Strings From A Scrap Bag--post 1

Bag of scraps

Goal number six on my April list was to sort a bag of scraps. Chantal, At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts, often posts about scrap bags that have shown up on her doorstep. Cynthia, Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework, is the queen of turning scraps into amazing quilts. They inspire me with every post. My challenge is that I ALWAYS have way too many projects in process to stop and play. I tell my little inner squirrel, Gertie, to wait until I FINISH a project.

When I wrote the goal, I had envisioned tackling one of my large bags that came from my friend Martha. I thought I could get started on sorting the bits into what were strings, strips and bits as well as by color. This is not what happened.

Laying out the chances

Instead, I came across a bag that was left from a string project that I finished in 2022. The pros to the the bag was that it was a small and came from a project. A small bag wouldn't overwhelm my efforts to empty it. Because it was project leftovers, the pieces would go together.

I opened it. Of course, there were a few pieces that didn't belong so those were put where they can be used in another
project. There were also some string strips of various widths. I thought that these might work as a border and as blocks. There were a lot of HSTs of varying sizes so I started piecing those together.  

Auditioning background fabrics

Once I had a few pieces together, I started laying out the project. I kept going until the only remaining scraps were small triangles from the neutral fabric. My goal is to make a piece about 40 inches by 60 inches. Right away, I realized I needed a filler fabric or fabrics.

I went to my stash of solid fabrics and chose a purple. I liked it; but, knew that the yard of fabric wouldn't be enough. So I selected a blue fabric which is okay; but the value is a little too dark. I did have a little leftover piece of orange that I decided would work great as an accent. I decided that this might be my book project for "The Dressmaker of Khair Khana" by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon instead of the panel that I had identified last month.

In the book, Kamila is about to complete her studies to become a teacher. Unfortunately. she has to abandon that career option because the Taliban take over and women lose their freedom. Kamila ends up helping many other women and families in the process. The strings represent all the people she touched. The various patterns the leftovers became represent the girls she trained. It is interesting how projects present themselves and the journey they take!

It's been quite the week. I took Old Town to the quilter on Tuesday. Friday, I received word it was finished and I picked it up. I have it to bind as well as my 2021 Temperature quilt so I will be working on being able to report on a couple finishes soon! 

Tuesday, I wanted to sew the ruffle to the Santa Tree skirt. My Bernina 790plus acted like it was possessed. I had it on straight stitch; yet it was trying to vary the width of the stitch. The stitch length and width dials stopped working. It is back at the repair shop. I hope it will be repairable and that the repair is affordable.

Linking to Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

Final Pieced Frolic Border in Progress (post 8)

Working out the zig zag design

 Over the last couple of weeks, I've been stitching a few half square triangles together in to a zig zag design. It took me a little bit to figure out the orientation of the HSTs to equate to the zigzag shape. 

It also took some time for me to figure out the pressing so the seams would nest. I repressed some HSTs which helped. I pressed some seams open. Slowly my pile of HSTs became chunks of Zigs and Zags!

My plan is to piece a section of 12 HSTs together into three Zig Zags until I have pieced all the HSTs together that I originally stitched in November of 2019! At that time, I had no idea the journey that this project would take me. It's grown bigger. I've scrounged scrap bags for more variety and to get "enough" pieces to make the various parts. I even colored outside the lines a bit stretching the colonial blue color since I had so little of that color in my stash.

A blue and a red component

When I've stitched the HSTs together, I plan to lay them out next to the quilt edge to determine how many more I need. I'm sure that I'll need more! Adding the additional HSTs between the pieced ZigZags should maintain the scrappy look as well as sprinkle the newly made HSTs more evenly in the mix.

Once I had stitched several sets of four HSTs together, I played with different orientations. In the end, I decided that alternating a blue zig with a red zag was most pleasing to me. I also decided that I preferred the zig zag pattern over points and slashes which are my terms for different layouts of the HSTs!

Sections stitched together

This was goal number four on my July goal list. If I stitch more before the end of the month. . .great! I think that I could leader/ender a few of these while I'm stitching other projects. Then again, I might like to have a stitching day of not having to think much about what I'm piecing!

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

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide:190M cases; 4.08M deaths

United States: 34M cases; 608K deaths

Oregon: 212K cases; 2,848 deaths

Auditioning a section

The number of people vaccinated in Oregon is slowly increase: 59.7% have had at least one shot and 55.1% are fully vaccinated. Since the number of vaccinations is barely increasing, researchers wanted to find out what was holding people back from becoming vaccinated. Since the state is polarized politically and since the majority of those not vaccinated do not approve of Governor Kate Brown, University of Oregon researchers stated that she should no longer be the primary messenger regarding becoming vaccinated. The nearly 700 people surveyed stated they had more trust in health care providers and doctors. They also stated a $100 incentive might sway them to change their mind.

At work, I had the opportunity to chat with a doctor about the disconnect with the unvaccinated people. He told me that he had retired once. He came back because those infected with COVID had strained medical resources and he said he wanted to help share the load. He contracted COVID early in the pandemic. When the vaccine was available to him, he took the vaccinations.

He said he originally tried to educate those unvaccinated with the science and the studies behind the vaccines. He said the attempts failed miserably which surprised him. He tried telling those people about his COVID experience which he said was "like talking to a tree in the forest." He has had marginal success with the fact that the Delta variant creates much more serious health issues including death in unvaccinated people. He anticipates the infection rate to rise this fall. He hopes that hospitals aren't pushed to capacity levels and that the mask restrictions and meeting restrictions are not reinstated.

He said one of his patients was a COVID long hauler. He said that the patient's lungs were so damaged that he was on oxygen and confined to a wheelchair. Unfortunately, this patient's lungs had showed no improvement in months. The doctor suspects that the patient will not regain his former health. The doctor shook his head and said, the vaccine could have prevented this patient's situation. 

String-A-Long--post 2

Using the newsprint to trim the string fabric

After piecing the strips, I trimmed the strings. The newsprint foundation made it easy to determine the parameters of the pieced fabric. I trimmed the string fabric with the newsprint side up. Generally, when I paper piece strings, I don't leave much fabric along the waste edge. Some people will leave an inch to an inch and half. Then they will piece those scraps into projects. I rarely join that camp. Although, I have used trimmed strips that way!

Once I've trimmed the pieced fabric, I removed the paper. The needle perforated the paper when I stitched the fabrics together. The perforations make the paper easy to remove. I gently pulled the paper away from the stitch line with one hand. With a finger or two on the other hand, I placed a little pressure on the adjoining seam. As I pulled the paper away from the piecing, I found that the the pressure helped the seams from becoming pulled too.

Strips untrimmed and trimmed

Paper removing is a great evening activity. My granddaughters liked removing paper although the activity reached boredom quickly when they were four and six year olds! 

Once I've removed the paper, the string fabric is ready to be made into blocks. Every time I trim a chunk, I'm impressed with how interesting all those combined bits make the chunks!

I paper pieced long strings until I had stitched the majority into 11 inch squares. I could cut three 3 1/2 inch strips out of one 11 inch square. I paper pieced a few eight inch squares because I had strings in that length. I also thought the 3 1/2 inch unfinished squares from the eight inch squares might make a good border. I pieced 3 1/2 inch strips with the short strings. Occasionally, I'd slip in a few crumbs to add a little more interest. 

Cclose up of a few crumbs added as a string

It does take time to prepare the string fabric. The piecing is easy to do. The result is worth the effort. The question is, at what point is that string no longer viable for piecing? The answers depends on the piecer! Some people would toss the pieces that were too short for the 3 1/2 strips. Others would add a piece to the strip to make it work. Some people might stitch those bits into pieces to make strings!

Once I've trimmed the strips and removed the paper, I piece strips together until the strip is the length of the background fabric strips. Sometimes, I stitched the strips together before I removed the paper. Either way works!

Cutting triangles

When the string strip is about the same size of the background strip, I placed them right sides together and stitched both long sides of the strip. Next, I used the essential triangle tool to cut triangles. I lined the 3 1/2 inch line slightly above the edge of the fabric. I flipped the ruler and continued cutting triangles. I could cut between nine and ten triangles from a strip.

The apex of the triangle has three to five stitches that need to be removed; but, that takes no time.Next, I pressed the seam toward the background fabric. I also weighted the pieces and let them cool before I squared the blocks. Letting the pieces cool helps the seam allowance stay put. I was able to make 4 1/2 inch squares from this process. 

Remove stitches at the triangle apex

At this point, I'm ready to play with designs although the number of blocks I currently have wouldn't make more than a table runner. The design phase is truly the magic part of the process. I'll share a few designs in my next post on this subject. 

In the meantime, I guess I'd better get back to making more string fabric. Although, I'd better finish clue three of the Grassy Creek mystery first.

Pressed HST cooling

Grassy Creek Clues 1 & 2--post 2

Pressed and cooling pieces

For clue number one of Grassy Creek, we stitched a lot of gold and gray half square triangles (HSTs) together. I cut a pair of strips from the gold and gray fabrics. From there, I cut enough pieces to sew a set of HSTs. After I pieced the set, I pressed them. For this mystery, I'm pressing the pieces differently. I'm using Sally Collins' tip of weighting the pieces until they cool. (Check the video at about the 35 minute mark for a demo of her pressing technique.)

Sally says that the seams will stay flat through the whole sewing process. I've started pressing that way on a project, but, abandoned it later. This time, I'm attempting to stay true to the process to see how well I like it. I covered the pressed pieces with a large square ruler. I weighted it with my spray bottle. 

Next, I trimmed the HSTs. I sew with a scant quarter inch seam so that I can trim to perfection. I'm not a perfect piecer; so trimming helps me look like I am perfect piecer! 

Cooled HSTs

For the first time, I used the Folding Corners ruler to trim the pieces after they had cooled. This is my new go to trimming tool. I liked how easy it was to orient the block accurately under the ruler. Those lines are helpful to ensure I've centered the block correctly!

In my younger days, I would have completed the steps as if it were a production line. I would have cut and kitted all of the pieces. Then, I would have sewn, pressed and trimmed all of the pieces. These days, my body needs more breaks. Sewing a few pieces and moving to another task helps me to not become so sore. This "mature" process also gives time for the pressed pieces to cool. I like working in smaller batches. I don't feel as overwhelmed with the scope of the project when I work on a few pieces at a time.

Finished HSTs

I finished clue one in plenty of time to start clue two! Clue two was to make a lot of hour class blocks with the neutral, gold and green fabrics. I had two Zoom sewing sessions this week. The concentrated sewing time helped me complete most of hour  glass blocks in-between checking out other people's projects. I even located a few strips in my "pre cuts" that I was able to incorporate into the blocks. 

Monday was our Mystery Mavens sew day. We have 24 members in our group. Twenty people spent a part of their day with us. Some people had to work or had other assignments. It was a great turnout and what I appreciate about the members is their helpfulness to others. 

Lining up my bonus HSTs for trimming

If someone is having trouble, there is a lot of support and trouble shooting to solve the issue. I have noticed that we are improving our descriptive techniques so we can explain options. I've also noticed that we are improving our listening skills too. Even though in person stitching is preferable to "demonstrate" what you are saying, Zoom is working for us!

I also appreciate that members post photos of their progress in our private FaceBook group. I love seeing all the different fabrics and different color ways people have chosen! It is a nice way to stay connected! We meet once a month. Although, we may choose to meet in a couple weeks if we find a clue is difficult to understand or if we are getting behind in the process. Before the pandemic, we met in a community room in a member's neighborhood.

One of the gals in our group pieces small scraps together and makes the most wonderful charity quilts. I had a bunch of small leftover scraps that I cut into HSTs. I sewed the HSTs into pinwheels as leaders and enders. The pinwheels are small. I did spin the seams. How cute is that little HST in the seam allowance? These blocks will finish to two inches. 

Completed Step 2--HSTs

Sewing the leftover bits is a goal of mine. I don't want a bunch of scraps leftover at the end of a project. When I reach the end of strip, I cut it into what ever useable sized piece in my scrap saving system that I can. I know that I'm more likely to use from my scrap saving system than I am to pull out those scraps and cut useable pieces later.

I don't know if these pinwheels will end up
in the quilt or if they will become "parts" to be used in another project. They are cute!

Pressed pinwheel from the back

Friday, Bonnie releases clue number three! I'm ready! In the meantime, I've put in a few stitches on the Unity binding. I've made a couple more Folic blocks with the leftover parts as my starting base. I'm finding cutting the pieces to fill in the leftovers tedious. Looking through the scraps to find a little more of the block fabrics and cutting a specific number of pieces takes time! I also needed to use a completed block as a guide so I could remember how I pressed the block! Truthfully, I'm happy to be using a few more scraps so in the end, more blocks will mean more stash reduction! 

Bonus pinwheels

Even though I've sewn mainly from my stash during this pandemic, I haven't seen much change in the stash stacks. I'm thankful I've stash to keep me plenty busy in a variety of projects.  

Last night, our Mt. Hood Quilters guild had a live meeting. There were about 65 members who attended the virtual meeting. It was fun to see people dressed up in their holiday tops, necklaces, earrings and hats! One of the members gave a demonstration of a Swedish weaving which we made out of a piece of felt. We had breakout rooms and I got to meet new to me members. 

I appreciated how members helped other members who were new to the zooming process. It was a fun meeting!

Week in Review--A Little Unity, A Little Frolic and a Little Grassy Creek

Unity background swirl quilting

My thumbs are improving. I spent some time in the last week quilting the background on Unity. I am quilting the backgrounds in the pinwheel border. At the time of this post, I have four blocks left to quilt. It takes me about two hours which includes stretch breaks to quilt one background so my goal is to quilt one background a day. When I finish, it will be time to add the binding. I am so close to a finish!!! It will also be the first Bonnie Hunter project that I've finished!

For Frolic, the pieces that I thought I hadn't cut for the sashings, I had. The pieces were part of step one or step two which happened at about this time last year! I've stitched a few sashings. I've added a few sashings to the blocks. I've decided to make more blocks to make the quilt bigger. After all, I've a bunch of parts leftover from stitching the side setting triangles which would be great to use in the project. Oh boy, making more blocks is going to take a bunch more time. . .then again, I'm going to be using more of my scraps which is terrific!

In the meantime, on Friday, Bonnie released her first clue to the Grassy Creek mystery. This is the first time that I've been able to try a different method of making half square triangles (HSTs). This year, I've more yardage to work with than in previous years when I worked with pre cut strips.

All of the Frolic sashing pieces

Bonnie uses a folded corner triangle ruler to cut the triangles to shape. I like the method. It seems to be faster than cutting the HSTs from strips. However, I realized lifting the ruler to trim the blocks irritated my right thumb so I'll be more mindful of how I'm moving the ruler so that I can keep stitching!

With all this scrap piecing, I'm linking this post to "Quilting is More Fun Than Housework" and her Sunday Oh Scrap linkey. 

Thursday, the two of us had a quiet Thanksgiving. Earlier in the day, we Zoomed with our daughters. The granddaughters had fun playing a game that the youngest daughter managed in our first family Zoom call. The granddaughters wanted to play the game again. This time, they managed the game. 

Making more blocks using the leftovers

All we had to do was play. The youngest granddaughter was the judge. She was also the one who came up with the questions. It was a hoot. I even managed a couple wins!

After the call, we went on a three and a half mile "turkey trot" through the neighborhood. It was fun and I hope that we will make it an annual event. It took us 80 minutes. This has been the longest walk I've been on in a long time because walking makes my knees swell. I've slowly been building my walking time and I can consistently walk about 35 minutes without paying for it either later in the day or the next day. My body didn't rebel too much after the 80 minute walk so I know that at some point, I'll be able to consistently walk that amount of time. (I've arthritis in my knees. I am a candidate for knee replacements; but, I'm holding off until my knees hurt more because I don't want to be in my 80s and have the replacement parts need refurbishing!)

Beginnings the Grassy Creek Mystery

Since it has been an unusual year, we decided to have an unusual meal. . .pizza and beer! Bob cooked the pizza on the wood fired grill and it was delicious. Clean up was a snap!  I did miss spending time shopping with the oldest daughter on Black Friday. I, however have completed most of my shopping online. These packages will be delivered directly to the recipients. Call me old-fashioned; but, I like actually physically picking out the items, wrapping the package and giving it to the recipient in person. COVID, however, continues to keep me close to home.

Regarding COVID:                   Worldwide: 62.3M cases; 39.8M deaths.       United States:13.3M cases; 266K deaths.     Oregon: 72,506 cases; 896 deaths.

In Oregon, yesterday there were more than 1,000 positive cases reported. After the two week freeze ends on December 2, restrictions will remain in place. Some restrictions for restaurants will be lessened as owners will be able to serve a maximum of 50 customers until 11pm. Other restrictions for retailers are tightened. They will be operating at 50% capacity instead of 75% capacity. It appears that until vaccines are distributed, the restrictions will remain in place. Additionally, there is a risk level each county will be assigned with restrictions relaxed as the risk level is lowered. 

As I look back at the last ten months, I am amazed that the entire world has been in effect shut down because of this virus. Many of us have heeded government warnings and have followed recommended protocols. Last week, I read "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris. In some ways, our world parallels the world of that time with all the restrictions.

Because this is my last post of the month, I'll report that I trained 24 people in American Heart Healthcare Provider CPR. 

Unity--Post 10

Continuing with stitching lines

Determining what motifs to quilt in the next round had me thinking for awhile. I try to use a ruler in a different way or to quilt a motif in several sizes so I can practice a similar design using the same tools. My first thought when looking at the HSTs was to stitch continuous curves. I've stitched continuous curves often over the years and then there was the decision of what to do in the background of the HST. 

When I can't decide what to quilt, I will look at what I have quilted and determine if a motif could be repeated or changed slightly. The word repeated gave me an idea. Thinking a bit more I had a plan. I would stitch lines in the HSTs as I had done in the angled shapes in the center of the quilt. I used a 50 wt cotton thread in a color that blended with the fabrics in the needle and the polyester red thread in the bobbin.

I do like the effect. The bulk of the seams

Circle in the center of square in a square block

caused some of the lines to go askew. For awhile, I ripped and restitched; but, the result usually didn't make much of a difference. Also, any fullness that was in the square skewed the lines. I decided that I would aim for an organic line and leave the lines.

In the center of the square in a square blocks, I wanted to use the Westalee circle template. I wasn't able to use this template in the center block of the quilt because I was unable to hold it in place as I quilted the circle. The center of the square in a square block has no seams to cross so I was able to stitch a circle that was mostly round.

Detail of the shapes around the circle 

Again, I used thread that blended with the quilt fabrics. For this project, the piecing is what I want to highlight so the quilting should compliment the piecing and provide texture. In the large triangles, I stitched half a circle. In the corners, I stitched three quarters of a circle.

I liked the circles; but, they seemed a bit bare so I decided to add some shapes to the outer edge of the circle. It is just a doodle.  I didn't try to make each circle the same either; but, as I worked on the second border, I found a doodle that I sort of repeated. 

I used 50 wt thread in the bobbin and in the needle. Again, I matched the color in the

View of the quilted border

needle; but, used an off white in the bobbin. It took some time; eventually, I finished quilting this border! 

The skinny border is the next section that I will quilt. I plan to quilt circles and pebbles, like I did on the first skinny border. It is going to take me some time! 

I'l be linking this blog to Longarm Quilting on Tuesday. I added her linkey to my blog post so feel free to check it out. I encourage you to check out Cheeky Cognoscenti's blog as she writes interesting posts about a variety of quilting topics. 

In regards to Covid:

Worldwide: 17.9K confirmed; 10.6K recovered; 685K deaths

U.S.: 4.71M confirmed; 2.3M recovered; 157K deaths

Oregon: 18,492 confirmed; 322 deaths

Over all view of completed quilting

Umatilla County had so many new cases that the governor reverted the county's status back to staying at home! Cases in Clackamas County, where I live, continue to rise; but, at a lower rate. Still, we are all being cautious.

School plans are confirmed that distance learning will be in place at least until the end of October. Parents at that point have the choice of hybrid learning or continuing with distance learning. 

A vaccine is in the third stage of trials. It could be available as early as December. My fingers are crossed it will be available and effective then!

Regarding the protesting, it continues into the ninth week. Friday was the first night of media reported "peaceful" protests. The state police replaced the federal marshals in protecting federal property. The media reported that there were still fires started; but, other protestors put out the fires. 

We had a run of hot temperatures--upper 90s and day of 100 degrees! My daughter ordered a wading pool for the grandkids. It was supposed to arrive between July 19 and July 27. It still isn't here. The tracking says it is still on the east coast. A friend of hers had a pool her children had outgrown. Friday, my daughter and Miss J delivered the pool to our house because they don't have space for that size of pool. 

Filling the pool with air

 Daughter A and her dad repaired the one known hole. Miss J  supervised the project. It was a hoot watching Miss J as the electric pump aired the pool. She crept closer to the project. Bob asked if she wanted to air up the pool. Of course she did! She held the electric pump and then she got to hold her finger over the intake spout while her papa removed the pump. Her eyes got bigger with every completed section aired. 

When it came time to fill the pool, it was obvious she wanted in the pool! I asked if she had thought about asking her mama if it would be okay to take her shoes and socks off to wade in the water. Her mama said okay and in a flash, she was wading in the pool. Soon, it became obvious, she was going to get her clothing wet. I asked if she had thought about asking her mama if she could take off her skirt and shirt to keep them dry. Her mama said yes. . .The skirt was down in a flash. . .too quick to stay dry! Mama said, "let's get out of the pool, first."Mama hung the skirt to dry on the fence. 

Miss J loved the water. . .it didn't matter that the water was cold. Miss J bobbed about until her mama said it was time to go home. It was hard; but, she got out without any negative comment. It was movie night at their house and she had some cleaning to do. (Her sister, K, stayed home to have enough time to finish her cleaning chores.) J had told her papa earlier that her sister would have all the cleaning done by the time they returned home and that she would still be able to watch the movie. 

Enjoying the water

Her mama reported that there was vacuuming, toilet scrubbing and dusting which equaled the cleaning her sister did earlier. I still chuckled. I think that her thought process functions well beyond her actual age! 

Today, she and her sister will be coming out to swim in the pool. Their mom and dad are coming too although, this pool isn't large enough for all of them at once! If J's first experience is any indication of the fun factor, I hope that we have a lot of swimming days left in the summer!

I sure have missed swimming in the pool!

Pinwheel Crumbs--A 2013 Completion

Close up of crumb block and feathers

Our book club read "The Last Runaway," by Tracy Chevalier. In the story, the main character comes from England to the United States on a ship. She is seasick for so long that the hexagons she brought with her . . .well, she threw them over the side because she thought they smelled of vomit. Later, she wished she still had the hexagons. She liked piecing, the family she became a part of liked applique. 

I was inspired to use the color green to represent how she felt on her trip across the ocean. I challenged myself to use small scraps or crumbs, to free motion quilt leaves and feathers. 

I pieced the small bits together and then I added strings until I had a large enough piece of fabric that I squared and then sliced on the diagonal. I don't remember the size of my squares. I do remember how surprised I was at how many little bits I used!

I played around with the crumb triangles until I found an arrangement that seemed pleasing to my eye. As you look at the blocks you can see how two of the legs relate. Each pinwheel used two crumb squares.

Full block

Once I added the green fabric and stitched the pinwheels, I had to decide how to set them. As I laid out the blocks, I thought about corner stones in the sashing. Plain cornerstones weren't interesting enough.

I had a little pile of leftover pinwheels which I had stored in my "parts" box. These finished to about two inches. From time to time, I make blocks from bits while I'm pondering solutions to a challenge. Sometimes, mindless sewing opens my mind to interesting solutions! It is also fun to incorporate parts sewn during those mindless sewing sessions into a project. I also use those ready made parts to audition design elements. Some parts are petted and auditioned many times!

These pinwheels started as trimmed triangles. Rather than throw the bits away, I stitched them into HSTs. I stitched four HSTs into a pinwheel. I decided repeating the pinwheel shape was the best option for cornerstones.  

Choosing the sashing took me a long time. In the end, I decided a dark purple would make the green triangles pop the best and also play nicely with all the fabrics in the

Pinwheel cornerstone

crumb part of the larger pinwheels. To preserve the pinwheel points from getting covered with the binding, I added a narrow border of the purple fabric.

For the backing, I used a single pink print fabric. Often, I piece the back; but, not this time. I layered the pieces and pin basted. I completed the ditch quilting and was ready to practice feather quilting. I drew a lot of feathers on paper to practice the shape. To keep my feathers somewhat consistent, I used a chalk pencil and drew the center spine. Then I quilted the feathers. With practice, my feather shapes improved which was one of my goals! I used a green Highlights polyester thread made by Superior Threads for the quilting.

Soon enough it was time to practice quilting leaves. My goal was to be able to quilt a leaf shape in any direction and in a variety of sizes. I wanted the leaves to be background texture so I chose a polyester Floriani thread that was a similar color to the purple sashing fabric.

It took a long time to quilt all those small leaves. However, I am now comfortable quilting leaves of various sizes and

View of the binding and leaf quilting

shapes as a background filler! The time I spent quilting the background while long was worth the effort!

Once I had blocked the quilt, I had planned to bind the quilt in the dark purple fabric that I had used as sashing. I auditioned the binding. While it was a suitable choice, it didn't speak to me. I inserted a strip of the lime green fabric between the border and the binding and liked what I saw. 

I added the green strip to be part of the binding and then I machine stitched it to the quilt. I added the label to the back of the quilt. I pulled the binding to the quilt front and topstitched the binding to complete the binding process. I like the bit of pop that the tiny strip of green adds to the feeling of the quilt.

I finished this project in April of 2013. I noted on the label that it took me eight hours to piece and 21 hours to quilt! I note that I didn't include the inspiration behind the quilt so this blog post will provide the prominence regarding why I made it.  I've enjoyed seeing it hang in my living room this month. At some point, it will be a baby quilt. For now, it is in my personal collection!

The label

Regarding the Covid pandemic:

Worldwide:

12.5M confirmed cases; 6.89M recovered; 560K deaths

U.S.:

3.92M confirmed cases; 970M recovered; 137K deaths

Oregon:

11,454 confirmed cases; 275,316 negative tests; 232 deaths

We are hearing information that the virus can be spread airborne indoors because the droplets stay suspended. Recommendations include opening windows, employing air purifying systems and wearing a mask to be safer. 

The Oregon numbers represent a 51% increase in covid cases since last week. The media reports the cause of the increase as work related and community exposures.

At the hospital where I've been testing the physical CPR skills, I've learned that many of the workers have socially isolated themselves to include their work pods since mid-March. They have limited their contact with friends and family so that limit an outside exposure to contracting covid. Their goal is to continue providing healthcare to our community.

My supervisor said that she had read a story from the University of Washington regarding mask wearing. The statistic in the story was that if 95% of the U.S. population wore masks in public, the death rate would fall to less than 150,000. Seems like wearing a mask would be a no brainer. Unfortunately, people are not wearing a mask nor are they social distancing.

Finished quilt

I am wearing my mask in public. I continue to social distance. I continue to miss my grandkids and members of my quilting community. Phone calls, e-mails, FaceBook, FaceTime and Zoom are good; but, I miss actual interactions.

Protestors have protested for 44 consecutive nights. The Federal Government has been employed to protect the federal buildings, federal property and federal employees on order from President Trump. An employee tried to stop a protestor from causing damage to the Federal building with a sledge hammer. The protestor assaulted the employee with the sledge hammer. Other employees suffered injuries from protestors hurling objects at the employees. 

There were reports that protestors have thrown "milkshakes" at officers. The "milkshakes" contained a quick drying cement type product. Police have been pepper sprayed, punched and one officer suffered head injuries when hit in the head with a projectile.

This week the head of the police union issued a vote of no confidence saying the Portland mayor and city council does not support the police department. The mayor responded saying it was the police department's job to restore order and that he had supported their efforts. The city council responded similarly. 

Year End Accounting

At the beginning of each year, I make a plan on what projects I want to finish. This year, I also made a goal of using 50 yards of fabric from my stash.

I wanted to quilt these:
Butterfly:
It's pieced. I just need to figure out the quilting!

















BOM: I wanted to embroider words as one of the borders. . .well, I still want to; but, need to be more proficient at the embroidery!










Chickens--this was a BOM from about 2007! I have most of the applique done. Need to put the blocks together and finish the applique that crosses over the blocks.

There are also some smaller projects; but, enough of what didn't get done as this is supposed to be a blog about FINISHING! :)
By the way, I plan to leave ALL of these projects on the list for next year!













I did quilt these:

Pinwheel Twist
made from some old blocks. . .hmmm the story could be a future blog!

Blueberry Lime. I blogged about it here and here.

Dad's Stars. I blogged about it here and here. 

Ouch:A book club quilt for the book, "Jane."


Ripples: A book club quilt for the book, "The Husband's Secret." I blogged about it here.

Pathways: A book club quilt for the book, "Wild." I blogged about it here.

Joy One. I had LOADS to blog about the words here and here!

Joy Two: You can read about it here and here.

Circus quilt. This is a raffle quilt for a small group that I'm part of. I completed all of the machine applique. 

Positively: A book club quilt for the book, "Where Lilacs Still Bloom." You can read about the process here, here and here.

The grands wanted pajamas and dresses/outfits. Of course, I obliged! You can read about the cape here. Last week, I blogged about the jean skirt and pajamas I stitched from fabrics that the grands had picked. You can see those photos here.

Four of the pillow cases that we stitched.

The granddaughters and I stitched 26 pillowcases. My goal was 24; but, the grands got excited with the fabric selection so we made extra. We donated 21 to a transition house. The oldest granddaughter can't understand that some kids might not have a pillowcase of their own. She likes picking the fabrics!

The liner and cover

I also made 14 hot/cold rice packs. These are gifts for family and friends. 

Rice Pack ready to use!

I embroidered 45 tea cup luggage tags as gifts for the Spring retreaters. Then I embroidered about a dozen more just for gifts!!

The theme for the Spring Retreat was "Tea for 42" so I made the tea cup luggage tags; but the other luggage tags were just too cute to not stitch!

There was also that special stocking.

I used about 65 yards of fabric from my stash. I replaced at least 15 yards; but I do have a little more space in my fabric tubs. The emphasis here is "little." My stash needs more thinning! 

A highlight of the year was working with a small group and working through The Artist's Way exercises. I found the group input helpful and inspiring. It has been about six months since we met; but, I'm still following my plan. . .well, at least, I'm planning and working towards goals! It has been a great year! Now to refine my plans and make 2016 an even more productive year!