Reflections

2024 is almost finished and 2025 is about to begin.  Isn't amazing that we're a quarter of the way through the century that just seemed to begin a few years ago?  So much has happened, yet there's so much left to do.  

This year, I finished my usual number of quilts - 14, several given away to various charities.  One was most significant because I started it back in the 1980s.

It was just a simple white on white piece, not even 18" square, and pre-printed.  I unearthed it in 2023 and began taking it to the Calico County Quilters monthly meetings.  I enjoyed working on it while chatting and admiring other people's work, including Wendy's intricate hexie quilt made with Tula Pink fabrics.  Hanging over my desk now, this little quilt makes me proud!

The quilt I least enjoyed working on was the Laura Heine collage, Birch Street, which my mom enjoys seeing in her family room.  

It was an intense project, and I doubt if I'll ever make another.  I just don't enjoy following patterns.

My favorite quilted items were two table runners using "Snowflake" Bentley fabric.  I can't find a picture of either one; I gave them away to neighbors for Christmas.  Gale, who lives next door, says she loves the way it looks on her table, and that makes me very happy.  Her husband Alan is Jewish, so the blue of the snowflake fabric works well at their house. 

I knit a number of hats for kids going into foster care, and now I'm working on a scrappy scarf made of knitted squares.   My sister gave me some lovely fingering yarn that I am dying to start working with, so I will probably set the squares aside for a while.   

My hand quilting project to take to Calico County is a sashiko piece I finished embroidering last fall.  It's black thread on charcoal fabric, so Dee's classroom where we meet is the only place I can actually see well enough to hand quilt.  But I'm sure it won't take me 40 years to finish!

Happy New Year to all - may 2025 be a good year for you!

Two finishes!

Friday, I shopped for and added a binding to the white on white piece (about 12" square) I have been working on since the early 1980s.  Yes, that long!  I took a class on white on white quilting at the Vermont Quilt Festival when it was still just 10 miles down the road from me in Northfield.  One of the vendors sold printed squares, so I bought one to work on while traveling for some years until I started taking Dear Jane blocks with me on trips.

I found the white on white piece a couple of years ago at the bottom of a bin and have been taking it to work on now and then at monthly Calico County Quilters meetings ever since.  After I finished quilting it, I soaked it in warm water to get the blue lines out.  They faded but were still visible, so I washed it in hot water with new Dawn dish soap and some Oxy-clean.  That did the trick and also removed some of the stains acquired over 40 years of dragging it from meeting to meeting.  

The binding is a cream-on-cream that contrasts just enough.  Eventually, I'll hang the nameless piece on the wall after taking it to guild for show and tell.   I finished it at our Calico County meeting Saturday and also worked on the Sashiko I started on vacation in March.  I'll take the Sashiko along to Colorado next week as it's small enough to fit in my suitcase.

Over the weekend, I also pieced a back, pin basted, and quilted the Manx/log cabin quilt.  I used my walking foot and echoed the barn raising setting.  The binding is the same cream-on-cream.   I noticed that when I spritzed some of the quilting lines some of the red centers ran.  Ugh!  I'm not quite sure what to do now - maybe wash in the machine with color catchers and Oxy?  I'll ask folks at guild what they recommend.

Funny how, whenever I finish a quilt, I need to take a break for a day or two before working on anything else.  I spent quite a bit of the day yesterday reading Paper Cuts, a new installment in the cozy mystery series, The Secret, Book, and Scone Society, by Ellery Adams.  I enjoy this series set in a small town with the main character being a former librarian who owns a bookstore and offers a bit of bibliotherapy to her customers.  Could be my alter-ego!

Traditional log cabin

It's been a while since I made a traditional log cabin quilt, and I always like the way they look.  I started some Manx blocks by hand last fall and also participated in a block swap with an online group this winter.  Yesterday, I laid out all the blocks I have made or received, and I made three more Manx-style blocks.  These were machine sewn and I already had strips cut, so they didn't take a lot of time at all.   Manx blocks make a fun take-along project.

Now I have 36 8" blocks! 

Someone in the swap group said she was planning a "streak of lightning" setting.  I'm not sure if this is what she meant, but I like it.  The Manx blocks all have printed background fabrics while the swap and other blocks have plain cream backgrounds.  There is some dimension to the Manx blocks, so I'm wondering how I will quilt it.  But I need to put the blocks together first and then decide on a border.  This week is pretty free, so I hope to get it done by the end of the week.  Then it will languish in the closet for a while - I'm planning a pieced back with some leftover log cabin blocks.  Two swap blocks from London have not yet been received.

Saturday is the state quilt guild meeting, so I've been accumulating stuff to take in the dining room.  My sewing room has a slightly smaller pile of stuff I'm gathering for the local guild meeting on the 21st.  I am doing a demo on hand quilting then, so I want to finish the white on white piece I have been pecking away at for many years - since the 1980s!

Mt. Fuji

The Heart of Vermont Quilt Guild had a Asian panel challenge this year.  Anyone who wanted one was given a panel that belonged to a quilter who had passed away.  Some were basically florals, and some were scenes as mine was.  At first, I thought I'd cut it up, but then I decided it was really too nice to do anything more than quilt it by hand.  I thought I'd try "big stitch quilting" with perle cotton.  I hated doing that!  It was difficult to get a needle through, and I tried all sorts of needles.  I also thought I'd try quilting with some gold thread here and there.  It shreds if you use too long a piece (or maybe I didn't use the proper needle).  But I managed.  

In the end, I reverted to regular hand quilting thread, mostly black, and got very nice results, especially on the tree.  The quilting created good texture.  Here I am at show and tell last Tuesday night.  I was very glad to finish this project but also to have an opportunity to do some hand quilting which I have always enjoyed.  Paul's sister saw this picture and liked it, so I'm mailing it to her next week.  

Now I'm working on a little hand appliqued piece for a show and contest at the new quilt shop in town.  We can do just about anything except that the finished result needs to be only 12" x 15".  It's been quite humid lately, so yesterday I turned the heat pump to air conditioning and worked away on the new piece.  I'll keep at it today, and maybe I'll have another picture to share soon.