Fourth Flannel Quilt--Progress!

A "kit" to make a block

It's been more than a year since I posted about progress on this project. It's been that long since I worked on this project too! Other than making bear paw blocks, I didn't have a plan of how many I needed. When you have a pattern, the road map is there for you to follow. You can choose to vary the route; but, there is a plan! It was helpful to have a recipient in mind for the finished quilt to come up with plan.

My friend, Martha originated these scraps. She liked giving quilts to graduates, newborns, newlyweds, people living through a loss or an illness. . .in short, she liked giving. A young man, now a college freshman, will receive this quilt. In thinking about him and his family, I began to plan this top. I made blocks until I had no background fabric or strips to sash the four paws into one block. 

Considering a border or sashing fabric

I started the project with four fat quarters and some scraps. A bunch of the scraps are strings. Gertie, my inner squirrel, let me know that even though I have a good selection of strings left from the project, there aren't enough to sash the blocks together or enough to become a border.She thinks those strings would be better utilized in their own project. I tend to agree.

I cut and kitted as many blocks as I could with the scraps. When I was out of background fabric or I didn't have a strip large enough to bisect the blocks, I set that block aside. 

At the point that I had stitched all the kitted blocks, I decided I would make a 4 x 5 layout or 20 blocks. Each completed block finishes to 14 inches. I was six blocks short. I needed a background fabric, another print for the "paw" part of the blocks and some more strips to bisect the block.

Auditioning border and sashing possibilities.

First, I pulled the larger chunks of flannel fabric that I had on hand. The neutrals didn't excite me as a background fabric. It might work into the pieced back or perhaps, it will be in another project.

The print fabric that I had on hand didn't move me as a border fabric. I liked the print. It worked well with the theme of the top. I made one bear paw block. I liked it so I made more.  

As I finished a block and added it to the design wall,  I liked the how a constant alternate block added to the overall interest of the bear paw blocks. so I made a total of ten blocks with the tie fabric.

A layout of the blocks

Incorporating a constant block made the other prints shine. I'll likely use the remainder of the tie print in the pieced back. I did purchase fabric at an area quilt shop to make more blocks. I also purchased sashing and border fabric. My goal is to use UP the flannels that were in my friend's stash. After making the purchases, I think that there will be another project coming from the leftovers! 

Adding the sashing between the blocks

I did take the red blocks apart and incorporate the bisecting strips in the constant blocks. It was late when I had finished the layout and I let the design sit over night. Gertie, my inner squirrel, often finds my mistakes after she has had a little shut eye. 

Sewing the rows together

Do you see what she saw? Check the block in the bottom right hand corner. Do you see it? I was kicking myself, because I ripped apart a constant block to make that extra block. She and I had a good laugh at ourselves because we were more than halfway through sashing the rows before we noticed the lack of a constant block.

Gertie let me know I wouldn't be happy if I didn't rip out the print fabric and restitch the constant block. I did rip it and resew it. I am much happier with the overall appearance of the top after making that change.

Finished Center

I had purchased a fat quarter to use as bisecting fabric; but, I decided a better use of it was to sew cornerstones with it. It features a blue background printed with green pine trees.

Once I had the rows sewn together, I added a small black border. I liked the addition and moved on to constructing the border. Both the sashing fabric and the orange fabric for the border were directional so I put some thought in cutting those pieces.

Finished top

I eased the top to the border. Some of the flannel fabrics wanted to stretch more than others. I was able to sew the whole top together without too much angst. It measured 72 inches wide by 91 inches long which is a good size for a six foot guy!

The young man will get a kick out of the fabrics. Last fall, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout so he knows a bit about camping. When I was shopping for the borders, Gertie saw a great camping flannel which I will use on the back.

This was goal number six on my November list. I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework. 

Granddaughters after dose one of the COVID vaccine

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide: 257M cases; 5.14M deaths

United States: 47.7M cases; 770K deaths

Oregon: 384K cases; 4,914 deaths

Our granddaughters received their first dose of the vaccine at the beginning of the week. Other than having a sore arm, they had no other side effects. 

At the hospital where I work, last week there were 13 people hospitalized for COVID. Seven were on ventilators. Even though the number of cases continue on a downward trend, there are still many people affected. The media is reporting some areas of the United States seeing an increase in cases.

In Oregon, 70.5 percent of the population has received one dose of the vaccine. The percent of the population that is fully vaccinated is 63.7 percent.