SAL progress, and gift exchanges

Earlier this year I mentioned a SAL Lori, at Humble Quilts blog,  was hosting. She is making red and neutral Tree of Life blocks--2 per month for the year (intro to SAL HERE, instructions for block HERE). I wanted motivation to work on a two-color quilt I have in the works, so though I am using a different block and a different color, I decided to join in on her schedule. (The house placement didn't look so tipsy until I looked at them in this post.)

I started out making house blocks from a magazine pattern about 4 years ago, and only had 5 made when I bought the AccuQuilt Schoolhouse die. They are 1 1/2 inches smaller than the first 5 blocks, but I get them made much quicker. You can see how I am toying with ways to fit the mismatched sized blocks together in a type of center "medallion". The rest of the quilt will have sashing and cornerstone blocks, like the original magazine pattern I started making.

The quilt shop over the mountain (Village Dry Goods) has added a large classroom area, and once a month they host something there that they call "Chitchat, Finish That." Ruth, a good friend from my guild, and I tried it for the first time this month.

It can accommodate about 20 people, but there were only around 15 there this time. I took the photo when a few were still at lunch. It is a great space, with ironing stations, and a large cutting table--and the table in the center was for shared snacks. I like that there is a shelf above each table. A nice place for your phone, and drink, without losing them in the clutter, or spilling on your project.

My earlier efforts on this house quilt had yielded 16 blocks, but I haven't made any in the last couple of years. So last week I got my six house blocks for the SAL from January through March completed during the 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. "Chitchat" timeframe. I made my first April block at home the next day, and I have my other April block, plus my first May block, cut and waiting. I will be caught up very soon.

Ruth and I agreed that it was well worth the $10 fee to have a dedicated day to be able to really focus and make good progress without the distractions that surround you at home. I will be out of town on the next  Chitchat day in May, but we have already secured our spots for June.

I don't often post gifts from other bloggers, but I just have to share the amazing things that came home with me from Australia and New Zealand. Seeing it all together took my breath away.

   L to R: Chooky, Lou, Janice

    L to R: Julie, Raewyn, Betty

Thanks to everyone--can't say that enough! I love it all, and I have to mention some things that are missing from the photos. Raewyn and I have the same auto-immune disease, and when I was diagnosed, she gave me a lot of good advise. So along with the tea towel (I love getting tea towels from the places we visit) and the cute kiwi bag she made, she had also baked a banana cake and a batch of ginger cookies for me. I love home baked goods, but usually only eat what I bake, due to the precautions you must take with celiac disease. But I knew I could trust Raewyn's baking, and I was excited to have baked goods again after two weeks without. I tore into the banana cake with my bare hands on the spot (Raewyn and Julie can attest to that). I also nibbled on ginger cookies all evening and had them for breakfast the next morning. I should have taken photos before I started consuming. Right above Raewyn's gift is Lou's, and you may be able to tell that the jar of homemade jam is not full. That was hubby's doing. He had dipped into it before I could get a photo. Lovely jam. (And that Tim Tam package is empty, but I saved it for the photo. I can't get the gluten free ones here, so it was a treat to eat them while I could.) It is all so thoughtful, from the teeny Japanese house pincushion Julie made, to the local-themed fabrics, bag, and everything in between. Thank you, my friends!

This is the only sewing I did through January and February. Two of then stayed here in the states as gifts for friends, but the rest of them came with me on the cruise. They were in little gift packages that I forgot to photograph, so I lifted the photo below from Julie's blog. If you read her post about our visit, you will know that she lifted a photo from my blog for her post, so this makes me chuckle. :) Thanks, Julie, for sharing this photo. (Her backdrops are always so much prettier than mine.)

If you follow Julie's blog you will know right away why I made her mug rug in the soft floral prints, rather than the bold polka dots. 

One more thing to mention about gifts. My friend, Kris, at Lavender Quilts blog, is a generous gifter. Recently I received a box that contained a Block-of-the-month type kit. Monthly patterns came with the fabrics you needed. Kris figured I wouldn't make the quilt (the blocks are 12" and that is a little large for me) but she knew the fabrics were right up my alley. So I have her okay to offer the pattern to anyone who thinks they might like to make the quilt, or just use the block patterns in some other setting, making them with their own fabrics. The back of each monthly pattern has information about a General's wife from the Civil War. All of the fabric requirements, cutting and assembly instructions are included. And though I couldn't find a finished quilt size anywhere, based on the cutting of the final borders, it should finish just under 90" square. You could make the last border a little wider to go over the 90" mark. Remember, this giveaway is for the patterns only--no fabrics.

Mention in a comment if you are interested. If there is more than one interested party, I will draw a name in a week or so.

Until next time,

Be creative, and be kind.

Janet O.

A couple of days after we returned from our trip, I caught this sunrise.

Come Saturday Morning

(With apologies to writers Dory Previn and Fred Karlin, and recording artists "The Sandpipers" for all the times I made the word "friend" plural in their song.)

Come Saturday morning (Saturday, March 1st, Sydney Australia), 

L to R: Betty, Janice, Chooky, Leah (Chooky's friend--no blog), Stephanie, Loi and Kevin (my friends and traveling companions), Hubby Gregg, Me, Julie (Chooky's friend and "neighbor" that sometimes joins her in the Chookshed during our Zoom sessions--aka Jules). We all enjoyed lunch and visiting at City Extra at Circular Quay.

I'm going away with my friends.

A Harbor cruise past the Sydney Opera House, and Jules and I dipped our toes in the ocean at Manly Beach, while Janice cheered us on. (How did my pants get so wet if I just dipped my toes?)

We'll Saturday spend till the end of the day.

Leah, Jules, Janice, Betty, Steph, Chooky on the Harbor Cruise to Manly Wharf.

Just I and my friends,

Steph, Betty, Janice, Jules, and Chooky among the flowers outside the Customs House, and Janice, Steph and Chooky listen to the piano player in the QVB.

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles.

Traveling in Sydney, and then dining and visiting back at my hotel.

And then we'll move on,

But we will remember,

Long after Saturday's gone.

The last remaining gals say goodbyes outside my hotel before their Uber picked them up. We had so much fun together. It was an amazing day.

Come Saturday morning (poetic license here--this was Tuesday, March 11, Timaru, New Zealand)

Lou took us to a fun town, Geraldine, and The Geraldine Cheese Company has great ice cream! She knew all the right people and places, and we felt well cared for. She was a delightful guide and fun companion, and felt like an old friend.

I'm going away with my friend.

At the Timaru Botanical Garden--beautiful birds and plants. 

We'll Saturday laugh more than half of the day,

After two fabric stores, ice cream, a couple of other shops and a walk about in the Timaru Botanical Garden, we wet our whistle at a local pub near our shuttle bus pickup. Lou had a hot chocolate, while hubby and I got cold sodas. We know how to party!

 
Just I and my friend, Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things,

Final farewells at the shuttle pickup.

And then we'll move on, but we will remember long after Saturday's gone.



Come Saturday morning (Saturday, March 15, Tauranga, New Zealand), Come Saturday morning,

Me, Raewyn, and Julie on a walk around The Mount in Tauranga.

Come Saturday morning, just I and my friends.

Liquid refreshment and a good chat. So easy to visit, like we had known each other forever.

We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles.

A view from our walk, and the Mount in the background when we finished.

And then we'll move on,

Wading at the beach.

But we will remember

Raewyn found a live starfish, and we each had a fully intact sand dollar by the time we finished our shoreline walk in the water.

Long after Saturday's gone.

Come Saturday morning.

Saying goodbyes as we go our separate ways.

                                                                   

Hubby and I spent an epic two weeks in Australia and New Zealand with a couple of our friends. During that time I had the rare opportunity and privilege of meeting up with nine lovely women, most of whom I had already met online via Chooky's Zoom sessions, some of whom I had already "known" for many years through their blogs. What a treat it was, and my deepest thanks go out to all who made the effort and took the time from busy schedules to spend a few hours with me. I will hold these memories dear!

Until next time,

Be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

Sunset over the Rocky Mountains from the airplane window as we approach home.

 

Still kickin'!

For some time now I have been telling myself that I need to write a post, but then I did't feel like I had much to share. The bulk of the sewing I have done this year is stuff I cannot yet reveal. But when I looked back at my last post, I was not pleased to see I hadn't posted since December!?! Yikes! Well this post will be brief, because hubby and I are about to take off on another adventure, and I need to get some sleep before morning comes.

I am happy to report that the basket blocks from Grace (citymousequilter blog) have been sewn into a top. I had to change the setting triangles from what I had shown before, due to a cutting error on my part. But I like the new fabric choice.

I debated border vs. no border, and I think I have settled on no border. As is, it will hang nicely in my sewing room. Any larger, and I don't have a place to hang it. Thank you for the lovely baskets, Grace!

The next thing up on the design wall is the house blocks I started in 2021, I believe. You may notice that there are two sizes of blocks on the wall. 

I started out using a magazine pattern, and then ended up buying the AccuQuilt die. It cuts smaller blocks, but I have a plan to incorporate both sizes in the same quilt, loosely following the same layout in the pattern I used when I started out.

Lori, of Humble Quilts blog, is hosting a SAL of an entirely different 2 color quilt, making 2 blocks per month. When I return from my adventure, I plan to join the SAL, using this block instead. It will get me close to the number of blocks I need if I can stay with it through the year.

This is nothing new, but it is new that I am actually using this quilt on my bed. I made the top many years ago when Randy (Barrister's Block blog) hosted a SAL.

This is made entirely from men's thrift store shirts. I enjoy looking closely at the fabrics in each block. I should have known better and turned the baskets the other way. I always like the longest measurement of a quilt across the width of the bed. So I have two baskets on their side. Can you find them both?

We have had some snow lately, and with the moisture in the air, and then the very cold temperatures at night, we had some lovely hoarfrost one recent morning. It turns everything into an enchanting fairyland, IMHO.

That is not snow on the branches. It is all hoarfrost on the trees, but it is snow on the ground. :)

And when you get really close, you can see the crystals that have formed and are sticking out in every direction. The following photos are of the miniature lights that were still wrapped around our deck railing, until yesterday.

Everything gets a fuzzy white coating.

It is magical to me.

That had better be it for now. Sorry I don't have time to link up to the blogs I have mentioned. It is late and I still have much to do.

If all goes as planned, I will be meeting up with 6 other quilt bloggers on this grand adventure! Can't wait!!

Until next time, be creative and be kind!

Janet O.