Cornucopia of Thanks for September

I've been making Jennifer Chiaverini's Cornucopia of Thanks quilt as a Block of the Month in an online group.  This month's block was "Best Friends," to signify the quilting friends her characters get together with on the day after Thanksgiving.  Each quilter makes a block of gratitude to put into a cornucopia on the potluck table in her book The Quilters' Holiday. 

My quilt is going to be quite bright, with hot pink, green/lime, purple, turquoise, and yellow.  The sashing in this quilt is what really makes it outstanding, and I love the dotted fabric I'm using for it.  I'm chipping away at the borders as I go along so I won't have to make them all at the end.  This quilt is going to be queen-sized with 12" blocks and 6" sashing.  The original has only 9 12" blocks, but I've made three more to make it bigger.  Thanks to Yankee Pride Quilts, I have another two yards of the yellow for borders. 

Where've I been?

It's been a busy, intense time since I last wrote.  I was in Colorado for a week while my mom had shoulder replacement surgery.  Besides caring for her after her 3 nights in the hospital, I also cared for my dad who has Parkinson's Disease and has home caregivers part of each day.  His PD is fairly advanced, but he is quite determined to be independent.  Sometimes that works and other times, it is a detriment since he gets himself into some "situations."  I had to call 9-1-1 one afternoon when he tried to get out of an easy chair to his wheelchair by using his walker and ended up on the floor.  The firemen were cheery and told him the Broncos game was about to start, so they would get him settled to watch.  Most of the other near misses, I was able to pick him up, though it was exhausting.   I was in high gear from 5:30 am to 10:30 pm each day and was pretty glad to be back in Vermont, if only to get a solid night's sleep.

Paul had a hard time without me partly because our dog Max wasn't feeling well - tummy troubles.  We took him to the vet nearly every day and spoke to him when he wasn't in the office.  I've made Max a "bland diet" (chicken and rice) for several days.  Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.  Now he's taking Pepsid A-C, old geezer that he is (almost 15)!

In Colorado, I read quite a few light mysteries, and when I got home Louise Penny's latest arrived and I dove right in.  The Beautiful Mystery is set in a monastery in a remote part of Quebec, and it's the classic situation with a set number of characters, one of whom must be the murderer.  The pace is a little slow but that just makes the suspense build.  Penny has outdone herself again.

I also visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, a few miles from my parents' home, but I wasn't thrilled with the exhibit as I sometimes am.  There were some political quilts which I enjoyed, and then some very geometric ones.  I noticed that Sandra Dallas will be there for a booksigning in October.  What a good speaker she is!

On the quilting front, I'm working on Cornucopia of Thanks, from Jennifer Chiaverini's latest quilt pattern book.  I'm doing a block a month with an online group and finished this month's "Best Friends" block.  Now I'm working on the sashing which is the distinctive part of this quilt.  I was afraid I'd run out of one fabric, so I called the shop where I bought it, and they sent me more the very next day! 

Our weather has been beautiful, Max appears to be better today, and Chris built me a lovely little table with a Vermont verde (green stone) top.  Life is looking up.

Block lotto

Yesterday, I took a drive down to Waitsfield to Mad River Quilting to deliver the blue and white and lime and black quilts for longarming.  It is always a lovely drive, and now that scrub and grasses have grown up along the river, you can hardly see the damage wrought by Tropical Storm Irene last year.  Let's hope this Labor Day weekend doesn't include another "event."  People are still recovering in so many ways. 

I picked out some black on white fabric for the back of the lime quilt.  I love the selection of fabric in Lisa's shop and wish she were a little closer.  I don't expect the quilts back until early November when I'll see her at the state quilt guild meeting.  We talked about the room set up for the meeting, too, since I'll be handling that and she handles the vendors.

When I got home, I took stock of projects in "the hopper" and finished a block for an online "block lotto."  This month's block has a bright green accent to its mainly black and white colorway:

We can make up to four blocks, and the names of participants are put in a hat.  The winner takes all.  I had a hard time coming up with my bright green accent fabric after making that lime and black quilt.  There were mostly strings left.  But I did manage to find this.  Next month's block has yellow accents and I hope to make a few more blocks since the more one makes, the more chances to win the whole shebang. 

I also made six Sylvia's Bridal Sampler "Wedding Ring 2" blocks for a Christmas novelty swap.  The blocks aren't due until November 30, but I like to keep on top of things.  I also have "Orange Peel" blocks prepared for the swap, and will take them to Colorado when Mom has her shoulder replacement surgery.

Some whim caused me to open the pizza box with my black/white/red row robin strips, and I decided to use them to border something.  I started cutting out 4" "Drunkard's Path" blocks, and made a bunch in black and white fairly quickly using my "Curve Master Foot."  It's fun to arrange them on the wall, so that's what I'll be doing today!

Black and lime ready for quilting!

American Patchwork and Quilting magazine called this Marti Michell pattern"Summer Bliss," but with my lime and black colorway, I am at a loss for a name.  I have plenty of time to think of one, though, since I'll be taking it to a long arm quilter along with another quilt.  I don't expect to see it until November when I'll see Lisa at the Green Mountain Quilters Guild meeting.  I am pleased with the way it turned out although I hardly have any scraps of lime left.  The 12 blocks were 20" each, so it measures 79" x 99" or thereabouts. 

Simple Graces

Yesterday our humidity broke long enough for me to finish handsewing the binding down on a quilt I've been working on for a while.  It's from Kim Diehl's book Simple Graces, although the border is based on a Barn Raising quilt in the collection of the Vermont Historical Society.  I quilted the center and then added the border before finishing the quilting.  It was a lot of maneuver but I'm happy with the result.

The background is a variety of shirting which I love to use for applique.  I won't be making any log cabin blocks with 1/2" blocks for a while, though!

Lime and black queen-sized quilt

It's been a rather intense week since I've been working on a quilt.  I don't usually follow patterns but this quilt, "Summer Bliss," designed by Marti Michell and featured in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine last month, caught my eye.   The magazine called it "easy, breezy," and I was looking for something rather quick that would use lime and black fabrics I've been accumulating for a while.  So picture this in those striking colors. 

The blocks are big - 20" - and there are just 12.  The star blocks alternate with the square in a square ones.  I started it last Saturday and hope to finish it today.  I ran out of one crucial fabric, so I called the store where I bought it about six months ago, and they popped it into the mail.  It came the next day!  Stay tuned for real photos...

Cornucopia of Thanks - month 3

I've been working on a block of the month with an online group.  Our aim is to finish Cornucopia of Thanks from Jennifer Chiaverini's new quilt book Traditions from Elm Creek.  So far, the blocks have been mighty difficult, so I hope next month's is easy.  Yesterday, amid the heat and humidity, I slaved over "Prosperity."

The "Y" seams were tough and I almost wished I had done them by hand.  But it turned out pretty good.  The colors don't show well here - the "red" is really a lipstick hot pink.

I am planning to make this a queen-sized quilt, so I made a few more blocks over the last few weeks.  Two came from various issues of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.  It's going to be colorful!