Making Some Progress

Autumn is progressing nicely here in the Salt Lake Valley. The leaves are bright and about half-on, half-off the trees. Halloween evening was cool, but not frigid, and the kids turned out for their treats as expected. We handed out mini pumpkins from our garden and stickers. We also had some candy in case of an “emergency”, but most of the little ghouls and goblins were happy without.

I made some decent progress on my quilting projects this week. It feels so good to feel physically good again, without the aches and pains of pinched nerves and side effects from medications. So, here is what emerged from the needle this week.

Exploding Boxes is a flimsy! This is a Rainbow Scrap project that I started in January. It’s made from the quarter log cabin blocks I sewed every month. The only color I didn’t include was light blue. Those were the blocks from the first month, and the center starting squares  were quite a bit larger than I did in subsequent months. So, into the Parts Department they went.

Now it’s ready to be basted and quilted, which is on the schedule for the upcoming week. I’m wavering on the choice of fabrics for the back. I have several pieces large enough, or I could cobble together some extraneous fat quarters. Still thinking...... Anyway, I’m linking up to Angela’s Scrappy Saturday blog post. Come see all the fun projects being finished up!

About the name Exploding Boxes - rather an unfortunate metaphor for our times, sadly.  But that is what this style is called.... 

After assembling the above quilt top, I began working on my On Ringo Lake blocks, the Bonnie Hunter 2017 mystery quilt. They’ve been sitting untouched since last February. Somehow, I thought I was farther along, but
I’d previously only stitched up 16 of the 50 blocks. At least all the component parts for the rest were made. So this week I stitched up the remaining 34 blocks and got them all trimmed and neatly pressed (after the picture). My goal this week is to get the rest of the top (sashing, cornerstones and setting triangles) pieced. Wish me luck! 

It was on my list this week to assess the status of my Let it Snow project that I started 2 or three years ago. It’s a finish goal for this quarters 2018 Finish Along. Well, all the trees were made and the house was already cut. So, I sewed up the house and then sewed it and the trees into the four rows. This was the work of maybe a couple hours. And here is where that project now stands.

Yes, there are wonky trees and trunks, which I can assure you was NOT intentional. Apparently my sewing skills over the last three years have improved. At any rate, there will be some sort of colored border added. Then I can use the rest of my quilt basting spray to get this layered and ready for some swirly snowy quilting. I don’t plan to hang it until after Thanksgiving, so there is no great rush.

If I have any time after working on those projects, or if I find a time machine, I’ll begin stitching windmill blocks for All You Need is Love.

Today Cousin Kim and I are going to IKEA.  Earlier this week Bruce and I visited DD Stacy and family in their new home way out in Stansbury Park, a 40 minute drive from here in the valley. It’s a huge place, 6 bedrooms, and they’re still in the process of unpacking. Each of their kids will have their own bedroom, and they now have lots of space to fill up and furniture to buy. So, we’re just going to give them an IKEA gift card as a housewarming gift. Yeah, I could probably order it online and have it mailed, but why pass up a Girls Day Out when Kim and I could just go there, shop, have lunch, etc etc.....