Finished top

Woohoo!  I finished this top yesterday.  It measures 48" x 57" and is designed to fit above a door at a nursing home.  The door leads to a courtyard garden and the board member was looking for something that would be reminiscent of Vermont's Green Mountains.  I hope this will fill the bill.  If not, I have offered an alternative quilt that's only 36" x 36" with similar colors and a bit of purple.  

I plan to quilt this myself, but not right away unless they want it ASAP.  I noticed they already have a curtain rod hanging for something.  When I do, I'll quilt it simply with straight lines vertically and then add a flanged binding in blue and green.  I love working with those two colors, and the pattern is Bonnie Hunter's free Scrappy Mountains Majesty.  My blue box is overflowing, so I'm thinking about a pieced back for this quilt.

While I wait for a reply, I will be putting together all the various blocks for Austen Jubilee, my take on this year's Quiltmaker mystery.  I am mixing up some of the blocks and adding a few "coping" strips to make it all fit.  I hope I have enough fabric to finish.  It's put together in sections which makes it somewhat easier to see what I'll be needing in the way of additional fabrics. 

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!

Fall is showing its beauty

A drive to the mall on Friday revealed absolutely no fall color.  It's always a nice view, but it was still green.  On Saturday morning, it was chilly and foggy, and when I drove down to the grocery store, the colors had popped overnight.  Everywhere we turn, there are reds, golds, and more.  Yesterday's drive up to the mall (I rarely go there; this was to pick up Paul's new glasses after his appointment Friday), an overwhelming amount of color.  

And the tour buses and RVs are everywhere!  Local restaurants are warning folks about reservations made by tour groups and some long waits to get seats.  But the weather has been so nice that we've been getting some last grillings in before we put the grill away for the winter.  

I got the little yoyo quilt bordered and sandwiched and then started quilting it yesterday.  These yoyos have been appliqued to squares so quilting has been in the ditch and then 1/2" away from the ditch on both sides.  Pretty easy.  I should be able to finish today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm buried in Robert Galbraith's Ink Black Heart, a 1,000 page mystery.  Galbraith is the pen name for J. K. Rowling who can always tell a good story, but, while this is absorbing, I am getting impatient and want to find out whodunnit!  When I took the hard cover copy back to the library (it is very heavy), I suggested that they allow borrowers to read it over six weeks, rather than the month they've been giving them.  I'm reading the Kindle edition now which is a lot easier to hold!

Another sampler

I've had this little quilt waiting for a photoshoot, but it keeps raining and/or looking gloomy.  So today I laid it out on the living room floor and took its picture.  It's a little sampler that will be joining a few others at Bags of Love, which gives quilts and knitted items (I am also sending a few) to kids going into foster care.

I enjoyed making all of the individual blocks, especially the wonky stars, but I worried over arranging them all together.  It's a mishmash, but perhaps a kid can play "I Spy" with it.

I heard about a program to give "blankets" to new refugees called "Welcome Blankets."  My local quilt shop is a drop off point.  They are taking blankets, afghans, quilts, and more, but they all have to be 40" x 40".  

I had one 24" UFO left hanging in the closet after my summer finishing frenzy.  It was made with some yoyo blocks by quilters in the state guild.  We had a ton of blocks made and created 6 or more crib-sized quilts with them, as well as a little wallhanging for our outgoing president.  Yesterday, I expanded the little leftover quilt top to the 40" x 40" size the Welcome Blankets group wants.  I hope to get it sandwiched this afternoon, and I'll quilt away for the next few days. I find it difficult to go around those yoyos which are appliqued onto the center of 5" black and white charm squares.  That's why it's been a UFO, but I am happy to have a place to send it to.