Rows Parade

I'm a little slow in showing this new quilt which I bound last week.  I had to find two tall people to hold it up so I could take a full photo.  Luckily, Soni and Mary were willing at quilt guild on Saturday, and here Rows Parade is!  It was a row of the month designed by Aby Dolinger, and all the rows were made with scraps I already had.  I did buy the sashing and border fabric as well as the binding and backing.  It was fun to make, and I especially enjoyed the hearts row made in February.  Most of those blocks were hand appliqued.

I started out choosing colors from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge but then veered off the page a bit.  And somehow it grew to be full sized - not my initial intention!

A productive day

I had no reason to leave the house yesterday, so I stayed home and got a lot done.   A quilt got bound and 8 placemats got quilted.  First I had to create some "Frankenbatting" for the placemats.  My bin of scraps was overflowing, but now it isn't, and I still have a couple of queen-sized batts in plastic bags waiting to be used.  I wish I could buy batting by the roll, but I just don't have space to store one. 

Quilting the placemats was fairly quick because I used a very simple 2.5" grid on each one.  I only had to mark two with washout ink; the rest I merely cross-hatched through squares by eye.  I can't really machine quilt in a straight line, but it isn't all that noticeable.  The stiff backing, a Waverly upholstery print, made it very easy.

I have some binding cut out for four of the placemats and ordered some more for the others.  While I was in a binding mood, I got out one of the quilts Marie quilted for me and got that ready.  Not having anything else that needed to be done, I started binding and finished after lunch.  The quilt is Rows Parade, a row of the month quilt I worked on in 2023.   

How good it feels to finish!  I have no idea what I'll do with this quilt, but I'll take it to guild for show and tell and maybe list it on etsy eventually.  I have another, smaller quilt waiting to be bound.  Getting it ready will be today's project, but I'm not sure how far I'll get.

This morning we're heading to yoga and, after a quick nap, we'll go to Burlington to have dinner with Pauline and see Come From Away at the Flynn Theater.  Hoping the weather improves so the drive over is OK and that tomorrow morning's return home is without snow, ice, what-have-you.

Barn Star Sampler BOM

I have followed Aby Dolinger's blog for a number of years and enjoy working on blocks of the month projects she designs.   Her directions are always very clear.  This year, she's leading a BOM using Shelley Cavanna's Barn Star Sampler.  I got the book in the fall and, since I am involved in fostering a barn quilt trail all over Vermont, I thought this was a perfect project for me this year.  This will be 2024's purple quilt because my stash of purples continues to grow.

Here are Aby's first two block choices which look pretty simple to me.  I don't think I'll get to them today but hope to sometime this week.  At least I'll try to cut them out.  In my attempt to be more realistic about projects I start, I'm shooting for a throw this time.  I have yet to put the binding on the queen-sized BOM I did with Aby in 2023.

Today's project will be sandwiching and beginning the quilting on the placemats I'm making for Pauline.   I have lots of leftover batting scraps which should see me through this project.  I don't want to venture out of the house because the roads don't look too good yet.  The news reported that we had 13.5" of snow yesterday, and it will take a little time to clean that up.  Thank goodness we shopped for groceries on Saturday!

Catching up

I wrote the following on New Year's Eve...

This morning I made a few blocks for a swap, and yesterday I finished working on a brick for Studio Place Arts, our local arts center.  

SPA was flooded like every other building along N. Main St. this summer, with quite a bit of water in the basement.  As they pumped it out, several bricks fell out of the foundation, too.  Those were replaced, and the "bad" bricks stacked up in the back yard.   The folks at SPA decided to offer them to local artists to create items that will be raffled off this winter some time.  I volunteered and here's what I made with the brick I got.  

It was dirty but in good shape.   When I picked it up, I thought I'd applique a small version of the building which is full of large windows and has turquoise doors on the first floor.  In summer, there's an easy chair carved out of granite out front, and tourists take their pictures there.

But time passed far too quickly, and now it's due in a couple of weeks.   I decided to dip into my extensive collection of selvages.  Some of them have great sayings.  I added the ricrac just to be a little different.  I didn't cut out all the holes, just the ones on the top to make the brick visible.  And sewing the thing shut was a real pain.  But it's done and ready to deliver.

And now for today, a week later...

The snow is streaming down, probably at the rate of an inch an hour.  Winter is seriously here.  I have been baking rolls because we were going to have company for dinner.  I don't think they're coming now, so I'll put the rolls in the freezer to take to Pauline's on Wednesday.  We're going to Burlington to see Come from Away, the traveling Broadway show.  Just as we did last year when the three of us saw Book of Mormon, we'll spend the night at Pauline and Bob's (he has to work, poor guy).   I've been working on some placemats for Pauline lately, but I won't finish them before Wednesday.  I'll take them over later in the month.

Earlier this week, I worked on a few blocks of the month and also some samples for an online swap I've organized.  It's a traditional log cabin very similar to the Manx blocks I'm making.  Those end up at 9" and these swap blocks end up at 8" finished.  

I have tons of blue and actually bought another piece at the local quilt shop which is closing January 20.  Mary has long had an online shop but thought she'd try the bricks-and-mortar one a couple of years ago.  I don't think her selection was a good fit for our town and the hours were a bit erratic.  But I will miss going to Quilt Bingo there every once in a while.  Maybe we can continue that somehow.

Our Christmas tree and most of our decorations have been put away.  Our wreaths are still up but will come down this week or next.   Lots of neighbors have their lights up still, which does make the evenings cheery.  I do enjoy the peacefulness of a snowy day - I'll knit, watch a little TV, and read.  A perfect Sunday! 

UFO Review

I keep a running list of UFOs because I tend to work on more than one project at a time.  My friend Polly works on one quilt at a time and is happy with that.  She's a Chemist and her quilts are perfect - all points visible and matching, all quilting lines straight as an arrow.  I like variety, so I work on deadlines or on whims.   There are currently 17 items of all sizes on my UFO list.  One is a knitting project, two need only binding to finish, and the rest are quilting projects, one of which is missing (Hawaiian applique) and one is so long-standing that I forget when I started it (1980?).

That's not to say that I don't finish a lot each year, though.  This year I completed quite a few projects, including knitting a pair of socks and several hats for the Bags of Love project for kids in foster care.  In addition, I made two quilts using the Jane Austen at Home fabrics, one of which I gave to my mom and the other to the homeless shelter.  I also made 12 mug rugs which I gave to each library staff member for Christmas.

I finished the long-standing Pineapple throw (took 2 years, working on a few every month), the Arboretum (given to Preservation Burlington), and

  - Two baby quilts - for Daley Hoffman and for Pat's greatgrandchild

  - a turquoise house mini

  - Moon over Mt. Fuji (hand quilted and given to Pat)

  - On the Patio (small quilt that won an honorable mention at my LQS)

  - the Blue and White Hankie Quilt

  - Cakes on Stands swap quilt (sent to folks on Maui)

  - Rainbow Log Cabin throw

Then there were the Rows Parade and Guild BOM tops which have been quilted by Marie and are now waiting for bindings.  For my guild has a UFO challenge this year, I brought in my Manx quilt blocks to show for that.  I think I need only one more block to make the planned table runner.

The project that I was most happy with in 2023 was the hanging of my Green Mountain Sunrise in the Woodridge Nursing Home dining hall which I technically finished in 2022.  It's hanging over the door to their lovely patio which was renovated and rededicated this summer.  It's based on Bonnie Hunter's Purple Mountains Majesty pattern.

Are quilters more able to face failure?

Today I read a blog by author Jenn McKinlay whose topic was the importance of failure.   How will we know we've succeeded if we don't fail once in a while?

Seems to me that quilters run up against failure all the time - most of us are intimate with our seam rippers but keep at it anyway.  I have a closet full of orphan blocks to prove this - blocks too small, colors too clash-y, etc.  Yet I have not lost my enthusiasm for quilting over the last 50 years.   At show and tell and online, quilters often begin by apologizing ("it's not perfect, but...").  Every quilt has its ups and downs but generally offers a learning experience, too.

Yesterday I started working on a fabric covering for a brick salvaged from our local art center after this summer's flood.  Artists were invited to take a brick and create a piece to be raffled off.  The deadline is January 16, so I've got to get busy.   I'd been thinking about what to do and rejected several ideas as being too time-consuming (small hexies) or too difficult (appliqueing a streetscape).  I'm now weaving selvages with interesting sayings like "not suitable for children's sleepwear" onto muslin to cover the somewhat dirty brick.  I'll cut some spaces between the strips to allow the brick to show.  Watch this space...

Short row knitting

I spent yesterday morning making real progress on the collage but being hunched over was tough on my back.   We took a walk in the morning which helped get the "kinks" out, but I'll give the collage a rest today.   I hope yoga later this morning will help, and I'll work on either something else in the quilting room or knit some more on my wave scarf.  The latter is looking good!

I haven't memorized the pattern yet but hope this will come in time.  Right now I'm holding the pattern on my lap while knitting.  It is going faster, though, as I develop a rhythm.  Using #7 needles helps.

I want to turn my attention to making some placemats for Pauline.   She was hoping for something in dark greens, burgundies, and blues, so I bought some fat quarters and a jelly roll in the Winter Flurries line by Holly Taylor.    It's way more than I need for the project, but I can use the excess in other projects, too.  

I have a lot of Waverly fabric in the same colors for the backs.  It's really upholstery fabric, but I think it will soften when washed.  I used it to make a few shopping bags to give as gifts and still have a couple of yards.   In addition to this project, I have two quilts to bind and two more to machine quilt.    The collage will require quilting when finished, too, so I don't think I'll be at a loss for projects this winter!