Friday, January 16, 2015

Sickness and health

Hi all! I missed you Tuesday! My fault--I picked up a horrendous bug at my conference in Chicago that had me coughing my lungs out. I went to the doctor and she gave me some prescription cough syrup that took care of the cough but absolutely knocked me to the ground. I mean, I really couldn't do anything but sleep. Which was the best thing for me, after all, but it meant that absolutely nothing got done all week. So now that I can think coherently again, I'm behind on everything!

Once I was able to, I did do a little tiny bit of sewing and finished up these two beauties:



These are the last blocks for the Odd Fellow's quilt. When I laid it out I came up three blocks short. One was the reversed-values block and then these two. I think I was counting on having 12 months of colors and thus 24 blocks, but there were only 11 months. Doesn't matter because they're done now! I'm almost going to miss making these every month.

The other thing I did was make some string blocks, which will be one of my other projects for RSC15:



Yep, some of those strings are tiny! I've got to rethink what I save. These were inspired by Quiltdiva Julie and by the overflowing string bin. (Connie also makes a lot of great projects with strings.) If I can make a few a month I can clean out that bin and make some kind of quilt. No pattern or idea yet--we'll see what comes along. These are 6 1/2 inches right now and still have the paper on the back. (By the way, did you know that you can buy newsprint for paper piecing and strings by the ream for about $6? It's true. I bought some and it's just as great as the expensive stuff!)

The last thing I accomplished was to pull out these pieces for the last row of the winter quilt!


These will be a fun row of mugs with steam coming off them. Next week I will be a part of the blog hop for the finished version of this quilt, so I'd better get to putting those rows together!

Hope everyone stays really healthy this weekend. Wash your hands and drink lots of orange juice. I will be continuing to answer all the email that piled up. (I think I have 56 left to go.) And if you're not feeling great, I highly recommend the cough syrup. And lots of sleep!

Happy sewing!

Linking to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Amanda Jean at crazy mom quilts and also the awesome Angela at soscrappy.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better now. There are so many fun ways to use string blocks. I have one that I have been working on for quite a while and love the way it is turning out. I think it might be at the 1/2 point now? I have a ways to go.

Laura said...

Good for you getting a handle on your strings! Right now that is a wish of mind for 2016. No sense making another goal for 2015 unless I have a real shot at making it happen!

Patchwork Polly said...

Lovely stars! Am planning a starry quilt of my own for 2015.

Terri said...

I like your blocks, Sickness and Health...LOL. That grey does look like the flu. You did a great job piecing. I'd hate to make many more of those intricate blocks than one per.
Glad you are feeling better.
Hugs

quiltonia said...

My local paper sells the roll ends of newsprint for $4.00 and there is always a lot of paper on the roll.

Scrappy quilter said...

Your string blocks are great with wonderful material. I love making string quilts.

Sheila said...

Beautiful points on those first two blocks.
I've been making string blocks for a few years. They are pretty, versatile, and use up those scrappy trimmings. I know how you feel about saving very thin strings. I'm thinking inch wide strings is pushing it. A lot of work for only half an inch of fabric showing.

sunny said...

I love your string blocks! I always like the look of them, but I hate making them. But I probably should do them for the Rainbow challenge, shouldn't I?

Quilter Kathy said...

Love your Easy Street blog header photo!
Lovely blue string blocks... they add up quickly!

Nell's Quilts said...

Great finishes. Isn't it just too much fun putting together those string blocks. Love the blues!

Cathy said...

Odd Fellows is going to be a gorgeous quilt. I make donation quilts from string scraps. They go fast and are so versatile. I made a lot last year for RSC but haven't put them together yet.

Katie Z. said...

Your Odd Fellows are beautiful.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Thats pretty good progress - especially when you slept!! be proud!!

LA Paylor said...

I had that cold... coughed for three weeks. Lost energy for four. We better step on it to get a post done on that quilt girl! Good luck to both of us.
Leeanna

Jennie in GA said...

Nice work. Love the odd fellows blicks. And Thx for the tip on the paper! Hope you feel better soon!

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

You can't go wrong with string blocks in my book! And your other blocks are gorgeous too.