Early holiday season prep

I spent most of yesterday updating the mailing list for the Friends of the Library's annual Light Up the Library fundraiser.  We write to merchants, clubs, and individuals, asking for decorated holiday items and gifts to display for two weeks before we raffle them off.   Judy and I added some names and deleted others that hadn't participated in the five years we've been doing it.  Because Paul and I have a couple of trips planned this fall, I'm trying to get all of the paperwork done sooner than in the past.  Or is it really sooner?   I do hope to have the initial mailing ready by the end of September. 

In between that chore, I did a little bit more quilting on the Pixilated Holland quilt.  Even though there are wobbles in the straight lines I'm doing with variegated thread, when I look at the quilt as a whole, it looks pretty good.  I have only a few lines left to do and then I can square the piece up and bind it.  The question now is:  flanged binding or no?  I'll do a little test before I cut the strips.  The quilt is only about 42 x 49" so it won't take much fabric either way.

I was pleased to get a call last night from my sister in law Linda who had received the origami bag I made and sent to her.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  Just forgot!  I admired a similar bag made by a quilter I met at the Vermont Quilt Show in June.  She showed me how to fold a rectangle of pre-quilted fabric to make such a bag, and I still have the little piece of paper she folded to show me.  I had tried to make one before but gave up as the folding was a mystery to me.   I will hang onto the little paper pattern and the link as I'd like to make one or two more sometime.  Quilters are the nicest, most helpful people.

Rainbow baby quilt

The sun was shining brightly yesterday so we finally managed to get a photo of the finished quilt.  It's going to be a boy, so little Daley will be a big brother.  They had a gender reveal party over the weekend - amazing how American activities have slipped over the Atlantic to the Netherlands.

I love the striped binding and was happy to find the stripes slanted on the bias.  In pawing through my stash in search of something fun, I noticed several other striped fabrics just waiting to be cut into  binding.  Since I have several rainbow scrap challenge quilts on the slow go, I'm sure I'll be using them soon.

The back was made of a bunch of 10" squares my former neighbor Carol gave me as she was packing to move.  She was sorry to be so drastically downsizing, and I hope her new place has more room than she thought so she can build a new stash there.  I arranged the squares as a nine patch initially and then cut them, disappearing nine patch style.  I like the way the quilting stands out.

Happy Labor Day!  I hope to get out and do a little shopping.  We need some new sheets for the guest bed (we're still using some from our B&B days), and I want to get some mum plants for the front (actually the planters in the driveway).   Then I'm going to make some chili - there is definitely a touch of fall in the air every morning here.

The end of a busy week

It's Saturday!  A day to catch up on things like laundry, vacuuming, and a little cooking.   If I'm lucky, I'll get a little sewing in.  The rainbow baby quilt is all quilted and bound, but it's going to be gloomy and rainy today, so I won't take a picture until the sun comes out.  

After finishing the quilt, I got sidetracked this week hemming some jeans for Paul and doing a few other mending chores.  I put off picking up the two quilts Marie finished quilting until this Thursday - I was feeling overwhelmed by the mess in the quilting room when she told me they are ready.  Maybe I'll even get the bindings cut before I pick them up.  

I took a little time this week to organize things and made a plan to finish the blue and white Netherlands quilt I started earlier this year.  I'll add a couple of borders and then decide how to quilt the wallhanging-sized piece.  The pattern for the country was created by a Vermont quilter, Karen Abrahamovich, who also created one of this state.  I have an early version of that pattern which I intend to make... someday!

Before I work on the Netherlands, I'll turn my attention to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month's color is purple which is great for me since I have a lot.  For that I am working on several quilts and try to make:  five log cabin blocks, two Traffic Stop blocks (a Pat Sloan pattern), two flowering snowball blocks, and one improv house.  That's a lot of UFOs, I know, but I plan to keep some of them going into the winter.  The log cabins will probably be put together before the end of the year.

We don't have any Labor Day weekend plans which is nice.  I hope to catch up on some reading, too, and may even clean up the gardens a little.  Hope your holiday is a relaxing one!

Quilting the rainbow

I sandwiched the rainbow baby quilt yesterday and started to quilt it.  Earlier in the day I bought the batt at the local quilt shop.  I needed a 60" x 60" batt fpr this little quilt which  measures about 49" square.  While I was there, I also found a fun striped fabric with many of the colors in it which I may use for the binding.  If not for this quilt, then for another.

The Quilters Dream batt is 100% cotton, and what a difference it is from the 80-20 batts I'm used to using.  It's much flatter and more solid which works well so far.  I started by using white thread on the top and cream on the bottom - so far so good, with no cream peeking through to the tp.  When I get to the various colors, I'll switch thread colors, although I will probably use cream for the yellow since I don't have any yellow thread.  I'm just stitching 1/2" from each seam.

I'll continue quilting with the white today before we head to the neighborhood annual summer picnic.  We have 18 people coming today for barbecued chicken catered by Randy the Racin' Chef.  Last year only two men came, but this year there will be four.  Most of the women are the same ones who come to the monthly women's lunches, and I'm disappointed that none of the newer neighbors are coming.  Summer is a busy time, and now that school has started again, everyone is getting their final gatherings and trips in before fall foliage season.  

Back in "business"

Our internet, TV, and landline were all down for three days last week.  It wasn't a total tragedy because my cell phone is on a different carrier.  But it was an inconvenience.  Spectrum was "upgrading" the system, but I was still able to get email and play New York Times games on my phone.  We have a TV with a digital antenna in the basement, so we only missed Jeopardy one night, much to our relief.  But it all recalled days gone by when our homes were quiet and our lives less distracted.  Not a bad thing!

I got some sewing done, too, this past week.  I finished the Rainbow baby quilt top and hung it up in the closet to wait for quilting.  I have a bunch of beige squares that I got from my neighbor Carol that I'll sew together somehow for the back.  The parents to be requested a beige quilt with the previous baby, so I'll do the same this time - bright back, beige (ugh!) front.

Meanwhile, I got out a box marked HSTs and sifted through all the cut-offs and leftover half square triangles.  The tiny ones, mostly likely from a long ago Bonnie Hunter mystery, were thrown out which I should have done ages ago.  If I still had a dog, I might have used them to stuff a dog bed.  But I know I'll never do anything with them, as there were potential HSTs in larger sizes.  I'm not sure where I'm going with the ones I sewed together, but I now have a collection of 9 patch blocks made of HSTs.

Then I turned my attention to starting a new row-by-row quilt, my 2026-27 guild row robin project.  My theme this year is "Fall" which includes colors I don't usually use together.  But my stash holds quite a few oranges, browns, beiges, greens, etc. to use up.  I'm telling the other quilters not to focus on Halloween, so I left out any fabrics directly related to that "holiday."

It's really difficult to take a photo of something so long and skinny, but you get the idea.  My initial row turned out to be 48.5" long.  The blocks were 6" baskets set on point, making the row is about 9" high.  I could have made maple leaves, but I thought I'd leave that for someone else to make.  I also made a small strip of 2.5" yellow HSTs (from the aforementioned box) that I will save for another row when the row robin return to me.   One of the members of the group wants people to attach their rows as her quilt moves along, but I'm asking everyone not to do that with mine.  I'd rather put the rows together myself, maybe with a bit of sashing in between the rows.

A touch of fall in the air

Yesterday our neighbor came over for dinner wearing a sweatshirt.  It was a bit too chilly to sit outside while Paul and he grilled the brats, Wisconsin style.   Rich is from the midwest so he was coaching lifelong New Englander Paul on the finer points.  They turned out delicious and went well with my potato salad and baked beans.  At any rate, I'm sure we'll have some warmer days going forward, but we did enjoy the cooler evening.  "Good sleeping weather," as the former TV weather lady always said.

Fall is just about everyone's favorite season here, and I now have a hankering for cider donuts, chili, and apple pie.  But there are plenty of summer things we haven't done yet, including walking up to the Grand Lookout (at left), visiting the Shelburne Museum, and more. Where does the time go?

I spent yesterday morning hemming a curtain for another neighbor's front door.  I had been worrying about it because home sewing is just not what I do.  To begin the project, I cleaned my machine thoroughly and changed to a 70/10 needle with white thread.  I also measured against the former curtain several times to make sure I'd end up with the proper length.  And it all worked out great, and my neighbor was pleased.  

I did sew another white round on the rainbow baby quilt, and today I'll tackle the blue scrappy round.  I continue, albeit slowly, to knit on the purple scarf.  I'd like to finish it so i can get back to knitting a few more hats for foster kids through Bags of Love.  I use bigger needles for those so they get done faster.

I'm reading an interesting mystery for my book group, Murder by Degrees, set in 1873.  It tells the story of a woman doctor who discovers during an autopsy that a supposed suicide is really murder.  So far it's very atmospheric and full of medical details.  This is a bit of a departure for me, but I'm enjoying it.

Another start

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to sort through all the catalogs and magazines that had been piling up in the living room.   The ones with clothing were all advertising stuff for spring and summer!  Consequently, almost all went into the recycling bin.  

But one of them went up to the sewing room with me.  It was a pamphlet with patterns for scrap quilts that came with my renewal of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine (sorry about the glare), and it showed a very do-able little quilt using pieces of the rainbow, arranged ROYGBIV style.

I have a new grandniece or -nephew coming this winter, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.   I'm sure the parents haven't decided on a color scheme for their little surprise, so I'll wait to create a back in a color(s) of their choosing.  (I hope it's not "neutral" like the last one I made them!)   I've made three rounds and hope to add the green round today.

I'm using a white dotted fabric for the strips in between.  The original pattern shows a light blue dotted fabric which is also nice, but I don't have enough of any color for that.  It's quite easy although it's important to square up everything after each round of color.  I don't want to end up with a parallelogram!

I'm heading to the quilt shop this morning with the Gumballs and purple Round Robin quilts.  I'll tell Marie there's no rush on the quilting.  Having just finished Dear Jane and Wensleydale, I am definitely not in a hurry to bind two more quilts.

I need to get some more thread as well as a new blade for my smaller rotary cutter.  I am hoping to make a Flowering Snowball quilt this fall also, and I find the smaller cutter is easier to use around the plastic templates.   I already took a small chunk out of one point the other day as I tried to cut some pieces ahead.