I'm not sure what I'll do with this quilt as it's too large to fit in a "large" USPS priority mailing box. Guess I'll just hang onto it until I hear of a need locally. I don't feel good selling any quilts made from Hunter's patterns as she posts them for free for people to use and enjoy. This year I've made three although I usually find her patterns far too fiddly, with loads of tiny triangles.
I like the way Marie quilted it, with big swirly leaves, along with the hot pink border strip.
During a Vermont winter, when it isn't snowing, everyone gets out to do errands, so that's what I did yesterday. Just as I was getting ready to head to the bank, Marie called to tell me my Green Mountain Spring quilt (based on Bonnie Hunter's mystery) was ready. I had told her not to hurry, but she was making her own version and got my quilt out to help her see how to finish one section. Guess that was when she thought it should go on the frame.
On my way home, I stopped at the florist/gift shop to drop off a tablerunner and small quilt to sell. I love to browse the gifts and candy there and ended up taking a small beaded bag and a box of truffles home. I will use the bag someday when we can all socialize again, and I hope Paul enjoys the truffles for Valentine's Day.
I have been making one for the guild block lottery and three for my Dear Marianne quilt (based on Kingwell's Dear Jen). A strip of three 6" buttercups looks very cheery and went together quickly.
I'm hopping around the Dear Jen pattern book which seems to be meant for hand piecing which I will not do. I need to turn some of the patterns into paper pieced ones. Instead, I started working on an appliqued strip when the sun came out. Hope to finish that today when it starts snowing again. We have at least a foot of the white stuff on the ground. I'm hoping it will hold off a bit so we can get a walk in.
And next is a table runner made with some vintage hankies and some Jane Austen-era reproduction fabric called Jane at Home. I joined a quilt along on Facebook this month and followed along, making 9 blocks before I put pedal to the metal on the BH mystery. Many people in the quilt along group have made bed-sized quilts, but I think I want a wallhanging. So I chose three blocks to turn into a table runner, and one of these days I'll start making a few more blocks to go with the six that are left. There's another vintage quilt along starting in March, and I may yet join that one, too. I still have a bunch of hankies and parts of a little embroidered table topper I've been saving for "someday" that I can use. Some will need a little washing first - I tried Dawn dish soap but have found Oxiclean does a better job with stains.
It almost makes me want to strap on my snowshoes and head up there myself. Instead of getting wet and cold, I choose to make snow days my sew days. After making a loaf of bread, I played around with leftover pieces from the Grassy Creek mystery. I don't know if they'll end up in the borders of the quilt which is now 69" x 69". But I had fun nonetheless.
I also knit quite a bit on a new hat which uses up leftover gray and lilac yarn. I have about an inch left to knit before I start decreasing for the crown. Hope it fits!
I have been enjoying the Bonnie Hunter Grassy Creek mystery until this past Friday when the final clues and reveal came out. The previous clues had been somewhat easy going, and I could do other things in between. I even started another quilt. This last clue was somewhat intimidating, but I decided I had to just take it one page at a time. We ended up with 25 12" blocks and pieced sashing that creates a secondary block. And directions for pieced borders which I expected, having fiddled with the ones on Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll.
As planned, it measures about 94" x 94" which is too big for me to quilt on my own. The design doesn't really work for quilting in sections or "as you go." My quilt will be about 80" x 80" if I have the perseverance to do some pieced borders. If not, it will still be about 72" x 72", a good throw size. I took 9 blocks away for a 4 x 4 layout.
I'll have quite a few pieces left over after I'm finished. They may end up in the border or they may end up with the nine leftover blocks somehow. I am looking forward to playing around with those. I love the pink, purple and gray together. Lots of scraps were used, which is a plus. I still have a full bag of background strings I'd like to make blocks out of, and now I have a bunch of grays, too, to use in the RSC21 blocks. This is all good for these gloomy days of mid-winter.
All of our Christmas packages have been mailed, the library staff's gifts have been delivered, and get-out-the-vote postcards to Georgia have been written and are ready to mail. Now I can start doing a little more holiday prep, including wrapping the gifts for local friends, Paul, and Chris and decorating a little bit. I did hang the old patchwork wreath on the door. It looks awfully tatty close up but fine from the street! I like to Christmas-ize a little at a time to stretch the season out.
I also sewed four 3" snowballs together for the optional 6" block for the guild lottery, People in the guild seem to enjoy the lottery aspect of this block of the month, with 15 or so mailing their blocks to the winner each month. This has been a fun project for me during this more isolated time, too.
This week's Bonnie Hunter mystery clue is also done after a weekend of steady sewing. I, of course, printed the clue out in black and white to save colored printer ink and, as a result, misread the clue and used the wrong color. Because I didn't like Bonnie's green-orange-red-gold scheme, I chose green-medium blue-purple-pink. I should have made my half-square triangles out of pinks, but they are purple so I will shuffle what I had planned. I always figure I can dig deeper into my stash to finish the clues if I need to anyway. And I can make a quick run to the quilt shop as a last resort.
My sewing room has been a busy place for me over the last few days because I also made some Christmas Cobblestone blocks for a swap with an online group. I'll be sending two blocks to each of nine people in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and England soon. On tap for today: starting on Christmas cards, taking some stuff to the Salvation Army, vacuuming, and a little more knitting on a shawl which has grown off of two needles and onto circular ones. Hope it's not as gloomy as the last few days have been. I'd love to squeeze in a few walks, too. Have a great day!
A beautiful cardinal just landed on the bird feeder by our dining room window, but it took off before I could take a photo. We woke up to snow yesterday and more fell overnight. With winter officially here, we filled the bird feeders and hoped the bears are heading for hibernation. I did see a cat roaming around under the feeder yesterday, but it will probably be foiled soon as the snow gets deeper. We love to watch the birds who seem to have lunch at the same time we do.
This year's mystery calls for 5 yards of gray fabric (solids and prints), which I don't have. So of course, I ordered a bundle. I am not planning to go with all of Bonnie's colors; instead I'll use some combination of bright/dark green, red-purple, blue (light? bright?), and pink (or maybe aqua). Today I'll rummage around in my stash to see what I have on hand. I do have plenty of muslin, which I'll use for the neutrals. I need to go to A Quilter's Garden on Thursday to deliver a quilt top to Marie for long arming, so I'll see what I can find in the other colors to fill in then. I'll have to find something to keep all the fabric in and set aside some baggies for the components, too. All in due time.
Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread, edited a story Paul wrote, worked on a crossword puzzle, took a walk, and finished a cozy mystery et in Australia - Miss Spelled, by Morgana Best. I'd call it a "throw away," since it is quickly forgotten. It is the first in a series, but I probably won't be reading more. What I am reading now is the second in a series about a young writer who has a lot on his plate - a girlfriend trying to pass the bar exam, an autistic brother, and a libel lawsuit against him. The Shadows We Hide, by Aaron Eskens, has very human, likeable characters facing difficult situations. The first book, The Life We Bury, was set in winter in Minnesota and very relatable to anyone who lives in a cold climate.
I keep saying I'm not going to watch the election results tonight, but even though it's tension-producing, I probably will. I am so hoping for a return to sanity after three-plus years of nastiness. Fingers crossed all the way.
ilt. I made four blocks over the last couple of days to use up some nervous energy. I did start another good book, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman. It was billed as "funny," but it's actually a bit sad, yet a page-turner as you know Eleanor will transform in some way. We leave tomorrow morning for the Netherlands, via car, bus, plane, and finally boat!
