Feeling productive

 It's amazing that finishing small projects can lift my spirits on a gloomy day.  After weeks of wonderful, sunny days, it has turned gloomy most days lately. but inside, bright things are happening.  I finished a few potholders yesterday.  Two will be raffled off during Light Up the Library in December, and one will be given away to the friends for whom I made the Christmas tree skirt.

I still have some of that Snowflake Bentley panel left to make a few table runners, but I'm not sure I'll have time to do so before Christmas.  That's OK - I like to sew with holiday fabrics during the holiday season.

Next, I made a raffle block for the upcoming state quilt guild meeting.  It's a rail fence using wintry snow flake fabric.  Hope I win the raffle!  I like the positioning of the rails which, when put together will zig zag a bit.  

I'm looking forward to the meeting as it will be my first since I stepped down as president or secretary, jobs I've held for close to 20 years.  I am dragging my feet as historian but hope to make that my winter project.  I want to get everything organized so that it can be archived at the state historical society library.  Anyway, it will be fun not to have any real responsibilities for the meeting!

Yesterday, I started quilting the little Blue Ocean quilt in a vertical/horizontal grid.  In this picture, I'm using green painters' tape to help me create the straight lines for the quilt.  It's a pretty small quilt - 40" x 40" - so by the afternoon, it was pretty much quilted, and today I hope to get the binding on.  I'll eventually give it to "Bags of Love" for kids going into foster care.  

First, however, I want to sandwich and quilt another little red and cream quilt that's hanging in the closet.  I'll probably do the same grid-like quilting pattern on it.  I heard that there's a need for things for babies and toddlers right now, so I hope these little quilts will help.  I'll post a picture of the finished quilt when it's done and (hopefully) the sun comes out.