Our Orange Tree

I think it’s time to start harvesting the oranges and making fresh orange juice in the mornings before the neighbors decide to take the oranges first. In Los Angeles, our house had a ton of fruit trees. In the backyard we had apricots, lime, nectarine, plums, apples, peaches, oranges. In the front yard, we had nectarine and loquats. The plum tree didn’t really produce anything and the apricots didn’t taste very good. The rest of the trees were great! We had a lime tree but we didn’t make a whole lot of stuff that needed lime. We generally used it during parties when we made salsas and drinks. The oranges were the best because every Sunday in January/February we’d harvest a bag load and make fresh orange juice. The apples were harvested in October and we would make apple crisps and bake them and add them to our juices each morning. In June we had peaches and they were so big and juicy. There were so many peaches, we invited friends over to help us harvest them. It was fun to watch the kids climb the tree and pick peaches and eat them (after being washed of course). I tried to make jam with it one year but it didn’t turn out so well.  Those were fun times.

We have fruit trees here too.  We have oranges, plums, persimmons, and Asian pears.  I know there’s a Calamansi tree and I think Pomegranate but the Pomegranate isn’t doing well.  I’m sure there are others too but I can’t remember them right now.

Well Quilty wise – I started a WIP Wednesday post and all I had to do on Wednesday was post it but I forgot. Wednesday came and went and on Thursday I said – I can still do it. But then I forgot again. And now it’s Saturday and it’s too late. There really isn’t anything to update. I’ve been in a quilty slump.  I’ve been working really long hours and I’ve been too tired to quilt.  I also have Easy Street in the machine and I’m at the part of the quilt process that I’m not very proficient at.  So I’ve been having problems and I’m not enjoying myself.  I didn’t baste it very well and as a result I’m getting a ton of puckering in the back.  Really big puckers. I tried at first to stop and baste it again but when I popped it back in to quilt – I still got the puckers.  Then I wasn’t sure how to quilt it and now I’m at the point where I just want it done.  I am going to have to chalk this up to my learning experience and be okay with it.  Kayla’s 30’s quilt had puckers and she loves it.  I’m not putting this in a show or giving it away.  It is only my 2nd big quilt to quilt and I have to be okay with making mistakes.  Next time I need to work on my basting… or rent out a long arm.  But I’m not proficient there either so I’ll end up making mistakes there too.  I know there are quilters who rip these out and start over again but I’m not going to do it.  I started to and it took forever and I didn’t like how the fabric was looking so I stopped.  I’m just going to have to be okay with it.  I finished quilting the stabilizing lines and the borders.  I’m pretty much quilting straight lines right now with a walking foot.  I do not know if I’ll do Free Motion Quilting on this one.  I want this done by 11/29 when Bonnie Hunters first clue come out for this year’s mystery quilt so I’ll just be working on getting it done.  If I feel adventurous and want to try something different I may but it’s a big quilt and I’m not sure I have the control with FMQ to be able to do that.  

That’s all I’ve done this week.  I only touched the hand quilt once and didn’t work on anything else.  It’s hard with the walking foot on my machine.  I don’t like to keep going back and forth on the foot but I do want to get something finished this week so I may end up switching it out.  I’m also trying to get into my guild’s retreat lite next week.  If I’m able to, I will definitely switch out the foot and will work on piecing other projects.

~Going to quilt!

Melanie