Friday, January 21, 2022

January Doings

January has brought fierce winds, a nor'easter that dumped  around16 inches of snow here, and after a one day thaw, we're back in deep frigid bleak mid-winter. The temperature this morning was -19F and as I write this it is -8 degrees.  Our year-old Sammy cat is outside at the moment, worrisome to be sure, but he's become the little terrorist if we try to restrain him from going outdoors.  Hopefully he is in the barn where there is a small heat lamp over his "camping out" bed.  He's quite the adventurer, yesterday we caught him stalking a couple deer who like to visit the bird feeders near the barn.  Quite a sight as they all took off running, Sammy gave up the chase when he saw those long legs a-leaping!

On the quilting front, the year started lazily and I decided to attack the baggies and swiffer boxes of scraps in an attempt to clear some of the excess clutter around here.  Happy to say my January mini was finished early last week, and will be posted closer to the end of the month.  Then I tackled another bag of mostly 2-1/2 inch scrappy pieces most of which were leftovers from the Marrakesh quilt of a few years back.  I ended up with three placemats and two smaller hot dish or mug-rug flimsies, to hopefully all be quilted soon.  I'm planning to raid my orphan block box for backings for all of these, the plan being to use up as many of those oddballs as possible this year.



Another project I'd begun last year at quilt ministry was this one, which I quickly discovered would never work out in that venue due to space limitations and the constant interruptions that happen there. Anyway I'd hoped to make some progress building additional slabs this month, since sidetracked.


In the meantime, we learned last week that a family who had attended our little church lost their home and everything but the clothes they were wearing in a fire.  No insurance, sadly, which is often the case in this area.  The grandparents have two adult grandchildren plus another non-family member living with them.  Our little quilt group which has shrunk drastically in these covid times is busy working on making some quilts.  We had only one to immediately give to the family, but hopefully within the next couple weeks there will be four more.  This is the one I've been working on for the past week and a half, now a completed flimsy.   The blue and gray fabrics are a layer cake that I'd picked up a couple years ago.  A bit disappointing to have so many of the fabrics in the light range, I'd hoped for more dark to better achieve the diagonal gradation of color in the hatchet blocks.  The pinks are all scraps from the stash.  Here's how it looked in the semi-final layout before sewing blocks together.


And the completed top:


I used up all but a couple tiny scraps of the backing fabric from Lady Sings the Blues for the border. The top measures 59x74 inches.

Barring another snowstorm I'd like to get this pin-basted at next Tuesday's quilt ministry meeting, along with another top that was completed last fall, the red and white log cabin quilt.  They will both be simply machine quilted and bound and hopefully out the door to the family in a couple weeks.  


I guess that will more than take us into February!  And I thought I might just ease into the new year ...
But it's all good, quilting a red and white quilt in early February sounds just about right.



11 comments:

Hill Top Post said...

How sad for this poor family to have lost so much. What a blessing the quilts from your group will be. Of course, you could not just ease into the new year. That would not happen for the Amity Quilter as long as there were scraps to sew and almost two feet of snow outdoors. I hope Kitty is back safely inside by now, even though a warm spot in the barn doesn't sound bad. I love that gorgeous red and white quilt!

Nancy said...

The colors you've used in your place mat blocks are so calm and soothing. Beautiful.
Your completed top with blue, grey, and pink -- gorgeous!
Your weather is so much colder than ours! It's 11 degrees now and I don't think we've had any below-0 temperatures yet. I think it's funny that your cat stalks the deer. He sounds like a character.

Janet O. said...

You have been very productive for someone who is just starting the year lazily! I think the gradations of color in your quilt top work really well! It has the cool effect of the blues fading to oblivion while the pinks remain constant. . There is a metaphor in there, I'm sure. ;)
A wonderful log cabin!

cityquilter grace said...

beautiful quilts and i actually love the gradation in your layer cake quilt....very nice indeed...

Barbara said...

Very pretty quilt. I got a chuckle out of your Sammy chasing the deer. I’ve seen Smitty nosing up to them, and they to him, and it’s such a funny sight seeing the difference in size. Hope he doesn’t get frostbite.

Robin said...

You've been keeping busy. So sorry to hear about the fire. That is so scary. I love how the Hatchet quilt turned out. It's terrific.

Quilting Babcia said...

Thank you! Yes, the cat has come in and out at least a dozen times since I wrote the post last night. Temps were down to -23 this morning! I hope that's the last of the minus temperatures, but thinking this is shaping up to be a similar winter to our first one here in early 2015 when we had a couple days that reached -27.

Needled Mom said...

Those quilts will be such a blessing to that family. I LOVE the red log cabin. I hope Sammy is okay with those temps. Silly kitty to not know how warm he could be inside!!

Angie said...

Brrr! Your winter weather makes me chilly just imagining it. Our overnight temps have been in the freezing range the past few days and I don't like it one little bit! :-) I'm impressed that Sammy likes to be out adventuring in the snow! Happy to hear your quilt ministry is ready to help out in such a tangible way!

Kyle said...

Your winter weather sounds down right miserable. Glad you have lots of projects to keep you warm and cozy inside. Your quilt ministry is a blessing to families in your area.

Barbara said...

You accomplish so much for yourself and others! Love your latest quilt. February will be perfect for quilting your R & W Log Cabin.
Hopefully no more snow for you!