Updates and Recent Productivity

 I've been reasonably productive lately.  This is my way of dealing with cold weather and having to stay (mostly) at home.  So, I can spend some part of the week doing knitting, sewing, cross stitch and quilting.  This is what I've finished since the last post in January:

In order to keep us connected, the program director of my quilt guild has arranged these small exchange projects throughout the year.  The main idea is that you are paired up with another member and both agree to make the item of the month.  The item may be a small, themed wall hanging or a place mat, or a table topper, etc.  I've done a few and this is one that I completed in January.  We exchanged fabric and a sample of blocks and went from there.  I received two pieced blocks from my partner and some beige and blue fabrics and made this topper. This photo is just a bit washed out, but gives a good idea of the piece.  I had fun designing it, doing the applique and the machine quilting.

I gave her the pineapple block and this is her result.  I love the colors and placement of those colors.  She apologized for not being creative in her quilting and suggests that I should add more if I want.  I haven't decided on that yet.  There are too many other projects to contemplate.

Inspired by the mittens Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration ceremony, I decided to knit a pair of mittens for myself.  I had never knit mittens before, needed a set of gloves (or whatever) for a new winter coat, and had plenty of wool to work with.  I used a skein of yarn that Gayle had spun and given to me along with a sock yarn that I was using for accents on socks.  They're very warm, but just a bit too big.  And, they were fun to knit.

And I've been working on some UFOs.  I had 14 tree blocks in my stash that I probably got from a guild block exchange some years ago.  I used 5 of them for a table runner exchange and 4 of them for a table topper.  The remaining 5 are sewn together to make another table runner, but that project is not yet completed.

My guild is trying hard to keep people engaged in most of the activities we regularly hold while meeting in person.  Block of the month us generally popular.  The committee chooses a block pattern and provides a bit of fabric.  The members make a block (or more) and turn them in for a chance to win all the turned in blocks.  This year, the pattern is publicized and it's all on your own.  This has not been nearly as successful.  I guess the chance of winning a quilt full of blocks is quite the draw.  But, I've been following along to support this group.  This is my collection of blocks so far.

I completed and framed the gargoyle cross stitch.  This is hanging above a shelf in my bathroom which houses many of my other gargoyles.  Every time I see it, it makes me smile.

I've been working on the Hawaiian applique nearly every evening.  So far, the inner ring is complete (the 8 sections with the two flowers) and the outside of the middle ring (the curves and stem with 3 flowers each).  I'm working on the middle ring now.  Most of that section I can bunch up the fabric and hold my thumb on top to applique.  That is a little faster and easier to work rather than having to stabilize the top fabric with my thumb covered up with another part of the quilt.  Once I have this section done, all the tiny leaves will be completed and the very outer border will go quickly.

So far, I'm liking the combination of stitched and glued basting.  There are a few sections where the glue basting is a little close to the edge and the residual glue makes stitching harder.  Also, I ran out of the Roxanne glue before I finished and switched to Elmer's washable school glue.  The school glue is not holding well with all the handling required to do the stitching.  The Roxanne glue is thicker and is holding up better for that.  But, I still like the Elmer's school glue for glue basting and holding a binding down for stitching.

I've also completed a few crib sized quilts for the comfort quilt donations through my guild.  The peach/green and the drunkard's path quilts I got as tops and basted, quilted and bound before donation.  The brown/blue quilt was in my stash as cut pieces.  I think they were a guild donation as well.  I put together the blocks from cut strips and completed the quilt.

The next swap I did was just called "3D".  Members were allowed to interpret that as they wished.  My partner said she likes cats, bright colors and loves baskets and boxes.  I have been eyeing this pattern for quite some time, but had no excuse to make it.  This was the perfect excuse!  And, since I share her love of all things basket, I had to make one for myself.  

I have to share the story behind the fabric.  Back in 1980-something, DH and I traveled to St. Thomas on vacation.  We found this lovely shop that did stencils on fabric and I bought a few yards of a white on white that included nautilus shells and other aquatic creatures, and this turquoise and white remnant.  I love this fabric.  It reminds me of Tiffany's boxes.  I've held on to this fabric because I didn't know what to do with it and I didn't want to waste it.  With everything that went on this past year with Covid, etc., it was a good time to evaluate what I've got and to use it or discard it.  This basket also makes me very happy.  I may have to make another!

Scrap Party, the mystery quilt that Charlotte Hawkes published last year (2019?) is done.   I think I am done with quilts on point for a while.  I wasn't sure about the background of this piece, but now that it's done, I like it a lot.  I also like the scrappy border and the scrappy binding I used.

I have been keeping busy this winter.  I like that my UFO list is getting shorter.  I like that I've been playing with new things (like the basket) and using some of my time to make charitable donations.  Lately I've been working more to improve my machine quilting and expand my quilting motif library.  I'm trying hard to expand my craft, have fun and not stress about any of this.  So far, I'm succeeding. 

A Not-So-Old UFO and Other Progress

Back some time ago, there was a group of quilters who worked on hand piecing and applique and created a mailing list (did it start out as a Yahoo group?  I can't remember) that eventually morphed into a Facebook group then fizzled out.  These things happen, but I do miss the chat of those ladies.  But, before we went on to other interests and groups, we made blocks and swapped them with a small subset of the original group.  This was done in 2015 and I was inspired by Linda, who dragged out her blocks over a year ago, to do something with these blocks.  I received 8 blocks from the other members and had intended to make one for myself using the pattern I used to make my submission to the other members.  However, I really like this lay out using only 8 blocks, so 8 blocks it is!  My intention is to have this quilt on my off-white living room couch, and this is a good lap sized quilt.  

I'm not a very practiced knitter.  I have knit one lacy baby blanket over 30 years ago that is long since gone.  I've been itching to try something that is more open-knit (not necessarily a big lace project) and this single skein shawl fit the bill.  This is one of the skeins that I got from a friend who is clearing out her stash of yarns and other crafty supplies in preparation to down-sizing into a smaller home for their retirement.  This skein is one that she spun herself.  This pattern (Lionberry) is one that I started one other time, but got confused and frogged the project.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly because I got lost somewhere towards the end plus I added some extra rows at the end to use as much of the yarn as possible.  I won at yarn chicken!  I had less than a yard of left over yarn after doing one lace repeat one extra time before binding off.  I like shawls that are relatively shallow and

long.  I would have preferred this to be longer and am learning that I probably need to look for patterns that use at least 500 yards of yarn rather than the 325-ish that this used.  I thought that using a lace pattern and slightly larger needles would make that 325 yards stretch further, but I guess it's not lacy enough.  I'm still learning.

I finished the first of the quilts from DH's maternal grandmother's UFO blocks.  I have a the second basted.  They're not large quilts, but there are 9 (or is it 10?) of them, so I'm just trying to work through them between other, more interesting projects.

I've been itching to do some needlepoint lately.  I had a project in mind - a chair seat or something.  Not that I have a chair to put anything on, but I thought it would be a great idea.  I even went as far as to start looking for needlepoint canvases on Ebay, but didn't see anything I liked.  This is a piece that was started by a friend.  She gave me over a dozen boxes of craft supplies and projects cleared out of her stash in preparation to moving to a smaller house for their retirement.  I chose a few projects and some yarn before offering it up to friends, the quilt guild and friends of friends.  This piece is probably 9" square - too small for a chair seat, but like the colors and pattern.  So, I guess it goes into my stash until I find an appropriate use for it.

The next thing I picked up is a small cross stitch project of a Patchwork Cat.  This shouldn't take too long to do.  Mostly I'm procrastinating on starting the next Ladies of the Sea block because I don't really like this block.  I know, I could skip it and do another, but I want to have this block in the finished quilt.  So, I will do this next, after this adorable little cat.

That's it for now.  Next time there will be more progress on Ladies of the Sea!