Why is value so important?

OH MY --- I had to finish that book (Grounds for Murder by Betty Ternier Daniels) last night. I think it was 8 hours in total, but since I was busy sewing this intense quilt block, I had to turn it off each time I needed to find pieces to sew. There are so many similar sizes, and obviously you are sewing two different fabrics together - I had to do a wee bit of unripping from time to time. 

But you are NOT going to believe this. At one point in the book, the main character mentions a small village in Saskatchewan, and can you believe that she said, "Baljennie?" This is the tiny wee village nearest to where I grew up. No one lives there any longer, but this book was written in 2024, and yes - if you Google Baljennie, it's still on the map!! I wonder why she chose that hamlet - I wonder if she has any connection to that area. I must ask!

I found an aerial view of Baljennie in its heyday. Well, maybe not quite - I think the church had burnt down when this was taken. But there are the two grain elevators and the post office, the general store, the garage (cars), and, about the middle of the photo, the community center and the curling rink that my grandfather helped build and then helped build a thriving curling community. But there is another building up there, and I don't know what that is. I must ask. 

The railroad came into town, and it ended there! Just past the elevator on the right. 

The town of Baljennie

I almost fell over when I heard Bety mention Baljennie in her book!! Not that it was on the map, but that she included it in the book. I haven't heard back from her yet, but I had mentioned that that is where I was from, even though I hadn't come across that part of the book yet. 

Anyway - it was an interesting read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to whoever recommended the book. 

|And now there are only two audiobooks on my shelf. 

My plan was to have TWO blocks completed for the Down on the Farm quilt, but alas, that was not to be. Remember, both blocks were cut out. I managed to get one block completely done. There are a LOT of little pieces and lots of room to go amiss. 

The seventh block

I think this and the beach-themed quilt she also just finished would make very good quilts for a class. So many little details to watch out for. The other thing, and I believe I mentioned it the other day, is that I am using my iPad to follow along with the pattern. There are pros and cons. The pro is that you can enlarge the pattern to see diagrams of the teeny-tiny areas, but you can't check off the sections as you sew them. WAIT -- I think you can do that on the iPad. I must try that later today. 

In the next block there are three sheep (done), two cows (done), and one horse (in progress). Then I can sew that block together. 

Then I'm going to go back and fix my turtle block. Why? What do you see, or I should ask, what don't you see? 

My turtle block

The turtle's face is very hard to distinguish from the pond. Even his legs on the grey rocks are sort of hard to see, but it's mostly his face. 

And that brings me to the topic of the day - VALUE. Value is a very important component of art and quilting, and it's highly dependent on what surrounds it. Here's a very good example. As I was sewing the HSTs together, this happened. 

I was sewing the ones on the right until I ran out of the dark green. In that case, the floral is the light. I happened to have some beige triangles, so I sewed them to the remaining pieces of that floral fabric. In this instance, that floral is the dark! 

One fabric - two completely different values

Pick a random fabric and ask if it's a dark, medium, or a light, and the answer is impossible to determine until you decide what is going next to that random fabric. Sometimes the colors are strong enough to stand out, making the color the contrast, but not so with my turtle head. The value of the turtle head and the water are the same, and the intensity of the colors is so close that the turtle head is lost. I found a much lighter fabric that I can use, but I'll also look for a darker one. Then I'll decide. That is the only spot I have miscalculated so far. I should have put the two fabrics on the design wall and stepped back to see the contrast. 

I almost goofed again. This time I had pulled a gold for the flower centers. They are teeny-tiny pieces, and when I sewed the flower section, I knew the gold would get lost. So back to the stash bin, and I found a BRIGHT yellow that will hold its own against the pink. 

Two yellows - one works, one does not!

I hope that you can see what I mean when I chat about value. It's so important, and you also need to consider how busy your prints are. If there is enough contrast, most times it won't matter, but if both the light and the dark are busy, then that contrast may just disappear into a bird's nest! Beware!

Many of the pieces in this quilt are assembled using a stitch-and-flip method. And here's the cutting mat after almost two blocks. That's a lot of teeny pieces that are cut off. I will NOT be saving these! 

The cut-offs from sewing two blocks of stitch-and-flip

As mentioned, I should be able to finish block 8, and then I'll have to decide - do I fix the turtle, or do I move on to the final row? I might at least cut for the final row. I had hoped to be done by today, but that's not the case. Each block has a lot of pieces, and each requires a clear head to work. I'm enjoying the process, though, and trying very hard to catch any mistakes, which means I have to pay a lot more attention than just looking at the pictures and winging it! 

The pile of HSTs on the ironing board continues to grow. I even took the time to sort the triangles on that tray by color! I'm so darn anal about stuff like that. I need color sorting!!!! 

The stack of HSTs continues to grow.

Now I can grab a color and pull a light and a dark, and away I go. Not that I need them to be by color, but it works for me. 

I spotted this on Facebook and thought it was hilarious. First - I want to say that I was so focused yesterday that it would have taken an alarm to break me out of my sewing trance!! 

But I did scroll a bit after I was so exhausted that I had to stop sewing. 

OMG -- that is me!!! I made some progress on the puzzle last night, but I'm down to green pieces now. I know some people who avoid puzzles with lots of green or blue. Not me - I'm going to get this thing together even if I have to try each piece one at a time! I doubt it will come to that, but it might in some areas. 

And YES -- an old cutting mat would make the perfect place to work on a puzzle. I have one of those felt roll-up mats which I have never used. I don't think I will. I guess I'll have to donate it unless someone wants it!

I have to give you an update on the girls. Someone had mentioned in the comments that only purebred dogs sleep like frogs. I don't think that is true. It's called a sploot, by the way, and it's just a way for them to stretch out, get their tummy directly on the floor (as in Murphy's situation), and it's comfortable for some dogs. I have never seen Lexi sleep this way. 

So Murphy is on medication for inflammation and pain, and it causes drowsiness. Well, it can cause drowsiness. She gets one of those in her evening meal. The other night, I noticed some white residue on the mats beside the back door. I didn't give it a second thought. Last night, I noticed residue again, and WAIT --- she bit open the capsule and didn't get all the medication inside. I grabbed a pill pocket and shoved the remaining contents of the capsule into it. She wasn't happy, but she ate it. 

Then Lexi came over to the mats and cleaned up all the residue! Sigh............ I bet she slept well!

MOM - I'm cleaning up Murphy's mess

Somewhere in Murphy's recent adventures, she has developed something BAD. Before the first slip, she was a typical dog who would wake when she heard a noise, and then go back to sleep, unless it was something worthy of barking at. In Murphy's case, that would be noises, particularly those outside, between 11 PM and 7 AM. 

The first night after her slip, she was restless and would not settle. It was a sleepless night at our house - for her and for me. I tried everything to settle her down and thought it was because of her being in pain. Then we got pain meds, and that seemed to help. Then she had another slight slip, and that has thrown her into a tizzy. 

She is ONLY comfortable and will fall asleep immediately if she is OUTSIDE. This is not good when your dog is known to bark at things in the night. Thankfully, the raccoons and coyotes are in another part of the forest. 

Last night, I attempted to bring her in the house and get her settled for the night. I have now discovered what her problem is. Well, part of it anyway. She might still have pain, but I can't see how - she has her pill, which she gets once a day (at night). 

It is the NOISES in the house. She has developed a NOISE PHOBIA, which is bad because when she hears something, she gets frantic and wants to climb on things that she has never climbed before; she paces, she pants, and she is in quite a bit of distress. When my SIL went to bed at 12:30 and turned on an upstairs water tap, Murphy just about blew a gasket. 

And then the dishwasher started. Needless to say, I put her outside. I brought her in at 5 AM, and she is peacefully sleeping in the basement. She can go downstairs (on the leash), but I have to help her upstairs with a towel under her tummy, which works just fine and puts no strain on me. For any of you who are caregivers to a family member, it's not quite the same, but equally traumatizing to be a caregiver for a senior dog, especially one who is crazy!

This isn't just at night - it's during the day as well. She wants to spend 100% of her time outside. It was raining yesterday, and she has zero issues with sleeping in the rain. The poor dog is just WET. There are a couple of spots she knows of where she can sleep without getting wet, but if it rains too hard, she will get wet. 

We are lucky that we are not going anywhere this month and that it is summertime, but what the heck are we going to do in the fall? I've got to try some anxiety medication for her, and there are other products that you can get to try and calm a dog down. But why did she become so sensitive to any kind of noise overnight? 

I will make another appointment with the vet. I would just buy an OTC product, but since she is on the anti-inflammatory, I want to see what will work best with that. The vet mentioned another medication, and perhaps it will have a more calming effect on her. The poor thing - we are all stressed in our house, but I bet she has a worse case of it than we do. At least we understand what the issue is. 

Remember that we have class signups happening now. And someone mentioned that if you are taking part in the Show and Tell class, you can buy the pattern at Country Concessions, and they have FREE shipping, but only today!!!!!  

Here is the link to the classes again, and be sure to let your friends know. 

And on that happy note, it's Monday sewing today!!!! I'll be heads down working on my blocks! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!