Things are looking up!

First off, my sister-in-law is COVID-free and home from the hospital!!  Her recovery is far from over, but we are so thankful that she is out of the woods!!

I've been trying to discipline myself to finish things up rather than start more new things.  I got the pineapple baby quilt top pieced together and basted, now just contemplating how to quilt it.

Not sure yet how I will quilt it...but it is basted and ready to go!

I put a skinny border on my cross-patch quilt, and am trying to decide if that is it.  I think so...but I'm going to let it sit for a while.

I don't think I want to add more borders, but I'm not sure.  Gonna revisit this in a little bit.

I pulled out my 2018 temperature quilt top.  I've been trying to figure out what to do for borders. 

I have SO MUCH Kona solid left after making this project!

At first I thought I'd do a border that had all 32 of my Kona fabrics that I bought for this quilt around the outside, but I got two sides done and didn't like it, so instead I pulled the two fabrics that represent the yearly average high and low temperatures, and used those as borders.  DONE!  Now to baste and quilt.

I also finished knitting a rainbow shawlette...

Still needs to be blocked...hopefully it won't look so lopsided then!

and have been making progress on my Earthy Excavation scrap blanket.

I love, Love, LOVE this project!  So simple and interesting and I'm using up all the little bits and bobs of leftover yarn!

Can you tell I've also been spending a lot of time outdoors?  Lots of reading going on, too!  According to my Goodreads account, I've read and/or listened to 55 books so far this year.  My goal of 24 books in 2020 was obviously too modest.  Maybe I can read 100?

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

Hitting the reset button

This winter, life has been crazy hectic!  I've been squeezing some sewing time in while running full speed at work and parenting my teenage boys (who are relentlessly creative about finding ways to get into trouble). But then, a week ago, it all came grinding to a halt.  My heart goes out to all whose health and/or livelihood is affected by this current crisis.  Luckily (knock on wood), my family is healthy and we are on vacation from school anyway, so our lives haven't been that disrupted.  My kids may be bored, but honestly, apart from this being a scary pandemic, this time at home has been a dream come true for me!

I read the entire book club book BEFORE the book club meeting for next month!  That right there is a sign that these are crazy times!  While I read A LOT (I've read or listened to 17 books since January 1), I somehow never seem to find time to read the book club selection!

I've also been sewing up a storm while listening to audiobook after audiobook.

I've pulled out my Grandmother's Flower Garden UFO and have done some hand sewing.

I've pulled out my Carpenter's Wheel UFO and made two more blocks.

Can you see that a couple of my muslin pieces are a different, lighter muslin?  Oh well!

I finished my 2018 Temperature Quilt and now just need to figure out borders.

A pretty mild year!  I have LOTS of blue left over (blue was for cold!)

I made a couple more blocks for my String Shadows UFO.

I sewed a baby quilt top, and am currently contemplating...is it done?  Does it need borders?

I pulled out my leftover border blocks from my Sew Many Strips quilt and made two of the corner blocks so I can use this border treatment for another quilt - who knows what I'll put inside?

I've made a total of 11 Jewel Box Stars blocks so far as Leaders & Enders.

There is so much scrappy goodness that I can hardly choose what to work on at any given time.

In the meantime, I'm keeping calm, sleeping in, talking long, slow walks with the dog, and appreciating this time to hit the reset button.

Pursuing my Good Fortune

Now that my last quilt is in its new home and in use

The recipient posted this photo of the quilt (I cropped it) on her Instagram

I've turned my focus back to finishing my Good Fortune quilt.  All of these blocks are done, time to finish the alternate blocks. 

I accidentally made too many blocks...

Of course, I should also finish LAST YEAR's On Ringo Lake mystery quilt,

I have made no progress since getting to this point.  C'mon, Erin, you're so close!

but the colors in this year's quilt just make me happier, so they seem to always get top billing.  And I'd love to finish my 2018 Temperature Quilt, but I seem to have lost my paperwork/chart, so that project is stalled out until I find my worksheets or redo them (I still have December and part of November to complete).

This is everything through September assembled.

And then there is this quilt that I need to finish hand quilting before my niece's first birthday in April. 

I've finished quilting all the white spaces - now to the colored stars

With all these things to finish, I sure hope I can be disciplined about not starting anything NEW!

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

Catching up!

As a college advisor, the fall is a super busy time.  I realized today that I hadn't worked on my temperature quilt at all during September, so I carved out some time for myself to sew this evening.  I'm happy to state that I'm all caught up through today!

And since my design wall is currently empty, I put up my what I have so far for my Leaders & Enders Challenge, Jewel Box Stars, designed by Bonnie Hunter.  Fun and scrappy!

I probably won't get another chance to sew again until next weekend, but today's sewing marathon will see me through.

I finally got a chance to SEW!

WOW!  This summer has been an adventure!  I didn't plan any big trips, but I've spent time with family and friends in New Hampshire, enjoyed a long weekend on Martha's Vineyard, caught up with my college roommates and their kiddos in Vermont, hosted some Virginia friends here in my home - and to top it all off, I moved!  It's no wonder that it has been WEEKS since I have sewn!  But I've been feeling the itch, so today, I squirreled myself away in my new office/sewing room and SEWED!

My temperature quilt is up to date through the end of July.

This is actually only through July 22, but I have July 23-July 31 completed as well.

I hope to get caught up through present day tomorrow.  My other most pressing goal is to complete my Flutterby top before school starts in a couple weeks, as I need to get it to the long arm quilter so it can be quilted and then donated for a fundraiser. (I know, I LOVE that quilt top, but I can always make another, right?)

One thing I have been able to do throughout all this summer activity is knit.  I have finished my second Little Big Wrap (LBW), and now it just needs blocking.

This is actually a photo of the first one I made but gave away.  The one I just finished is EXACTLY the same, just not blocked yet.  Can't wait to wear it when the weather cools.

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.

The Start of Summer

The end of the school year for an educator is an absolute whirlwind; the couple of minutes a day that I carved out to sew a seam or knit a few stitches literally kept me sane.  But when school let out on June 1, things didn't slow down for me.  Instead, a boarded a plane with one other adult and eleven students and headed down to the Dominican Republic to build a house with a local organization there called Cambiando Vidas.  In just 5 days, we helped the new homeowners and their community members take their house from simply a foundation to ready-to-move-in.  What a fantastically gratifying experience!

In the evening before the key ceremony

The new homeowners, Andreas (c), and his sons Leidy (l) and Francis (r)

During my seven days in the Dominican Republic, I brushed up on my Spanish speaking skills, including giving a short speech in Spanish to the entire community during the key ceremony on the last night, but also worked on knitting a sock - the perfect travel project.  This is the first of my Cambiando Vidas Socks, adapted from a recipe by my friend Catherine.

Once I returned home, I had one day of rest before heading off to Yale for a two-day office retreat.  I know it is almost blasphemous for a Harvard grad to admit this, but I love Yale's campus.  I've been there several times, usually to present at conferences, but each time I am more and more impressed.  (Longtime readers, do you remember the year I had a bit of extra time after checking out of my hotel and before my flight so I walked to the New Haven airport?  That still cracks me up!)

Therefore, this is day three of my summer vacation.  I have plenty of work to keep me busy over the summer, but I am planning to pace myself, working no more than 2 hours a day, and ideally walking over to the office to get the work done, keeping work and vacation as separate as possible.  (Of course, I already blew those plans, spending nearly 3 hours in the office yesterday.  Sigh.)

My current vacation plans have included reading (most recently The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Clammed Up by Barbara Ross, and currently Murder in Merino by Sally Goldenbaum and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead), knitting (see Cambiando Vidas Socks above), and sewing.

I'm up to date on my 2018 Temperature Quilt,

The blocks on right are awaiting a June Average Temps block before they can be sewn together and added to the quilt.

and am trying to finish up this small Sister's Choice quilt, as its size is dictated by the amount of blue and neutral material I have for the alternate blocks and borders.

I received another box of scraps from one of my quilter friends in Virginia, so I'm itching to add blocks to my Flutterby quilt, but I'm trying to be disciplined and finish the Sister's Choice top first.  We'll see how that goes...

One goal for the summer is to get some tops machine quilted, but I'm hitting a brick wall.  I've reached out to several local quilters, but they've not gotten back to me.  I may have to send them out.  I'm not looking for anything fancy, no custom work, just pantographs.  Any suggestions for some affordable and quality longarm services out there that will accept my humble quilts?

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap!

Temperature quilt progress

Regardless of how I flit from quilt to quilt - from On Ringo Lake to Flutterby to Sister's Choice to hand quilting the Starburst quilt - my Temperature Quilt is a constant.  Each day, I complete another simple block.

This block represents March 31, 2018 with Kona Daffodil representing the high temperature of 55 and Kona Cabbage representing the low of 33.

The two bars in each block represent the high and low temperature of a day here in Deerfield, Massachusetts, with the seams pressed towards the low temperature.  When assembled, I alternate the orientation of the blocks: vertical seam, horizontal seam, vertical seam, horizontal seam.

This segment represents January 1 through March 22, 2018.

My final quilt will be 18 blocks wide and 21 blocks long.  Each block is 3.5" square (finished), so the final quilt will be by 63" wide and 73.5" long.  I imagine I'll probably add some type of border to make the quilt bigger and to try to tie together all the various colors.  In addition to blocks representing each day of the year, there is also a block representing each monthly average and one final block representing the the yearly average high and low.  I'm getting my daily data from Weather Underground.

I like the unpredictability of what colors will show up next, reflecting the unpredictability of the weather.  Look how out of place the little rectangles of Kona Cheddar and Kona Amber are in this segment, representing February 20 and 21 which boasted daily highs of 61 and 73 degrees respectively.  I'm mighty thankful that there isn't so much dark blue in there - the darker the blue, the colder the temperatures.

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

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.