Virtual Round Robin

This is the first round of the Virtual round robin I've organized for an online swap group.  Last month, I generated a list of possibilities and numbered each one.  Then over the weekend, I had an online random number generator pick a number.  That choice - log cabin - became our assignment for the month of May.  Toward the end of May, I'll have the RNG pick another one for our little group to work on at our homes.  My hope is that we'll share photos of progress along the way.   

I don't want my quilt to get too big too soon, so I decided to make a 3" or so log cabin set of borders.  The Border Workbook by Janet Kime (now out of print, I think) offered this possibility, which I have wanted to try for a long time.  I had no idea it would be so complicated to fit around the 12"square.   These paper pieced blocks end up at 3.5" finished, not the 3" I was hoping for.   I expected to make coping strips, but I tend to have trouble with the math.   I measured many times and cut only once, and got it right.  :-)   And because they have that spiral, I rearranged the corner blocks many, many times before settling on this setting.  

I know I will put some coping strips around before adding the next round because it is now 22" x 22" which isn't divisible by the common block sizes of 3", 4", etc.  I do like the blue and white, though, and hope for a very interesting quilt when finished... sometime in the fall, perhaps.

Rethinking commitments

This is the last day of six weeks of staying home.  Six weeks ago, March 14, I attended a state quilt guild board meeting and we had dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants.   Staying home has become the "new normal."  We had already been in the groove of staying home because neither of us is wild about driving in winter weather.

Paul has his historical research and writing, and I have my quilting.  Both of us read a lot.   With the weather improving, we have been walking around the neighborhood as often as we can.  Our yoga instructor now holds a weekly class via Zoom, so our living room has changed into a studio.  I've been trying low-fat recipes and baking more bread.  Because they're now home during the week, I've been calling  Mom in Colorado and brother Axel in Wisconsin at least once a week, sometimes more.  And I'm tackling a few closets that should have been weeded long ago.  The trash haulers are remarking that the volume of trash has increased greatly during these six weeks.

When will life as we used to know it return?  Will it?  No one knows, but I do know that I haven't minded this new normal, even though I miss occasionally getting together with friends; going out to dinner, plays, and concerts; or traveling.  What I don't miss is the meetings I used to go to.  I am beginning to think about what I should add back into my life and what I can do without.  No easy answers, but it's good to take stock.  

Guild challenge

This year one of the guilds I belong to had a challenge - to "modernize" a traditional quilt block.  Each person was assigned a particular block, and mine ended up being a favorite, Ohio Star.  We had had a program on the "modern quilt movement" at a guild meeting, and I came away more confused than I was going in to the program.  The ladies said there were "no rules," but then they proceeded to list rules.  At a quilt show a couple of years ago, there were quite a few modern quilts, and it seemed to me that many were oversized, stripped down, not as cluttered, using solids and lots of open space.  The quilting on many of them was minimal.

The reveal for this project was to have been this past Tuesday, but since we didn't meet, we have been posting photos on Facebook.  Here is my Modern Ohio Star.

The medium gray is a solid, and the background is a textured navy, Quilters' Linen by Robert Kaufman.  The blocks are 3" which was fun.  

After I finished the top, I saw a Quilting Arts program on TV which showed a very strippy scrap quilt.  I decided to make another Ohio Star with just one block in a similar style.   This became the back, but the wallhanging is reversible.

I quilted this very simply with horizontal lines spaced about 1/2" apart.  That's hard to do well - you really have to concentrate to keep going straight.  It was a fun challenge, and I'm enjoying seeing everyone else's creations.  I do miss going to my guild meetings monthly!  

On to other things

The Selvage Sampler is finished!  I pieced some long selvages together for the binding, which I enjoy adding.  The quilting on this is fairly simple - stitch in the ditch and crosshatching - so it went pretty fast.   I pieced two leftover batiks that a friend gave me for the back,  so it is really reversible.  As you can see, it was a little windy this morning when I had Paul hold it up on the back porch.

 I'll use it as a table cloth or as a picnic blanket.  We have weekly croquet games in our neighborhood on Friday afternoons in the summer, followed by a social time with wine, cheese, snacks.  It's really fun but of course weather dependent.  And who knows if we'll have the games this summer or how long social distancing will continue.   We'll have to wait and see.

This morning I tried a couple of ways to make glasses cases and think I have figured out which way works best for me.  I'll give my two samples to Mom and sister Jenny after I make a couple more.

I might make them for the library staff for Christmas this year.  I asked Paul if he could guess what they were, and he got it on the first guess.   Last year, some thought my oversized potholders were microwaveable bowl cozies, but I managed to correct the rumor before anyone used them in the microwave.  Insulbrite has metal in it so that would not be a good thing to zap.  There are about 13 people on the staff, so if I start working on them now I won't have to have a marathon later in the year.

Quilt memories

Facebook can be both annoying and helpful.  I use it mostly to keep in touch with family and friends overseas and around the country.   I was very happy to get reacquainted with my Pennsylvania cousins Walter and Bernie last year and hope to get together with them someday soon.  My friend Samantha and I coordinate a page in support of our town forest friends, posting news and photos of our walks and adventures.   Posts from local organizations and businesses help me keep informed about what's going on in this little town.  And the bread machine group I joined this winter has really improved what I've been baking lately.  It also caused a bit of a flour shortage here and forced me to join Weight Watchers!

My high school classmates have a page, and it's interesting to catch up with friends I only see every ten years or so.  Many have gotten a lot nicer since those awkward years, and I've learned that some share a lot of the same opinions I do.  Our class was large - 618 - so it was impossible to know everyone very well.  Now I wish I had known some of these people better way back then.

A work-related group made up of retirees from other state library agencies who all collected public library statistics keeps us up on what's happened since most of us retired.  Several of us bonded when we were stuck in Washington, DC over 9-11, and we still see each other once in a while.

Quilt-related groups on Facebook offer ideas and a connection with my local guild and with a swap group with members in Canada, England, Australia, and around the US.  I love to see what others have made and share what I'm doing.

Facebook also "helps" by reminding me of quilts I've posted in the past.  Here's today's reminder, Oma's MuuMuu, made mostly of Indonesian batik clothing my parents wore in the past.  I gave it to my son, and he apparently has stored it to keep it safe.  I love the way it turned out, and that's saying a lot since brown is my least favorite color.

Selvage Sampler

I enjoy saving selvages and using them in various projects.  Last year, I started a sampler, attempting to make traditional quilt blocks using a solid and selvages.  Some blocks are a lot easier to make with selvages than others, I found.  I finally got the sampler to a size I can use and quilt myself - 54" x 54" - which is a fine size for a table cloth or picnic blanket.  The back is two leftover pieces of Indonesian batik that a friend gave me ages ago.  This quilt is really the ultimate in scrap usage!  I even pieced the batting.

Here it is, pin-basted.  I'm pretty much stitching in the ditch with an occasional diagonal here and there.  The center hexagon area was a little baggy, but quilting actually improved it, much to my surprise.  This will take me a few days to work on as I like to take breaks every hour or so.   That's fine as we continue Stay Home - Stay Safe.

Happy Easter!

This time last year, we were getting ready for our trip of a lifetime, a cruise through the Netherlands and part of Belgium.  Those tulip fields were so gorgeous, as were the sights along the route.  What wonderful memories we have of the cruise and the family time afterwards.  

This spring will be a little different, but we are grateful that everyone in our families is doing OK during this Stay Home - Stay Safe period, especially my nearly 98 year old Mom.   Best wishes to you all! 

Finishes

Yesterday I worked on the April blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month's colors are bright and light blue, but I was low on those colors due to making the sky on My Small World and using light blue in a few other projects recently.  But I managed, of course.  I made four blocks even though I had previously made three.  I just forgot how many I had made before.  

Such is the way of life these days.   This is the last day of the four week long Stay Home - Stay Safe, so I have become confused as to which day of the week it is.  No wonder I am confused about other things!  The Governor has extended this period to at least May 15, although he did say he might open things up sooner for construction workers and others who work outside.  This will be good for Chris who is itching to get outside to mow lawns.  Even with last night's sprinkling of snow, grass is waking up.  Our Governor Scott is doing a great job in all of this.  We don't agree on most things (minimum wage, sick leave, etc.), but he has been calm, reasoned, and smart during this health emergency.

I am ready to block the blue silk scarf I've been knitting for the last year.  My ironing board is too long, so it hangs over a little bit, but I'm going to use it instead of a bed.  Easier on the back.  It really looks a lot prettier in person - there is a blend of colors in the lacy pattern.  After blocking, I'll weave the loose threads in, which is my least favorite part of knitting.  I started making a cardigan for myself, knit on round needles.  I am sure it will take forever to finish, but I try to do at least one or two rows a day while watching TV.

Keeping busy

Several people have mentioned that they have lost track of what day it is, and I sure am.  I think we are beginning our fourth week of social distancing, which is a long time to be mostly at home.  Paul and I get out to walk a few times in the mornings when the neighborhood isn't as busy with walkers.  The dogs we've seen walking by in the afternoons have been awfully cute.  They'll be sorry when their owners return to work.
The last couple of days I have been going through two more boxes of mementos and photos.  There was an old album, the kind with the sticky sheets covered in plastic. During my time volunteering at the historical society I learned that these albums aren't really good for photos.  One of my jobs was to try to pry the photos out.  Luckily, mine were falling out.

Paul showed me how to scan and crop the scanned photos yesterday so that I could send some to my sister Jacqueline in the Netherlands.  She was very pleased to get them, including this one of a house we lived in on Borneo when I was a baby.  Another photo has, in Pa's handwriting, notes of what rooms were where.

And there were some cute baby photos, too.  Here's one of my grandfather (Opa), Pa, and me; by this time we were in the Netherlands.  Don't the men look dapper?  These photos traveled many a mile over the years - from Indonesia, to the Netherlands, then Delaware, Maryland, Wisconsin, New York, and Vermont.  

I also found photos of my Dutch cousins, school pictures of my brothers and little sister, and even one of me as a bridesmaid in a wedding.  I just ordered another photo organizing box, but with Amazon's backlog lately, I won't receive it until late this month.  For now they are in a shoebox.  It sure has been fun to look at them.  What will I uncover today as I continue hoeing out the basement closet?