Working on this and that

 This morning's roads were icy-looking so I decided not to go to aerobic walking.  Naturally, the sun came out later and melted everything, but I wasn't taking any chances.  I ended up working hard in the sewing room.   I sandwiched and pin basted the Lily quilt, which I started quilting after lunch.  Before lunch, however, I made two blocks of the month for the Optimism quilt designed by Aby Dolinger.  They are all 15" finished so the quilt will go together pretty quickly in the fall.  I'm shopping my stash (as some say, "inventory") for this one.

My last quilting thing today was cutting up my brother Axel's green and cream shoo fly quilt that I made him in 2005.  It was beautifully quilted by my friend Mary with feathers throughout.  When we visited him in Wisconsin a year and a half ago, I took it home to see if I could repair it.  Alas, it has too much damage - I think he sat on and washed it a lot.  So I cut it apart and will make him some placemats.  I thought I could salvage the center, but it is too far gone.  The center looked salvageable, but it has some very weak spots.

I have made Axel two other quilts, so I don't feel that bad.  One he has on his bed, and the other is in his storage closet, protecting a painting he moved three years ago.  I hope it's OK.  If (when?) we go to visit him again this summer, I'll see if I can find it.  Meanwhile, I'll make miles of binding and bind off sections of the green quilt and mail the "new" placemats to him.

Another finished top

This isn't the best photo, but I'm so happy it's finished!  This little quilt measures 39" square, and I put it together yesterday.  I really like the way it turned out, especially because I started it at the beginning of August.   I'll take a better picture once it's done.  I plan to quilt it with my walking foot, very simply.

The paper pieced threaded star blocks were fun to make although I still am not a fan of taking the paper out.   I still have lots of snippets of fabric left and, because I have so much, I am keeping it in a baggie all together for now rather than dividing it up by color.  This is the second quilt I've made using the same fat quarter bundle plus a charm pack and two yards of the large floral.  I do love the soft colors.

After putting the quilt together, I went down to Joann Fabrics for some batting (Warm and White).  The store was fairly quiet and all the stock seemed to be there, even though rumor has it that it's closing in the middle of the month.  I guess I'll be going to Walmart for notions after it closes because I refuse to shop at Hobby Lobby.  Or I'll buy things I can't get at my local quilt shop (e.g., Guterman thread, insul-bright) online.   I will miss the people who work there and hope they can find other jobs, too.  Since it reopened after the 2023 flood, they've been very service-oriented.    

At the checkout, I ran into a woman who used to come to our yoga class and to the state quilt guild meetings.  It was good to see Dolinda again.  We were just beginning to become friends when she stopped coming.   I was reminded once again how nice it is to live in a relatively small community, "where everybody knows your name."