no snow sew day

even tho 1-3" was predicted, then downgraded to 1", aside from very few morning flakes we are getting "thick rain"...sort of a rain/slush precip...a bit sticks to the windows but otherwise the ground is wet.   no plans were on the agenda today aside from the usual (meals, dress, make bed) but plenty of sewing plans were made...first up was to finish all 18 sew along blocks, and now they are done!

they'll stay on the design wall until the construction phase, probably february or whenever joseph's coat flimsy is done.  these gave me a chance to cut into some 'stash on the shelf' fabrics for the first time, one of which was clearly marked 2013....seven years ago.  it was a half-yard piece but even so, just reinforces the wake-up call of shopping stash first and ALWAYS from here on....

4 done, 14 to go

my little stars for the cecile sew-along....

though i had no intention of doing a sew-along, inspiration from a jo morton little quilt had been percolating in my mind for some time...thought the sew-along would give me the push needed to finally make it...here is jo's version...

i love the colors....mine won't be exactly like this, of course....but same colors and those cute little stars....i used a pattern from the 2017 JLWC that i've only glanced thru since purchasing 3 years ago...makes the stars easy peasy!  they work up very fast now that all the pieces have been cut....otherwise my sewing time has been spent on the joseph's coat repro scrappy (machine) and the blue/white (hand quilting)....with january half over, no time to waste on working toward some sort of finish.  *****   and here is an unsolicited recommendation.....

a new quilters' select ruler received in a give-away.....if you have a green mat and have been using omnigrid rulers with those bright yellow lines, you will find this a treat!   switching from the omnigrid to this felt immediate resolution of glare.....the subdued yellow background with black lines are so much easier on the eyes with this green mat.   though my budget won't permit replacing all my rulers--not all are omnigrid--i might consider investing in a larger size that is used often; yes, it's THAT good.   just my humble opinion of course, but if you have a chance to compare, by all means do. 

sunday wrap up

nearly the entire of this beautiful near 70-degree day was spent with betty bernina and a UFO/challenge project. my online group is running an "inspiration" challenge.  choose some project--from book, magazine, internet--that inspired me to make.  pulled out a UFO that was up for adoption but alas, no takers.  since it was mine permanently, decided to get re-acquainted and ramp up the mojo....

you might have seen part of 2 rows on my design wall, but today sat down and got the 2 rows done and started on a 3rd.   in all there are 5 rows so almost half done!   some of the circles have been appliqued but not all.   even so, pretty satisfied with how smooth the going has been.  was hoping to have a flimsy by the end of january and can see it is entirely possible...thinking now it will be hand quilted.   all in all, a very good day!   ***  and while today was machine day, yesterday was hand quilting day.  a nagging low-grade respiratory illness finally progressed and got some treatment, but that made saturday a recuperative day.   finally, a good report from cardioman on all the testing started the weekend off in fine form.  there was improvement in some areas and status quo in others, a huge relief, thanks to the cardiac rehab team and many praises to God for protection in my toxic environment.  now bring on Monday!