  I start sewing the pieces together.  With straight seams, I can usually leave the freezer paper in place, which adds some stability, and visual cues of what goes together.

Sewing the sections together

After I sew a section, I pin it back on the foamcore, mostly to show the progress, partly to make sure I’m not missing something. Again, this process is easier with straight seam piecing than curved, because the pieces fit together quite easily.    This had eight or nine major sections, with the neck of the cello being the divider down the middle.  Once the sections were together, I sewed the left side to the neck of the cello, and the right side to the neck of the cello, and the top was togther.

Raizl Sewn Together, approximately 18 x 24

At this point, I had very little to trim to square this up.  I could have finished this without borders, which I often do for pictorial quilts, but in this case, I wanted to incorporate a reference to the striped prayer shawl, and have a few more colors that C had mentioned in the piece.  I had pieced together some stripes of different fabrics earlier, before I had decided on using the cello picture, and it worked out well to cut those stripes into sections for a border.

With The Striped Borders

With the borders, the piece is about 22 x 25.

Here are a couple of detail shots of the hands and face to show the piecing. 

Piecing Detail of Hand

Cello Neck Detail

Hurray!  The Farmer’s Market is back for the season.  This is an enjoyable addition to my Saturday morning shopping trip.  I’ve gotten my shopping bike back out, and it’s great to get back into the seasonal ritual of  perusing the market and socializing with friends and neighbors.  The Farmer’s Market in Winona, MN, starts on the first Saturday in May and runs through October.  It’s a reminder that spring really is here, and summer IS coming soon, even if we still need the woolies for the first few weekend mornings.  For me, it’s a reminder that it’s (almost) safe to plant things outside, and time for me to pick out my seedlings.

Unfortunately, I lost my piece of paper with my notes at my next errand stop, so I am sure I will get some names wrong.  I’ve omitted ones I’m sure I can’t remember to avoid embarrassment. I hope to correct this next week.  My apologies to the vendors.

John S, manning the booth

Here is John, the youngest son of Mrs. S, who has been a vendor for many years at the Winona Farmer’s Market.  They farm south of Winona, close to the Iowa border.  Best sellers at this booth are the pies and canned goods.

This woman is Lucille Feyen,  from across the river in Wisconsin , I think, and has been a vendor here at this market for at least seven years.  I purchased two kinds of basil plants from her, and was reminded not to plant them outside this week unless I want to come back and buy more next week.   All this, and a sense of humor, too.

These ladies are from Whitewater Gardens, and are where I usually buy my tomato plants.  They have a wide variety, and have been vending at this market for 14 years.  This year I bought  Sun Gold, Anna Russian, Paul Robeson, Cuor Di Bue, and a red Brandywine.

This is Linda Sue, I think.  She’s a nearby vendor with chia topiaries and little cacti.  She’s a new vendor to this market, and she said she’s providing plants that survive in houses with cats, and things which complement the other vendors in the market.  An excellent strategy as a new vendor, I think.  I’m sorry I didn’t take a closeup of her cute little cacti.

This is Laurie Timm, from Fairview Farm in Altura, MN (from their brochure, which didn’t get lost). She’s also been a vendor here for many years.   I purchased a Boston lettuce and two rosemary plants from her.  She was also very fortunate to be on the sunny side of the site.

This is not an exhaustive list of the vendors, and I hope to show more of the market as the season goes on.  I just figured I’d start with a few who had time to speak with me.

I hope you have a similar Farmer’s Market where you are.  It’s great to know the people who grow your food, and farmer’s markets are great for you (low cost, great ingredients), the farmers (no middlemen), and, as it turns out, our food security, according not just to “locavore elites”, but also folks at the USDA and other state governments.

I’ve also found it’s a great place to catch up with friends I don’t see regularly.

If you don’t know of a Farmer’s Market near you, LocalHarvest is a great resource.

Some basic tools, a basic result

Here are the keys to Mr. Ruhlman’s Ratio-  you need a scale, the formulas, and you can learn how the ratios work, WITH PRACTICE.  Here is my result from my Friday night after work bread effort.  The loaf is not beautifully formed, but I did get a little oven spring that I wasn’t expecting, so all the better.

This is the basic bread dough described in the first chapter, with part whole wheat, part all-purpose flour.

The ratio is 5:3 flour:liquid, plus some salt and some yeast (2 tsp. and 1 tsp., respectively, for the 20 oz of flour (16 white, 4 whole wheat, a 4:1 ratio, of course) and 12 oz of water.

My scale is an OXO, from Target, which has a 5lb. limit, and cost about $30.  Others are recommended by Mr. Ruhlman, and by America’s Test Kitchen (the OXO 11lb. scale for $50), but this one was easily available, and works fine.

Mr. Ruhlman’s Basic Ratio Bread

Equipment:

• scale
• mixer with dough hook
• oven
• loaf pan
• bowl for mixer
• measuring cups (liquid and dry)
• measuring spoons

Ingredients:

• flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
• water
• salt
• yeast

Process:

1. Put bowl on scale.  Zero the scale (tare) to subtract the bowl’s weight.
2. Add flour until you reach the right weight.  Zero the scale again.
3. Add water until you reach the right weight. (Water is actually volume/weight equivalent in ounce measurement, so this was 1.5 cups -  “A pint’s a pound the world around”)
4. Add 2 tsp. salt (for flavor), and 1 tsp. yeast (I used SAF instant).
5. Mix with mixer, knead with dough hook for 10 mins plus or minus.
6. Let rise in warm place, covered, until doubled.
7. Deflate, shape, put in loaf pan, let rise again.
8. Bake until internal temp is 200 degrees F. (I baked this at 375 degrees F for about 45 min.)

Here are the process photos I remembered to take (though I missed the excitement of measuring, which is quite fun with the big digital readout):

Kneading the bread with the New KitchenAid

Yes, I have read the owner’s manual on this one, and I dutifully kept the mixer on 2 for the kneading process.  I think it went for about 12 minutes.

Ready for a rise

I covered it with plastic wrap, and set it inside the oven, which I’d let heat for 5 min. at about 185 degrees, then turned the oven off.

(Snacks and chatting with DH in between here)

After the first rise

I didn’t watch the clock for how long this was, but I’d guess about an hour and a half.  I formed the loaf and put it in a standard loaf pan, and let it rise again, for another amount of time.

(DH and I agonize through Friday NY Times crossword puzzle.  Really, it’s fun.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F,  pop in the loaf, and about 45 minutes later, here’s the result:

I think this is its best angle

I expect I will need to be a little more concentrated when I work on other batters/doughs  (I’m hoping the basic cookie recipe will help change my bad cookie karma), but I can see myself making this bread weekly, or at least some variation of it.  Thanks to Mr. Ruhlman, and Mr. Del Grosso for their fine work.