Nearly finished

I quilted the two string table runners on Monday and then turned my attention to quilting a baby-sized rail fence quilt made of strips I found on the "free" table at guild.

When finished, this will go to Bags of Love along with the red hat I'm almost finished knitting.  I'm quilting straight lines in variegated purple thread on either side of the blocks, going both vertically and horizontally.  This leaves nice squares and makes the quilt secure for what will most likely receive a lot of machine washing/drying.  In putting the top together, I didn't do a whole lot of precision measuring or arranging.  Now that it's almost done, I see things I should have done a little differently, but oh well!

The back of the quilt is white flannel with medium blue stars, so I will need to find a binding fabric that goes with all the colors, probably a light cream solid.  I pieced the batting, too, so this quilt did not cost me anything.  All through these last few days when I've finished quite a bit, I thought about what I want to work on next.  Will it be the Exploding Heart or more Dear Jane blocks?  The former is purple, too, so I'm inclined to take a breather with Jane,  But first Bigfoot's Forest needs a binding.  As they say, so many quilts, so little time!

Blocks and strings

 I made a few blocks of the month on Friday and also worked with string triangles.  Basically, just refreshing my "sew-jo" after finishing the Bigfoot top and before starting a real project.

Here's the guild December block of the month, a nice Ohio Star.  I'll take it to guild to enter into a lottery.  Maybe I'll even win the batch.

Then there are the first two Optimism blocks for the quilt along devised by Aby Dolinger.  I'm using colors she suggests in her very clear instructions.

I also made a bunch of triangles out of my seemingly endless string basket and then created two table runners.  These are both basted and ready for quilting.

Both are 12" x about 20".  I'll take them down to the florist's to sell and take any Christmas items that haven't sold home this week.  Luckily, we are having "seasonal" temperatures in the 20s but with little bursts of snow daily.  The snow plow guys are probably happily getting overtime.

A long stretch of dreary weather

It has been snowing off and on for over a week now.  The sky has been mostly gray/white, and I'm glad not to be working on a temperature quilt this year.   January's blocks would almost all be the same.   It's beeni in the single digits and the snowplow guys seem to be working overtime.  Thank goodness for them!  We have been able to get out most days if we want to.  Friday we stocked up on groceries and yesterday I even went to sew with one of my guilds although only three of us came.

Now that Bigfoot's Forest is at the quilter's, I've been working with my string basket the last few days.  At some point this fall, I sorted them all by color before paper piecing 6" high triangles with them.  Now I have two table runners to quilt and a lot of varied triangles still to work with.  Today I'll spend some time with a batch of purple strips that I found on the free table at guild.  They belonged to Kathy T, who told me she was sick of them.  I don't know why - they are beautiful and will make a nice little Rail Fence quilt for Bags of Love.

Other than sewing somewhat mindlessly lately, I've been baking bread a lot.  Other baked goods are off the table as I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake these days.  I use my bread machine to mix, knead, and rise the dough which I then shape and rise to bake in the oven.  This is a plain white sourdough bread using starter I've been nursing for a few months.  It makes wonderful toast and sandwiches.

To avoid cabin fever, which can set in during these cold, gloomy days, we've been trying to gather with friends and neighbors more.  Last night friends down the street came over to play cards.  It was fun.  Next, they said, we should learn to play "Rummy Cube."  I have no idea what that entails, but we'll be doing it soon.

First finish

Bigfoot's Forest is all together and ready for quilting!  Measuring about 65" x 72", it will be a nice size for Chris, and I hope to get it to Marie for long arming tomorrow.  She is fairly speedy, but I am sure it won't be ready for his birthday next week.  I made him a card which I'll give him along with an Amazon gift card ("One size fits all," he always says). 

The scrappy checkerboard border took me a long time due to the variety of greens and neutrals along with some 2" squares from the panel I cut up for the previous border.  The center figures were taken from Elizabeth Hartman's Legendary pattern.  I have enough of the green print left over for the binding once the quilt returns home.  Green has always been Chris' favorite color.

The weather here has been typically frigid (in the single digits) with blowing and drifting snow.  I haven't left the house - not even to go to the mailbox - in three days due to icy roads.  If the roads are OK, today I hope to go to the post office to mail a small package and to yoga.

The weather is supposed to moderate a bit tomorrow, and then I'll get out to the quilt shop and maybe Joann Fabrics for "notions."  We are running low on fresh vegetables here, too, so I'll probably shop for them along the way.

I always feel a little let down after finishing a quilt top, so I keep busy with blocks of the month and some scrappy string projects until I feel ready to work on something more seriously.  I have the fabric all ready to cut for an Exploding Heart quilt which I may start later this week.  Meanwhile, I will try to take a nap after yoga today and then read more of the latest Number One Ladies Detective Agency book.  Nothing much is happening, but somehow it's cozy enough for a winter's read.

Thinking about the new year

Projects!  That's what my life has always been about, whether I've been working or retired.  Projects seem to keep me going.  A member of our quilt guild posted a great worksheet for the year's planning, and I think I'll give it a whirl. 

Over the years, I have been keeping a little notebook of details about each quilt I'm working on - size, date begun/finished piecing/finished, some info about the techniques.  I can stuff the worksheet into my notebook although I doubt if I'll fill in the section called "did I sew this week?" which is totally absurd for me.  I sew almost every day!   

My main project right now is the Bigfoot quilt for Chris' birthday January 15 when I hope to have the top ready to show him.  I will ask Marie to quilt it since it's going to be bigger than I like to quilt on my Elna.  I am halfway around the scrappy checkerboard border now.  I know it's risky to add one side at a time, but I decided that, if it doesn't work out evenly on the last round, I will put an appliqued Bigfoot corner on instead of finishing the checkerboard.  Then there will be two plain borders and then I'll be finished. 

After I get the checkerboard done, I may take a day off and work on a few blocks of the month, for the first blocks of Aby's "Optimism" quilt and the guild's BOM.  After I finish the Sasquatch quilt, I will try to return to Dear Jane for a while.  I have made and quilted half of the interior rows and would like to make the other 7 by the end of the year.  There will be distractions, and that's OK.  

I watch more TV during the winter and like to knit while doing so.  I'm working on a red hat, teenage sized, for Bags of Love while I figure out what to make with the gradient bundle of fingering yarn my sister gave me for Christmas.  I would love to make a small shawl for myself, so I'll spend some time rolling these lovelies into balls while I decide what to do.

New Years 2025

 

We had a fun afternoon yesterday, ringing in the New Year with neighbors and friends.  Our second annual "First Footing" celebration was a great success.  I always feel that when people stay longer than the time you set, they are really having a good time.  And that we did.

Almost everything I set out was eaten, and several people brought additional goodies for the table.  The big box of Dutch cookies took quite a hit, which is fine with me.  Although I would have loved to have eaten every bit of it myself, I know I shouldn't.  We still have plenty left over to feed my sweet tooth for a few more weeks, I'll add some veggies and cheese to the mix instead!

Parties are always fun when our friends Bill and Diane can come, and once again Bill sang (Winter Wonderland this time), read poems, and kept the conversation going.  He showed the sombrero he had received for Christmas, and we passed it around for photos. 

Bill also asked each person what his//her New Year''s resolution or special word would be.  That was fun and interesting, especially because most people don't "do" resolutions, But they were very thoughtful about choosing words to guide the coming year.  I wish I'd been writing them down, but I do remember Rachel saying forward, and me choosing finish (relating to UFOs and family history).  One man said he would like to make his wife's life easier which we all thought was sweet.

I'm glad we have a relatively large living room that accommodates at least 16 people.  We brought in chairs from the dining room, basement, and sewing room to create a cozy circle, Dutch style.  It won't take too long to get things back to "normal" here today, but we will have plenty of nice memories to keep us going this year.

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!