The satisfaction of small projects

It's been a gloomy weekend, just right for finishing a couple of smaller items.  First was a class sampler I designed for an applique class I taught years ago.  I made a similar one in black, white, and red that I turned into a tote bag for my sister Jacqueline.  This one, in '30s fabrics, has just been shuffled around owsince the class at least five years ago!  I thought I'd turn it into a pillow, but now a doorhanging seems like the perfect thing for spring.

I quilted it very simply, going around the main items, adding some veins to leaves, and embellishing with a few wavy lines across the basket.  I turned the border to the back for a "binding."  It will go on our door next weekend for Easter.  The hanging on the door now is really faded, so I have to remember to change my door quilts a little more frequently, even though the door faces north so never gets direct sunlight.  The storm door seems to reflect light anyway.

The next little quilt (17" square) is made of leftovers - from this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery and a rejected guild block of the month.  I may put it on the door or may just set it on a table in the living room sometime.  I do love this color combination - gray, pink, and blue - with lots of scrappy neutrals.

Both pieces are made with muslin backs and leftover batting.  How satisfying to finish these, though, after months of working on bigger projects!

Works in Progress

I've been working a little more on the Dear Jen quilt these days.  Currently, I'm hand appliqueing three pineapple blocks which are actually easier to make than I had initially thought.  Jen Kingwell's hardest blocks seem to be pieced, but the quilt seems designed for hand piecing which I don't do.  I have been quilting blocks for my Anything Goes purple quilt off and on, and the hand pieced ones are the toughest to quilt due to their lack of uniformity.  

Anyway, here are some more Dear Jen strips of 6" blocks, two from the book and two from my guild blocks of the month.  The angle of my photo makes it look as if they are different lengths, but they are all 18" long.  I'm not exactly sure how I'll set them,  but this is a long term project and I have plenty of time to think about the eternal question of sashing.

I've also been knitting quite a bit using some chunky yarn that self-stripes and also makes cute little flowers now and then.  It's on #11 needles so works up fast.

It will be a nice shawl for Mom to use on summer nights on her porch, I hope.  I've already used a skein of yarn, and luckily I have four more to make it a good size.  I'd like to finish before the weather gets warm, though, since it will be hot work this summer.

Yesterday son Chris took our car to the carwash - quite a relief.  My daffodils are poking out of the ground out front and we have very little snow left to melt.  We are getting our second COVID shots this morning - things are looking up around here.

Harriet's Journey 2

The little 6" blocks in Jennifer Chiaverini's new Harriet's Journey sampler are addicting, despite their fiddliness.  I love the way they're turning out and have come to view their tricky construction as good for my aging brain.

I have joined in a block of the month group on the Quilting Board, and eight blocks, hopping around the quilt, were assigned for March.  The curvy block, Oregon Trail, seemed daunting at first as I tried to sew the 2" blocks on the machine.  I soon decided that applique would be best, and the result is pretty nice.

Construction of the next block was just as daunting at first, until I decided not to make those parallelograms or sew Y seams via the templates given.  Instead, I used Bonnie Hunter's chevron method (cut a rectangle and two squares to be sewn diagonally).   What a relief.  Pressing was important though.

Sonoma Rose was paper pieced, and the last block was fairly easy patchwork as long as I measured and cut accurately.   Phew!

Next up:  a few more Dear Jen blocks, so named because it's a Jen Kingwell sampler.  Photos soon!

Online shopping

 I have always loved shopping.  I blame my mother who loved it, too.  As a child, we would often go to a shopping center (we didn't have malls in those days!), just to look around, especially at jewelry stores.  We would sample perfumes, check out the latest styles, look at fine art, and have lunch or a pastry.  Georgetown in Washington, DC, was a special treat.  When Mom and I returned from two weeks in the Netherlands in 2006, she was 85 years old and still didn't tire of shopping.   While I sat, exhausted, waiting to board our plane home, Mom was still looking around the airport gift shops.  Each of us had at least one tote bag full of food - cookies, candies, spices, and more that we can't find in the U.S.

So it comes as no surprise that the pandemic has led me to do a lot of shopping, but most of it has been online.  It goes without saying that fabric is needed, so I have ordered quite a bit from Green Fairy, the Fat Quarter Shop, Hancock's, the Missouri Quilt Co., and more.  My local quilt shop has been open since May or June, and I haven't neglected them, either.  To be fair, I have been quilting a lot over the last year when we've mostly not left our house.

Meanwhile, several pairs of shoes have come into the house even though I rarely go anywhere and when I do, I use the Easy Spirit slipons I got for our Dutch cruise in 2019.  They've seen quite a few miles while the new shoes, hardly any.  Guess I'm an eternal optimist.  Someday we'll go out to dinner or a play.  Other items have arrived, too:  an extension duster to reach high places, Swedish dish cloths, Elderberry gummies, lotions and potions, yarn, and lots of books for my Kindle.  All useful.  My latest is a "revolution" in mopping, The Marvel Mop.  Can't wait to try it out.  Will it work better than my Swiffer with an old washcloth over it?  I got a $5 discount, free shipping, and half off.   Who could resist?

Blocks of the month

 

I've been working on instructions for the last two guild blocks of the month.  Buttercup, the block for April, was all made before Bonnie Hunter came out with her lovely Tulip Time pattern using very similar blocks.  Great minds think alike.

Stems can be added by piecing, applique or embroidery, but I left my block without stems.  I hope the guild members enjoy this block as they seem a bit wary about the very improvisational March block, Wonky Stars.  

Meanwhile, I decided to wrap up the guild blocks of the month in May. We hope the guild can resume meeting in person in September and each monthly program team can offer its own block of the month then.  While I've been doing this, I have organized a monthly lottery for anyone who wants to participate.  I hold a drawing every month, and people mail a 6" block to the winner.  Some months, we've had 20 blocks sent, which would make a nice table runner or topper.

The final block in May will be Friendship Star to promote the friendships we make in the guild.  Our group has grown from about 20 when we started in 2008(?) to almost 80.  We've even had some new members this year when we haven't been meeting in person.  The monthly teams have really helped people get to know each other in such a large group.

I've been making four blocks each month - the best one for the lottery and three for my Dear Jen quilt which is coming along slowly.  I hope to devote a little more energy to Dear Jen in the months ahead because some of Kingwell's blocks are pretty complex.

Harriet's Journey

I joined a block of the month using Jennifer Chiaverini's new quilt book, Harriet's Journey.  Each month, we'll have eight blocks assigned, so that we should be able to finish the quilt in a little over a year.  I can't remember how many 6" blocks there are, but I will work on them until I'm sick of them, I'm sure.  I do love samplers.

I'm loving this Moda line of fabrics called Moody Bloom, but I'm adding a few things from stash along the way.  This quilt definitely calls for some purple.  The background will be various white on whites.  The first couple of blocks were easy, but the next two were fiddly.   And, because of the size of the blocks, many will be, I'm sure.

Chiaverini's directions include those dreaded Y seams and other tough instructions.  But it is good to see that there are more foundation paper pieced directions in this book.  Previous books like Sylvia's Bridal Sampler were pretty challenging.  Still, as I worked on another block this  morning, I got thinking that I really need this as it seems to tune up my mind.  Never a bad thing!

The pink scarf

I've been knitting most days on a bright pink scarf in a "Gansey" (or Guernsey) pattern using a soft, cotton/modal yarn.   I really like working on it because it's fairly easy - just knit and purl - and yet it's not repetitive.  It's about 48" long so I'm nearing the end which is good because I'm about to start the fourth and last skein.  

I have two skeins of the same yarn in navy blue for some mitts, and I hope I don't run out before those are finished.  Getting more seems to be no problem; KnitPicks got the yarn to me within a few days of ordering.

This morning, I put the binding on the purple quilt even though it needs a little hand quilting still.  I'll hand sew the binding to the back tomorrow when I Zoom with the Calico County Quilters.  We used to get together to sew and talk back before covid.  Hope we can do so again very soon, but Zooming is an OK alternative.  Interesting how "Zoom" became a verb so quickly!

Steadily quilting

The weather has turned spring-like, and snow is melting like crazy.  Nights are still under freezing which is good for the maple sugarmakers.  I hope it's a good year for them.  We got a gallon of maple syrup that March at the library banquet/auction, and I canned it (two batches of pints).  I have used it in cooking all year.   But now that gallon is almost done.  

This is the most maple syrup I've ever used in cooking except for when we were innkeepers and served it at breakfast.  We don't eat a lot of pancakes and such, but it has sweetened a lot of bread, desserts and marinades.  No problem, though.  I have another gallon waiting in the wings!  Paul wrote several articles for the Vermont Almanac, and they paid him in syrup.  I think he'd rather have cash, but I'm just as happy.  This will hold us until next year, I hope.

Today we'll take a few walks, I hope, and I'll do yoga via Zoom.  I will squeeze in some more quilting on the Anything Goes quilt.   I'm making straight lines through the "logs" in both directions and then will do something simple for each block.  A couple I may quilt by hand as machine quilting seems a shame for those carefully hand appliqued by quilting friends around the world. 

 I hope to get back to my book, too.   The Postscript Murders, by Elly Griffiths, is a sequel to a book I read in 2019, The Stranger Diaries.  I love Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series, and this is different, yet just as good, featuring a Sikh detective and some amateur sleuths who are taking grave chances.  I would have read more yesterday, but my Kindle ran out of "juice."  Can't wait to read what happens next.

Blocks of the month

 I seem to have taken on a few blocks of the month this year, and by the end of the year, I should have a few very nice quilts to put together.  

First up this month are three 8" blocks for the "Options" BOM by Aby Dolinger.  They always look more complicated than they really are, and I'm enjoying making them in black, white, and red.  I was thinking about using a different bright each month, but so far, I am liking the red best.

Next I worked on my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I'm actually making blocks for two quilts each month.  The first has 8.5" (finished size) "Pop Stars" blocks from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.  I like the way the points of the stars float, and it's an incredibly easy block to make.  I'm making two 8.5" blocks and then at least one small block using parts I've cut off while making the stars.

The other blocks are 6" pineapple blocks that I'm paper piecing.  This month's color is green, and I made five blocks, one of which is a mistake.  I got the dark/lights in the wrong spots.  Who knows if it will end up in the finished quilt.  Since the blocks are only 6", at four per month, it may take me two years to have enough for a quilt.  But I figured this is the only way I will ever make a whole quilt in this pattern.  

I love using the preprinted papers from the Fat Quarter Shop for these blocks, but I noticed they are a scant 6.5".  So when I trim them down, I cut them at a true 6.5".  I'll take the papers out tonight while watching TV.

Tomorrow is pick up day for the Friends of the Library's recent online auction, so I will probably collapse when I get home after that.   Hoping for good weather so our curbside service won't be too cold.  

Having gotten these blocks done, I can start piecing the back of my purple Anything Goes quilt over the weekend.  I'd like to start quilting it next week.  Have a great weekend!

Hankie quilt #1

It's finished!  I still have plenty of Marj and Karen's hankies left along with some old embroidery.  I have already made a table runner, and now the little wallhanging is done, too.

I enjoyed working on this project, designed by Rhonda Cox Dort and organized in a Facebook group that my friend Paula told me about.  Sorry the picture is so washed out - someday I'll be able to take pictures of my quilts outside again, but when it's 7 degrees out, one does not want to venture forth!

The fabric is from a line called "Jane Austen at Home," and although brown isn't my favorite color, I had to buy a yard of the brown print named "Marianne," after a character in Sense and Sensibility.

One of the prints is a replica of Austen's handwriting, and I cut a piece out of a vintage embroidered table topper for the center of the Dresden Plate.  That's really one of my favorite quilt blocks.  So easy, so effective.

I plan to offer the wallhanging (36" x 36") to the Old Labor Hall for fund raising, but for now it hangs in our front hall where I can enjoy it for a little while.  I still have plenty more hankies and Austen repro fabric to use in future quilts and table runners.   

Since it's the beginning of a new month, I'm working on blocks of the month and then will start on finishing a larger UFO.  I probably have too many blocks of the month going, but they do eventually end up as complete quilts.  Here's a list:

•  "Options" with Aby Dolinger
•  Rainbow Scrap Challenge - two projects - Pop Star blocks and pineapples
•  "Dear Jen" made with guild blocks of the month as well as those designed by Kingwell.  The guild blocks will end in May.
• and starting soon - Harriet's Journey, using Jennifer Chiaverini's latest pattern book

I do like to keep busy!