Quilting in the Fog!

It finally happened.

I FINALLY found the time to finish loading the Nearly Lemoyne quilt, and start the quilting process.

You know, I really did have a ball making these blocks.  

My concentration was on matching up unlikely pairs in each block.  Some of the strips had come from Jelly Rolls, and we all know that narrow strips don't always work well with sideways directional and large prints.  

So I stopped focusing on the print itself, and instead played with the colors, just finding two colors that I liked together, no matter if there were chopped up butterflies in my block or not! 

(The top left block with the teal was matched to a hard to use jelly roll strip of not-whole butterflies.)

Standing back a way, they don't look too bad!

I also tried to use the strip until it is gone -

No short strip going back in the strip bin.

That meant that if the strip was used in position A in one block, there would be room for the rest to be used in position B in a second block and paired with a different fabric for that go round.

This is more chopped up butterflies, in a different color range.  Again - a Jelly roll strip.

And I did find that when using a jelly roll strip, I needed to measure and trim it to 2 1/2'', getting rid of excess pinking along the way if the strip was not accurately 2 1/2''.  

Which to me defeats the whole purpose of purchasing jelly rolls in the first place.  If they aren't 2 1/2'' - and are too narrow, I end up trimming them down to 2'' and storing them in a different bin.  If they are bigger than 2 1/2'' I have the work of trimming them down to a correct size anyway.

And then you end up with the same print in 4 different colorways, and I don't really want to quadruple a print in the same quilt.....so....

Some oldies, some goodies.

Some newbies and some "Why do I even have this?!"

The actual quilting didn't start until mid afternoon, so I didn't even make it to half-way yet.  That will continue today I hope.

And as to that fog mentioned in the title of this post?

The fog was THICK in the morning - by the time I was heading to the QPO it had thinned a bit, and I love how ethereal it makes the woods look.

I stopped at the hairpin turn toward the top of the drive and took this shot from the van with my window down.

Fog always feels like a hug to me.  Everything is surrounded in softness.

It had all burned off by about 11am, so I was glad to catch this bit.

And according to my friend Martha "You can count the number of snowy days through the winter by the number of foggy mornings you have in the fall."

If that is the case, we are in for a doozy.  I'll have to take that up with the next Woolly Bear caterpillar I came across and see if he has heard differently.

This is Lola.  Mimicking ME!

We were two pooped out girls last night.

When I got home, the Hubster was up the mountain on the RZR playing mountain man.  I think it had something to do with trail cams and tree stands - I just nod my head and smile when he tells me about it.

I could have gone straight to the basement sewing room and spent more time on that green string thing - but there were 4 large tubs of clothes and coats and other winterwear from Wednesday's Wallburg run to deal with.

I have another bag for donation.

A girl doesn't need 6 pair of fingerless gloves.  Or 14 scarves.  I figure they can keep other people warm so those along with hats, more shoes, and other warm clothing articles will be dropped off the next time I am in town.

And yes - it feels lighter.  Those empty bins went back to the garage for the next trip to Wallburg.

For those asking why we didn't just hire a truck and do it all at once - mostly it's because I need the private time to do this myself.  It's a healing thing. Small manageable trips are showing me that I can do this in baby steps.  Not everything has to be done all at once.

I haven't made it to the kitchen yet - there is a set of "every day" style Christmas stoneware plates/bowls/cups that I am toying with donating if son Jeff doesn't want them.  I've had them more than 25 years. He grew up with them.  I would switch out and start using those on Black Friday all the way to New Years.

But that was MY tradition - not necessarily his and he is not obligated to add more stuff to his life. I do not want to guilt my kids into taking on my excess stuff.

And then there is the pink depression glass that I have been collecting for decades.  And the.....well, you know how it goes.

Which is why I am doing this one room at a time, one area at a time - baby steps.

Verilyn's Punkin Patch quilt from String Frenzy!

She writes: "Love this Pumpkin Patch!!

I do too!! Love the purple and blue pulled into that checkerboard border!

Karen Lieberman's Punkin Patch quilt!

"Yay! My daughter's pumpkin quilt is finished! I'm sending it to her tomorrow. It has a pieced backing that's kind of like a second quilt. "

Oh this is fun! I love this creative backing!

Robin's Hunter's String Star!

If you purchase String Frenzy containing the full sized Punkin' Patch pattern through the Quiltville Store, you will also receive a bonus PDF of my Hunter’s String Star quilt pattern.

Robin writes:

"Red and white Hunter’s String Star! Approximately 80” X 96”.

This was a design by Bonnie K. Hunter. QUARANTINE QUILT #7"

She has been a busy girl!! I love it!

Peggy's Appalachian Autumn top!

"Hi Bonnie, just finished my quilt top. Thank you so much for the wonderful pattern. It’s one of my favorite quilts I’ve ever done."

Peggy Bruns
Scottsdale and Pinetop, Arizona

Absolutely gorgeous, Peggy!!

And of course, the PDF patterns for both the Punkin Patch table runner (Only $5.00 through October!) and Appalachian Autumn are available in the Digital Patterns section of the Quiltville Store.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Robbng Peter to Pay Paul quilt found in North Carolina 

When you choose to see the good in others, you end up finding good in yourself. 

I am wishing you a happy quilty Friday, and a wonderful weekend ahead!