Zig Zagged to a Finish- almost

      Another layer cake HST quilt. Layer cakes, on sale, provide a way for me to make a quilt with a big variety of complementary fabric which is great for comfort quilts. The white zig zag area made a great place for quilting and I tried to use a different leaf motif in each one. I used Glide Aquamarine on the top and DecoBob Dove gray in the bobbin.
     I still need to make and put the binding on for a final show plus show the back, but I wanted to do a group of blog posts so I don't fall so far behind. (Actually just finished it and photographed it in the snow, but they are on the camera still).

Pure Plaid Sunshine

      This quilt is pure sunshine on a dark winter day. It was made by Quiltdiva Julie and gifted to the comfort quilt work I do (Quilts4Comfort). I showed it earlier, but it is now completed and is just a happy, happy quilt. I hope I get a referral for it soon.
I am calling is Plaid Spring Sunshine.
     Quilted free-motion with Glide Celery on top and DecoBob Dove Gray in the bobbin. Plaid scrappy binding.

Last gasp of Christmas

      It is finished, the improv Christmas Trees wall hanging. I like it so much, I hung it up near my side door so I can love it each time I leave the house or go into the basement. It is ok it is out of season now, it makes me smile. I love the fabric I found on clearance at Joann's for the back. I never use glitter fabric, but this was fun.

All quilted

Bound

Detail

Back

     And also, a tablerunner that was made from cut off HSTs from the Christmas Tree quilt I made last year. I could not throw them out, so I sewed them into 4s and then arranged into a tablerunner that was gifted to an admiring friend.

All sewn

Quilted (on the Singer 301) in gold thread and bound

Back

Scrappy Trips layout emerges

      A couple of years ago, I cut the strips for Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips. Somehow, I thought it would be a quick quilt. I kept the strips in the block bundles and from time to time, I sewed a couple of blocks. There are only 30 blocks (made 32), but it seemed an eternity to sew them. In fact, The Left-handed quilter showed how to make the Upstairs, Downstairs pattern (I have had trouble typing in her search bar) and I made two of those in the meantime. I like the controlled palette of jelly rolls, but they are hard to find just the right ones that will work.
     I was surprised at first when I put these on the wall as it seem jumbled, but after a day or so, it grew on me. I clipped them together for webbing and will take them to our guild March quilt retreat. 

Trees, ok, Christmas Trees

      Nobody probably wants to see Christmas trees, but I started a couple of days before Christmas on making these improv ones that I had been saving the pattern for a long time. I used 5" squares as I had a lot of those colors in my 5" boxes. They finish at 3 1/2 x 5.
     I was going to make just a table runner, but then the addictive and calming nature of sewing them was perfect for holiday stress and I kept going. I bought some clearance Christmas fabric at Joann's and it is ready to load on my longarm. I love evergreen trees. I paint them on my Christmas cards and never tire of them.

2021 cards

Choosing inner border

Choosing outer border

Got crazy and mitered outer border, now to quilt

Making lemonade

     Long ago, I bought a kit from Craftsy that had batik strips. The two sets of colors did not coordinate well to make the quilt pattern. I made the blocks and they sat until I could redirect them. After some time, I divided them and made two quilts. The gray and orange batik is finally quilted. It is 49 x 68. I used Glide Cleopatra on the top and Glide 60 gray in the bobbin. I used a print for the binding that surprisingly worked. Like the way it turned out. Ready to go out when I get a referral.

Words and Pictures

      I don't have trouble with pictures- making them, taking them, changing them- it is a process that I participate in with some competence and relish. It is words that are hard to write and polish to communicate well. I have been taking, editing and filing photos of work methodically and in a timely fashion. Words stick in my brain unwilling to be birthed into posts. Part of it is the stress of the times- I am tired of the fear mongering of something that is wedging friendships and families into never ending isolation.
     Last year, on Zoom, the people in my guild decided we shouldn't pay dues as expenses were minimal. For some, it is their only level of commitment in the year. If you don't have anything of yourself invested in something, it becomes stale and trivial.
     I came up with the idea of "dues quilts", submitting the minimum of one quilt that was given away in lieu of paying dues. It was a bit of a fight, but the guild agreed. I committed to receiving the photos via email, front and back, of the quilts. I made a spreadsheet of who submitted it, pieced it, and quilted it. I gave an entry for each of those categories. At year's end, I put a person's entries into a container to be pulled for prizes. Some people had multiple quilt entries, some had just piecing entries, etc. I made a slide show of all the quilts with the names. It took a while to edit, crop, and create the slide show (Google Slides). I saved the slide show in a pdf landscape format that I could show at our 1st guild meeting this year (in person) as there is no wifi at our meeting location. Monday night, I set up the presentation early dragging my laptop, cords, projector, 7 prize bags (quilting notions from a Joann's sale), quilts, and lists.
    Mostly, it went well, but it only takes one virulent complainer to evaporate the atmosphere.
   I quilted 2 of the quilts- one from an 81 yr. member who can piece, but no longer quilt. I quilted it with variegated thread on my Singer 301. Another top was from my dear friend who died suddenly in June 2020. Her unfinished top was at a sale held by her daughter and I vowed to finish it. It is a veteran quilt donation. Quilted on my longarm, Glide Cleopatra with Glide 60 grey in the bobbin.