in the hoop!

first thing on my fri/sat/sun to do list was get this basted and in the hoop...and it is!  had hoped this would be done by january 1st but as usual circumstances interfered and it's a bit late.   yes, i'm still basting the 1980s way with needle and thread!   i saw this quilt in the now-defunct magazine "quilt life" in a collection of photos showing prairie women with quilts hung on a soddy as a backdrop for the photos...thought it would make a good scrappy and it does.  this will be donated to a worthy cause as a fundraiser since my budget doesn't allow me to contribute very often.  ***  also made up a pot of chicken soup which looks delish but actually has very little taste due to no salt.  at this point on a mostly liquid diet thanks to the butcher of brick hill and modern pharmaceuticals that have put my GI system in nearly suspended animation.  while modern medicine has given me a new lease on life, have to say in all honesty it is much less enjoyable in some instances.  whereas appendix or gallbladder removal is pretty much a fix, cardiac surgery is a huge game changer; not all aspects of which are pleasant or welcome.  some days a bit more challenging to focus on the positives than deal with the realities....know what i mean???

orphans

one of the many perks of living alone is that when i'm wide awake at 4 am, i can get up and do most anything as long as i don't disturb the neighbors.  so this morning, decided to go thru the elfa drawers and weed out stuff.  among the "stuff" was a collection of orphan blocks....leftovers, wrong size, tried out blocks....that i'm now offering to anyone who will take them all.

the largest is the repro fence rail piece, about 12 x 9....some 10" blocks, some 6", some 4"....not all repro as you can see.   again, you MUST take all of them.  they need a new home where somebody will use them....  by the time i was finished with this task, was feeling sleepy again so back to bed for a couple of hours...another perk of the single life.   ***  today is a wide open day, nothing much planned except exercise so hoping to nearly finish the orange modern blocks; only 7 more to make and can get the top together and send it off to the finish pile.   finished my valentine sewing project on wednesday.  next is to baste a donation quilt and start the quilting.   am hoping to finish quilting 3 bed size quilts this year, maybe even 4, to make some headway on the UFO list.  will see how that goal turns out...in the meantime, it's a sunny but cool day ahead!

spring already?

well at 60 degrees and sunny, it sure feels like it.   we've had some wonderful warm days, but i think after today it'll cool down some to the high 40s...that's winter in maryland and i love it!   few chores on today's list plus the usual exercise time, but after that's it's me and betty.   first thing this morning, tried out the first block for a jo morton project, economy blocks on point....have had the sashing fabric for quite a while of course; figured will sew one up every now and then...

and though i had planned to do barb's churn dash sew along/block swap, something else arrived in my inbox.   every july there's a local quilty seminar in the next town.   several guild members attend and rave about it...it's mid-applachian quilters!  apparently they have a block sew along for the 6 months leading up to the event...january thru june, 2 blocks per month.   this year's it's a star sampler, just perfect for my lovely kaffe fabrics and the pale pink kona background.   here is block #1, hand pieced, sewn up pretty quickly.

there'll be plenty of hand quilting space on these blocks.   thinking a kaffe print sashing and plain corner squares should give it a little more zing.  ***  orange mod blocks continue with 8 more to sew for a flimsy.  and later in the week will be doing some valentiney sewing as well....keep calm and quilt on!