Pre-vacation busy-ness

There are just two days before we head out to Colorado with Chris to see Mom and Jenny.  Can't wait!  I am amassing things I don't want to forget on the guest bed and trying not to make a big mess in that room which doubles as my sewing room.  

I don't want to start any big projects, but I am always hankering to sew a little each day.  What to do?  Work on the guild block of the month.  This month's is called Dutch Treat and I used purples for my block which will go into a lottery at the June guild meeting.

I don't usually put my name into the lottery even though I make a block because I have plenty of UFOs to keep me busy.   But this time, I hope I win.   A bunch of these would be a perfect border around the Holland map quilt I'd like to make this summer.  Karen Abrahamovich has made patterns for all 50 states and is working on countries now.  I bought the pattern last year with an eye toward making the country in blue scraps.

I think this pattern will take some concentration, and I haven't decided what size to make yet.  So I decided to get out the foundation piecing papers for Double Date by Jen Kingwell.  I tried one 6" block and found it not too difficult, so I made a few more over the last couple of days.  I'm going to like working on this, using up some of my green scraps.  I have never made a whole paper pieced quilt, so I suspect I'll spread the work out most of the summer.

This afternoon, I'm going to settle in to watch "Quilting Arts" on PBS and do a little knitting on the shawl I started in January.  It has been waiting to be finished for a long time.  I'm anxious to start on a few hats for Bags of Love soon.

It's been fun, but...

I haven't sold anything via Etsy in a long time, so today I finally decided to close the shop.  I've been thinking about it for a long time.  I give away many of my quilts and sell more items at the local florist's shop on consignment anyway.  Selling can sometimes be stressful - finding a box and getting things in the mail ASAP.  I don't like to make quilts with an eye toward what will sell anyway.  And lately I've been producing fewer quilts, perhaps because I've been making more complicated ones most of the time.

Paul's sister Pat is due here in the middle of the month, and we have a family gathering a few weeks after that.  I'm going to ask her to help me figure out which quilts might be good to give away at that time.  I think some of the folks will be driving up so I won't have to mail them.  I do want to send one to California after Paul's nephew, who has a new job, moves.  

Here is one of my unsold favorites from the shop.  I remember making these star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every month in 2023 (or was it 2022?).  It will make a cozy throw for someone's couch or dorm bed.

More rainy weather

We have not had a weekend without precipitation since December, and this weekend is no exception.  It is another gloomy day, but I do plan to get out into the garage and pot up some impatients for the front stoop.  Maybe I'll even transplant some houseplants that need larger pots.  Everyone is tired of this gloom, but the rain does make everything look lush and pretty.

Yesterday I sewed the binding to the back of this little table runner.

It's about 10" x 20" and made of scrap purples.  The focus fabric and the pattern came from the quilters auction at the state guild.  My friend Tess wrote the pattern, and I bet she put the fabric in with it.  I will send her a picture soon.  I chose to make the smaller size, but the pattern has instructions for a larger one, and I just might make that one, too.   These are just my colors.

Tonight, we are going to the opera downtown - La Traviata - put on by Opera Vermont with a soprano from Italy.  We have been invited to a "meet the cast" reception beforehand which should be fun but will mean a very early dinner.  And, as usual, I'm wondering how dressy it will be.  Vermonters don't dress up much, so I probably could wear almost anything at all.  And that's probably what will happen tonight.  

In just another week we'll be heading to Colorado for a week with my mom and sister Jenny.  I'm beginning to pile up things to take along.  Mom's 103rd birthday is on June 27, so we're visiting early to have plenty of time with her alone.   We like to spend time chatting on the back porch, so I'm taking the kawandi piece I started last weekend.   She's looking forward to going to brunch at Denny's with us, and I'm sure we'll do a little sightseeing, too.  Chris likes to shop at the Coors Brewery, and I have to go to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.   We're hoping for sun in Golden.

Exploding Heart reveal

I labored over the pieces and the charts to make this Exploding Heart quilt in May.  My friend Marie did a nice job quilting it, and then it took me a while to finish hand sewing the binding down.  But I finally got it done in time for the guild meeting Tuesday night.  I have been looking at the accumulating quilts in the house and have decided to give some away to Paul's nephews and nieces.  Who will receive this one?  BTW, this quilt didn't put a dent in my purple box, and it's the second one I've made this year!

Tuesday, Tuesday

Our weather has turned chilly again, so I guess we had summer last week.  I did manage to plant petunias between batches of rain over the weekend, and they look pretty good.  This year, I found "wave petunias," and I'm looking forward to not having to pinch them of dead blossoms all summer. 

Our shared garden looks quite good, thanks to neighbor Gale who works tirelessly there.  She moved a maidenhair fern from her old garden to our new one just because she knew I like them.  I must take her hiking in the town forest this year to show her the huge patch along one of the trails.   (I copied the photo below from the internet)

With gloomy weather, I spent quite a bit of time in the sewing room, and yesterday I put a small red and white sampler mostly together.  Paul and I had lunch with Ruth before I could finish putting the outer border on, but I got that done today.  It will sit in the closet until I can get it quilted.  

When we got home from lunch, I spent some the rest of the afternoon reading the last book in the Magpie Murders series.  I know there will be a PBS Masterpiece series and want to get a jump on it.  So far it's as intriguing as the other two, and I'm sort of sorry there won't be another.

I woke up early (1:30 am!) Monday and spent time in the dark thinking about the Wensleydale quilt.  The red/white block is in the little sampler top I finished, but I have 59 more foundation papers left to play with.  It's the rectangular block - middle right below.

I kept sleeplessly ruminating on what color combinations to use.  Scrappy?  Not scrappy?  Later in the day I broke down and ordered a bundle of Tula Pink leftovers on etsy.  I'm hoping to do some fussy cutting for that central rectangle.

Because of waking up so early yesterday, I fell asleep at 9 pm, listening to the dulcet tones of the Boston Red Sox last innings.  Today I felt refreshed enough to get back to the little red/white quilt before aerobic walking at the library.  Because it's still cold to work outside, I went to the hardware store and got some impatiens and some compost/manure for someday when the sun comes out.

Little bits here and there

We have had amazingly beautiful weather lately, calling for time outside in the garden or just soaking up the rays.  I bought a bunch of plants Monday and have slowly been getting them into the ground.  There are still some petunias to plant among the tulips that just stopped blooming.  I need to buy some impatiens for the flower boxes in the front of the house and also a couple of bags of "Moo Doo" to spread around.  Hope to do that today or tomorrow, with Paul's help.

My Fat Quarter Shop order of foundation papers came, so I made one of each this week.  I love the way "Double Date" came together and plan to make a few 6" blocks in green and cream each month until I have enough for a quilt.  Paper piecing seems the only way to make this block accurately.

"Wensleydale" makes a much bigger block and seems perfect for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I may hold off on that one until 2026.  I did try out a block in reds for a new sampler that's starting to develop.  The blocks end up at 7" x 9".  

I've decided to focus on one or two colors and work on quilts from just those tubs for a while.  Hence, the red and cream/white sampler and the green "Double Date" blocks.  I'll be making a few red/white blocks in different sizes this summer until I have enough for a Bags of Love quilt.  I will alternate green and cream backgrounds for the green quilt.

So far, I've made just a few red/white blocks, but I'm enjoying using those scraps in different ways.  I need to make some "filler" blocks next.

Friday I got out the fabric and table runner pattern I "won" in the quilters auction at the state guild meeting.  As is typical of designs by my friend Tess, there are tiny pieces, but I did manage to get them all together and even quilt it.  

Now I need to hand sew the binding down, and then I'll need to decide whether to try to sell it or give it away.  I have two birthdays coming up in June, so if I don't find something for one or the other, I'll give them away.  I have plenty of the focus fabric left so may just make another to sell when I get a chance.  I noticed the fabric came from Joann's, a store I am already missing.

And finally, yesterday I went to our little Saturday quilt guild meeting to learn "Kawandi" quilting from Sarah.  It was fun!  I plan to take my project to Colorado in a couple of weeks to work on while we sit with Mom on the back porch.   Here's my work in progress.

Mothers Day

 

Hope you all had a very nice Mother's Day.  I sure did!  We had the first sunny day all month, and everything outside is green.  My son came over to help me clean the garage and brought me a lovely bouquet.  We scraped the garage floor of road salt and sand, and then he investigated a possible leak in the garage roof.  I held the ladder while he hopped up there, and I worried the whole time.  That never stops when you're a mother, even if he is 43 years old.  He also took a broom and swept away the cobwebs on the ceiling.  The garage looks presentable, at least superficially.  It will never be squeaky clean, but that's OK.

Afterwards, we had a delicious ravioli dinner, Chris went home, and we all took naps.  Later, I talked to Mom on the phone and then even later watched Call the Midwife and Miss Austen, my two favorites on PBS.  A perfect day!

Dear Jane revisted

Yesterday's state quilt guild meeting is over, and I am now the former president!  It was a great meeting, if I do say so myself.  A large number of new people joined, and attendance was up by quite a bit.  It makes me especially happy because when this particular board took over six years ago, the previous board was set on folding up.  The treasury was pretty much depleted and no programs were planned.  We managed to weather the pandemic by publishing additional newsletters and upgrading our web presence.  Once it became safe to meet again, we returned to our twice annual gatherings, with excellent speakers from within the state and fun programs.

My favorite part of our meetings has always been "show and tell."  In the fall, I had issued a presidential challenge to use the "Snowflake Bentley" fabric that had been copies from plates at the Smithsonian.  Bentley was a Vermonter who photographed snowflakes and learned that no two are alike.  Here's what one quilter showed yesterday.

Debie cut the snowflake blocks from the panel and then added snowflake blocks she designed herself along with some she machine embroidered.  It's a huge quilt!  And!  When she finished this quilt, she made a lap quilt with blocks she'd made using sashiko embroidery.  

Ginny and I did a short program about our journeys with Dear Jane.  We showed some of the "Baby Jane" quilts we've made over the years since the book came out in 1996.  Here are a few of mine.

This is my Asian Jane, made with those stunning prints and a black background.  (That's Tess holding the quilt)  Mary quilted this on her longarm.

Here's the baby quilt using 1930 blocks, some of them swapped.  I machine quilted in the ditch on the sashing and then hand quilted the individual blocks.

And here's the Christmas one I drape on the couch every year, again with some blocks that were swapped.  I machine quilted this quilt.

I walked over 8,000 steps yesterday, but it was well worth it!

Rainy days

 It has rained every day for at least a week.  Our grass is "as high as an elephant's eye" (and this ain't Oklahoma!).  But it is a lush green, and plants outside are growing fast.  My tulips look lovely.

I spent a lot of time sewing this week and yesterday was spent at the library.  Paul and I went to set up chairs in the reading room in the morning, and after lunch we returned for a concert.  This picture doesn't do the concert justice.  The pianist was a retired high school music director, choir director, local performer, and artist, who played, sang, and encouraged us to sing along.

57 people attended, and all seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was the Friends of the Library's fourth annual concert in memory of our late president and our good friend.  Christine would have loved the whole event which ended with one of her favorite songs, America the Beautiful.

I had made a "Death by Chocolate" bundt cake and there were other goodies served after the show.  There was no cake to take home, much to Paul's regret.  I made sure he had a piece after the concert, though, so don't feel sorry for him.  I was so glad the afternoon was a success, and people who came all pitched in to clean up the chairs before I even knew what was happening.  

It's raining again today, so I baked some healthy muffins, a variation of "morning glory" ones, went to the bank, and did a little preparation for Saturday's state quilt guild meeting.  Tomorrow I have a doctor's meeting early and then will bake some brownies for Saturday (leaving one for Paul, of course!).  I'll load up the car before evening so that I can get a nice early start.

Green Up Day

Yesterday was "Green Up Day" all around Vermont, a day when folks get out and pick up any trash along the roadsides that's accumulated over the winter.  Paul and I went to the playground down the road and picked up a small amount.  On our way home, we picked up a little along the road behind our house.  We left two basketballs and a black hoodie at the playground, hoping the owners would come by for them.  The telltale bright green bags make it easier for town crews to find them now and give me a sense that all's right with Vermont (in sharp contrast to the country and the world).

It started raining soon after we got home, so we were glad we went when we did.  I got busy finishing this month's blocks and then remaking a block I'd made a few months ago for the Optimism monthly quilt along.  I'm using fairly basic colors for that quilt - red, yellow, blue, green - from my stash along with a beige-y Liberty print background to tie them all together.  I'm not sure what I'll use for sashing yet.  I suspect I won't know until October or so when the quilt along ends.  It may be another neutral, but probably not the same one I'm using for the background since I expect to run out.

In the afternoon, an unexpected phone call sent me to the quilt shop to meet Beth who had a carload of quilting books to give away.  Her mother isn't quilting anymore due to Alzheimer's.  Judging by Beth's age (thirties?), her mother must be fairly young, poor thing.  I will take the books to the state guild meeting and sell them for $1 a piece.  There are some great books in the bunch, and I allowed myself to take four.  I will need to weed out a few from my own collection to make room.  One has a great variety of setting ideas for blocks which might come in handy as I try to tackle my "orphan" collection.

Today, I'm not sure what I'm going to do!  It's going to rain so much-needed gardening is out.  I should finish sewing down the binding on the Exploding Heart quilt and knitting the shawl that has been languishing for a few weeks.  Maybe I'll turn on the Hallmark Mystery channel and knuckle down on those two projects.  I might also cozy up with a good book...

Spring has sprung!

These last two weeks have flown by.  Last week my brother Rob and his wife Linda visited, and we spent a lot of time just catching up on our lives.   It was great to see them.  There was a lot to do before and after their visit, and then there was catching up on things not done.  I spent some time outside on nice days, picking up sticks in the yard, edging the front flower beds, and simply enjoying nicer weather.  I did snow - hard - one afternoon, but it all melted within a couple of hours.  We hope not to see that again until November.  

Our daffodils and tulips are blooming, and every day I see something new peeking out of the dirt.  There will be violets and lily of the valley soon, as well as flowering crabapple trees.  Spring is always a surprise around here after the long winter.

This week I finished Row H for my modern Dear Jane quilt and then caught up on some blocks of the month.

The block on the left is going into the lottery at my guild meeting later this month.  The other two are for me, with the one on the bottom being blocks for the quilt designed by Kristin Laura.  She has given our guild permission to make her quilt as a block of the month.  We will only have 9 guild blocks and 12 Kristin Laura blocks, so I decided to make them in the same colorway and combine them.  Hope it works out.

Then I made the "rows and pathways" (?) block for the lottery at the state quilt guild meeting May 10.  I initially wondered if it would turn out OK, but I like my block and assume the other quilters' blocks will turn out just as nice.  It will definitely be a scrappy quilt when they're all together.  It's supposed to look like garden paths.

I've spent some time in the last few days getting stuff together for the state guild meeting, too.  This will be my last meeting as president, and I'm looking forward to "just" being a participant and not responsible for anything.  We'll see how that turns out!

A friend and I are doing a short program on Dear Jane-type quilts at the meeting.  That's how Ginny and I met long ago.  We each have stories to tell and variations to show.  I have encouraged others in the guild to bring their variations along for show and tell, too.  One person has a mini that I think is just amazing.

And speaking of amazing, the other day as I was watering my indoor plants I noticed that my orchid, which I repotted a few weeks ago, is sporting two blossoms, with more on the way!  It hasn't bloomed in years, so it just goes to show that it needed a bigger pot.