First Flannel Quilted--FINISHED March OMG MET Tenth Finish of 1st Quarter 2021

Block detail

At the beginning of this month, the flannel quilt top, that I mostly pieced a year ago out of Martha's flannel scraps, was ready to quilt. I planned to quilt it with my walking foot. I auditioned a variety of threads. I used a monofilament thread in the needle to stitch in the ditch. A 50 weight green cotton thread seemed best for the visible stitching on the project. It also worked well in the bobbin. 

I decided to stitch the width of the presser foot away from the vertical and horizontal seams in the interior of the top. I extended the lines across the borders to the edge of the top. Using the serpentine stitch on my machine at a 5.4 width and 2.75 length, I stitched row after row. 

Border detail

Once I had completed the rows, I stitched diagonally through the blocks to add a little more dimension. I liked the design the stitching made in the blocks. I wasn't that excited about what the corners of the blocks looked like. However, I love how the quilt feels and I love how quickly I was able to finish it. Generally, I spend a lot of time on the quilting. Martha was always trying to get me to make smaller projects and to quilt less intensively. 

It took me about eight hours to quilt this top. I machine stitched the binding and added the label. I had a finish! Martha would be pleased that I produced a finished quilt from her scraps. She would be tickled that it will warm someone in the community. She would tell me it was about time that I took her advice about smaller projects and less quilting! 

View of the back

Last Thursday, I took it to the Mt. Hood Quilters Guild drop off. Every month or two, the charity committee holds a drive through at the church where we held our in person meetings. People can drop off finished projects and/or supplies to make quilts. They can pick up tops to quilt, kits to make a quilt or quilts to bind. The members fully support this committee. I arrived at noon when the event opened and I was third in line! It was great seeing people in person after more than a year!

Quilting this project was my One Monthly Goal (OMG). I'm pleased to have met that goal. I'm more excited to have a finished quilt. I'm glad that these scraps are in a useable item and not in the landfill. I listed my goal in a post at the beginning of the month. I'm linking to the OMG finish link up. Thanks Patty for hosting the link through Elm Street Quilts. Please go visit the linkey party. There are so many inspirational finishes!

I used four yards of fabric stash  in this project which brings my total for the year to 3 3/4 yards. It is my tenth finish of the year and goal number two on my first quarter list. This quilt is 40 inches wide by 60 inches long.

Finished front

I'm linking to Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework.

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide: 127M cases; 2.78M deaths

United States: 30.2M cases; 548K deaths

Oregon: 164K cases; 2,386 deaths

In the UK, the time between vaccinations is twelve weeks. The country leaders have determined that it is better to have more people who are partially vaccinated than it is to have a lot of people still awaiting a vaccine. My daughter thinks that she will be able to receive her first shot between the end of May and the end of June.

In the United States, while the number of people receiving vaccinations are going up and the number of hospitalizations are going down, the number of infections are rising. The CDC continues to caution to continue the safety protocols of social distancing and wearing a mask. The infections are in the under 40 age group. 

In Oregon, the media have spent time reporting how officials are coming up with a plan to vaccinate the 14,000 homeless people in Oregon. Since contacting and scheduling seem to be big issues, it would seem to me that using the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and sending a mobile vaccination team to the various blue tent encampments would be the way to go. Officials have spent hours working through delivering a two dose vaccine. The media highlighted one homeless person who is fully vaccinated with Pfizer. Her message was to take the opportunity to get protected. There was no coverage of how she managed her appointment. My husband is eligible for his shot on Monday. He has an appointment to get his first phizer dose on Wednesday. I'm still working to help my friend who declines to go to the convention center an appointment. She doesn't have a computer or a cell phone.