Frolic--Post 5

Pinwheel blocks

In between quilting Unity and cutting fabrics for the Butterly, I've spent some time stitching the pieces together for Frolic which was Bonnie Hunter's mystery last year. In my last post on this project, I shared a photo of a few of the pinwheel blocks I had finished. There were quite a few to stitch! I took a photo after I had pieced a few more. These will be set on the diagonal; but, I do like the straight setting of the blocks as well.

Each of these pinwheel blocks contains 64 pieces. With all of those parts, I was pleasantly surprised when the blocks consistently ended up the size in Bonnie' pattern directions! Careful sewing and measuring after each step helped me keep the blocks a consistent size. 

Pieces for the half blocks

The next part of the directions were to make a bunch of half blocks. There are 38 pieces in these blocks. These took me about as long as it did to piece the pinwheels because I was challenged with the layout. I made a number of new patterns before I had stitched the pattern the correct number of times! The lower part of the half block will be trimmed before I add the sashings.

The third part of the directions were to make the corners. There were less of these to make. . .after all, a quilt has but four corners! Again, I laid the pieces out as per the pattern directions. Stitching these didn't take as much time.

The last part of the directions were to stitch some blue squares to neutral and raspberry strips to create sashing units. I plan to stitch these after I have played with the blocks on the design wall so I could have a better view of the design. I haven't cut the raspberry strips yet.

Completed half block

The half blocks and the corners didn't use all the kitted parts. This meant that there were a lot of parts left. I'm not sure what will happen with those "extras." If there is an opportunity to use them in some way, I will. It could mean that I cut a few more pieces of some shapes IF there are still scraps available to be able to make a few more whole blocks.

When I placed the corner blocks on the design wall, I noticed that with a little additional piecing those blocks might work into a top and bottom border. . .hmmm. . .this possibility can wait until I finish the piecing of the top!

This quilt finishes to about 75 inches square. I want it the quilt to be a rectangle so I will need to add some borders to the top and bottom of the quilt. Perhaps, those "leftovers" will be the inspiration to kickstart the piecing after I complete the top following Bonnie's directions!

Layout for the corner blocks

Wednesday, I took the butterfly project off of the design wall because I am at the step of gluing all the edges. Therefore, I had space to lay out the pinwheel, corner and side setting triangle or half blocks. I wanted to get an idea of what my "Frolic" will look like. I laid it out as Bonnie had suggested. . .starting in a corner. In laying out the blocks, I found sections I had incorrectly pieced. I'm sure I was talking during a zoom sewing session with friends and wasn't paying attention! I can fix those errors. I am liking how the top will look.

I'm linking to "Oh Scrap." Please check out this linkeys. Cynthia Brunz who writes the blog "Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework," creates such interesting quilts with scraps. The Sunday link up is also full of people posting about their progress on scrap projects.

Also, please check out the Clark County Quilters NW Quiltfest virtual quilt show. The show is full of amazing quilts! The link is: https://quiltfestnw.org. 

Corner blocks

Regarding Covid:

Worldwide: 55.6M cases; 1.34M deaths

United States:  12.2M cases; 256K deaths 

Oregon:  63,668 cases;  822deaths

Worldwide, officials are ordering COVID restrictions to try to flatten the escalating infection rate. In Oregon, on Wednesday we began what the governor called a two week pause or freeze. No gym or restaurants are open although restaurants can produce take out orders. Retailers and grocery stores are limited to 75% capacity. Churches can have 25 people at a service. We are supposed to stay home and limit gatherings to six people, if more than one household is involved. We are supposed to avoid non essential travel out of the state. 

Leftover pieces and some sashing parts

We are encouraged to wear a mask all of the time except when eating or drinking. (I can't imagine taking a shower wearing a mask!) People living in Multnomah county have a four week pause because that county had a higher rate of COVID cases than the rest of the state. 

The governor is taking a hard line with people who ignore the social gathering restrictions. She directed the State Police to work with local law enforcement to potentially ticket and arrest offenders. She encouraged neighbors who see gatherings of more than six people on Thanksgiving to call 9-l-l. The governor said this kind of reporting was no different than neighbors reporting a loud party.

Her remarks also included that people who attend large gatherings and who later test positive for COVID be the contract tracers because the contract tracers can't keep up with all the tracing with so many cases reported each day. Yesterday, the highest number of positive COVID cases was reported in one day. That number was 1,509. (For the past four days, the previous days record was shattered.)

My husband already misses his daily workouts at the gym. He's been doing a social distant walk with "the boys" several mornings a week. His gym is located in Multnomah County so he won't be able to go back until after December 16. 

Starting to place the blocks

This "freeze" in activities is going to shutter even more businesses and put even more people in financial straits. Push back on the restrictions is also in the news. I wonder what has happened to people using common sense? Tootie Smith, a Clackamas County Commissioner, has called the freeze unconstitutional and stated that government has no right to invade the privacy of people in their own homes. Oregon restaurants have sued the government/Kate Brown over the COVID freeze because the spread of the virus has been documented to have happened in private groups and not in restaurants. 

I will continue to wear a mask when I'm working (five days a month), when I have medical appointments (up to four appointments a month) and when I'm running errands (up to two errands a week.) Often, I combine trips so I'm home more often than I'm not! I will not wear the mask 24/7 except for eating or drinking as Governor Brown has advised. I will be maskless when in my home, driving in my car and when I am on my daily walks. 

Regarding the protests: Yesterday, the media reported that two groups of demonstrators vandalized two different parts of the city on Friday night. While one group spray painted the Mexican Consulate downtown. A second group vandalized 24 businesses along NE Sandy and 43rd Street. In about ten minutes, they broke windows and spray painted buildings. The group disbanded before police arrived. No arrests were made. The protestors had publicized the Mexican Consulate location but had secretly organized the second activity so that they could be out of the eye of the police.