Chasing squirrels

 Well, hello everyone! Been a couple of weeks, hasn't it? Sometimes life is more complicated than we want it to be, and really, I would swear it's only November first. Wasn't Halloween yesterday? In the last couple of weeks, I pieced a queen-sized quilt (which is a Christmas present, so it will be shown in January), visited a quilty friend, worked more than I can say, had about 50,000 meetings, and also managed to sleep a little. And, hey, the furniture that we ordered in April finally came! So if I need a nap, there's a place for that!

So, while I was piecing my gift quilt, I also veered off in a squirrelly direction or two. Several bloggers, including Julie, Wanda, and Nancy, are making Gridlock quilts, from a pattern by Kaffe Fassett. It happens that I need a quilt for myself, and you know what happens when a squirrel bites, so. . .

 

Yep, those are the first few blocks I've made for my very own Gridlock quilt. Once I saw Julie's and clicked through to the others, there was really nothing I could do but go and get the required book from the library (the only Kaffe book my branch had, too), start sorting fabrics, and start stitching. It just had to happen!

I need a backdrop for Zoom calls and classes, because I've rearranged the guest room where I taught last year and I don't necessarily want people staring at the bed in there (even though it's covered with a lovely quilt), plus I have a lot of leftover neutrals, so I was looking for a pattern for a neutral quilt. This one won't be as colorful as the others, but I think it will make a lovely backdrop.

 

I'm sorry to admit that the squirrels have run rampant in other ways, too. Last weekend Gudrun Erla had a one-day quilt-along with her new Phoenix pattern, and while I couldn't quilt along, I did pretty much assemble the whole top for that one, too. I just have a couple of blocks to go, so that will be finished soon, too.

 

I really don't know what got into me, but a while ago I purchased a bundle of towelling fabric, which I have never bought before. It sat and sat, and then last week I was bored so I just grabbed it, squared the ends, and hemmed the darned things. They are fantastic! I don't know why I waited so long to do them, but they work great. The hemming was super-simple, too. 

So that's my story for the last couple of weeks-- just work and chasing squirrels. At least they're friendly! Plus, even though I have to be stuck at work *a lot* right now, I get to enjoy this lovely view:

The view from my office, with the rain moving out.

Hope you all have had a good week and have some lovely views of your own, and not too many squirrels. The only way to get rid of them is to make the dang things, you know? Happy weekend!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Oh Scrap!

Twisting and turning

 Hi everyone! How are you all? Thanks so much for your good wishes about my foot last week. It is doing much, much better, thanks. Turns out that if you actually sit down and put your feet up like you're supposed to, your foot gets better. Who knew?

So I was able to get down to the sewing room this week, and while I was down there, I finished piecing together the Snail's Trail quilt top. Yay me! Here she is:

 

 

Yahoo! If you recall, this top is made entirely of scraps from my very full blue and neutral scrap bins. Unbelievably, even with all the fabric that this top took to make, the scrap bins seem to be just as full as ever. I used a whole bunch of different neutrals, and I used the dark and medium-ish blues. I still have a bunch of light blues to use up and am going to need a few good ideas for that project.

The Snail's Trail blocks look really intricate, but they are very easy to piece. I borrowed an Accuquilt die from a friend to do most of the cutting, then added a last round to make the blocks bigger with some more cutting. The die cutting made things really easy, and it all went together really well. The borders are strings left over from cutting the block pieces. Hey, it worked and it used up a bunch more scraps! The final outer border is the leftover pieces from trimming the backing on another quilt. They were long and skinny and found a good home here. I plan to use a scrappy blue binding to finish everything off.

 

I thought I was super lucky while I was making the blocks, because there is no matching to be done. Then I started stitching them together into rows and holy cow, those points are zero fun to match. Don't look too closely, because a lot of them don't match up. I gave up after a while, and it's a scrap quilt anyway, so there's a few places where I should have gone back and ripped out the seam and restitched it, but I just didn't.

 

 

For this quilt, my only real concern in assembling both the blocks and the final quilt top is that I didn't want any of the same fabrics touching each other. Amazingly, I think I managed that, which I think means that each of the blocks has scraps of at least 20 different fabrics in it. I was able to use up a bunch of little pieces, and the only trouble I really had was the larger outside pieces. Most of my scraps are actually small, so finding big enough scraps for the outer pieces was a bit difficult. There are a couple where the grainlines aren't what they should be, but I won't tell if you won't.

 

So there we are, another finished top, and a bunch of scraps turned into a quilt. Hurray! Now, what should I do with those light blues? 

Have a wonderful weekend, and if you have any good ideas for the lights, let me know! I'll be resting my foot again this weekend, which is just my way of saying that I'll be reading on the sofa. It's a good excuse!

 

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, Oh Scrap! and the Patchwork and Quilts party.

Challenge met

 Hi everyone, and welcome to December, the last month of this wretched year. Has winter arrived in your area? I understand many places have had snow. We haven't had snow, but we did have a lot of rain and it's gotten a good bit chillier. I am not up for this, I have to confess. It seems like the cold is just 2020 piling on. I really dislike beaches (sand is just dirt, you know) but for maybe the first time ever I feel like a beach would be a good idea. This year has definitely turned everything upside down.

By the time you read this, I will have taught my last class for 2020. Yahoo! Let the chorus of Hallelujah begin! We still have finals next week, but my exams are all written and so for the next few days I am relaxing just a tiny bit for what feels like the first time since July. As a part of this new relaxation regime, I finished off the Color Challenge blocks this afternoon after class:

To be clear, I only made the red ones today. The "buff" ones were for November, though somehow they never got posted. Oh, well! I know the December block just came out yesterday, but there it was, all ready to make, so why not? It was easy enough, though it did involve a lot of pieces. I'm not sure I like either of these blocks, but they're finished, so let's call that good. No fair checking the points on those blocks, either.

And speaking of finished, here are all of the 2020 blocks:

Twenty four finished, colorful blocks! The question now is how to set them. I'm thinking that I should make one more block and set these five by five, just like they're shown here. The other option is to just set them four by six, which might make for a better donation quilt. Thoughts?

I'm so happy to have finished these off and be at this stage, and I can't believe I kept up with it! Seems like a miracle right now. And I'm really, really happy to have spent some time in the sewing room today. A little relaxation is good, right?

Hope you are all having a relaxing day and are getting some stitches in, too. And maybe dreaming of beaches. . .

Sharing at  Midweek Makers at at Patterns by Jen for her linkup.