Snow days = sew days

This has certainly been a long winter, full of very cold and snowy days.  I haven't really minded much except that we haven't been able to get out and walk a lot in the last few weeks.  My joints are feeling it.  I could walk on the treadmill or row, but I just hate those things.  My weekly yoga class via Zoom will have to suffice.

Meanwhile, I finished machine quilting my "Sisters" quilt-along quilt and now I'm working on the binding.   I hope to finish by the end of the week.  I try not to get ahead of myself when I'm at this stage in a quilt, but over the weekend, I just couldn't hold myself back.  I got out a pizza box of blocks that I received from online friends last year in a swap and laid them out to see how they'll look.  The blocks are 6" finished, and I had bordered each one log cabin fashion.

As you can see each block is different, as the swap was called "Anything Goes."  We each chose what kind or color we'd prefer with a cream background, and everyone chose two blocks to make from a number of possibilities including Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.  The same group sent me fat quarters for my birthday in our annual birthday swap, and I had requested purple.  Hence the incredible purple-ness of this quilt!

Once I had the blocks all laid out, I just couldn't wait to put them together, so I started that even before I had the binding on "Sisters."  I had to make a couple more blocks to get a 5 by 6 block layout, and I managed to hold off making those last blocks until after the "Sisters" binding was ready for hand sewing.  

Now "Anything Goes" measures 60" x 72" and I'm thinking about how I'll quilt it as I hand sew.   I rarely work on finishing two quilts simultaneously, but I just got into the groove.   

The same online group has a UFO Challenge going this year, and quilting "Anything Goes" is certainly a possible project.  But what about those local guild swap blocks for Many Trips Around the World? There are plenty more chilly, snowy days ahead, I think, so I might even get them done, too.