Friday, March 30, 2018

A small March finish

I finished another quick nursing home lap quilt yesterday, using nearly all of the remaining pieces in the pile of yard sale 6-1/2 inch squares that were the core of our quilt ministry's efforts when we began a little over two years ago.  I can't tell you how tired we all are of those squares!  Yet, they have yielded over a dozen quilts that have been donated to a number of causes, nothing wasted.

So, here's the latest, and last finish from that seemingly never-ending pile.
Very simply quilted in the ditch, and I used some polydown batting, so the result is almost comforter-like in its puffy softness.

The back is a piece of 1990s(?) calico from my stash, along with a leftover piece of the backing fabric from my son and DIL's Christmas quilt.  Binding is another remnant from my aging stash.


My favorite fabric in the entire quilt is this one HST of soft gray-green and cherry blossoms.  I wish there had been more of that fabric, so subtle and lovely.

With this one finished, I can now concentrate on getting some of the huge tops hanging around here quilted and bound, and into the Done category.

We got another coating of heavy wet snow early this morning with more possible on Easter and early next week.  It's looking like spring will be very late this year, or perhaps skip us entirely.  It is good quilting weather though, and I can definitely live with that!

Happy Easter!

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Another completed flimsy, needing a name!

It's beginning to look like a flimsy a month here, but that's about to come to a screeching halt and I need to press the Janome into action to get a few of these things quilted and into the Done category!  That will happen soon, hopefully tomorrow as the plan is to begin ditch quilting the fall oak leaf top I posted about here

The past three weeks or so I've been busy with taxes, a wedding, a grandbaby visit(!), and other pressing issues, but finally had a chance Saturday evening to complete this top.
Such a fun top to make with the scrappy assortment of dozens of fabrics. There may be as many as 100 or more, I didn't (and won't) count them all. And though the photo appears to show the exact same fabric in adjacent blocks in a number of places, I am quite certain they are not! The entire top was laid out on the floor of the church foyer a couple weeks ago during our quilt ministry meeting, then each diagonal row was carefully gathered up and numbered for stitching together at home. It measures 85x94 inches at the moment.  And it needs a name -- suggestions appreciated!

The temperature finally reached the 40s this afternoon and there are little patches of grass here and there, mostly where my husband used the snowblower to carve out paths for doggy walks and to reach all the bird feeders.  I can say we are all royally tired of dealing with the heavy white stuff and the underlying ice.  All except for our insane pup who insists on jumping into the creek every chance he gets, no matter how cold it is and how swift the creek is running.   
Just prior to the last big snowstorm

We'll certainly know where to find him all summer!