Record cold!

After having 2 snowstorms of 10 or so inches of snow each, the  polar vortex has descended upon us. I don't think I have ever had such cold temperatures. We have been at 20 -28 below zero with a wind chill from 50 to 60 below. I haven't even really checked the weather stations to see the record levels. But we haven't seen this cold since 1996.

And that means I have had 2 more days off school. So much for getting paid. And our internet, cable and phone were out for half of the day. What a day.

 But it does mean I have been home to do projects.  More sewing on the flannel side:

And several hours of hand embroidery.

And an afternoon of mending 2 pairs of pants, buttons on a jacket, pjs and  hems on pants. Not bad.


And I had a great meal with my daughter who oven roasted vegetables in a balsamic vinaigrette with honey sauce,  Even my spouse ate the butternut squash. And we had homemade buttermilk biscuits to go with it, too.

Snow day!

Well winter is indeed here in Wisconsin.  Last Wednesday we had 10 inches of snow and got to stay home.  And last night we had another big snowstorm and another day off.  That is a bench on my back porch and you can see the snow is up to the top in spots. The snow plow blocked the driveway on the pass later this morning. Fortunately, we had nowhere to go and we bought a new snow blower for this season. The previous one  was still working but over 40 years old from DH's dad.  The snow will shift as the winds approach . I just saw the news and it says almost 60 below chill factor on Wednesday morning.  It looks like a record. 

But  I have been working on a new project which involves Woolies fabric. I am slowly getting a few blocks done and some of the setting patchwork. This flannel is easy to work with. 

    

The Over the Moon pattern is below from Thimble Blossoms, but I am using the brown tweed in replace of the navy.  I had a Woolie layer cake to choose the plaids from. It was easy to order the pattern online. 

It feels good to work on the machine. 

Flower quilt along

Béa et Cécile Quilt-a-Long  is a group I joined 2 years ago online and happily made one of my all time favorite quilts,  The theme then was log cabin, and this year it is flowers.  I had intended and even started 3 blocks from Lori Holt's Bloom templates.

I fully intended on making a quilt such as this:

But it turns out I needed 3 sets of templates and I was barely progressing. 

So I sacked that idea and went searching for another:

I have liked the French roses quilts with raw edges for some time.  And then I recalled that I have a box of coordinated fabrics from Fig Tree quilts. I had finished 2 quilts using them.  So it was an easy switch

I drew my own pattern to fit a 6 inch block. 

And then cut 16 fabrics into each of the 3 petal shapes. Using glue stick I just applied them to my base blocks and then did a blanket stitch on my back-up sewing machine around all the edges and leaves. ( My Bernina 930 does not  have one. )

And the blocks are all made.  Now for a plan to put them together.

Here is one of the activities my grandsons so enjoy at my house:



We are helping with them 2 afternoons through bedtime after school and usually one overnight a week. They are precious to have and I have so much fun creating fun activities and using my teaching background to create things for them to do. Valentine projects on the brain at the moment.

And I have resorted to getting  my pictures from a different avenue than my phone. 

Posting problems

I have been trying for several days now to post pictures of my work from my phone.  It DOES NOT work.  I am wasting tons of time trying to get it to work.  UGHHH!

I select my photos and try to share on the blogger.  But it does not publish.

Near as I can tell it is something about a "location" thing below the message prior to the photos that is the issue. 

Any help?????

Retreat

I had the pleasure of 2 days away fully devoted to quilting and friends. I can't  tell what joy it was to be with such talented ladies sharing meals and ideas together.

We listened to old musicals and Broadway hits while hunkering down to our machines and tools creating quilts.

We had a great facility near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was a side by side new building each having room for 6 quilt/crafters which can be opened up to 12 all together.

We took turns with meals, snacks, and such and had a wealth of good food.

Here is the quilt I pieced together while there.  This is my RSC challenge from 2017.  Each month was a different color and I chose the  muted tones.  These are 2 of the blocks: each is a finished 6 inch block.  

I had completed 112 blocks of which I put together 108. All I worked on was sewing the finished blocks into a 9 x 12 arrangement, having laid them out on New Year's Day.  I need to check my corners and resew as needed, press well and then add the 3 inch half square triangle border. 

Here are a few of the projects the others were busy on: 

This is a Kaffe Fasset fabric collection. It is from a quilt store in Mukwonago called Quilt-agious and is featured on their website: http://www.quilt-agious.com, if you are interested. I don't know the pricing at all. 

The next is the beginnings of our guild's raffle quilt for 2020 featuring an Edita Sitar pattern from her book on Patches of Blues and the fabric line to go with it.  The outer border will be applique with lots of vines and small circles. ( I prepared 400 or so inches of bias strips.)

This is a T-shirt quilt by a friend for a nephew who attended Loyola University in Chicago.

I hated having to return home and go back to work.

Red stop signs

Red blocks  

I am pleased to say I have actually done quite a bit of quilting this weekend.

First I made 400 inches of blue bias tubes for applique. Here are the first group of them.

Second I laid out my RSC 2017 blocks and then forgot to take a picture.  They are all picked up and ready to piece into rows. 112 blocks made: 108 used. Each block is a different fabric and an additional 2 half square triangles were made per color.  I did make a row around the quilt, and have so many more left. 

Next week I am going on a quilt retreat for 2 days during the week. I am excited to be with friends and have uninterrupted quilting time. And this is the first project I want to finish there.  I am in a mood to get the UFOs going.

So my big almost finish:   I found a bag while sorting through various projects and found this:

Many moons ago, I had made a red and white quilt, and with the leftovers started this pattern from a Kim Diehl book. And there it sat. 

So I pressed it up and added an additional row of background blocks.  I knew I just wanted a little quilt for Valentine's Day.  And since the evening was still young I proceeded to quilt it with my walking foot. I just outlined the stop signs in rows.

Here is the back:

And here is the final product: each side is 21 inches long, made of 3 inch finished snowballs and 9 patch blocks. 

All that is left is to hand stitch the binding.  It shouldn't take too long.  

Any ideas for a name?