A finish and a start

I am blessed to have a job that I can do from home, but I'll be honest, this past week was HARD.  On Thursday morning, I woke up weepy and despondent, feeling like everything was pointless.  I was in virtual meetings all day, every day last week, and my eyes and back and head were all aching as a result.  My husband's uncle, a reverend who officiated at our wedding twenty years ago and whom I just visited less than a month ago, is in the hospital on a ventilator and dialysis from COVID-19.  My twin sister's husband was laid off; my brother is likely to be laid off soon.  My other sister's husband is an ER doctor, putting himself at risk of infection and bringing it home to his family, including my mother, every day.  I keep having to put things into perspective to keep from being overwhelmed by the uncertainty.  I know there are many out there who are affected much worse than I am by all of this.

So, in my spare moments, I sew.  I finished piecing my Floral Purge top, which I am hoping to make into a patchwork duvet cover.  Of course, the wide muslin that I ordered to finish it off has been delayed in delivery - hopefully it will arrive this week.  And it rained almost every day this week, so it was a struggle to get a photo with decent lighting.  I don't have any floor space big enough to lay this 92" x 92" top down so I commandeered my sons into being quilt holders.

To reward myself for persevering and finishing up a UFO, I started a new project, Bonnie Hunter's Unity Sew-in-Place Quilt Along.  Of course, I changed up the colors...

And I read two cozy mysteries this week, Arlene Sachitano's The Quilt Before the Storm and Sally Goldenbaum's Murder Wears Mittens.


Finally, in advance of today's trip to the grocery store (hopefully I won't have to go again for another two weeks), I made myself a face mask, and then made seven more for my boys and husband, as well as my twin sister and her family since they live so close.

My son donned a mask, hoping to go to the store with me.  He was pretty disappointed when I made him stay home.

I'm dreading the return to Zoom meetings in the morning, but the forecast is calling for 60 degree temperatures and some sunshine, so I will be sure to spend my lunch hour outside.

We're going to get through this, right?

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

I love a mystery!

My kids make fun of me for reading cozy mysteries.  Since I am forever protesting about violence and graphic words or scenes in modern media, they think it is ironic that I read books with "murder" in the title.  What they don't seem to understand is that cozy mysteries aren't about the murder - in fact, rarely does the reader "witness" the crime.  Cozies are all about following clues to figure out "whodunit," usually while following along with an amateur sleuth working outside the law.  This wonderful week of summer included THREE cozies for me: Boiled Over, the second Maine Clambake Mystery by Barbara Ross (I'm from Maine); Gone But Knot Forgotten, the third Quilting Mystery by Mary Marks (I LOVE this series!);

and Deadly Nightshade, the first Martha's Vineyard Mystery by Cynthia Riggs (because we spent three days at Martha's Vineyard this week). Next up on my bedside table is Taken In, the ninth Southern Sewing Circle mystery and my current audiobook is The Cranefly Orchard Murders, the second Martha's Vineyard Mystery by Cynthia Riggs.

But it isn't just in my reading that I like mysteries.  I love the idea of a mystery quilt, although, in truth, I've never actually finished one.  I'm still working on my first, On Ringo Lake by Bonnie Hunter, but the truth is, once the big reveal happens, I usually lose interest.  I haven't worked on that quilt in months!

My 2018 Temperature Quilt is a bit of a mystery quilt since the daily weather dictates what it will ultimately look like.  I think the not knowing is part of what keeps me motivated to make new blocks for that quilt every day (well, that and how easy the block I chose to make is).  Here it is from January 1 through June 11 - I have all the blocks done through June 30, but the next row includes the block with the average temperatures for July, so I can't add any more rows until July is over.

Blocks signify high and low temps for each day of the year (through June 11 so far)

As I mentioned, we spent a few days at Martha's Vineyard this week.  Beforehand, I took my dog up to NH to stay with my sister.  Visiting my sister means time with my nieces and nephew,

One of my nieces - the only thing cuter than a two year old is a two year old wearing a sweater you knit for her!

but it also means getting to see my handiwork all over their house, from sweaters and hats and socks that I have knit for them to quilts that I have made on their walls and on their beds.  They are THE BEST recipients of handmade stuff - they actually USE it!!

My mom was out of town, so I slept in her bed under one of the first bed sized quilts I ever made, a Scrappy Mountain Majesties from Bonnie Hunter's pattern

Once at the Vineyard, I stayed busy with knitting, at the beach

and on the ferry.  Sock knitting is such a perfect travel/vacation project!

And while on vacation, I stumbled upon the Friendship Album, 1933 podcast by Frances O'Roark Dowell, author of Birds in the Air (which I own and have read) and Margaret Goes Modern (which I don't yet own).  I've finished listening to the first four episodes and I am anxiously awaiting future installments of this story.  I've said it so many times, but when I'm not quilting, I love being able to read about quilts, whether in fiction or on blogs or even just scanning photos on Instagram and Pinterest.  What on earth did I do with my time before I started quilting?

I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

Crafting on the road

I'm on the road again, this time visiting Vanderbilt University in Nashville.  While waiting for today's programming to start, I had to wander over to see the Parthenon replica and read about why it is here.

Turns out, it was built for Tennessee's Centennial celebration.  Cool, but seems pretty random to be plopped down here in the middle of Nashville

I doubt I'll be stranded here for two extra days like I was during my trip to Washington University in St. Louis last month (knock on wood), but I'm prepared, just in case.  In addition to more hexies to stitch together,

I only brought 5 flowers worth of hexies to stitch together.  I should be able to finish that in a mere evening of watching Heartland on Netflix.

I brought my current mindless knitting project,

Based on the Dourado pattern, but I'm altering it to work with the Katia Ombre yarn that I have.

as well as three paperback books and three audiobooks.  One of them, of course, is a crafty cozy mystery:

I've read the first in this series, and was waiting to read this third installation until I had read the second, but it was the smallest paperback on my shelf that I hadn't read, perfect for travel, so the second will have to wait.

Back home, I've been plugging away at my myriad current projects - hand quilting the quilt for my new niece who arrived on Friday,

I still have a long way to go.  Not marking, just quilting organically concentric echoes to fill the white spaces.  Not sure yet what I'll do with the colored spaces.

My new niece with her older sister and brother.  Love fest!

I spent most of Saturday doing just this.

making more 3" nine patches for my 5" Sister's Choice project,

Nine patches are so simple but make me so happy!

Why, oh why, do I love tiny piecing so much???  It's going to take A LOT of blocks to make a useable quilt out of 5" blocks, but I'm not going to think of it that way, just gonna enjoy the process.

On Ringo Lake has been on the back burner, as has my Flutterby project, but I'm still up to date on my Temperature Quilt.  I do like having a choice about what I want to work on every time I sit down at my machine.

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

I blame Pinterest!

I set big goals for myself two weeks ago when I had a long weekend.  And I did a pretty darned good job of keeping them...

I finished my hat and have been wearing it non-stop.  It is made from Mega Merino, a soft, warm and squishy yarn that I used to sell in my shop.

I removed the offending neck from my sweater, knit on a new neck CORRECTLY, and am about halfway done with one sleeve.  The only problem is, I can't remember where I put the remaining skeins of yarn to finish the sweater.  Doh!

Sweater is based on an old cotton rolled edge sweater that I love to throw on for weekend lounging.

I finished reading Raven Threads, but am only now starting Unraveled.  It's very unlike me, but I didn't read anything for a week and a half.

I'm up to date on my Temperature Quilt, and I'm liking it.  It's going to be an odd quilt, for sure, but it'll be colorful, and sometimes that's all I need to make me happy.

I hate not having a design wall! This is most of the first two columns, but I can't put them together until February is over so I can add in the February average temperatures in the right place.  The yellows are the freakishly warm days we've had.  The darker the blue, the colder it was!

I didn't quite make my goal of 20 On Ringo Lake blocks completed, but I've got 18 and am slowly assembling the rest. 

The problem is this: I opened one of those darned emails from Pinterest with some Pins they think I'd like and they were right.  I saw this pin:

Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457819118351516579/

and had to start making one right away!  Scrappy...check!  Will use up some of my overflowing pre-cut scraps...check!  Will challenge me...since I am new to Half Rectangle Triangle Blocks, check!  I haven't gotten far, but I am having fun seeing these blocks come together. 

I'm using this as a Leaders & Enders project for my On Ringo Lake quilt...or is it the other way around?  Either way, I'm at my machine every chance I get, which, unfortunately, isn't as much as I'd like.

That's OK, I have a two-week break coming up in March.  I'm going to name my goals for that now - finish piecing On Ringo Lake and baste/start hand quilting my new niece/nephew's quilt before his/her arrival at the beginning of April.

In the meantime, I have a busy weekend ahead of me - running the clock at three different basketball games for three different teams, watching my husband's team compete in the conference quarterfinals (send winning thoughts our way on Saturday afternoon), and driving a vanload of kids to the movies to see Black Panther (we, as a school, rented out a theater and buses to take our students).  I hope I can find some time to sew and knit this weekend, too!

Oh, and I spent an entire day last weekend watching Alias Grace on Netflix.  It was darker and had less resolution and clarity at the end than I typically like, but oh the quilts!  Beautiful!!!

Long Winter Weekend

One perk of boarding school life is the vacations.  Today marks the start of Long Winter Weekend, a four and a half day weekend for us.  The timing is perfect - I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather, and I can use the rest.

But I'm determined to enjoy this time off.  In a perfect world, this time off would include:

• Knitting!  I want to complete this hat that I started earlier this week,

• and make some progress on this simple rolled cuff sweater I started several years ago.  I added the neck one night while watching a movie at the drive-in movies, and was dismayed to learn in the light of the following morning that I had picked up the stitches wrong, creating an unwanted ridge.  My plan this weekend is to take the neck off and put it back on correctly.

• Reading! I have many unread books waiting in the wings, but I've selected Unraveled by Maggie Sefton and Raven Threads by K.D. McCrite as quick and easy reads for the weekend.

• Quilting!  It's time to baste my next hand quilting project.  And my fabric order from Missouri Star Quilt Company arrived today (man, they are FAST!) so I plan to catch up on the blocks for my Temperature Quilt.  

• And more quilting! I'd like to get 20 of the 50 blocks done on my On Ringo Lake quilt; I currently have 5 done, so 15 to go.

In between times, I'll be going to a couple of my son's basketball games and hosting a Super Bowl viewing party.  I'll let you know on Monday how well I did achieving my weekend goals.

I blame the dog!

Twas a lovely vacation day!  I dragged myself, kicking and screaming, to the gym and got a workout out of the way early.  Then, a leisurely breakfast, a long shower, started a new book over lunch, visited the quilt shop for more Kona Natural for my 12 Days of Christmas Quilt-along quilt, and then spent the bulk of my afternoon sewing.  It doesn't get much better than that!

First block done!

Second block done...OOPS!!!

I blame the dog.  I don't have a design wall here in my new spot, so I do what most people without design walls do - I lay my blocks out on the floor.  However, I forgot to close the door to my sewing room/office when I went to the gym this morning, and my dog went in there to hang out, missing me, I guess.  When I returned, the blocks were all messed up, and it's clear that I didn't put them back together correctly.

No worries.  There are only four 33" blocks in this quilt, so I'll make one more block the correct way and one more block the incorrect way and claim it as a "design element."

But for now, enough sewing.  Off to curl up with my current read, the third Amish Quilt Shop Mystery, "Murder, Served Simply."  These cozy mysteries are quick and fun for me, and this one has the added benefit of being a Christmas book (have I mentioned that I'm really feeling the holiday spirit this year?).

Earlier this weekend, I read "Birds In The Air," a lovely little read, not a mystery.

If I'm not quilting, I love to be reading about quilting.  One of these days, I hope to write some quilt fiction myself.

I'm linking up with Monday Making.

Where to start??

Look what arrived in the mail today!!!  I love it when I preorder something and it just shows up out of the blue one day.  Such a treat!

I opened it up and read it cover to cover.  I've been saving selvages for eons - it just speaks to the scrap quilter in me.  I've even made a couple of small selvage projects.  But now I am energized and really want to get started sewing with selvages in earnest!

Where to start?  I think this valance would look really cute above the fabric section in my shop, never mind that there's no window there.

Or I could whip up a couple of these adorable pincushions in no time flat.

Of course, the goal is to complete a selvage quilt to cuddle under.  All in good time.

I'm so happy for Riel.  This book is wonderful - colorful, inspiring, entertaining (if you read it, don't skip the Afterword!) - and I have been loving her selvage quilts for years now.  For that matter, I also loved her novel, The Town That Drowned, which I also preordered when it was first released.  Such talent and creativity - I think I may have a "girl crush"!

Winning!

Aaahh, what a glorious day off!  I started the day by sleeping in, and then laying about while I finished reading my book.  This one was Forget Me Knot by Mary Marks, the first in a cozy quilt mystery series.

This one was a good one!  I enjoyed the characters, the plot, the quilting, everything about it!  If you like cozies, I recommend this one.  I'll be on the lookout for the next 3 books in this series.

I also spent some time attacking my scraps, cutting some up into squares and using some to make 4 more Strippy Flippy Scrappy Happy blocks - I now have 9 and the design is starting to emerge.  Love it!

Finally, I checked email and learned that I won 50 Birds In The Air blocks from this month's Block Lotto!!  Woo hoo!  I know this means I'll have another UFO to add to the pile instead of blocks going out, but I love these blocks and am happy that they will be staying with me and getting 41 new friends to play with.

I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

READY to quilt!

During the Mountain Days Festival earlier this month, I was approached about teaching a workshop to kids through an after school enrichment program at a local elementary school.  Well, I'm doing it!  The school received a 3-year READY grant (I don't know what the acronym stands for), and there will be workshops offered to the kids each quarter.  For now, I'm just starting with this marking period - we'll see how it fits into my schedule and how well the kids and I like working together.  I'll be doing 2 workshops per day, twice per week, one with grades K-2 and one with grades 3-5.  My workshop is called READY TO QUILT!

I set up a blog to be able to communicate with parents about what we are doing and so the kids can show off their work.  I made my first post today (http://centralquilts.blogspot.com), outlining workshop goals and displaying my class samples (since Hurricane Sandy canceled our Open House on Monday).  Basically, I want the kids to:

1) make at least one take home project, either a pillow or a composition book cover.  In keeping with the season, here are my class samples:

I recovered one of my couch pillows.  I drew the design freehand.  If I were doing it again, I think I'd leave out the word EEK and make the spider bigger.

I figure the kids should be able to do a backstitch, right?

For the first time, I made the pillow cover small enough that the pillow is plump, without wrinkles or empty corners

Envelope back so it can be removed

 

Donald wants this composition book cover for himself!  I told him I'd teach him how to make his own.

I don't know where I got that skulls fabric, but I love it, and have been trying to figure out what to make with it for a while now.

2) contribute to a group quilt to enter in the quilt show at the 2013 Rockbridge County Fair, along the lines of this quilt that I made with my cub scouts two years ago

The boys won 2nd place at the County Fair quilt show that year.

They traced images and then colored the blocks with crayons

3) assist in making a denim rag quilt to donate to my guild's Comfort Quilt program.  I want them to understand quilting's history as a community building activity.

The denim quilt I made for Jason earlier this year

The back of the denim quilt

 I'm so excited!!!  One of the things I'm going to do is incorporate some children's books into my workshops, probably starting each session with a reading.  I know I'm going to use the following books, but if you have suggestions for others I can use, please let me know.  Since there are 8 weeks, I'd love to have 8 books to share.

Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt - to talk about how quilting is not just for girls, about entering quilts in fairs and how working together often allows us to make something even better than if we work separately

Reuben and the Quilt - another quilt that shows boys quilting and introduces the idea of giving a quilt to comfort someone else

The Quiltmaker's Gift - to talk about how it is better to give than to receive (and because the illustrations in that book are AWESOME!)

The Patchwork Quilt - showing how quilting is an intergenerational and a multicultural activity

The Keeping Quilt - I've not read this, but the READY coordinator really likes it and wants me to use it

Have any of you or do any of you currently teach quiltmaking to kids?  If so, do you have any suggestions for me?