Saturday, November 21, 2020

Waiting on the World to Change

Just think about how wonderful it would be if Covid were behind us. With everyone vaccinated and healthy, we wouldn’t need to be afraid for our lives when going out to just get groceries! How lovely to have family coming over to celebrate Thanksgiving, spending time together, hugging, and giving thanks for all our blessings. To be able to anticipate shopping and selecting gifts for our loved ones for Christmas. To have a new President-Elect (and the American people) being treated graciously by the outgoing officeholder instead of the shameful display of petulance and histrionics we’re being subjected to. To have a peaceful Holiday Season with appropriate weather patterns and behavior patterns. 

Well, maybe we can have most of that next year, but it ain’t happening in 2020! So while we’re all waiting on the world to change, let’s talk about quilting. It’s what most of us are here for...

This week I did manage to baste two quilts - the ones I had completed backings for. The basting was made easier by the fact that I finally went and got another cortisone shot in my right shoulder. After a few days (and a lot of walking during Bruce’s doctor appointment times), I feel about five years younger! 

Creature From the Foggy Lagoon (name courtesy of Louise) has been quilted, bound and labeled as a donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. 


This quilt finished at 47x54” before laundering. Speaking of laundering, there was an apparent clog in our drain pipe, and we had a minor flood from the overflow drain to the floor of the laundry room. Luckily, the floor is tiled and we have a working drain in the floor, which was something we installed about 15 years ago when a similar problem happened with our old washing machine. Our home is about 60 years old and building codes have evolved! Anyway, everything worked as it should have, so all we had to do was unclog the drain pipes. That was accomplished with our heavy-duty go-to chemical plumber (hate to have to use it, but needs must...). I was back in the laundry business in a couple hours.

The other quilt I basted and am in the process of quilting is the Four-Patch Posy quilt, also for QFK.


I’ll show more of it next week when it’s finished. The sashings were quilted with a little loops to mimic the flight paths of the fireflies depicted in the orange fabric. In the main squares I’m quilting a big, blowsy scallop-petaled flower. I’ve finished 12 of the 20 I need to do, so it should be completed today.

There was no progress on the big blue and brown rail fence quilt because I still need to finish the backing. I’ll do that this afternoon, then Cousin Kim and I can baste it tomorrow. For most of the rest of the week, I got sidetracked - and I mean SIDETRACKED - by a stringy squirrel.

Fifty-six multi-colored string blocks demanded to be sewn! I used foundation paper this time instead of the sheer stuff I often use as a base, and spent a couple pleasant Happy Hours pulling papers and sipping Kahlua and (light) Eggnog. Ahhh..... the Holidays!


My large beach tote bag of multi-colored strings showed barely a dent after these were sewn, so I see many more of these quilts in my future. I also wonder if these might be a little busy (or nausea-inducing?) (or epileptic seizure-inducing?) I guess we’ll just have to trust the people who distribute these quilts to give the quilts to the appropriate kid. 

Then I remembered all the single-colored string blocks I’ve worked on all year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and decided to play a little to see how they would look mixed in. Keep in mind that these are just slapped up on the design board, not sewn.



Bruce and I really like it with the red. I first tried using 10 of the blocks to form a smaller rectangle, which would be the ring just inside of where it is pictured. But it looked really dumb and wimpy. So the 18-block rectangle it what I would do.


What about yellow? Meh.... maybe not.


The greens, however, would look nice. But I don’t have enough at the current time because I used many of them in the Creature From the Mossy Mountain. So, I’ll be doing more solid color string blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2021.



And finally, another option to calm the craziness a bit would be to intersperse some solid blocks here and there to create some places for the eyes to rest.


Laundry and chores are all caught up, and we’re well-stocked with food for our solitary Thanksgiving. So  I’m off to sew all day today. And tomorrow, too, with Cousin Kim. We’ve decided that this year we’ll allow Christmas music before Thanksgiving while we sew. Because why not?

PS - yes, I do love to sew with strings!!

27 comments:

  1. OH My what wonderful string quilts !!!

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  2. I agree,the red sets it off well and calms it at the same time. Violet

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  3. It's a solitary Thanksgiving at our house, too, Cathy. I definitely long for the times described in your first paragraph! Your string quilts are just wonderful. I love the ones where you used the single color blocks as an inner border for the multi-color ones! They are beautiful - and everything works. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  4. OMGosh all the choices are magnificent!

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  5. What a great idea to use the “solid” strings. My favorite is the blue, but probably because I’m a bit starved for blue...that regular basic blue that has been in hiding for the last few years. And I guess I live in a very different world because I just want one day to myself, but Molly says I have to work both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day (and all days before, between and after).

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  6. Sew much fun to see lots of stringy goodness today! I think the original Kahlua&Eggnog version looks great, but sew do the variations (even the yellow). What about making some half light, half dark (or single colors) and using them to make stars? I have not been doing much machine stitching lately (feeling too distracted), but maybe a string project of my own is just what I need!

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  7. I also love to string on papers--You have a TON of those blocks...WOW!![ Madam La Zonga sees a lot of string quilts in your future.] I love their busy-ness...I am a scrappy/busy-type quilt person to begin with. The gray/red piece came out beautifully...
    We will be just the two of us for Thanksgiving also...taking no chances here...
    Take care. hugs from afar Julierose

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  8. I am not a fan of string piecing - it just seems too fussy, though I have a small stash of "solid" blocks pieced on phone book pages waiting for me to muster enough determination to have enough to do something with them. (Maybe I should just pass them along to you?!) But I do like the way you've set the "solid" blocks into a rectangle. They are all striking, though the green seems least contrasting. Any would be a good choice, though just multi colored would be good, too. The kids will be happy to have whatever they get, probably not ever imagining what they missed.

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  9. Brilliant string quilts. Always my favourite. Your idea of using the one-colour string blocks as a rectangle near the centre of the quilt is a winner. The red and blue show up so well, as would deep pick or purple I think. Enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving with Bruce.

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  10. The Creature from the Foggy Lagoon is really neat! I love how the red is sewn down the centers and makes the quilt very striking. As for the colorful strings? I love all of the selections right down to the yellow center rectangle. I see you had a purple solid color string in the interspersed version. Do you have enough of them for a rectangle? You've done a great job this week with your strings!!!

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  11. Great strings! I like the solid ones mized in with the others. The rectangles are great, but mixing them in looks more festive. Have a lovely solitary Thanksgiving, and keep thinking about the post-covid world. It will be here someday!

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  12. Your first paragraph says it all. Can we just get this year, and this dangerously pathetic and embarrassing president, over with already? Thanks for all the quilt blogging, it’s helped me maintain some sanity. Your string quilts are all amazing. I personally love the busyness, the strings without the color blocks would be my choice. Are the children shown several quilts and allowed to choose? I feel a need to make one myself, after I finish the 37 WIPs already waiting! Have a lovely Thanksgiving together, Bruce and Kathy. Be thankful for each other. My husband passed yrs ago. My family decided we’re not cancelling Thanksgiving, just delaying it till everyone has been vaccinated!

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  13. The only meh! layout as far as I could tell was the one with green strings added. ALL of the other ones look AWESOME (as does your newly completed quilt, Cathy!!)

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  14. Completely agree with the beginning! Don't understand why people are unable to realize that the votes are people and we want a change. Love the last photo with the various colors sprinkled in... but the one color is very dramatic with the strings. Have fun with the strings.

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  15. Oooh, those multi-color, multi-width string blocks are gorgeous! I like the blue or the red accent circles best.

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  16. Oh, I love, love, love your string blocks! And I agree with you and Bruce, the red layout version is the best. There are so many interesting fabrics in your string blocks. I think a kid in the hospital could spend hours just looking at them. Change is coming, we just have to hang in there.

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  17. I couldn't agree more with your comments about needing some changes! At least we've still got each other, right? And your strings are such a wonderful distraction. I pinned several of your options and think this might be a project for 'recovery sewing' after I'm home from the hospital. Thanks so much for sharing such fun inspiration!

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  18. This...this is brilliant!! A ring of a single stringy color to corral the wild 'n crazies. I must say I really love this idea and even the yellow works. And the Foggy creature is a wonderful finish, too. Clearly all that Kahlua and eggnog has gotten your creative juices flowing :)

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  19. I like using the colored string blocks to calm the wildness. I've always liked string block quilts that use a unified color strip down the center as a way to calm things down. I share the thoughts you expressed at the beginning, but sadly, it doesn't look like the orange menace is ever going to stop throwing a monkey wrench in the works, even after he's evicted from the White House. We've been doing Thanksgiving alone for the last 5 years, so this year won't be any different.
    Pat

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  20. MY! You're on a string roll! :^D They are gorgeous! I love the one with the blue. You are really inspiring me as I have truck load of multicoloured strings. Now I know where they can be used. Have a great peaceful thanksgiving. Happy sewing. ;^)

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  21. Hi Cathy! Ah yes, we've been waiting for the world to change since the 60s song. And before that. This year, we can't gather as we'd like but the blessing we can still count. Thanksgiving Day can be any day or every day. You and Bruce have had such a fabulous year already! Playing the banjo springs to mind. {{Hugs}} Happy Thanksgiving to you and your peeps. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  22. Your string quilts are beautiful. You could alternate the different "solid color" ones and make a big rectangle out of alternating blocks. I like each different layout. Very neat. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. 🦃🦋

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  23. Wow, you have been really busy! String quilts are so much fun. It always amazes me what can be made with scraps.

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  24. Slapping the design wall while sipping kahlua with you...well, that would be my dream :-) Someday in the not too distant future it just may happen. Love Love Love the string blocks and all the playful versions. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Big Hugs.

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  25. Fantabulous string blocks! (And inspiring, too, darn it!)
    Have a lovely Thanksgiving, while we all wait for the world to change!

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  26. All beautiful, but I especially love the foggy one!

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  27. I love blue so my first inclination was to opt for that one but then I took a better look at the red and decided that would be my choice. And, btw, thanks for the ear worm!

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