On the design wall

I've had a productive few days in the sewing room, after several days with unexpected company.  Paul's brother-in-law came out of the hospital Thursday and really couldn't go back to his remote island summer home with little or no heat.  We have had some very chilly nights, and Jay needed rest.  They stayed with us for a few nights and then headed south to Florida where their condo had no hurricane damage.   The warmth should also help Jay feel better.

We were happy to help, but I'm glad to have my sewing room back, too.  I was in the middle of making some log cabin Christmas stockings when they arrived, and I finished them on Monday.  I started out by making a small log cabin quilt top which I then cut the stockings out of.  I use batting in the front and quilt it, but the back is simply two layers of fabric.  This makes the stocking a little more flexible.   These stockings are going into a Christmas raffle at the library in December.

On my design wall now are some test blocks for a quilt to hang at a senior nursing/rehab center that recently renovated its courtyard entrance.   I'm going to see if the Calico County Quilters group would be interested in working on a group quilt which only needs to be 4' x 5'.  I chose Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties for its ease and "Vermontish" feel.  It's an easy pattern - these blocks only took about an hour to cut and sew - and I hope it will make a fun group quilt.

I'm not totally sold on this colorway -- green scrappy quilts tend to be a little blah.  I thought the light blue "sky" backgrounds would work, but now that they are together on the wall, I see some brighter skys might help them stand out better.  The quilt will hang over a door and shouldn't fade into the beige wall.  I'll see what the group thinks.  

After I got these blocks made, I decided to break out my Go Baby and start cutting out scrappy Hunter's Star pieces.  I'm using various colors and various gray backgrounds for this quilt.  Stay tuned!