Playing catch up

Merry Christmas!  Yes, I'm still around, but until the beginning of this week I've been spending a lot of time at our public library working on Light Up the Library.  It was a success, with 67 items in the raffle, including whole Christmas trees and lots of gift certificates to local businesses.  It seemed like every day we had some emergency (theft, late entries, etc.).  But now the Friends of the Library's coffers are a little fuller and able to fund some fun programs.  Our next project will be sponsoring minigolf in the stacks during February school vacation.  That should draw quite a few kids and their parents to the library.

Meanwhile, back at home, I've been chipping away at projects in the sewing room, and I'm pleased that I was able to finish two little quilts this week.  Both will go to Bags of Love.  The first was made of orphan blocks from the pizza box marked "year's end."  At first, I really didn't like it, but now that it's done, it's grown on me.  There's certainly a lot to look at.  I quilted it in irregular vertical lines which was somewhat tedious.  Guess it's good to have some mindless sewing during the busy holiday season. 

The second quilt top was made of flannels that came from Sylvia's mother who is now in a nursing home.  Sylvia brought me four large tubs of fabric which I used, took to the free table at guild meetings, and gave to the ReStore.  These flannels all seemed to go together, so I made a 40" x 40" rail fence quilt.  I've never made a top out of flannel before, and, while it's soft, it was difficult to cut and sew precisely.   My even feed foot was a god-send.

That leaves only two more tops to quilt in the closet and a third that Marie will be quilting soon.  I'd like to get at least one more top quilted before I start anything else new.  I have three future quilts on my mind for 2026 already, including some strings for which I plan to follow the Rainbow Scrap Challenge to use up. 

I got out the first of the two in the closet - another rail fence in whites and blues.  I won the blocks at the state quilt guild and put them together right away.  Now I see it's a little small, so I'm going to add a stop border and then do varying piano keys around the outside.  I have a lot of coordinating fabric but not enough to make one or two the final border.  

To make my Christmas even nicer, I sold a bed-sized quilt, the Exploding Heart, to a friend of Chris' who was so entranced she wants to buy another for her daughter.  I will dig into my stash of finished quilts and give her a choice.  Then another friend of his wants one that's currently on display in the library.  I have to figure out what to charge for each quilt but I am happy to free up storage for whatever I make in 2026.  Happy New Year!