Finishing stuff!

Thursday I drove over to the quilt shop to pick up the black/orange throw Marie had quilted and to give her the blue and white snowflake rail fence throw to quilt.  I love the way the black/orange sampler turned out and will put a black binding on it soon.  I have one more top to take to Marie whenever the back arrives from Connecting Threads.  It's the blue and white speckled Triple Barn Star top that ended up being 72" x 72".  It's waiting in the closet for its back.

I got last year's block of the month Optimism top out of the closet and decided to make two borders for the sides so that it would end up about twin sized.  This was a pattern designed by Aby Dolinger whose BOMs I've followed for the last several years.  Her instructions are always spot on, and, being a sampler maven, I've enjoyed them.  

The question for me last week was whether or not to participate in Aby's 2026 BOM, and I guess not because I couldn't get up the energy to gather the fabric even though I have a very nice background all set aside.  I have too many other quilts I'd like to work on this year.  I'll use that background in one of them.

I made the two borders for Optimism and then pieced a back.  I bought another batt Thursday and started quilted that sampler myself.  Before I got to that, I made a couple of blue Traffic Jam blocks (a Pat Sloan pattern) using my box of 2" squares and cutting a few more blue squares.  This will be another monthly project for me this year.  I need to reduce my collection of blues and greens in particular.  I will most likely use a thin neutral to sash the blocks when I get sick of making them this year.

Besides finishing sandwiching, pin basting, and quilting today, I'll spend a little time with Louise Penny's latest mystery, The Black Wolf. "Everyone" else has finished it and I'm still about 1/3 of the way through.   Louise sure knows how to build suspense, though!   

I also have to write up the Friends of the Library meeting minutes and do a few other little things online.  The sun is shining but it's quite icy out, so I doubt if I'll get a chance to take a walk.   And then there are still a few Christmas decorations I need to take down...