Hello friends! Welcome to another weekend (hallelujah!). It’s crazy that even when you’re retired, the weekend always seems to be the best time to relax and spend time with family and friends. And this is going to be a great weekend. Later this morning I head to the closest fabric shop to me (five minutes away), where our monthly Quilts for Kids workshop will be. I have five of my own little quilts to take, as well as about 11 from my friend Ruby who started quilting quilts for them on her longarm.
The fabric store, Nuttall’s (a local chain of 4 stores from along the Wasatch Front), is also where I agreed to accompany Ruby last night, along with her sister Cathy, as well as Cousin Kim and niece Jenny to a year-long quilt class. We will meet once monthly, but from now on we’ll be going on Saturday mornings. One big happy group of family and friends.
This past week I didn’t work on my Halloween quilt at all, but I will be focusing on it heavily this coming week. I’ll be able to get a lot of sewing time in, and I’m looking forward to it. I did, however, sew the remaining Little Bricks blocks into a quilt top, and made a backing for it. The one I did last week was in pastels, and this one is all brights. These were also blocks that I did for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge back in 2023, so they are sufficiently “aged”, LOL.
So now I have three more little quilts waiting to be pin basted, and I’d love to get them done in the next week. But I do have a lot of batch cooking planned for the week. I do it (batch cooking) to some extent every fall. But with me facing knee surgery in a couple months, I’m particularly interested in making ahead and freezing lots of dinners. This week I’ll be focusing on lasagna and chicken enchilada casserole. The following week I’ll make chili and start on some soups. After that, I’m not sure. But I’ve got time.
And then there were the strings. Lots and lots of those. First there were three sets (of 15 blocks each) in brown, to finish off all those. My brown scrap drawer is breathing a sigh of relief!
And then I did two 15-blocks sets of multi-colored strings.
I’ve started pinning the sets up on the very left area of my design board to keep track. I’ve now completed 180 blocks of my goal of 600 blocks by year-end.
Darla was rolling around on the floor by my chair yesterday morning, meowing away and generally just being a happily little girl. I couldn’t resist snapping some pictures. She is usually so refined and elegant, but she is still a cat, and sometimes a girl just needs a good back scratching. She also has a very fine and fuzzy tummy, and you can easily see the orange undertones of her coat.
20 comments:
Great sets of string blocks pinned on your wall edge--i love how the deep, dark browns came out...and the Little Bricks is so pretty--nice works.
Hugs, Julierose
My boy cat, usually stand-offish, loves to stay close at foot when I'm in my studio. He's hoping for a back rub whenever I get up from the machine. BUT!!! Never with a hand--he'll bolt if you even attempt to pet him. He will roll and stretch luxuriously under my toes, however, which makes it very easy to just stand there and rub along his spine and head with my foot. Such a weird beast!
You're inspiring me to get going on some 10.5" string squares, especially brown. I've got a plethora of cheap, thin, poly/cotton crap (donation--even as a new quilter I knew what crappy fabric looked and felt like!) that'll make good foundation squares. I also have a plethora of donated browns which sew up into nice gender-neutral quilts (important for where I donate them).
I've saved the picture of the Little Bricks into my "Kids Quilts" folder (for another group for which I make quilts). Seems like a nice way to stretch limited novelty fabrics.
Carolyn
Your brown string blocks look so....cozy? And that proves that ANY color can be pretty. The multis are great, too, and right now I can imagine concentric rounds alternating brown and multi. I agree with you that the weekend is still the weekend for us retirees. Have fun at your sewing events!
Darla is so cute! My Molly does that, usually far enough away we won't be tempted by the "Belly trap". then she acrobatically pops up and speed runs the house.
Little Bricks is so happy & fun! Hope the QFK day is fun & productive. You have a bunch of strings to make before the knees get done! You will be busy with that & all that cooking! Good luck!
I was ogling all those wonderful string blocks, when my eye spied your thread collection to the left of the design wall. What a great way to store your thread. As for Darla ... clearly she was having fun. Love all the odd shapes cats manage to settle in.
Ah--the Belly Trap! I call that "Kissing with Teeth".
Carolyn
I got off to a good start for the weekend. Worked on a garden bed that will be removed. Potted up some Shasta Daisies and a pretty white iris. Some will be donated to a plant sale in the spring. Washed plant pots and trays I use underneath plants to catch excess water. I have some native plants I need to get in the ground, but it's been so dry (crunchy grass, leaves falling early, wilted shrubs and perennials) I haven't been able to plant them. Rain forecast for late next week so I hope at least one day of rain pans out. The forecasts seem to change daily and promised rain often seems to evaporate before hitting the ground. I hope your weekend of sewing is productive (I'm sure it will be).
Pat
I’m posting late as is usual lately. So much ‘hovering” to be done. Mr Busy was discharged from a second hospital stay in Colorado. 3 stents put in his heart. Now on more medications. It’s a time consuming management job! Ok, done whining!. Picked up a quilt from the quilter yesterday. To day some binging cut and joined. Tomorrow I should get it attached.
Dont we all love the Little Bricks pattern! I've got two lots made into tops waiting for the next step. I'm always amazed at the ease you whip up the string blocks. The browns look warm and comforting.
Thanks, Julierose! I’m reminded now that I am going to start a string Christmas quilt using up my traditionally-colored Holiday strings. I’m going to have to start campaigning for more than 24 hours in a day.
Darla used to sit on my lap when I sewed, and then move to “her” quilt that I kept for her on my sewing table. She doesn’t do that since we moved to the condo and I had to downsize my sewing area. But she will occasionally come to say hello and sit on my lap while I sew. I love it. What would we do without our little furry kids? Bruce joked with me today that “Alfie is the son I never had”. Those two are practically inseparable.
The brown blocks, especially with the warm orangey-brown strips, look really good with a sale fabric I bought and am donating with the strings. It is warm brown footballs on a field of green (double meaning of the word “field” there).
Darla will let me pet her fluffy tummy - but not for any extended length of time. She loves to cuddle with Mom and sleeps by me every night. When I head to bed, she follows me. Once I get settled in, she comes and lays on my pillow by my head, purring until I start to drift off (I call it “tucking me in”). Then she moves to sleep by my legs.
Thanks, Sue! QFK was fun. I turned in 5 little quilts and picked up 17 quilt tops and batting/backs for friend Ruby to longarm over the next month or two. Our October workshop will be at Quilter’s Lodge (basement classroom), where Sandy has a new scrap block pattern to teach us. I’m looking forward to it.
The thread storage unit was originally meant for rubber stamps, which I was into a couple decades ago. I gave away all the stamps and supplies, but kept that delightful wall-mounted unit. It’s perfect for my threads, keeping them neat and organized by color. It also prevents me from buying more than I can practically store (as if the prices weren’t enough reason).
Oh, your gardening puts me to shame. I did my early fall yard clean-up of my courtyard last week. But I still have to pull the remaining annuals in late October, put pots and furniture away, repot some houseplants and plant bulbs. Another case for lobbying for longer days!
My brother is looking at having a contrast procedure done to see if he needs a stent and/or pacemaker. If it’s the latter, I’ll be traveling to his place (Western Colorado, a 4.5 hour drive with some winding mountain roads) to help him out for a week this fall. Hope Mr. Busy is healing well and can start chasing you around the house again! 🤣🤣🤣
Yes, we do love Little Bricks! Part of why I am so fond of it is because working with them always reminds me of you and of Sylvia at Treadlestitches! xo
Nice to be able to use some well-aged blocks! Darla is adorable and seeing her makes me miss having a studio kitty. Alas the RC has developed a severe allergy to them so we no longer can have one.
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