What We’re Working on

 We are back at it, or is it still at it? Anyhow, we are working away at more quilts for our Prayers and Squares ministry at the church. It is only the second week in January and we already have 2 quilts going out. This lovely one, all in blues, is for a friend of one of our ladies.  I don’t have a picture of the fully finished quilt, unfortunately. The recipient is having surgery soon. She generously donated a bunch of fabrics to us last year and she is getting some of them back in the form of this quilt. The other quilt going out is for a gentleman, using up some of our wildlife panels. 

And then there are quite a few in progress. We’ve been getting together for an extra day the past couple of weeks in order to try and put some order into our fabric supplies and also to cut up some kits that are easily worked on by our members.  Janet is working on this one from the overflowing 2 1/2 inch strip bin. And I continue to work on quilts at home. The sampler I’ve been doing for the past couple of months is to the binding stage. And then I’m also working on a quilt using earth tones. It is still in need of some borders. Now that the sampler is done, this one might be next in the line up to get finished. There are others in progress as well from the other ladies in our group, but I don’t have photos of them as yet.

I used to link up every week on Wednesdays, when I did a post that is, to a link party called mid week makers. She is no longer hosting link ups, so I’ve been looking around for other link ups. This week I’ll link up to Finish or not Friday. The theme fits, since some quilts will be finished and others not. And it also works well for timing, with our sewing days on Thursdays, which gives me the time and the incentive to get a post written. I am hoping to be more regular about it, both the post writing and especially the picture taking. We’ll see if the intention outlasts January.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I ended the year 2024’s slow stitching with a finish. All other stitcheries were put on hold while I worked on a new pair of mittens. Somewhere over the course of time since last winter I lost one of the mitts that made up the pair of my old driving mittens, which necessitated the new ones. Hence the rush to get them finished. Here they are, already worn and used a number of times. And since those are finished, I was able to get back to my cross stitching of the Jackrabbit for the series “A Year in the Woods” by Cottage Garden Samplings. He is very cute and also handsome, for a jackrabbit. 

I’ll link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then I have to go back to the dreaded task of finishing up some seat cushion covers for one of the school’s class rooms. I was asked to do these several months ago and in a moment of not thinking it through, I said yes. I’ve been putting it off and putting it off and decided that they have to be finished before school is back tomorrow. There were six of them to do. I’ve been working on them since last Monday. I'm about an hour away from finishing the last of them. It has been a week of sewing on nothing but these cushions, at home at least, and I am more than ready to get back to sewing on fun stuff. 

What we’re working on

 The year is finished and our final tally for quilts given away in 2024 is 50. For our little group of at most, 12 ladies, that is an incredible accomplishment. The last couple of quilts for the year are pictured here. The landscape improvisational quilt was made by a lady in our group who is very new to quilting and up until doing this one had not even considered herself a quilter. She started her journey by putting borders onto quilt panels. But I would say we got her in the end and she now qualifies as a quilter. The last quilt to go out used up some fun bird print squares.

 I’m continuing to work on projects here at home. There is a quilt as I go sampler featuring blocks designed by Pat Speth, that is half finished. And another quilt called Cross Creek which is a quilt along from Pat Speth. The pattern is found here.

Our group is in the middle of planning and cutting kits for this year and I think our focus is going to be on using up a mountain of scraps and strips. We have received some very generous donations of fabrics, both yardage and smaller bits which we need to focus on using up. So, be prepared to see a variety of scrap quilts presented here this coming year, in addition to some very lovely wildlife panels. Marg finished this one last Thursday. It will go into the pile that need layering and quilting. And that’s it for now.