This and That

It was another great week full of friends, family, sewing fun and weather - from rain to sunshine to cold temperatures and stiff breezes. Autumn colors, the crisp air and falling leaves remind me how much I really do love the coming cozy months. I wouldn’t want it to stretch out longer than the season typically lasts, but as a respite from the stifling heat of the summer, it’s an invigorating change. The only thing that could have made it better was lots of chocolate. Enough said!

Last Saturday when I left you, I was headed out to a Quilts for Kids workshop. It was more sparsely attended than usual, but fun nevertheless. We were at The Quilters Lodge in Sandy, and it was good to see some friends (hi Sandy and Patty!) that I haven’t seen for a few workshops.  It was a scrappy, kit and tutorial workshop, and I was able to sew all 78 of the kit blocks that measure 4.5”x10.5”, unfinished. I have yet to sew them into a top, which will measure approximately 52x60 when complete.

Does anyone know if there’s an official name for this block? It’s really ideal for kid quilts because it can be made with interesting novelty prints and the solid constant can be varied from quilt to quilt (blue? red?) as a unifying element.  These blocks will go in line to be sewn up, but my goal is to have it made up as a quilt, along with a half dozen others, in time for our first meeting in January.

Some quilting was done on the It’s a Jungle Out There quilt; endless crosshatching this week. It’s larger than my usual quilt size, so to avoid wrestling it through the harp of my Bernina 570QE, I’ve been trying to quilt it in creative ways that keep the bulk of the quilt sandwich to my left. I hope to have it finished by next week, but I may be glued to the TV more than usual next week, so we’ll see what the quilting and political gods have in store. I’m sure I’ll be on pins and needles in more ways than one.

I got a wild hair to sew some string blocks, which was *not* on my dance card for the week. But nevertheless, when the (metaphorical) dust cleared, I had 62 string blocks (6.5”) sewn, and a deeper appreciation for the music of Billy Joel and the late Hilary Stagg (check him out on YouTube, especially Dream Spiral and Sweet Return).  

Half of the string blocks still need their papers removed. I only got half done while watching The Los Angeles Dodgers clobber the NY Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series, clinching the title. Apparently, I still bleed Dodger Blue! But anyway, this finishes my block sewing of dark/neutral scraps for October’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. For the rest of the year I’ll be concentrating on turning blocks into quilt tops and quilt tops into kid quilts. 

Alfie and Darla got some new toys this week. Their particular favorite is a stuffie, Lambchop (“the Legend” according to its tag). They had no respect for The Legend, batting it around, carrying it around in their mouths and tossing her up into the air. And then looking so innocent. HA! 

But even these ferocious creatures eventually succumb to warm sunbeams. Here they are, recharging their batteries. 

And that’s it for this week! Keep your fingers crossed that The Orange Menace is sent packing come Tuesday, and that he can be a man and accept his defeat gracefully peacefully.