Where does the week go?

Sunday, we woke up to a dusting of snow - what a reality check!  The rest of the week included snow flurries and showers, but today it's supposed to be sunny all morning.  November is not my favorite month - too gloomy!  It's been a busy week, with meetings and commitments, but I managed to get Christmas packages mailed, some projects finished, and more.

The quilt for Ken, my brother's friend, is finished and ready for mailing.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  Marie quilted it with a boxy modern all-over pattern, and I like the gray "grunge" in the setting.  The blocks were part of a quilt along called "Options," by Aby Dolinger.  This will be my final package to be mailed this season - now on to the Christmas letters/cards, with the international ones going in the mail first.

An electrician came Wednesday to install some outdoor lights on either side of our garage door.  We've been discussing this for the last ten years, so when our neighbors decided to have some installed, we got the same kind and used the same electrician.  The box says the LED lights should last 46 years. - wow!  I doubt if we'll be living here when the bulbs burn out, but we're really pleased with the way they turned out.

It has been almost two years since we saw our friends Bill and Diane who only live about 2 miles away.  The pandemic and various health issues have gotten in the way.  We were glad to host them for lunch on Tuesday and catch up a little bit.  I made a quiche and crudites; Diane brought sorbet and cider.  We hope to do it again sooner now that we are all vaccinated and well-quarantined.  

I finished a little fabric basket and am working on a table runner.  Both are for neighbors, so I have time.  I also swapped out the Halloween items I had for sale at the local florist/gift shop.  Now there are Christmas stockings and table runners on display there.  I also freshened up my etsy shop offerings with new items and better photos.  And there's more!   I'll post again soon.

Busy times

 

This is the quilt I took on Saturday for Show and Tell at the state quilt guild meeting.  Made up of leftover pieces of last fall's Bonnie Hunter mystery, I call it Vermont Spring because the bigger quilt ended up being called Green Mountain Spring.  At any rate, this quilt won first place in the state guild's virtual show, and for that I received an award at our first in-person meeting in two years.

We didn't have a huge turnout, but the program was excellent.  Roz Daniels, a friend and fellow guild member, told about her life as a quilter, from the 1970s with polyesters, through travels to exotic places, and now as an award-winning modern quilter.  I admire her creativity and approachability, and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing many of her interesting quilts.

Sunday, I got out my Options blocks of the month to see if I could put them together into a throw for a friend of my brother's who's been very helpful to him lately.  Ken has been driving Axel around to various doctor's appointments and helping him clean up his apartment - actually, it's with much-needed hoe out.  Why does a single guy need 46 water glasses?  Anyway, I started putting the blocks together on point and realized I didn't have nearly enough fabric. 

Of course, the quilt shop was closed Sunday and Monday, so I was chomping at the bit until yesterday when I found they are out of the fabric I was using for sashing.  So the whole setting is going to be more scrappy than I had planned.  I always have a lot of trouble figuring out the size of the setting triangles around the blocks in an on-point quilt.  Today I'll do the math and try to get everything cut out and start sewing.  I found some nice Aboriginal fabric in my stash for the back - hope I have enough.  

In between all this, I had my monthly pedicure/get together with my friend Debb, went to a Friends of the Library meeting, did laundry and some housecleaning, started knitting a hat while I decide if I'm going to continue with the very slow going sweater, and watched the rain pour down.  After a few days of gloom, we are hoping to see the sun some time today and finally get out for a walk or two.

A little sewing

I have been finishing Louise Penny's latest mystery, The Madness of Crowds, and, while it is a little slow going, it's very thought-provoking.  I ended up liking it a lot although it doesn't have as much "action" as some of her 16 previous books.  Now it's another year's wait until her next offering although I will probably read the book she has co-written with Hillary Clinton when it comes out in October.  I'm curious!

The Options blocks of the month are fairly easy this time, so I made four of them.  Now I'm wondering how I'll set them.  They're 8" square and I probably have at least 27 now.  I'll lay them out one of these days to see how they all look together.

Today, I've been busy making my eight Harriet's Journey blocks for September.  Those are 6" square and more work.  Most are paper pieced which means copying them onto foundation paper.  I've noticed that I use quite a bit more fabric for each block than I had thought I would.  So I'm running low on some, even though I bought a fat quarter bundle and several half yards of the focus fabric.  The background is a mix of whites and I have lots of that.  But maybe it's time to call it finished?  

A couple of BOMs

It's been hot, and we've had visitors now that Paul has been feeling better.  So the blocks of the month have not been a priority.  Still, I have found time to work on them in between times.   The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month is aqua, but I had very little.  So I mixed in darker teals and like the resulting pineapple blocks.  I will probably continue this quilt into 2022 in order to make it large enough to sleep under.

My sewing room is cool and the best place to be lately.  It's funny because July had perfect temperatures; usually August is the month with "good sleeping weather" (in the 50s) and perfect days (in the 70s).  We have also had our share of haze lately, due to the fires in Manitoba, according to the weather people.  

I made three "Options" blocks, too, and although I got things turned around on the third one, I like them.   I have made "Balkan Puzzle" as a 12" block using all half square triangles, but this one finishes at 8" with some parallelograms.  I am enjoying this block of the month, created by Aby Dolinger who writes the clearest directions.  It will be a nice-sized throw by the end of the year, and I'll probably quilt it myself.

Some overnight guests are arriving tomorrow or the next day in an RV so they'll sleep in our driveway.  This will be a first for us, so I'm hoping it will all work out well.  I haven't seen these folks since college, about 50 years ago!  They have a big dog which should be fun, too.  I hope they arrive in time to take a tour of the area with me.  Cool food is on the menu!

Just a little sewing

 

The tulips on the sunny side of the house are almost finished blooming, but the daffodils have finally popped.  Aren't these fun?  I planted some last fall from a bag marked "mixed daffodils," and it was quite a surprise to see the doubles and the littler, lighter colored daffodils pop out.  They look so cheerful on the shady front of the house.  And we need lots of cheer lately because it keeps threatening to rain almost every day.  

Of course, rain is what makes our Green Mountains green so I really shouldn't complain.  On my almost daily drives to Burlington I love seeing the many shades of spring and the flowering trees tucked in here and there.  Vermont is really beautiful, especially in very slow-to-arrive spring.

After three long weeks, Paul appears to be getting better, but we do expect he'll be either in the hospital or at a rehab center for several more weeks.  I'm getting used to the hour long commute, and it seems to do him good to have me there as he naps or eats a little bit.  He has lost a lot of weight so needs to build back up now.  I've been reading a lot, which is fine.

I did manage to make three "Options" blocks for this month along with some extra pinwheels for sashing or borders.  Aby's directions are so clear and easy to follow and adapt.

The guild block for May, Friendship Star, was finished long ago and is ready to mail June 1 to the lottery winner.  And now I'm working on this month's eight blocks for Harriet's Journey.   More "Moody Bloom" fabric arrived yesterday so that I can vary the colors a bit more.  It's going to be a lovely sampler.

I sew a little before I head over to Burlington and a little after I get home.  Quilting is great for the soul.  Unfortunately, I have living room curtains to shorten also, but maybe I will just resort of stitch witchery for that dull job.  The dining room curtains I shortened with it are holding up well after 10 years!

A busy Thursday

During a Vermont winter, when it isn't snowing, everyone gets out to do errands, so that's what I did yesterday.  Just as I was getting ready to head to the bank, Marie called to tell me my Green Mountain Spring quilt (based on Bonnie Hunter's mystery) was ready.  I had told her not to hurry, but she was making her own version and got my quilt out to help her see how to finish one section.  Guess that was when she thought it should go on the frame.

I had been planning to go to the quilt shop anyway to find some fabric to border the hankie quilt and to get a few black and whites for the Options quilt along.  I had eked out these blocks Wednesday but noticed I was mighty low for future blocks in that monthly project.  It was, as usual, fun to stop there after the bank and chat with Marie for a while.  Her Grassy Creek is going to be great, and she isn't intimidated by bigger quilts like I am.   The shop was quite busy and there's a 4 person limit there, so when two ladies arrived, I headed out, even though I could talk to Marie all day!  

On my way home, I stopped at the florist/gift shop to drop off a tablerunner and small quilt to sell.   I love to browse the gifts and candy there and ended up taking a small beaded bag and a box of truffles home.  I will use the bag someday when we can all socialize again, and I hope Paul enjoys the truffles for Valentine's Day.

Even though it's only a few days into February, guild members are finishing their Valentine's block of the month - pieced or appliqued hearts - quickly.  I have the directions for March pretty much set, so I started working on the April block, Buttercup.   

I have been making one for the guild block lottery and three for my Dear Marianne quilt (based on Kingwell's Dear Jen).  A strip of three 6" buttercups looks very cheery and went together quickly.  

I'm hopping around the Dear Jen pattern book which seems to be meant for hand piecing which I will not do.  I need to turn some of the patterns into paper pieced ones.  Instead, I started working on an appliqued strip when the sun came out.  Hope to finish that today when it starts snowing again.  We have at least a foot of the white stuff on the ground.  I'm hoping it will hold off a bit so we can get a walk in.