Sold!

I have had an Etsy shop for a long time and only sell one or two items a year.  I take smaller items like table runners and Christmas stockings down to my local florist/gift shop where they generally sell seasonally.  So it was quite a surprise to learn that I sold one of my favorite quilts yesterday via Etsy.

Antelope Canyon was made with two bright jelly rolls and a bunch of black fat quarters.  The pattern was by Laurie Shiffrin, and a friend passed the pattern on to me in 2018.  It took me just two weeks to put together, a record for me.  I worked on it steadily because you had to concentrate to get the circles to show up correctly.  There were no curves to sew, but placement was everything.  I had my friend Marie long arm quilt it in a swirly pattern, and the back is a solid teal.

I packaged the quilt up yesterday afternoon and took it to the post office.  It was a somewhat bittersweet goodbye to this quilt which I really loved working on.  I hope the customer enjoys it.  One benefit to selling this quilt (besides the money) is that it frees up a little room in my quilt closet.  Storage is always an issue for me - I can only pile so many quilts on the bed or fold them into the closet.  I plan to mail a couple of quilts to cousins in Pennsylvania soon, and that will help, too, until I finish a few more UFOs!

May RSC blocks and a decision

I really like my blocks for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have so many reds in my stash that they are stored in a tub rather than the plastic shoe boxes I use for most colors.  Other colors in tubs are blue, green, purple, pink, and cream (muslin mostly).  My favorite colors.

I like using the Fat Quarter Shop's paper piecing papers for the pineapples.  They come out looking really good, although at 6" I think it will take me ages to make even a crib-sized quilt.  No problem, really, as four is my limit for a session of ripping out the papers!

So I am finally finished with my blocks of the month for May although I do still have my Dear Jen quilt to work on.  I had been trying to make several strips of three 6" blocks each month, but I have been dragging my feet.  I don't really like most of the blocks in the pattern book.  They appear to have been written for hand piecing, and converting the patterns to paper piecing has been a pain.  

This summer I will simply make strips of three of any 6" blocks that I feel like making from The Splendid Sampler I or II, Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps, my All in One Block Tool, etc.  I have already been doing that to some extent since I've been adding in the guild blocks of the month.  So it will be "Dear Jen-inspired," just as some of my Dear Janes have been.  And I hope to finish more quickly so I can start something else.  I am itching to do so but have too many projects going at once right now.  The blocks from the guild swap for Scrappy Trips Around the World are due June 1 so those will be added to my UFO pile.

Harriet's Journey for May

 

I pecked away at my Harriet's Journey blocks over the last couple of weeks and finished the assignment for May-June yesterday.  I love working with the Moody Bloom fabric!  It has a soft look, sort of like Jennifer Chiaverini's samples do.

My dilemma now that I have 24  blocks made is whether or not to quilt this quilt in sections.  If so, I probably have enough made to put them together with sashing and start the quilting process.  But how big do I want this quilt to be?  The blocks are 6" so a set of 16 would only be a little larger than 24" square, considering there will be 1" white sashing and cornerstones.

We'll see how it all goes.  I still have six RSC and a few Dear Jen blocks left to make this month.  

Spring is busting out all over

The flowering crab tree in our front yard burst into bloom yesterday, as did our old lilac bush.  I took a walk around the neighborhood early and was blown away by the brilliant greens, pinks, purples, and whites everywhere.  After a long, gray winter, it is a totally different world out there.  What a relief!  As a guy with a camera said to me, "this is why we live here."  We endure the cold and snow for these wonderful spring days.

I'm sorry I didn't stop to take a picture - this one's from 2016.  The upstairs window is my sewing room, and, when I sit at my machine, I feel I'm right in the middle of all that loveliness.  I did make a couple more Harriet's Journey blocks yesterday and have two more to make for this month's quota of eight.  

I still have several blocks of the month to finish for various projects in order to keep up, but I suspect that, when Paul gets home, I'll be home a lot, sewing.  Still to be done:  RSC 20 (Pop Stars and Pineapples) and Dear Jen.  And on June 1, block swap blocks from 22 guild members will be arriving in our garage for swapping, with pick up over the following weekend.

Our Governor has lifted the mask order for everyone outdoors and for vaccinated people everywhere except public transportation and health care facilities.  I still plan to wear a mask in most stores, and of course I'll be wearing one at the hospital when I go to visit Paul.  It was great to go maskless to Christine's for dinner Friday night and to see my brother Rob and his wife Linda yesterday.  They drove up to Boston Saturday, then here (a 3.5 hour drive) for Sunday lunch, and then back home to NJ via Boston. 

Just a little sewing

 

The tulips on the sunny side of the house are almost finished blooming, but the daffodils have finally popped.  Aren't these fun?  I planted some last fall from a bag marked "mixed daffodils," and it was quite a surprise to see the doubles and the littler, lighter colored daffodils pop out.  They look so cheerful on the shady front of the house.  And we need lots of cheer lately because it keeps threatening to rain almost every day.  

Of course, rain is what makes our Green Mountains green so I really shouldn't complain.  On my almost daily drives to Burlington I love seeing the many shades of spring and the flowering trees tucked in here and there.  Vermont is really beautiful, especially in very slow-to-arrive spring.

After three long weeks, Paul appears to be getting better, but we do expect he'll be either in the hospital or at a rehab center for several more weeks.  I'm getting used to the hour long commute, and it seems to do him good to have me there as he naps or eats a little bit.  He has lost a lot of weight so needs to build back up now.  I've been reading a lot, which is fine.

I did manage to make three "Options" blocks for this month along with some extra pinwheels for sashing or borders.  Aby's directions are so clear and easy to follow and adapt.

The guild block for May, Friendship Star, was finished long ago and is ready to mail June 1 to the lottery winner.  And now I'm working on this month's eight blocks for Harriet's Journey.   More "Moody Bloom" fabric arrived yesterday so that I can vary the colors a bit more.  It's going to be a lovely sampler.

I sew a little before I head over to Burlington and a little after I get home.  Quilting is great for the soul.  Unfortunately, I have living room curtains to shorten also, but maybe I will just resort of stitch witchery for that dull job.  The dining room curtains I shortened with it are holding up well after 10 years!

"Holland Memories" is finished!

 My "gridified art quilt" made during an online class with Ricky Tims is ready for show and tell (virtually) on Saturday!

I knuckled down yesterday and sandwiched and quilted it.  Today I made a facing and sewed it to the back by hand.  I only have to finishing stitching the hanging sleeve, and it will be hung in the front hall as a memento of our wonderful cruise through the Netherlands and a bit of Belgium during tulip time in 2019.

I have always wanted to make a landscape using traditional quilt blocks.  Ricky's instructions and mentoring were great, and I do hope to make another some day.  It took me most of a month to do, though, so my next one won't be done any time soon!  I have a few UFOs to catch up on.

And hooray for quilting! This project was a perfect diversion from worry for me right now with Paul still in the hospital.   He has an infection around his heart valve replacement, so is now on a course of antibiotics.   I hope he can be moved to rehab closer to home as soon as treatment stabilizes.

Rainy days

 Our weather pattern seems to feature rain, drizzle, and gray skies.  Hope it changes soon.  Meanwhile, these lovely tulips, brought to me by my neighbor, Carol, two doors down, brighten my day.  

I just made some Snickerdoodles to take to Paul.  The last batch I took over, he gave to a nurse.  Maybe he'll eat these?