Breaktime

      With the craziness of remote learning and ever changing regulations, my husband and I thought my grandkids and daughter could use a break. Where else but our beloved Adirondacks? I found a cottage on First Lake outside of Old Forge online and we went there for a couple of days. A day of rain was ok. The beech trees were so golden this year and there were still remnants of glorious colors. Early morning fog is even beautiful. The cottage was just right and clean. The kids- 10, 8 and 2 had a grand time and my daughter got a break from teaching college chemistry. 

      I know there are gorgeous, magnificent places around the world, but I have this deep satisfaction from breathing in the air of the ADK and gazing at it for long periods. Grateful we could go for a couple of days.

1st Lake

1st Lake in fog

Footbridge over Moose River in fog with grandkids

Hollywood Hills Rd, along 1st Lake

Those lovely beeches!

Comfort out the door

      I found out via an email letter, that one of my cousins is being treated for breast cancer. I looked through my tops and found a 2 x 4 quilt that would be a nice generous size. I used some fabric donated to me by Gwen that had lots of character to it and was big and quick to sew together. 

      I loaded it and did a different design in every column of the blocks. I tried to keep the designs flowing and fun. The binding was a fun diagonal indigo print. Rather quickly I was able to sew the block pocket on the tote bag, make a card and a couple of pocket quilts, and insert the book. My husband was able to deliver the package in an XL ziploc safely to her porch. It turns out she loves blue. Here's praying she will go through chemo, radiation and surgery successfully.

Some back detail

The back with Label

Trying out some blocks

      While I love Bonnie Hunter's Appalachian Autumn quilt enough to purchase the pattern, all the neutral backgound colors seem to not hold as much excitement as fall colors. I did see someone on her blog that used blues, so I tried light blues and dark blues. I have to decide whether to continue on. I would have to make the quilt rectangular as the square shape doesn't work as a cover. I also thought of combining green strings to make the leaves and have a transition from greens to oranges. Lots of thoughts, not so much action. I found the process making the blocks fun. 

     There are so many interruptions around here supervising the grandkids' remote learning.

Some Pumpkin Fun amid Blogger Confusion

      I finally reached the end of the line and Blogger is forcing me to use the new one. Not happy and have no idea how this post will turn out. Any other better alternatives out there? Things aren't stressful enough? Hmm? Why is it putting extra spaces between paragraphs, how can I save the post as a draft? Can you no longer write multiple posts at a time and decide when they will go out? Is there a decent help file anywhere?

    I needed to work on something fun, so I grabbed my Bonnie Hunter String Frenzy book and  made some of the pumpkins. I don't do table runners because the cat of the house thinks it means permission to sit on the dining table which is not allowed. I made 8 of the pumpkins and played with four of them as a center block and then added borders around. I love many kinds of greys, so I used all different ones for the backgrounds.

     I found some yellow and orange shaded fabric that I could use with some postage marked black and made strip sets for the next border- 1 1/2" strips that finish at 1". Then I added a bright green batik that had some interesting marks on it and then a gray that I had been saving as a fun outer border. I don't think it will get quilted by the 31st, so it is just on my design wall now.

     Now, I still have to do something with the other 4 pumpkins or make more of them for the whole quilt in the book. I did buy Bonnie's Applachian Autumn pattern and was thinking of doing the string piecing on that.

Pushing on

     A few posts ago, I blogged about finding a new leader-ender project. I got some excellent suggestions. I also threw the Snail Trail blocks on the wall to see if I could make something small with them instead of burying them in my extra block bin. I had to make some more blocks to get the 4 x 4 design. That was ok because I still had not chosen a leader-ender quilt. I tried a sashing idea with cornerstones, but the dark blue or green did not work.

     Then I remembered the failed sashing from the Wonky Stars. I took off the color squares, trimmed the 2" to 1 1/2" and added the yellow squares to give things a spark. Liked that a lot. Then, I tried the same size 4 patches as the centers for a border. Like that, too.

Tugger holds the sashing strips thinking it is playtime.