Don't really need another UFO!

I finished the orange and yellow guild "block robin" quilt yesterday, which leaves only one quilt left to be quilted in my closet.  My dilemma is whether to ask Marie to quilt it or to do it myself.  She is away for a few weeks, so I will leave it hanging for a while.  I still need to make a back for it anyway.

But naturally, as I've been quilting, I've been thinking about other projects.  Two quilting friends posted photos of samplers recently, and Moda's "Blockheads 2" begins in May.  All use 6" blocks.   I love making samplers and just can't stand to make the same block over and over for a full-sized quilt.

Patterns for the Blockheads quilt along were issued weekly and most were rather difficult.  I would put it away and then get it out again a week later or so which was a pain.  I picked my fabric at random, too, so it ended up being a bit of a hodge-podge mystery quilt.  Luckily, I found a black print to use as sashing that tied them all together.  Here's the quilt before I finished putting it together.

This time, I have shirtings received in a birthday fat quarter swap for a background for whatever sampler I decide to do.  I hope that will unify the blocks a bit.

I was intrigued by the blocks for The Splendid Sampler as I read Pat Sloan's blog regularly, but I was already doing Blockheads so didn't take the bait.  Then Karen in Ontario posted a photo of her lovely finished quilt.  I like the variety of blocks, so I ordered the book.  Splendid Sampler 2 is being published in October, but Sloan plans another quilt along to begin in the summer.  But it's another weekly surprise.

Leigh in Australia posted a photo of a sampler quilt she saw which was a daily block project made to commemorate a woman's 60th year.  Each day, the quilter designed or made a block that reflected her life that day.  It's a little like the weather scarf I knit a few years ago - just a couple rows of various blues, white, grays, all reflecting the sky that day.  But, after working on the 365 challenge a few years ago, I know I can't do a block a day.  I gave up after just three months because of the "get it out - put it away" aspects of it.  Sometimes I like to concentrate on a project and get it done. 

But I like the idea of making each block represent an aspect of my life, and I AM going to be 70 on July 31.  So... maybe I'll start my own sampler project on August 1.  It will probably be a mix of all of these ideas with perhaps some blocks from Just Plain Nuts besides!

Oatmeal-cranberry cookies

Today is a laundry and baking day.  I made two batches of scones and put them in the freezer.  According to the King Arthur Baking Book, scones are better frozen before baking.  But I just did it to get a jump on company coming this weekend. 

When I finished making the scones, I tried a new cookie recipe - those will be gone long before company arrives!  I liked including whole wheat flour and really couldn't tell.

Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets.

Ingredients:

·                  3/4 cup softened butter

·                  1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

·                  1 egg

·                  1 teaspoon vanilla

·                  1/1/4 cups whole wheat flour

·                  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·                  1/4 teaspoon salt

·                  1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

·                  3/4 cup chopped almonds

·                  3/4 cup dried cranberries

1.               Cream butter and sugar until fluffy

2.               Beat in egg and vanilla  (I used my food processor for these two steps)

3.               Slowly add flour and dry ingredients into butter mixture. 

4.               Stir in rolled oats, almonds, and cranberries.

5.         Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on prepared cookie sheets and flatten with a fork.

6.               Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are golden.

7.               Let stand on cookie sheet for 5 minutes prior to removing cookies to a rack.

Makes 24 cookies.

Finally, it's sunny!

We have had an endless stream of gloomy weather with snow showers this week.  While there's still a chilly wind, the sun makes the 40-some degree temperatures bearable.  And tomorrow's supposed to be even nicer.   We will be out walking, that's for sure.

I've been busy with the library booksale this weekend - selling yesterday and mostly on the clean up crew this afternoon.  I did pick up a few bargains, including a book about the TV series Downtown Abbey for my brother who's a great fan and a couple of Miss Julia books I'm not sure I've read yet.  I love that series.  It's extremely light - or shall I say lite? - but quite fun, perfect for a day at the beach or on the back porch.  If I have read those books, they'll go right back to the library for the summer book sale.

Two retired librarian friends, Penny and Anita, introduced me to another fun mystery series featuring a 70 year old Laotian coroner, and I'm enjoying it immensely due to the exotic locale and wry humor.  I don't know much about communist Laos, and Dr. Siri tells his story with tongue in cheek.   There's a touch of mysticism, too.  I've almost finished The Coroner's Lunch  and will be looking for more.

Tomorrow I hope to finish quilting the orange and yellow quilt so I can clean up my sewing room.  We have a house guest arriving Friday and a busy week ahead:  book discussion program at the library, dinner/theater with friends, the library board's Spring gala, and the historical society's Primo Maggio celebration.  It will be a fun whirlwind!  

Scrappy finish

The string quilt with scrappy back is quilted and bound.  We even had a sunny day today so took some pictures.

 It's destined for the hospital's children's department. 

What I can never understand is.. why is it that when we set out to use up scraps and tackle a couple of bins-worth, when we get finished we find we have hardly put a dent in that stash of scraps?

I could probably make another one but, having made two string quilts this year, I think I have hit my limit for a while.  Now to finish up some other tops that have been waiting for quilting.

Quilting a grid

I finished the 2" square side of the reversible quilt yesterday, sandwiched it, and started quilting.  Here they are in their unfinished state.

It shouldn't take long to finish them, and the binding is all cut out and ready to add when I do.  But I do have "yoga for back health," a get-together with Cindy and Sandy, and a Democrats meeting today, so it may be manana.  That's OK, too.

Using up scraps

Earlier this week, I finished a 50" x 50" string quilt top, but I didn't have enough fabric for a back, so the dilemma was - should I buy some or piece a back?  I even went to Joann's but still couldn't decide.  I'm waiting for some fabric from Craftsy but have decided to use that for two other tops in the closet.  I have four quilts waiting for quilting and lots of odds and ends of fabric, yet nothing large enough for a back.

Not to decide is to decide.  I ended up diverting my attention by making a top out of some pretty pink and teal floral fabric I'd gotten from Meg.  It's a polyester blend, but I like it, and the pattern was marked "easy."  It's been so long since I made any apparel that I had forgotten that the sizes of patterns are larger than read-to-wear.  Because the finished top is way too big for me, I took a few tucks in around the neckline and may add to the side seams before going out in public.  It looks like a short muumuu now.  As my mom would say, "it will be cool for summer."  The urge to make clothing again has quickly faded!

After that intense morning, I went back to scrap quilting, tackling my box of 2" squares and a bin marked "muslin," which in actuality includes lots of creams and neutrals.  Cathie had posted a photo of a mystery quilt she'd made. 

I decided to try it with my scraps and am now half-way through another smallish top.   The blocks finish at 6" and it's coming along really well.  It is destined to be used...  as the back of the string quilt!

Distracted by magpies

Before we left on vacation, I made a few string quilt blocks.  The basket that I throw "strings" into was overflowing.  I sorted them between neutral and colored, and I cut some cheap newsprint-like paper into 8.5" squares for foundations.  When we got back, I made a bunch more squares, some all colors and some just neutrals.  Now I'm putting them together into a resulting 50" x 50" scrappy quilt top.   It's looking good and won't take long to finish.  It'll be another project to practice machine quilting on.  I'm waiting for my Craftsy order to arrive with backing fabric for a couple of quilts, but I think I'll go to Joann's for some wide higher-quality muslin, too.

Meanwhile, yesterday I just couldn't resist sitting down to read a good book I started over vacation.  It was getting really good.    Anthony Horowitz' Magpie Murders is a story-within-a-story, and several murders need solving by the end.  A book editor, Susan Ryeland, starts reading a manuscript by an author who has recently committed suicide... or was he murdered? 

The manuscript ends abruptly without a conclusion because the last chapter is missing.  When Susan goes looking for it, she finds that the author's life and the story have quite a bit in common.   Did the author really commit suicide?  It's a super story, or rather two stories, and as a result, I spent half the day finishing it.  I even delayed dinner because I had 5 minutes left in the book.

Today, I'll get back to putting the string top together.  I think I have enough large strings to cut out a binding, too.  My order of battings arrived before we left, so "all" I need are the backings.  But maybe I'll start another book this afternoon.  I have two new ones waiting on my Kindle - To Die But Once, by Jacqueline Winspear and Just in Time, by Marie Bostwick.  They are both favorite authors' latest books that I ordered pre-publication.  There are only a few authors I do this with, so the choice of which to read first will be a toughie!