Back in the sewing room - with a purpose

Monday found me in my "happy place" - the sewing room - where I landed most of this week.  I finished up a mountain of mug rugs to give away next year.  Hope I can find them when the time comes!  I like sewing with Christmas fabric during the holidays, but I just didn't have time this year.  I finished a year-round mug rug to replace the Christmassy one I had made Pam and delivered it Tuesday.  The weather got in my way before. 

This week I also put away the Christmas fabric, organized the string baskets, worked on blocks of the month, and then 10 string blocks in both colors and neutrals.  Those are waiting now for me to remove paper foundations while watching TV.  

Then I tackled the cake stand blocks that I'd receive in a swap, making some additional blocks to come up with nine total.  That top is now finished and waiting for quilting.  Not sure how yet.

Here's the block of the month for the local guild lottery.  It wasn't easy but it's done.  The center is very bulky, so I'm glad it's covered up.  If I make one for myself, I think I'll make it a bit bigger.  This year, all the lottery blocks will have a white background but my blocks for myself will vary.

My online Friendship Swap group is doing a sew along with one of the group members suggesting a block each month.  Debra chose the "Snow Churn" block for January, perhaps because she's had so much snow already this winter.

Next on my quilting agenda is to finish the two Austen Jubilee quilts made with blocks that have been shown all year in Quiltmaker magazine.  The resulting quilt is extremely busy so I have broken it into two smaller quilts.  I have yardage for borders on each so have a few decisions to make.

In 2020? I went on Weight Watchers on January 1 and then a general diet after a couple months, resulting in 25 pounds lost.  I spent a lot of time sewing so I wouldn't snack, and I plan to do that again this year.   Writing down what I eat seems to work the best for me, and I don't need WW for that.  I also found eating more vegetarian meals helpful.  I signed up for an online class sponsored by the hospital called "Preventing Diabetes" which starts January 23.  It's free, so I figure I have nothing to lose (but weight!).  

My appliqued piece

I've been thinking about a name for this appliqued piece, which I was happy to finish binding this week in between holiday preparations.   It started out as a neutral string background that had hung around for a long time, waiting for just the right thing to applique onto it.   I had thought of a basket of bright flowers, but I just never got serious about finding or creating a pattern.

Last spring a guild member showed an antique quilt she had found, and I finally knew just what I wanted to do.  The blocks in her quilt were about 18", and my melon shapes are a little larger resulting in a 24" x 24" piece.  But the colors are very similar.  I love pink and blue together.  I hand appliqued the melons mostly at my Saturday sewing group meetings this year; then I echo quilted around and inside the shapes using a walking foot.  I love the way it turned out.  The quilting smoothed out all the bulges that often appear in string quilts so that it lies relatively flat.

Since I started appliqueing this wall hanging, I've amassed quite a few "strings" which I hope to put together this year, maybe alternating the neutrals with the colored blocks.   But that's another thing to think about in 2023!

'Snow joke!

 Lousy weather is predicted today - snow, sleet, wind, rain, up and down temperatures - all extreme.   Here's a little something to brighten the day...

Happy holidays!

 30-some years ago, I could sit at my desk at the Dept. of Libraries and watch the State House lawn in all seasons.  It is amazing to me now how much time has passed since I shared an office with Priscilla and worked downtown.  The last 16 years of my 31, I worked in Berlin, just a few miles away but without this majestic view.  And I've been retired for 15 years.  I still think our State House is lovely, especially at this time of year.

Waiting for the snow

The weather people are all excited about a Nor'easter coming our way.  I'm hoping it lands in southern New England and doesn't creep up here and deliver the 14" of snow predicted.  Bob and Pauline were planning to visit us today, and I'd hate for them to drive home in snow falling 1" or more per hour.  We were going to see the Light Up the Library display and then have lunch, maybe at the new Brazilian restaurant.  If we have to cancel, we'll be sure to get together again soon.

I have been feeling sorry that I haven't made any gifts for the library staff this year.  Instead, I have spent these weeks on the Light Up the Library project.  Above is just a peek at some of the 50 items on display.  But now maybe I have time to make up some things for them.  Yesterday I whipped up five mug rugs, and I can get 10 more done over the next few days if I get stuck home with the snow.  

I'll give two of the mug rugs to Chris' friends Ted and Marad for whom I am also planning to make and freeze a lasagna and some rolls.   They tend to give us very expensive gifts at Christmas which makes me uncomfortable.  So I make them foods throughout the year as an ongoing thank you.  

Sewing through the holidays

Is it that I like Christmas or just that I like red and green fabric together?  At any rate, I really dive into sewing with Christmas fabrics right around the holidays.   I make stuff too late to give to anyone who isn't local.  All of my neighbors already have one from other years.  A few days ago, though, I started on another mug rug making binge, starting with one for my Friends of the Library co-president, Pam.  I will set any extras aside for gifts next year. 

I always make my mug rugs 6 x 9" so I can incorporate smaller blocks like these 3" Ohio Stars when I feel like making them.  I have quite a bit of holiday fabric in my stash, so maybe I will make a set of pineapple blocks to go into the pineapple quilt I've been making as part of the RSC the last couple of years.  

I love the background star fabric, part of the "Grinch" line.  And yes, I can be very Grinchy at Christmastime sometimes.  There's just too much hustle bustle, and I miss my mom and other family.  Phone calls and even Zoom aren't enough.  I do talk to Mom more at this time of year because she calls a lot to ask if so-and-so would like this or that as a gift.

Today I'll work on a few more mug rugs, and, if the sun comes out, I'll try to finish the binding on the Green Mountain Sunrise quilt and the hanging sleeve of the as yet unnamed applique quilt.  First we need to go out for groceries and then I'll start some blueberry bread which I'll put into the freezer until it's time to gift it to some lucky neighbor or friend.

The "tree" is up, and some gifts are already under it since I don't like an empty area under the tree.  That's left over from when I had cats who liked to climb unless there were packages barricading the tree.  Then they just slept under it, guarding the packages.

Finishes

I like to knit, both just to relax and also to keep my hands occupied so I don't snack.  The part I dislike the most, however, is weaving the loose ends in after the project is finished.  Over the last couple of days, I've done that to three projects, two of them long ago finishes.   

Last summer, I made a shawl in a dark green metallic yarn that was very basic but pretty.   I really liked working with that particular yarn which was soft and very shimmery.  I'm giving that to Pauline for Christmas.  In the fall, I made a striped scarf for "Bags of Love," in fall colors.  It needed blocking and then the loose threads woven in.  

A few weeks ago, I finished the second of two hats for my Wisconsin brother.  One was striped blue and the other was plain blue.  He can keep one or both or give whichever hat(s) away. 

I have lots of off white and blue yarn left, so I decided to make another hat.  They are really pretty easy on straight needles, and the hat I finished yesterday turned out pretty good.  I wove those loose ends in yesterday, too.   Whenever I do that step, I wonder why I drag my feet so.  It only takes a little while.  It's going to Bags of Love, too.

My next project is a pair of socks using fingering yarn and four #2 needles.  That should take me a while and I sure hope it's worth the time and effort!  I knit while watching TV, but on those tiny needles, I wonder just how much I will actually see.

It really is nice to get some of these projects on their way to other people.  My knitting basket is just about empty.  

More trees

 

Yesterday when I arrived at the library, it was already teeming with Garden Club members adding to the holiday decor.  They had garlands, wreaths, and all sorts of decorations to add to the Light Up the Library festivities.

The night before, the "Barre Values" Facebook group was working on this tree which has little ornaments with words and phrases like "be kind," "love is love," etc.  The rainbow arrangement was inspired, I thought, and the lights change color, too.  

We put up all of the other items that had been contributed by businesses, clubs, and individuals, and then we numbered everything and added canisters for the raffle.  All told, there are 50 items in the raffle!  

When the display and raffle are over on the 17th and people pick up their winnings, the library will still look festive.  The Garden Club will take their decorations down after New Year's.  I really appreciate their participation, especially because they vacuumed all of the little bits of glitter and styrofoam we had all left here and there.

I'll have more pictures to share in future blogs.  Here is the car racing tree in the children's room, donated by Thunder Road, "the nation's site of excitement," with some of the 30 mint-in-box Matchbox cars that were donated.  I'm not a car racing fan, but I have to admit it's awfully cute.

A little of this n that

I finished knitting my brother's hat the other day and have all of my packages ready to mail as soon as we receive another shipment of Paul's new book to include.  This hat turned out much better than the striped one, but I put both in the package with a note that he can give away either one or both.  

I started knitting another hat using scrap balls of yarn in off-white and several blues.  This is a fairly easy pattern that I knit on straight needles and then quickly sew up.  So it's good for TV watching and not as endless as a scarf, although I do like knitting those, too.

Yesterday was the Friends of the Library's first day of setting up for Light Up the Library, a holiday display of trees, wreaths, decorations, and other items contributed by local businesses, groups, and families.  I met several donors while picking things up around town and also when they stopped by the library with things.  

One family brought and decorated the most gorgeous tree yesterday with many woodland-related handmade ornaments.  The picture is small, but there are a couple of stuffed owls, and then some other creatures peeking out from the branches.  If I didn't already have my Christmas village "tree," I'd definitely enter the raffle for this one.

Today I'll be back at the library to meet a few people setting up their contributions, including the Rotary Club and the "Barre Values" group that encourages kindness. inclusion, and understanding.  Can't wait to see what they have come up with.  My main chore today will be finding enough extension cords to light all these items up with.  After quite a bit of planning, it's fun to see all of this come together.

Busier than busy

I am taking a slight break from working on the Friends of the Library's Light Up the Library logistics - pick ups, deliveries, press releases, and more.  After Dec. 5 I hope I will have some time to breathe.  I have some hand stitching to do on the Green Mountain Sunrise wallhanging binding and hanging sleeve.  I put one at the top and another at the bottom so that it can be weighted down with a dowel or piece of wood.  It will hang over a door and might catch a breeze.  I think I'll get it done in a week or so.

Yesterday I made a block of the month for the guild lottery and then one for myself to go with the others I've made the past couple of months.  It was designed by one of the guild members who traveled to China and saw interesting windows.

Because the lottery will be in Dec., we were to use green and red with a white background.  This year all the backgrounds will be white for unity, and each month's team decides what colors to use.  For the same block that I will keep, I am doing a rainbow of colors, starting with red and orange.  This month, therefore, my block will be in yellows.  I have a lot of medium yellow in my stash, but no real brights or pale yellows.   I settled for butterscotch and regular yellow.

I have been hand appliqueing a wallhanging for the last few months and finished it a week or so ago.  It now measures about 36" square.  Yesterday, I sandwiched it and started machine quilting.  I thought it might be a good stress reliever during this very busy season.  Because of its small size, I can sit down for a little while whenever I feel like it.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, by the way.  Chris came for dinner, and we had a very nice time.  His car is still in the shop, so I drove him home.  Hope it gets fixed (at not too great a cost) very soon.  I talked with my Mom who was expecting my NJ brother and his family for the weekend, and I also talked to my WI brother who was going over to dine with friends.  I'm so glad we don't travel anywhere for these holidays.  As they say, "you can't get there from here" easily in the wilds of Vermont.

Already sick of holidays!

I'm just going to say it out loud:  I am rapidly getting tired of the hype surrounding Thanksgiving, and soon I will feel the same way about Christmas.   Who cares if we have the "perfect" holiday?  My in-box is full of recipes, ideas for decorating, even suggestions on dining table conversations.  Ugh!

Some folks have a lot of relatives nearby, but I imagine there are plenty of people like me who don't.   Most of my adult life has been spent "celebrating" major holidays with one or two other people, often a small boy who didn't care for most foods except fish sticks and hot dogs.  

When my brother Rob was single, he would drive up from New York City to spend holidays with us if his job didn't keep him home.   Other times, I shared a meal with a friend or two.  When Paul's mother was alive, we would have a houseful of family, and Paul's niece Amy always made the turkey and trimmings.  And my friend Cindy who used to be my nextdoor neighbor often joined us.  She now lives in California, and I still miss her and the pies she used to bring.  (They came from a local restaurant - delicious.)

The displays in the stores make me feel even Scroogier.  Lots of displays of stuffing and gravy, huge turkeys to be defrosted, and cranberries everywhere.   I don't generally make much food for three - Paul, son Chris and me.  But I do try to make something special for Thanksgiving.  This year's menu will include a pork loin roast wrapped in bacon.  Then potatoes, mashed or au gratin, and vegetables, peas most likely, although I'd love some red cabbage (not Chris' favorite although his palate has improved beyond fish sticks).  Maybe squash since I have three waiting in the garage.  For dessert?  Not sure yet.  But I am sure some email or other will spark an idea.  It needs to be lactose free for Chris, and there's a creamsicle pie I've been wanting to try, made with cool whip and orange jello.   Maybe I'll just run down to Cindy's old haunt and get an apple pie...

Phew!  I feel better now that I've got that off my chest.  Hope you are keeping your spirits up this holiday season.  You'll probably be hearing more groaning from me as Christmas rolls around.

Quilting and planning

The folks at the nursing home loved the picture of the top!  After I heard from them, I got busy and pieced a back for what I'm now calling Green Mountain Sunrise earlier in the week.  When the batting arrived Tuesday, I sandwiched it and started quilting.  Using my trusty Elna, I'm simply doing lines 1/2" from every seam (in theory - there are wobbles), and it's halfway done.

I'm using Guterman cotton variegated thread on the top and gray on the back which is a pieced floral and navy blue.  So far so good.  I'll take it to show and tell tomorrow at our monthly guild sew-in.  

When I look at the quilt at a distance, I see how apt the name is.  I like those pops of light here and there.

Besides this work in progress to show, tomorrow I'll try to finish appliqueing the pink and blue melons onto the string-pieced neutral background.  After I finish the applique, I will think about next steps - do I enlarge it with a string-pieced border or leave it as it is?  I'll show a picture when I get to that stage.

The other thing I hope to take to work on at guild tomorrow is a tote bag full of selvages.  I thought it would be smart of sort them by color, so I've also got a bag full of baggies to put them in.  During 2023, I hope to work with them and my strings (which also need sorting by color).

Finished top

Woohoo!  I finished this top yesterday.  It measures 48" x 57" and is designed to fit above a door at a nursing home.  The door leads to a courtyard garden and the board member was looking for something that would be reminiscent of Vermont's Green Mountains.  I hope this will fill the bill.  If not, I have offered an alternative quilt that's only 36" x 36" with similar colors and a bit of purple.  

I plan to quilt this myself, but not right away unless they want it ASAP.  I noticed they already have a curtain rod hanging for something.  When I do, I'll quilt it simply with straight lines vertically and then add a flanged binding in blue and green.  I love working with those two colors, and the pattern is Bonnie Hunter's free Scrappy Mountains Majesty.  My blue box is overflowing, so I'm thinking about a pieced back for this quilt.

While I wait for a reply, I will be putting together all the various blocks for Austen Jubilee, my take on this year's Quiltmaker mystery.  I am mixing up some of the blocks and adding a few "coping" strips to make it all fit.  I hope I have enough fabric to finish.  It's put together in sections which makes it somewhat easier to see what I'll be needing in the way of additional fabrics. 

A day at home

It's been a busy week, and it is very nice to have a day at home.  I did two loads of wash, took two walks with Paul - it's gorgeous out - baked a loaf of bread, read a little, and made some of my grandmother's beef stew.  It's called Hache and is a simple stew of beef and spices - bay leaf, boullion, cloves, and red wine vinegar.  It's usually served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable or over rice with a vegetable.  I'll make the mashed potatoes tonight and maybe the rice another night.

Yesterday's state quilt guild meeting was good although the turnout was a bit lighter than we'd hoped.  The short demos seemed like just the right program, and they covered Manx quilting, English paper piecing, flange bindings, and fabric covered coiled rope mats and baskets.  

Even though I knew how to do the last two and have tried EPP, it was good to get some new tips and hints.  The way Wendy fussy cut her shapes for EPP using Tula Pink's method was just amazing, but I'm not sure my eyesight will let me do much.  The Manx quilting with the big stitches seems more my speed, so I'll give it a try soon. 

Blocks of the month

 I haven't done a lot of sewing this week due to other activities.  But I did manage to make this month's guild block of the month, a 12" snowball.  I made one to keep and one for the monthly lottery.

This year, every block will have a white background, and each month's block will feature a specific color.  I like this month's choice of orange and, since the snowball is pretty easy, I decided to piece my blocks rather than use one large piece of fabric.  I had lots of orange scraps, both in my Halloween box and in my 2.5" squares box.

Tonight I'm heading to a monthly quilt bingo session at our local quilt shop.  The cost is $5 and a fat quarter.  We play a dozen or so rounds of bingo, with small prizes after each round.  The final game's prize is all those fat quarters.  Last time I didn't win anything, but I can always hope!  It's fun anyway.

Tomorrow is the state quilt guild's fall meeting in Randolph, about 1/2 an hour south of here.  I have a lot of stuff to take along and am looking forward to seeing everyone again.   Sunday I'll collapse as it's been a busy week.

A look back

This morning, my cousin posted a picture of the family assembled for Mom's 100th birthday back in June.  I'm not sure if someone took it with her camera or where it came from, but we are all there, making it a super memento.

I'm on the end, in the first skirt I've worn in quite a while.  I enjoyed wearing that cool skirt throughout the summer.  Paul is next to me, and Chris is way over on the other end.  Mom had hired some ladies to take pictures, but I haven't seen any and I'm not sure she has either.   It would be fun to create a photo album of the event for everyone, including those who couldn't come.

It's a busy time around here with meetings, gatherings, and chores.  There's a mountain of laundry to do since I did none while Paul's brother Jim was visiting.  Today I'll shop for groceries and head over to Burlington for lunch with Sonia, an old friend from my Syracuse days.  She and I were beginning librarians in towns close by each other.  We gave each other lots of moral support in our 20s and kept in touch all these years, through moves, divorces, various jobs.  She has retired to the Albany area so we haven't seen each other much in recent years.  I can always count on her for a laugh, a strong opinion, and a cool head while shopping for a winter coat (which I don't need right now).

The coming week will be busy:  pedicure, Friends of the Library meeting, yoga, baking cookies for an author program at the library, neighborhood ladies' lunch, quilt bingo, and the fall state quilt guild meeting.  In between I'll try to do a little sewing.  I laid out the first section of Austen Jubilee yesterday, but I probably will continue with the Scrappy Mountains quilt when I get a chance.   I'm looking forward to a quieter November.

Fall's next phase

 

We made another trip to Green Mount Cemetery Thursday to find what we hoped were the last three monuments for Paul's book.   Unfortunately, we had to return on Saturday for two more.  I help with the GPS coordinates, and he photographs them.  As I told my mom, you have to be a mountain goat to roam around that place.  Thursday was a warmish but gloomy day, but sometimes that makes the waning foliage shine better.  

It rained Friday and was windy, too, so I many leaves started falling and the colors began to fade.  The tour buses and RVs started moving south, following the color.  Our restaurants will again have room for us.  They had been posting on Facebook that they were booked up - which is good - but cautioning locals that they might have to eat at the bar after long waits.  The restaurant at the country club closed until spring over the weekend.  We like to go there to eat on the patio and look at the scenery but didn't get a chance this summer.

Soon it will be "stick season" in these Green Mountains.  We are hoping for a winter getaway, after three winters at home.   We're not sure how far south we'll go yet or even when we'll head that direction.  Our road trip this summer made us realize how much nicer it is to drive than to fly.  We enjoy seeing new places and having food and gear along.

Meanwhile, I've been cleaning up the quilting room for a guest arriving today.   Whenever this happens, I turn my attention to handwork and knitting.  I'm halfway through knitting a striped scarf and almost finished appliqueing melons in a starburst pattern onto a string pieced background for a wallhanging.  Maybe I can finish that this week.   I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until the next issue of Quiltmaker arrives with the last "clue" for the mystery quilt.  Austen Jubilee is my biggest UFO from 2021-22.

On the design wall

I've had a productive few days in the sewing room, after several days with unexpected company.  Paul's brother-in-law came out of the hospital Thursday and really couldn't go back to his remote island summer home with little or no heat.  We have had some very chilly nights, and Jay needed rest.  They stayed with us for a few nights and then headed south to Florida where their condo had no hurricane damage.   The warmth should also help Jay feel better.

We were happy to help, but I'm glad to have my sewing room back, too.  I was in the middle of making some log cabin Christmas stockings when they arrived, and I finished them on Monday.  I started out by making a small log cabin quilt top which I then cut the stockings out of.  I use batting in the front and quilt it, but the back is simply two layers of fabric.  This makes the stocking a little more flexible.   These stockings are going into a Christmas raffle at the library in December.

On my design wall now are some test blocks for a quilt to hang at a senior nursing/rehab center that recently renovated its courtyard entrance.   I'm going to see if the Calico County Quilters group would be interested in working on a group quilt which only needs to be 4' x 5'.  I chose Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties for its ease and "Vermontish" feel.  It's an easy pattern - these blocks only took about an hour to cut and sew - and I hope it will make a fun group quilt.

I'm not totally sold on this colorway -- green scrappy quilts tend to be a little blah.  I thought the light blue "sky" backgrounds would work, but now that they are together on the wall, I see some brighter skys might help them stand out better.  The quilt will hang over a door and shouldn't fade into the beige wall.  I'll see what the group thinks.  

After I got these blocks made, I decided to break out my Go Baby and start cutting out scrappy Hunter's Star pieces.  I'm using various colors and various gray backgrounds for this quilt.  Stay tuned!

Fall is showing its beauty

A drive to the mall on Friday revealed absolutely no fall color.  It's always a nice view, but it was still green.  On Saturday morning, it was chilly and foggy, and when I drove down to the grocery store, the colors had popped overnight.  Everywhere we turn, there are reds, golds, and more.  Yesterday's drive up to the mall (I rarely go there; this was to pick up Paul's new glasses after his appointment Friday), an overwhelming amount of color.  

And the tour buses and RVs are everywhere!  Local restaurants are warning folks about reservations made by tour groups and some long waits to get seats.  But the weather has been so nice that we've been getting some last grillings in before we put the grill away for the winter.  

I got the little yoyo quilt bordered and sandwiched and then started quilting it yesterday.  These yoyos have been appliqued to squares so quilting has been in the ditch and then 1/2" away from the ditch on both sides.  Pretty easy.  I should be able to finish today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm buried in Robert Galbraith's Ink Black Heart, a 1,000 page mystery.  Galbraith is the pen name for J. K. Rowling who can always tell a good story, but, while this is absorbing, I am getting impatient and want to find out whodunnit!  When I took the hard cover copy back to the library (it is very heavy), I suggested that they allow borrowers to read it over six weeks, rather than the month they've been giving them.  I'm reading the Kindle edition now which is a lot easier to hold!

Another sampler

I've had this little quilt waiting for a photoshoot, but it keeps raining and/or looking gloomy.  So today I laid it out on the living room floor and took its picture.  It's a little sampler that will be joining a few others at Bags of Love, which gives quilts and knitted items (I am also sending a few) to kids going into foster care.

I enjoyed making all of the individual blocks, especially the wonky stars, but I worried over arranging them all together.  It's a mishmash, but perhaps a kid can play "I Spy" with it.

I heard about a program to give "blankets" to new refugees called "Welcome Blankets."  My local quilt shop is a drop off point.  They are taking blankets, afghans, quilts, and more, but they all have to be 40" x 40".  

I had one 24" UFO left hanging in the closet after my summer finishing frenzy.  It was made with some yoyo blocks by quilters in the state guild.  We had a ton of blocks made and created 6 or more crib-sized quilts with them, as well as a little wallhanging for our outgoing president.  Yesterday, I expanded the little leftover quilt top to the 40" x 40" size the Welcome Blankets group wants.  I hope to get it sandwiched this afternoon, and I'll quilt away for the next few days. I find it difficult to go around those yoyos which are appliqued onto the center of 5" black and white charm squares.  That's why it's been a UFO, but I am happy to have a place to send it to.

Show and tell

 I took a couple of quilts to guild show and tell the other night.  First is a little (36" x 36") quilt made with blocks of the month I won in the lottery.  I made the purple one (top right), and all the rest were made by guild members.  One was smaller than the 12" suggested, but I just added a little sashing to make it work.  That was a tough block to make (because the pattern given was difficult to read) so only six of us participated in the lottery.

This Ohio Star Variation (?) will go to "Bags of Love" for kids in foster care.  I had the border and binding fabric in my stash.  The backing was a sweet purple and green print that I had found on the guild free table several months ago.  I quilted it in about a 2" grid, using a smaller one for the plain sections around the outside.

I also showed my Unity Quilt (a Bonnie Hunter pattern) at the meeting.  Several other people have been working on them, too, and I'm curious to see how theirs end up.  It was quite an intense experience, and I hope not to do another BH pattern for quite a while (if ever)!

  

The yellow fabric was a constant, but the neutrals (and there are many) and the light and dark blues were all scraps.  I had a lot of trouble fitting the last border on, even though each round's measurement were exactly as Bonnie had stated they should be.  In the pattern, she noted that the last border needed to be "eased," and I can attest to that.  It took me quite a while to get it on.

Marie quilted it in a swirly pattern and said she had no trouble with the last border, which was a relief to me.  It's now on our guest bed and looks great.  This is the best shot I've gotten, though, since the room is small.

Yesterday we drove over to Plattsburgh, NY, for calling hours for Paul's cousin who had passed away suddenly.  I had never met Susie, but we had talked about visiting sometime.  It's a good reminder to catch up with relatives sooner rather than wait. 

Guild Block of the Month

 We had our first Heart of Vermont quilt guild meeting Tuesday night, and it was so good to see everyone again.  Some hadn't been for several years due to COVID.  We sat in "teams" for the month we'd been assigned to.  With such a large guild (80 members?), we like being broken down into teams so that we meet new people.  When the guild first started, some of the people were very clique-ish.  I always try to sit by someone I don't know, but others were adamant that they had to sit with their friends.  I found it very annoying.  

We'll have a choice of where to sit during future meetings, but at this one, we made plans for our monthly programs.   We have some outside speakers coming, which is always fun, and then some home-grown programs this year.  I'll be doing the January program on UFOs, something I am very familiar with.  I want to encourage a little swapping of UFOs during that session, and I hope some will take me up on it.

There is always a block of the month, and last night "Indian Star" was introduced in a red and white colorway.  Above is my block to swap next month as introduced the other night, and here's my variation to keep.   As you can see, I wasn't wild about the suggestion to use just one red fabric.  I'll be curious to see what others do.  If I'd had a lighter red in my stash, I might have used that instead of the red on white.  But I like the way the block turned out.

We also were issued a challenge.  A quilter passed away, and her husband gave Suzy a batch of Asian panels and fabrics.  Anyone who wanted to, took one to work with in any way desired.  We'll have show and tell toward the end of the year, probably in June.  

I chose a panel with a deep purple background and what appears to be Mt. Fuji.  I'm putting it away for now and will get it back out later in the year.  Working on it will be a good snowy day project.  And yes, fall is here today, and a cold front with night temperatures in the 30s is predicted.  But there will still be warmer days, which is good because I have a little yard work to do.  

Austen Jubilee

 Quiltmaker magazine has been running a mystery quilt since late last year based on some of Bonnie Hunter's "Addicted to Scraps" blocks.  I'm using Jane Austen at Home fabric for the most part, but I had to add some other fabrics as I ran low, especially on the backgrounds.  I didn't expect to need so much fabric, and I wish I could have had a choice of size for the final quilt.  I would have chosen the lap size, but the final quilt is supposed to be a queen.  My project box is bursting now, and I'm waiting for the final clue next month.  Thank goodness!  I hope this is my cure for the Bonnie Hunter patterns.   I don't want to make another one for a very long time!  Here are my last blocks, which are the blocks from the issue before the most recent one.

I'm not sure this was the right fabric for this very busy quilt.  The one in the magazine uses just two colors, red and white, even though they are scrappy.   And Bonnie herself, who is working along, is using purple and neutrals.  I sure hope there aren't any spacer or filler blocks left to make for the final step of putting the blocks all together.

Pineapples!

I have finally gotten back on track with various projects.   Currently, I'm making two blocks to add to my pineapple block collection.   I've been following the RSC colors each month for a while and adding a few multicolored blocks here and there as will and whim allow.  

This month I'm making four brown blocks which I'll put togethr to make a 12" block, and I'm making four multicolored ones from my string basket.  I laid them out at random today and really love the way they look.   I think I'll make five more 12" blocks and call it quits, because the quilt will measure 60" x 60" by then.  

My Austen Jubilee fabrics arrived yesterday, so I'll work on some more blocks next.  When I finish those, I'll wait for the next issue of Quiltmaker to put them all together.  It's going to be a busy weekend with a Friends of the Library coin drop Saturday morning and a guild sewing session in the afternoon.  On Sunday we hope to get our COVID boosters at a state-run walk in clinic, so who knows how we'll feel after that?  Hoping not to notice.

Making progress

 

I finished hand stitching the binding on the Unity quilt this week as part of my clean up in advance of company coming.  Now it's waiting for its portrait, along with a bunch of other, smaller quilts.  Getting outside when the sun is blazing is not my idea of fun, and many mornings have been foggy lately.  All in due time!

I finished knitting my socks and will block them soon so that they may look a bit more photogenic.  I don't plan to wear these except as slippers around the house.  I found sock knitting quite difficult, so I took a break and started some mittens (using the same blue, of course, since I have lots of it).  I'm almost finished with the first one after just a few days of watching Jeopardy.  This pair will go to Bags of Love, for kids in foster care.

My online swap group is going swap some tree blocks in early 2023.  Several bloggers are making them and calling the resulting quilt Arboretum.  Even though I really want to work only on UFOs right now so that I have a clean(er) slate, I did make about 15 of these last week, too.  They are incredibly fast and fun to work with.

Batiks really make these easy to put together, improvisationally.  I need to get a few more batiks so that I have a variety to swap and to incorporate into a quilt.

The next to the last UFO I have to work on is Austen Jubilee, which based on a series mystery in Quiltmaker magazine this year.  I found myself very low on fabric, unfortunately, but managed to make several blocks this week.  Some have been pieced where they needn't have been, but they turned out pretty good.  

I finally broke down and ordered some more Jane Austen at Home fabric on etsy.  When it comes, I'll be able to finish the last bunch of blocks and then wait until the next issue comes out to put them all together. 

I don't think this pattern is really meant for such busy fabrics, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll all look OK together when the time comes to put them together into a queen-sized quilt.  You may not be able to tell, but two of the triangles in this block were pieced.   Busy fabric has its advantages.

The next UFO to work on will be my on-going pineapple quilt.  I have several months of the rainbow scrap challenge to catch up on, which is OK.  I like making these foundation pieced blocks, and I will roll this project into 2023.

Happy Labor Day

I have always liked Labor Day, a "free" day at the end of summer and also the day before the first day of school.  I would lay out what I was going to wear in the evening in anticipation, and I usually loved school, too, even though it often meant starting at a new school.  We moved a few times between fourth and eighth grades so that, in those years, I switched schools.   But I really enjoyed using new school supplies, meeting old friends and new, learning new things, and reading new books.  Going back to work after a long weekend wasn't nearly as much fun, even though I loved my job.

I haven't done a lot of quilting in the last few weeks, and I am definitely behind on taking pictures of projects I've finished.  

I changed the quilts on our beds recently; I like to do that to keep them from fading and wearing out.  We are now sleeping under Cornucopia of Thanks, a sampler by Jennifer Chiaverini, and the guest bed has a Bonnie Hunter 2021 mystery which I call Green Mountain Spring on it.  I can't remember the official name, and when I checked her www.quiltville.com website, I couldn't find it.  It isn't my favorite quilt but I am waiting for a relative to tell me how much they like it so I can give it away.

I am half-way around stitching the Bonnie Hunter Unity quilt's binding down.  Then it will go outside for a photo shoot.  Today I'm hoping to finish the second sock I'm knitting as soon as I learn to do the Kitchener stitch.  (Kitchener, Ontario?  or is it named after a famous knitter?  it's always capitalized.)

This leaves only two UFOs in project boxes, one being the RSC pineapple quilt I'll carry over into 2023.  The other is Austen Jubilee, a mystery quilt using Bonnie Hunter blocks, in Quiltmaker magazine this year.  I am two issues behind in the clues so started working on blocks yesterday.  I had started with a Jane Austen at Home layer cake and also some yardage, but I am now down to snippets.   I pieced a few things together that weren't meant to be pieced, but now I think I will just order some more to complete the blocks.  I have introduced a solid brownish fabric that I can scatter around also.  I don't think I'll be doing another Bonnie Hunter quilt any time soon.  Too many tiny pieces! 

Waiting in the wings are a scrappy Hunter's Star and two other scrappy quilts for which I have patterns and background fabric waiting in project boxes.  Those and a modern Dear Jane should see me through the coming year, if not beyond!

Where did the week go?

I was busy as a bee this past week, and, I guess, too busy to take a picture or write a blog.  By Friday, both Paul and I looked at each other and wondered how the week just zipped by.  He wrote two historical articles for the newspaper which I edited, and he started on another.   I worked on binding two quilts that came back from the long arm quilter, put together and quilted a small (36" square) quilt, and started quilting another small (51" square) quilt.  I am half-way around, sewing the Unity quilt's binding down to the back.  I am also in the homestretch of knitting the second blue sock.  Phew!  I need to take some pictures.

Along with all that handcraft activity, I made a chocolate cake to take to a potluck and some brownies to share with neighbors on Friday.  I did the minutes for the Friends of the Library meeting last Tuesday, and sent out publicity for the Friends' annual meeting and the barn quilt meeting in September.  Thursday we drove to St. Johnsbury, 45 minutes north, and took Suzanne, who just turned 87, out to lunch and on an errand.  Double phew!

Now it's Sunday and I promised to go with Paul to Green Mount Cemetery to help him gather GPS coordinates for a guidebook he's writing about prominent Montpelier citizens and where they're buried.  Hope to get a little time sewing and quilting later today.  There is definitely a touch of fall in the air now with morning temperatures in the 50s.  We see a few trees changing color, too.  The days are definitely getting shorter.  I love fall, though, and think it's time to pull the tomatoes out of my planters and replace them with mums.  We'll still have some hot days here and there and hope the heat pump can be installed soon.

The sock

 Here's a picture of the sock as a work in progress...

I bought a bunch of blue washable wool to knit a sweater for myself, but then I realized I really don't like to commit myself to big projects.  I only knit while watching TV and then not every evening.  I thought I'd try knitting socks which might also be cooler to work on during the summer months.  So far, so good.  Just have to learn the Kitchener stitch to finish the first one off, or maybe I'll wait til I have both done.  I tend to forget things like that very quickly.

Yesterday I did 3 loads of vacation laundry, including the quilt I keep in the car (it's an early one made of polyester and will probably outlast me!).  Today I'll do the last two loads and work on binding the Unity quilt that came back from the long arm quilter's.   It's good to get back in the sewing room again.

There's no place like home!

It is a long drive, from Wisconsin to Vermont, but we made it in three days via the ferry across Lake Michigan, and then across Michigan, Ontario, and New York.  We crossed over into the US at Buffalo, where there was almost no wait at customs.  The electronic signs said the wait was 45 min. at Niagara Falls, but I accidentally went the Buffalo route.  Will I ever find it again?  Next year we hope to take a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for the theater festival.  It is a very cute town surrounded by vineyards and orchards, and very walkable.

I missed my sewing machine while I was gone, but I did manage to [almost] finish knitting one blue sock and start its mate.  Now that I'm home with my computer handy, I'll look for a you tube video on how to do the Kitchener stitch to finish the toes.  I feel more confident in knitting with four or five needles now, so I will give making a pair of socks on #2 needles a try next.

Of course, yesterday was spent emptying suitcases and bags, grocery shopping, picking up and sorting through mail, and just plain relaxing.  Mary came for dinner which was nice, and I slept like a log two nights in a row.

Taking it easy in Wisconsin

 

It was a long ride to the Madison, Wisconsin, area; we arrived at my brother's apartment on Thursday afternoon.  Our route had taken us through Niagara Falls (both US and Canadian sides), across Ontario and Michigan, and on the fast ferry across Lake Michigan.  We took some wrong turns here and there, and it was nice to be in an air-conditioned car during a rather long heat wave for the north country. 

We found my brother, Axel, in pretty good shape, considering his ordeal this past year.  He is adapting well to having only half a foot, living in the hospital or rehab center most of the year, and now settling into a new, 55+ apartment in a suburb.  He can't really walk without his walker or cane, but he does manage to get around without help in his apartment.

We found Middleton to have a very cozy, inviting downtown with the historical features we enjoy.  The National Mustard Museum is small and silly, but we just had to visit it.  The gift shop was as goofy as the rest of the place.   Yesterday we took Axel to a doctor's appointment and did a little shopping, with a stop for lunch.  In the evening we took a dinner cruise on Lake Mendota, the largest of the lakes in the Madison area.

Today we are on our own and taking it easy as Axel attends a wedding.  After a trip to a farmer's market, the museum, and lunch, we attended an interesting book fair.  Groups and individuals could set up tables on the grounds of the Capital Brewery and sell mostly used books.  There was no fee to participate, and the sellers could keep whatever they earned.  There were authors, community groups, and people who just wanted to thin their collections.   Paul bought two books, and I just looked and thought about how we could organize something like this in Barre.   

Busy times

This past weekend was the annual Barre Heritage Days celebration, although we haven't had it since 2019 due to the pandemic.  The Friends of the Library always has a big book sale on the library's side lawn, so that's where I was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday morning.  I got a few steps in during set up and clean up, that's for sure.  We had paperbacks and children's books under tents outside and adult hardcovers inside where it was air conditioned.  It wasn't too hot out, but it was nice to go in once in a while to cool off slightly.  We had a couple of rainy times on Friday, even though none were expected, but, thanks to the tents, very little got wet.  The whole operation took about 25 volunteers, so yesterday I wrote a thank you to the community to post on Front Porch Forum.  It is amazing how many people pitch in to make all the components of Heritage Days a success.

On Friday night, our friends Pauline and Bob came over from Burlington to join in the fun, and we all had dinner under another big tent on the library's front lawn.  The menu included chicken and mostaccioli, the typical Barre Italian dinner.  Saturday, I managed to escape the sale for a while to go to Lenny's Shoe Outlet tent sale, but, luckily, I didn't buy anything.  I visited some of the community groups' booths and bought some samosas for lunch at one of the food vendors.  After clean up on Saturday, though, I was definitely done and ready to stay home for a while.

On the home front, not a lot of quilting took place and just a little knitting.  I am nearly finished with the green shawl and have some yarn ready to start to learn how to knit socks.  

Our vacuum cleaner was in the shop and the laundry piled up.  This week I'm catching up with housework and freezing blueberries from our bushes and some Chris brought from his boss's bushes.  I even made a blueberry buckle - yum!  The cherry tomatoes are coming in, and the day lilies are looking superb, despite a definite lack of rain.  We'll be heading to Wisconsin next week, so there's quite a bit of pre-trip stuff to keep me busy in spite of the heat and humidity that's predicted.

A few UFOs finished!

Today is a warm, sunny, not very humid day.  Perfect, I thought, for picture taking.  I found it is a little too sunny, so please excuse the glare and the wrinkles that last week's humidity caused.  

This year, Aby Dolinger posted a block of the month project called "Favorites."  I always like her patterns because of the very clear directions.  I put my blocks together a little differently, though, combining Aby's blocks with my guild's blocks of the month.  Of course, that meant I had a few too many blocks, so some made a nice back.

I love the background fabric which is from a line called "Pressed Flowers," and has flecks of burgundy, gold, and greenish blue.  I used quite a few scraps and added a few fabrics, too.  The binding is a floral gold with burgundy accents.

This measures 47" x 47" and I quilted it fairly simply in a grid, with a smaller grid in the plain areas.  It will be a nice wall quilt, table topper, or even a quilt for a modern baby.

Those fold lines worry me, so I now have the quilt spread out over the back of our sofa and hope they go away.  If not, I'll use a little steam and then let it hang some more.

Yesterday I finished a quilt I'm calling "Scrappy Town," made of variously sized house blocks.  I found a free pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop's website called "Brick House" and thought I'd use it for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  After making the block a few times, I wasn't totally happy with it, so I decided to add some other sized house blocks here and there.   I think they add variety, and I enjoyed paperpiecing some of the blocks.

The resulting 45" x 45" quilt also uses scraps of muslin and 2" scrappy squares from my vast collection.  I quilted with my walking foot, mostly outlining and  crisscrossing the squares.  I loved making those tiny 3" houses, but I don't think I could endure making a whole quilt out of them.  This is a good solution.

The back of the quilt is a yellow blender and the binding is a yellow print that I've had for ages.  I had just enough to go around, thank goodness.  I ended up with three 2.5" squares for my 2.5" square scrap box.

Now I'm pondering what to do with all the multicolored 6" blocks of the month I've made in my online quilt group.   I had them lined up row-by-row fashion, but that seems too dull somehow.  Now I have 9 wonky star blocks auditioning for the center of a medallion quilt.  I could also make a haphazard sort of layout with fillers, again using my trusty 2" or 2.5" squares.  I'll keep shuffling them around for a while before deciding.

Orphan blocks

In my quest to use up some of my orphan blocks, I got some I Found a Quilted Heart hearts ready to hide in plain sight soon.  I put two crumb blocks together with batting, quilted them, and then pinked the edges in the shape of a heart.  Then I sewed some ribbon for hanging and pinned a tag on each.  Here's one...

I'm writing a short article for the state guild newsletter on this phenomenon.  It's really fun to send these little hearts on their way, and I hope some nice people find them and report in.

I finished quilting the little house quilt today, too.  It needs to be trimmed, bound, and photographed for posterity.  I hope to get to that tomorrow.  This morning I decided to make some Zucchini Bread, using Mom's recipe that she gave me in the 1970s.  I made two medium loaves (one to eat, one for the freezer) and a smaller one for my nextdoor neighbors.  I had asked my cleaning person to bring me a zucchini, but she brought 3 good-sized ones.  I'll probably make another batch later in the week and then figure out some sort of casserole for the smaller of the three.

This afternoon, I made a pillow to take to Wisconsin for my brother Axel's new apartment.  I used a t-shirt for the back and two orphan blocks on the front.  I have no idea what color his furniture is, so I chose blue which seems to go with everything.   Growing up, Axel and I always watched Jeopardy together after lunch in the summer.   Even now, we compare notes although he is careful never to tell me who wins for the day since his comes on at 4:30 pm and ours is on at 7 pm.  Paul gave me the Jeopardy t-shirt for Christmas as a gag gift.  It's too small anyway, so I think this is a great use for it.