Steadily working

 

Wish I could say I have finished something in the last few days, but nope!  Not happening!   It's been a busy week.  Tuesday, I made two batches of Chex Mix which I divided for gifts (kept just a little for me and Paul).   I did a bit of reading in between stirring every 15 minutes while it all baked.  I'll bake some cookies over the weekend and will put some in the freezer for after the holidays.

Wednesday, I helped set up and clean up a luncheon for the library staff.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it, including the bowl cozies and soup mix in a jar I'd made them.  One person reminded me that one year I gave everyone Christmas socks - she had just worn hers the previous day.  I am glad the Friends of the Library can do something like this each year for the staff who have been working super hard to keep service going.

In between holiday stuff, I've been putting the quilted blocks of the "big block sampler" (for lack of a decent name) together.  After I quilted each of the four strips, I have been putting them together, one at a time, hand sewing the back seams and then machine quilting the sashing between the sections.  Fitting the sections together is a bit tricky but looks good in the end.  Cornerstones are essential to keeping it all square.

Above is my favorite block in the quilt because it used so many 2.5" squares and some of my stash of half-square triangles, too.   I enjoyed quilting each block separately, even the appliqued one.  Each block finishes at 16".  It feels good to end the year with a very scrappy quilt.  After I get the sections together and cream borders on, I'll decide about a final border - scrappy, strings, plain?  I'll wait and let the quilt "talk" to me about what it wants.