Spring has come! The cherry blossoms are getting ready to bloom in Washington, DC and our front yard. It will be beautiful once the blooms come. Tonight I noticed there were some blooms and surprisingly some were already on the ground. Must have been the wind. Although it has been a nice week weather-wise I spent a lot of time in my studio. It's been a good week getting my goals done. Here's my list from last week.
3/17/25
✅Quilt another of my quilts — quilting done, binding to come.
✅Start sewing March UFO blocks together — the half log cabin blocks are now a top!
✅Bind baby quilt — done!
Make a couple of placemats — didn’t get to this one.
✅Finish sewing the lining in the needlepoint scissors case — finished this cute little case.
Here's last week's quilt. It hasn't been trimmed or bound -- that's for this coming week's goals. This is Pat Sloan's pattern, Traffic Jam. I changed it to use 2" squares since I had a bunch of them to use up.
The quilting design is Saffron Blossom by Apricot Moon. One of the things I added to this quilt is a lot of little squares that have surprises in them: an elephant, a fish, a mouse. Any little animal I had in my collection of 2" squares I threw in. Whoever receives this quilt will find a lot of cuteness among the squares. On Sunday afternoon I finished my March UFO top. It is my half log cabin. Here's the quilted top. I haven't even trimmed it yet. It's on the goals list for this week.
I've finally finished a cute needlepoint scissors case. This was a freebie project from a cruise many years ago. The project came completely finished except the needlepoint design. I've been working on it for at least 5 years. I finished the needlepoint last year. I knew I would need to line it to protect my scissors from the stiff needlepoint canvas. Here's what the out side looks like.
The design is stitched with floss rather than tapestry wool. I'm happy to have this one finished. I knew the needlepoint canvas would be rough on my scissors so I lined it with some velvet like fabric. We took another cruise on the same line with stitching sessions on sea days so I got a new project. It's suppose to be a glasses case but I've dismantled it so I can use it on a tote bag I'll make for it when it's finished. And here's the inside of the scissors case.
Now on to this week's goals. It took me a while to come up with this list. I decided not to make it too long this week.
3/24/25
Make 2 RSC yellow blocks
Quilt and bind one of my quilts
Mail blocks to FCQ Equilter
Cut out a new quilt
If I make it through this list I have another top for the quilt guild. Or perhaps I'll quilt another of my tops. I have 28 tops waiting to be quilted. Did you notice the purple backing on my quilt up there? ⬆️ There's a big piece left over. I've used almost 5 yards of the original 15 but I'm going to have a lot of scraps and pieces leftover.
Another great week stitching every day. Here are the stats:
W/ending 3/23/25. 82 days of 2025
- 15 minute days/Mar = 7/7
- 15 minute days/2024 = 82/82 days
- Success rate = 100%
Here are two more quilts from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. First up is On Eagles Wings by Beth Filko. Notice the use of string blocks.
I took this picture for a friend who enjoys doing wool work. I really liked it although I probably would never do anything like it.
On Saturday we volunteered at the local food bank to pack student food boxes. They are given to school kids to augment their family's food. We signed up for 2 hours but we were done in about an hour and a half. We and a group of students from Mary Washington Univ. packed enough boxes to fill 6 Gaylords. From what I found on line Gaylords can be 40 x 40 x 40" or bigger and generally are on a pallet so they can be transported by forklifts. After they were filled they are shrink wrapped to keep everything controlled. The staff was very happy we finished the packing early and had been cleaning up as we went along so there was no mess to clean up at the end. Pat already volunteers two times a month on weekdays. We might continue to volunteer on a Saturday each month if we can. Evidently weekend time slots fill up fast.
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Hum, there are several Gaylords behind me. Me keeping boxes on the line.
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I'm linking up with the following Linky parties:
That's it for me today.
Happy Quilting All! Bonnie
You definitely had a good week on the stitching and making progress fronts. Hopefully this week is just as productive. The scissor case is really cute, very smart to add that lining.
ReplyDeleteOh, the cherry blossoms must be ethereal. What a satisfying week -- quilting, armchair stitching, and the volunteer shift. Green checkmarks are good to see. My boxes of scrap squares are getting full. Traffic Jam would look good with any size......
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your goal list! I like the string block border on the veteran quilt, but I wonder why the quilter added the red strips across the panel.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your list accomplishments and the Traffic Jam quilt. Looks like a great way to use up scraps. :)
ReplyDeleteYour Traffic Jam quilt is delightful, Bonnie - hooray for the finish! I love the zipper case, too. How was it to sew a zipper all the way around? I am having a hard time picturing how to do that. The student food boxes sound like a program we have here called Kids Pak - provides weekly supplemental food for many students in our school district. That's wonderful that you and Pat are volunteering for them!
ReplyDeleteFirst I cracked up when you said spring had come because we just got another 3-4 inches of wet, heavy snow in northern Michigan. :l Then I was awed by the cuteness of your scissor pouch. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteJust in case you read your comments before you read your email: the 1/2 log cabin picture didn't make it! You're showing Traffic Jam in both the top shots.
ReplyDeleteI think those red strips are a unique way to expand the panel to fit the border stars. I've tucked that picture into three of my inspiration folders ("Strings", "Stars", and "focus-novelties-panels").
Carolyn
(2.5 hours later) Yay--THERE it is!
DeleteCarolyn
Traffic Jam is really an awesome way to use any size square you might collect. So pretty!! The wool jacket is sure pretty, but don't think I would have the patience to make one. In our community we have the Snack Pack program, and food for a weekend is packed into backpacks and kids in the program pick them up on Fridays as they leave school. Each of the schools, elementary through high school, has the program.
ReplyDeleteI was in DC in the Spring once in 1976 and saw the famous Cherry blossoms--amazingly beautiful! The Traffic Jam quilt is very cool!
ReplyDelete