Snowy Days

We are having a snowy day today. It has been trying all day and finally sticking to the ground. I doubt it will be able to be measured.  Thanks for all the positive comments on my last couple posts. I try to stay upbeat in my posts, but this last month has been a doozy. Eddy is doing fine. Although it is hard to look at the long incision and staples on his back. Two recovery periods one after another has been difficult. He is a gentle dog and is being brave. And my tooth is all better. It required a new crown (which had been replaced in October) but since it was still in the machine's computer they were able to make another easily and I didn't get charged for the new crown. Christmas was quiet and we were able to video chat with our daughters and their families. Our son meant to video call, and finally did yesterday. He is on his own timeline. Which is fine, nice to spread out the calls. So since I finally finished the wedding quilt it was time to move on to the next problem child.  

Problem child #1. My Joe Cunningham quilt from a class I took a couple of years ago. In the summer I finished quilting it and tried to square the quilt. It was way off so I threw it in the corner for time-out. Since I had cleared off my cutting table to trim the wedding quilt I thought I would try again thinking it would fit on the 2 large mats. Nope. It is larger than that. So I pulled out my cardboard cutting mat to see if I could at least draw lines to straighten the top. It barely fits the short way on the mat, but outside the lines. And it ruffles. Probably because of the freeform piecing without paying any attention to bias. I decided I would stay stitch around the cut edge, and then block it. I also has some threads to tuck. It is now ready to go into the washer to soak.  I will try to do that sometime this week.  

So on to the next problem child.  

#2  I had signed up to do swap blocks with my old guild in CA. Signed up in January. Since I was scheduled to go to CA in March (Empty Spools Seminars and then a week visit with my friend, swap leader) I thought I would shop for a background for the blue and white blocks. Well, obviously my trip was canceled and since we rarely have left town I have not made it to any quilt shops. I really need to get the blocks done and in the mail. So I remembered that I had a UFO from about 1999/2000 that has white on white background. Let's face it, that UFO is never going to be finished. When I pulled it out I found I actually had two blocks sewn and parts cut for at least another block. I will try to make a table runner out of those blocks. This is a hand piecing project. 

Cover quilt

My two blocks

I had used charm squares for the colors and have a huge stack of them. They were from swaps I did in the late 90's.  So I will let this problem child (number 3) finish off at three blocks and call it good. It is a nice feeling to let a UFO go.

2020 Cotton Club Swap block

It is a fun block to sew! HST units and four patches. The size we are using for this swap is 8" finished, 8.5" unfinished. Dark blues in the 4 patches and medium blues in the HST. White on white for the background.

Swap blocks in progress

It is supposed to be a monthly swap through out the year. I am pretty sure the group has not met in person since March. Anyway, since I live so far away I make a year's worth and send it to Diane (swap leader) and she swaps for me and sends me back my blocks. Everyone has all year to get caught up with the hope all blocks are in by December or January at the latest. This year the number of blocks per month is 10. One for each participant and then one for the "pot". I have won the pot in a previous year (or maybe two). It is a fun way to keep in touch with my pals. I have about 30 finished, so about a fourth of the way there.

Leader project, 3 " 9-patches

Leader project part 2, 9" double 9-patches

I always have a leader project when piecing. I have done this long before I ever heard of Bonnie Hunter. I make little 9-patches out of one and a half inch squares. I cut my scraps into squares and strips. The double 9's are using the little blocks along with 3-1/2" squares from that scrap box. I have about a dozen finished. No idea how big this will eventually end up. I will figure that out when I get closer to a quilt amount of blocks.

I started another MKAL for a shawl. No pics right now, but will have some next time. I did finish the first sock and have half the second sock of the Advent Sock along. Pics next week.

And my pretty pic for the week. Yet another Christmas Cactus blooming! I think this one is my favorite color.

Hoping that everyone has a Happy, Healthy, productive new year!  

Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Beth

Judy

 

Can't wait for the end of this year

I really can't wait for this year to be over. I know, things will not be back to normal come January 1, 2021.  But this month has been a fittingly crappy end to a crappy year. Our sweet puppy dog Eddy had surgery 2 weeks ago to remove a large tumor. The vet feels that they got everything out and the surrounding tissue was clean. But the incision was huge. He went in this morning to get the stitches out.  The wound reopened soon after and he is back to the vet's office to get sewn up again. Poor guy. And I got squeezed in to see the dentist this morning. I get to go in on Weds afternoon for a root canal. Wahoo. (sarcastic remark)

Binding is finished!

And the wedding quilt is on its way to the happy couple!  I did wash the quilt and it was magic. I did stitch down the pleat on the backing. The backing is so busy you can't even see the seams of the 3 sections, so I think this fix is going to be fine.

Clue 9

I am getting caught up on my Mystery Christmas sock. I don't have a more up to date photograph, but I am up to clue #18. I hope to get caught up tonight. I have been knitting several clues each day. There are 24 total, it is an Advent mystery.  I had hoped to start the second sock when caught up, but it will probably not happen until the first sock is completed.

 

I wound off two more yarns from the bobbins! The blue is actually a mix of blues and purples, just a poor photograph. And the green has some blues mixed in. Blue is chain plied and green is 2 ply. I still need to set the spin and let it fluff.  My spinning Yoda sent me a box of fiber and I am excited to get the next yarn started. BTW, Yoda is my friend Karen and she has a little online yarn shop named Gift of Grace. Her yarns are so beautiful and well spun. I don't know if I will ever get past rustic, but I am enjoying the process. 

Christmas Cactus

And my pretty photograph for this post. I have several Christmas Cactus plants. This has a lovely bright pink with white blossoms. I have a pale pink one as well, it is past blooming. And a coral colored blooms that is not quite open yet.

I hope you all have a nice holiday season celebrating the events that are important to you and your family. Please be safe.  Best wishes for a happy, healthy, safe New Year!

Linking to:

Nina-Marie

Anja

Beth

Judy

One of these Days

 As everyone has probably experienced, it has been one of those years.  Sigh.  I did finally get all of the machine quilting completed on the wedding quilt.  It was hard.  I did switch out my chair for a stool and that helped a lot on my shoulders and back. I think I will use the stool from now when I sew. The quilting is not as nice as I had hoped, but hopefully when I wash it the funky stuff will calm down. My very first machine quilting class back in the late 1990's, the teacher said when you wash a machine quilted quilt it is Magic! And it is truth. It fluffs it up and closes all the needle holes. 

All Quilted and trimmed!

And since absolutely nothing can be easy (well, at least not with this project)  I found pleats on the back of the quilt. Another sigh.

Can you see it?

And here?

It is smack dab in the middle of the quilt.  I would have to take all of the quilting out and start over. Umm, nah, not going to happen. The paisley on the back is quite busy. I think that I will try to applique the fold down. I will wait until after it is washed. I think it will be ok. It is the back. It is not a prize winner, it is meant to be used.

Binding, ready to tack down.

I decided not to spiral the binding. The stripe is in the borders straight, so I chose to continue that at the edge.

Matching Pillowcases

I had a lot of fabric left so I made a set of matching pillowcases to go with the quilt. Everything went right with the pillowcases! Well, except the bobbin running out. 

Lavender Fields 

I plied this wonderful yarn! I did a chain ply trying it out on a multi color dyed fiber. I still need to wind it off the bobbin and process the twist.  I am very happy with this yarn.

Hat for me!

And I knit a hat for me!   I was following a pattern and it was not that easy to read the color changes. So I made up my own color changes!

MKAL

I started an Advent Mystery Knit along in Instagram. I am not very Insta savvy, so it is good that they are emailing the links to the daily clues. This is through clue 4. I am a bit behind. I cast on the wrong number of stitches and realized it at clue #2. 64 stitches on 4 needles is 18 on each right? No, wrong! 16 on each. I have made this mistake before. 

Thanksgiving sunrise

And my pretty photograph for the post. I was watching the sunrise and this is what happened just as the sun was hitting the horizon. 

Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Kathleen

Beth

Judy