My sew-jo has returned

I dragged around the house for a few months this winter and didn't get a whole lot of sewing done.  Read a lot.  Knitted a bit.  Now that summer is here, though, I've been sewing more.  It might have been caused by the near death of my Elna.  It is home now and so much faster and more accurate than the little Brother (waiting in a case, just in case).  But I was in a bit of a slump for a while there.  

My online friend Debbie wanted to do a bow tie block swap, so I agreed, and yesterday I made about 25 of those 8" blocks.  It helped that I had cut most of the fabric out the day before.  I still have some background pieces (from the free table at guild) cut out, and today I'll go through my scrap boxes to cut out pieces to go with the backgrounds.  I would love to have about 30 blocks to set aside before swapping and assembling later this summer.  A 5 x 6 layout would result in a 40" x 48" quilt without borders - nice for Bags of Love (kids in foster care).

If I have time today, I'll start piecing a back for the log cabin quilt, and then I'll see if I have enough batting to piece together so I can start quilting it.  Those jobs may have to wait until tomorrow because I have signed up for an online class in "using simple blocks for fantastic layouts" this afternoon followed by a Friends of the Library meeting.  I've never taken an online class which involves cutting and sewing, so it should be interesting.  I printed out the templates needed and have my fabric together.  Now to figure out where to plug in my laptop.

Summer is here

Hope you are all having a nice Memorial Day weekend.  I've spent quite a bit of time in the flower beds and at the plant store.  The flower boxes and planters are all filled, and, while the impatiens look a little sparse, I know they will fill out nicely in a week or two.

Yesterday I pieced a back for the Christmas block of the month quilt I finished last week.  It's my least favorite job - lots of measuring and sewing of bits here and there.  I did want to use up a yard of nutcracker Christmas fabric I won during quilt Bingo last December.  I know I'll never put it into anything.  Now I need to find some batting and the quilt's ready to go for long arming.

Feeling quite satisfied with myself, I got out a bag of old ties that Paul's sister Pat gave me a couple of years ago.  Her husband had worn a tie every day during his long career as a realtor and salesman, but now he prefers golf shirts.   At the time, I told her that whatever I made, I'd give to her.  And she seemed OK with that.  

I've been thinking about what to make for a long time and, after I saw a picture somewhere, I settled on an apron since Pat is a fabulous cook.  I had already washed all of the ties and found they were pretty easy to take apart.  I cut a base for the ties out of another piece of Christmas fabric I wasn't wild about and added some lightweight interfacing.  Then I started sewing the ties down. 

It wasn't that difficult, and my walking foot helped deal with the slipperiness.  The ties and neck part I left whole with the interfacing still in.  I was nearly finished when I decided I couldn't live with the coffee stain on one of the ties.  So I covered it with a pocket.  It's done and will be wrapped up and mailed to Pat in Florida soon.

Guild round robin reveal

Tuesday's monthly local guild meeting featured a reveal of the round robin six of us have been passing around since October.  I didn't know all of the women involved, but everyone did a fabulous job.  I now have two Christmas quilts to finish (for whom is the question!).

This started with the Dresden Plate in the center and was surrounded by borders.  Quilters could add fabric if they wished, and, while I don't really care for brown or gold, they do work in this quilt.  I really like the cathedral windows border.

Tammy, one of the other quilters, offered to long arm each person's quilt for free, but I think I'll quilt mine myself.  Medallion quilts are fairly easy for me to quilt with my walking foot, and this isn't a gigantic quilt anyway.  I don't think I'll add to it, except for the binding, of course.  For now, it's waiting for me to create a back and think about how I'll quilt it.  

Yesterday's project was to finish the hanging sleeve for Hankie Quilt #2 which is going to the Billings Farm and Museum, and today's is to finish a back for the other Christmas quilt, Ribbon Star.  Luckily, it's not as hot/humid as it was earlier this week.  My sewing room needs its air conditioning installed, but is fine today.

Feels good to finish

This morning I put 3" borders on the guild blocks of the month I won in January.  I think the name is Ribbon Star.  As usual, there were a few blocks that just didn't go with the others and there were two blocks that were smaller than the asked for 12.5" square.  I decided to go with individually sashed blocks to help create unity and adjust some of the sizes to make them all uniform.  

I like it!  The outer border is a print with birds and poinsettias, and I'll probably put a dark green binding on.  Now I need to figure out what to put on the back and put it together before taking it to Marie for long arm quilting.  It should look very nice with swirly quilting, and I think I'll give it to someone (undecided yet) for Christmas.

My online friend Debbie has been sending me ideas for future swaps, and we finally decided on 8" bow tie blocks.  These will be due at the end of September, and anyone in our online group that wants to join in will need to make at least one for each other person.  I am making Debbie 10 (they are unbelievably easy to make), and I hope she makes me 10, too.  For the others I will probably make 2 each.  Here's a sample. 

We settled on cream for the background, and most of mine is a dull muslin.  I'll probably have to shop (gasp!) for a few nice cream on creams for the rest of my blocks.

One finished, the next laid out

I finished sewing the log cabin/Manx blocks together on Tuesday and the 48" x 48" top is now folded and hanging in the closet for quilting... eventually.  Some hot day I'll turn the AC on high and sandwich and quilt away.

With the guest bed empty again, I laid out the Christmas blocks of the month I won at guild.  They are all kinds of sizes round 12.5", but only one really needed to be trimmed square.  Today I'm heading over to the Burlington area with the genealogy club.  After a tour of the genealogy library there and after lunch, a few of us will go to a quilt shop for a while.  I need dark green and red sashing pieces for the Christmas blocks and am sure to find them as well as anything else I might feel the "need" to buy.  I'll add alternate borders to get all the Christmas blocks the same size (14.5"?).  Then I'll add a Christmas-themed border to the whole quilt so that it ends up being about 60" x 60".

My gardens are doing well, and the flowers Gale and I dug up Friday and I planted Sunday are growing well.  They will bloom in their own time.  Yesterday I met Jan who had some bee balm for me, so I'll try to plant that between raindrops later today.  Our bulbs are almost finished blooming, but the crabapple trees and lilacs are about to pop.  (Photo is from 2016)   Spring is here!

Best laid plans

I thought I'd spend Friday afternoon doing a little hand quilting to prepare for the demos I'll be doing in about 10 days at guild.  Ha!  My neighbor invited me to go with her to dig up some perennials at her old house.  Her gardens were extensive and the new owners invited her to take whatever she'd like.  As I told Paul when I got home, Gale did a lot of digging, and I did a lot of toting.  The trunk was full by the time we left - 3 hours after arriving!  

Today I will go and get some mulch and other gardening supplies so that when Chris comes for lunch he can help me plant everything.  I can't remember any of the names of the plants we got, but most of them are shade lovers.

Yesterday's state quilt guild meeting went very well.  Our speaker was amazing!  She talked about the challenges her guild issues each year and the processes she goes through to create her unique pieces in response. 

Here are more closeup photos of some of Chris' quilts.

I noticed almost everyone taking a closer look at the pieces during the break and lunch.  It was a very successful day, and, I hope, will encourage more membership.  We will have to think hard to top the program in the fall!

Traditional log cabin

It's been a while since I made a traditional log cabin quilt, and I always like the way they look.  I started some Manx blocks by hand last fall and also participated in a block swap with an online group this winter.  Yesterday, I laid out all the blocks I have made or received, and I made three more Manx-style blocks.  These were machine sewn and I already had strips cut, so they didn't take a lot of time at all.   Manx blocks make a fun take-along project.

Now I have 36 8" blocks! 

Someone in the swap group said she was planning a "streak of lightning" setting.  I'm not sure if this is what she meant, but I like it.  The Manx blocks all have printed background fabrics while the swap and other blocks have plain cream backgrounds.  There is some dimension to the Manx blocks, so I'm wondering how I will quilt it.  But I need to put the blocks together first and then decide on a border.  This week is pretty free, so I hope to get it done by the end of the week.  Then it will languish in the closet for a while - I'm planning a pieced back with some leftover log cabin blocks.  Two swap blocks from London have not yet been received.

Saturday is the state quilt guild meeting, so I've been accumulating stuff to take in the dining room.  My sewing room has a slightly smaller pile of stuff I'm gathering for the local guild meeting on the 21st.  I am doing a demo on hand quilting then, so I want to finish the white on white piece I have been pecking away at for many years - since the 1980s!

Blocks of the month

Yesterday, I put pedal to the metal and worked on some blocks of the month.  It always feels good to get those out of the way and then work more in depth with one or two big projects.  The local guild's block of the month was called "Work basket," although it looks like "Bento Box" to me.

We were to use white for the background and a pastel for the other color.  I'm going to take the green one to guild for the lottery and keep the peachy one for myself.  This was quite an easy block although my first attempt didn't turn out so good.  It's sitting in time out (a pizza box in the closet) with the other orphan blocks.

Next up was a 16" purple block for the Barn Star Sampler BOM, led by Abigail Dolinger.   I found this one a bit tricky in that one needs to watch the direction of pressing in order for seams to nest.  I actually pressed one set of seams open in order to make it all lie flat.

This Barn Star Sampler is going to be very pretty and will end up throw sized.  I do have a lot of small cutoff corners from various blocks that I have sewn together as half-square triangles.  Hoping I'll have enough for the borders by the time I'm finished.

I laid out the log cabin blocks I've been making and swapping this year, but three of them haven't arrived yet.  I might need to make a few more to get a human-sized quilt.  Because my Manx blocks are also going into this quilt, I need to make four more to go with the 25 or so I made or received in the swap.

Guild raffle

The treasurer of the state guild believes we need to step up our fundraising and suggested a raffle.  The board would make the quilt which would travel around the state during 2025, and members would sell tickets for a drawing in the fall of 2025.  I'm skeptical but game.  It would be good publicity and maybe encourage some quilters from around the state to join the guild.

At the cut-a-thon last Sunday afternoon, we each received kits to make six blocks.  One person couldn't come, so she will be receiving her kit this coming Saturday at our spring meeting.  Fabric came from one board member's extensive stash.  What a great shopper she is!  She's one of those people who buys multiple yards of fabric she likes.  I tend to get a yard or even less if I see something I love, so my stash is much smaller.  I buy background fabrics in larger quantities, but no more than 3 yards at a time.

We are making a disappearing nine patch quilt and setting them using a pattern from Jordan Fabrics in Maine.  I love the way my blocks turned out.  The light gray prints will be mixed, and the teal and black will be constants.  We will ask for a volunteer to quilt it for us, and I think it will appeal to non-quilters, especially men.

It was a rainy day yesterday, and I spent most of it in the sewing room for a change.  I worked on the guild block of the month and finished machine quilting Rows A, B and C of Dear Jane.  There are a few blocks that need hand quilting because the little Brother isn't great for free motion or doing sharp curves with the walking foot.  

Welcome to May

The days have flown by this week.  I have spent some time outside, weeding and cleaning out flower beds, and my knees are certainly feeling it today.  I will avoid being on them for a day or two.  I managed to beat the lawncare people who were spreading mulch in the beds out front and on the side facing the road.  I didn't want them to mulch on top of the weeds as they did last year.  All that did was encourage growth, and those buttercups went wild.  

Our blueberry bushes are looking very good this year.  Can't wait to eat them although I do have quite a few left in the freezer.  I don't like to put the frozen ones in my morning cereal but that might be a good way to reduce our supply.  I made some lowfat granola earlier this week, and today I made some ginger rhubarb muffins.

Allergy season is here in full force, but I keep on keeping on.  Apparently, it's bad all over.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I went to a nursing home and a community food shelf to deliver books for their clients to read, keep, return, etc.  The books come from the Friends of the Library book sale area which is bursting at the seams with donations right now.  At each location, I have lined up a volunteer to keep an eye on things and refresh the collections as needed.  So far it's working well, and everyone is happy.

May is always a busy time around here.  We went to a couple of fun events this week, including the annual Primo Maggio dinner and lecture at the Old Labor Hall.  We went with our neighbors and saw quite a few people we hadn't seen for a while.  The traditional Italian dinner was great, but the selection of Italian wines was very impressive.  I had a tough time choosing, so the bartender did it for me, very successfully, too.  Last night, a friend of Paul's gave a talk at the library, and we were glad we went because only three other people were there.  Rick did a great job, talking about the McCarthy era and how Vermonters reacted.

This afternoon we'll be back at the library to move the piano and some chairs up into the reading room for a concert tomorrow afternoon.  We can't have the program in the meeting room because it has been booked, but the reading room is nicer anyway.  It's quite a squeeze with the piano in the elevator, but we do it, and all the chairs are on trolleys, too.  We'll return mid-day tomorrow to get things set up for our singers, Carol and Doc, who will perform traditional folk, roots, and original songs as well as lead a few sing alongs.   It's Vermont Green Up Day tomorrow, too, with folks outside picking up trash.  We hope some people will come to relax after a morning of work.