Libby's List of 12 in '21

Last year the S'mores were challenged to finish 20 projects in 2020.  This year we are going to work from a list of 12 projects with a number chosen at random each month.  While the goal should be to finish that project, my goal will be simply to move that project along toward completion.

So, here's my list:

I committed to make new green paraments for the church so that project needs to be finished by January 19.

Weaver Fever just needs a border  Easy peasy. 

For Wink & a Smile I plan to just finish what has been cut so it may end up a baby quilt or a lap quilt.  

Rhapsody has not been started, but it has been completely cut since February 2019.  It's a kit from Connecting Threads (I think) but I don't recall what size it should be.  Bright solids on a black background -- too pretty not to finish.

Granny's Stars was started in a class a couple of summers ago.  My plan is to finish what has been cut and call'erdun.

Barn Dance is a collection of different sized churn dashes that I started with leftover pieces from Long Time Gone (#11).  At this point there is no telling whether it will be a small quilt or a utility item.

Shadow of the Bear is another class start from a few years back.  The shadow blocks are done; I still need to make the log cabin blocks if I choose to follow the pattern.  But I could always add other alternate blocks and make a smaller quilt ... hmm ...

Tumbling Triangles is partially cut.  When that number is called I may be inspired to make the whole quilt, but I'm thinking it will probably become a table runner.

Glorified 9-Patch is yet another unfinished class project!  It's all cut; I just need to master the curved piecing.

Harriett's Legacy has shown up at the last two retreats.  It is a medallion style in 19th century repro prints so when I finish the next round of blocks I'll consider it done.

New Diehl Project - I've been collecting Kim Diehl/Henry Glass fabrics and want to put them into something but haven't chosen the pattern/project yet.

Long Time Gone is a Jen Kingwell design from a few years back.  I'm doing it in B/W/brights.  Major portions of it are done and I'll figure out a way to put them into some semblance of a small quilt.

Rainbow Radiance was started in a class with Donna Lynn Thomas.  It uses her special ruler which I don't remember how it works so this one may get scratched.  I'm sure I can find something to replace it!

So now that I've made my list public, youall can hold my feet to the fire!

The Secret Can Be Revealed

 The secret project I've alluded to for the last several months can now be revealed.

An oversized churn dash in a neon rainbow of colors ...

Gifted to the youngest grand ...

Mystery Solved

 Thank you, Ramona!

Last week I asked for help with a UFO.  

I thought I had been inspired by something I saw on Ramona's blog Doodlebugs and Rosebuds.  Initially she denied any knowledge of it, but a few days ago she remembered a project from April 2019.

Here's her block:

I had erroneously added folded corners on all four units rather than just the two with the large center square.  After seeing her finished project, I decided to make the green the prominent "chain".

Here's Ramona's ...

and here's where I am going with mine ...

I was ready to ditch the whole project, so Thank You, Ramona!  I don't know how big this will be.  At a minimum I will use the pieces I have already cut.  I think it will brighten somebody's room somewhere.

Tropicana

 A Long Tale of Two Quilts

It all began with a guild challenge around 2006.  The program topic was the color wheel and color theory.  

Above is the color wheel we all probably grew up with; you know, red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, etc.  You may not know that an expanded color wheel was developed in the printing industry known as the Ives color wheel or CMY (cyan/magenta/yellow).  This is the one I used.

Participants were all given the same line drawing of an 8x8 16" block but different color schemes. We were to interpret our assignment for the best effect of color and value pairings.  I don't remember exactly what my assignment was; I think it was either triadic or split complimentary with something analogous thrown in as well as an accent!  Whew!

Anyway, I used this fabric as my inspiration.

While most participants came up with a variation of a star for their block, I went to an interlocking design.

I liked my block so much that I decided to work it into a whole quilt.  Fast-forward to 2016 ...

As is often the case, I had lots of pieces and parts left over -- not enough to make Tropicana any bigger, but more than I wanted to trash so I held on to them until last week when I added some puss-in-the-corner blocks and threw this little gem together.

This one will go in the periwinkle guest bedroom.

Need Some Help

 I am hoping one of my readers will recognize this block.

I saw this quilt on someone's blog, either in late 2019 or early 2020.  I was immediately inspired and it appears I have a good portion, if not all, cut and ready to stitch.  All I have in the bag is a little sketch of a partial block and notes about how many pink and how many green units I intended to make.

I believe the objective is to look like twisted ribbons or interlocking links.  From my little sketch I think I have the units arranged correctly in a block, but I would like confirmation.  And knowing the name of the pattern and its source would be nice so that I can properly credit.

Since this is intended to be a scrappy quilt, I am sharing with Angela at ScrapHappy Saturday.

Did you feel the earth shake?

 It's my second post this week!

We had our first snow of the season overnight ...

The "holiday" cactus is loaded with blooms ...

I finished up a 36" x 36" baby quilt made from leftovers ... 

... and packaged up nine baby quilts to go to the guild comfort quilt committee.   We support a pregnancy center in the county.

I pulled another box of leftovers off the shelf and am auditioning fabrics to fill in the blanks ...

... trying to decide if I want to keep it square for another baby quilt or add some sashing and borders for a lap quilt as the colors don't say "baby" to me.

And in my spare time I inserted one square into the EPP project.

More on the EPP project next time.

French's Onions to the Rescue!

Last week was one of those where I spent more time in the car than I did in the sewing room. We had closed out the previous week with another gorgeous sunset on Saturday.

It was actually more like the pink reflected in the water.

I accompanied Alex back to Nashville for the CT scan on Tuesday and took advantage of the mileage to pick up the second Christmas quilt at the LAQ.  I managed to get the binding on and turned in record time.

Yes, same rainbow stripe on two quilts; they both will go into the washer and dryer later today.  Woohoo, two gifts off my list!

I tried to get a bit of time in the studio each day and my eclectic design wall shows some of the results.

I finished two more monster blocks.  That colorful hexie piece bottom right is one I started on one of our earliest quilt cruises, circa 2011.  It's my first attempt at English Paper Piecing (on a very large scale).  I think the teacher was Chris Porter.  I pulled it out this week because I want to finish several small hand projects next year.  The HSTs came from a box labeled "Quilt With No Name" -- one of those things I began to use up some bright fabrics quite a few years ago.  Time to do something with them.

The first row has been trimmed to 4-1/2" and assembled.  With a colorful border it will make a nice baby quilt and the remaining background fabric can go on the shelf.  Like I said, it was a slow week.

In the Kitchen - We had a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us with a small boneless turkey breast.  On Friday I made a "refrigerator stew" to use up dribs and drabs of leftovers from earlier in the week.

Pork, marsala noodles, tiny youkons, carrots, zucchini, creamed peas ... you get the picture.

Anything becomes an elegant meal with French's onions on top and Grands biscuits on the side!

Week in Review

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post!  

Either I was too busy, or nothing of note happened.  I think it was the latter.

Remember this table runner I whipped up from some orphan blocks a few months ago?

At the recent retreat I got it pinned up for quilting but the more I thought about binding all those innie corners the less enchanted I became.  So I took advantage of a clean work table last weekend and unpinned the runner. I flipped it right side to the back side and re-pinned.  From there I took it to my Pfaff in the Koala table.  Not only would the dual-feed help prevent shifting, but the table would provide support while I stitched all around the edges except one short run.

I hadn't used that machine in so long that I had to remember how to thread it!  I got the runner turned right-side-out and the edges topstitched Tuesday night and whipped the open side together on a trip to Nashville with Alex on Wednesday.  I left it with DIL to enjoy for Thanksgiving with instructions to return it when they come here for Christmas so I can do some in-the-ditch quilting.

While Alex was meeting with the cardiologist, I turned two sides of binding on the secret project.

(BTW, the cardiologist determined his high cholesterol was of more concern than the murmur so there will be additional tests next week before medication is prescribed.)

My plan for the week was to finish up several little projects as Christmas gifts, but first I wanted to make a list of priorities for next year. I knew I wanted to do something with my collection of Kim Diehl/Henry Glass fabrics and before I knew it I had PILES of potential combos all over the place.  

Now I can't cut or iron without clearing the mess!

The quilt guild met on Friday for the first time since February.  The church where we meet has very strict protocols.  We all had to wear masks.  The custodian set up the tables with only two seats per table.  We were limited to 40 people, reservations required.

In the kitchen, I tried this lemon-butter-dill sauce on tilapia.

We were not impressed.  More successful the next night was my addition of the honey-bourbon sauce on butternut squash.

Not much planned for the coming week.  A trip to Nashville on Tuesday with a stop at the LAQ to pick up a quilt.  Then a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us.  I have a boneless turkey breast in the freezer and that's as far as I've gotten with plans.  I'll probably do creamed peas with pearl onions or maybe a green bean casserole ...

Stay well and enjoy your holiday!

Saturday in the Kitchen

 Woke Saturday morning to this beautiful sky, as viewed from the front door.  7:10 a.m. CST

Cheddar's bourbon-glazed salmon was a topic of conversation at last week's retreat.  Someone said she had found individually-frozen glazed salmon at Sam's (or maybe it was Costco).  Another gal said she had bought some  glaze at the Tennessee Whiskey store.  Someone else said they had been using a sauce from Publix.

Well, my normal salmon preparation is a couple pats of butter and a dash of dill on top, but I was anxious to try the bourbon glaze.  I was able to find this 15-minute marinade at Food City.

I put about 1/4 cup in a zip bag along with two salmon pieces (about 2" wide) and flipped the bag back and forth a few times to get the fish covered in sauce.  After 15 minutes I popped it into a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes.  Oh, my! Delicious!  Sorry I didn't think to take a picture of the finished product.  We had roasted butternut squash along with and I think that would be interesting brushed with the marinade, as well.  

And this is what we saw as we cleared the dinner table.

Quilting with My Peeps

The S'mores began at a guild retreat in 2002 or 2003 with about eight original members.  We chose the name S'mores because we wanted to quilt, eat, laugh, and shop together some more. The mix and number of members have changed over the years, but the purpose has remained the same.

Even though it seems like the S'mores retreat at least once a month, there are only two "official" S'mores retreats -- one in August and another in November.  Fifteen of us gathered this week and this talented group were creating some beautiful things.  Here's just a few ...

Quilt of Valor by Sharon (I think)

Kristin got the binding on her NYGLC table topper from my class several years ago.

(Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin)

Nancy finished her Feathered Star begun at LAB retreat in September.

Sharon whipped up this beauty for Quilts for Cops. She finished it with two borders.

Lynn got this much done in between Zooming her classes at school. I think borders are next.

Mary made these sweet Elizabeth Hartman doxies.  I love the sweaters!

Kim finished the blocks and got this star quilt assembled.

Becky finished her mini-Feathered Star that she began at LAB in September

I prepped this table runner for quilting to be done at home ...

... made 8 yellow monster blocks ...

... and 4 more Bear Paws for Harriett's Legacy.

And a safe and great time was had by all!

Retreatin' with the S'mores

 Had more fun than made progress.  My first task on Monday was stitching the binding on a secret quilt I can't show.  Then I decided to stitch up the yellow monster blocks that I prepped last week.  The first block I attempted was missing one 2-1/2" square for one of the star points.  But I'm sure I have it at home.

So  I rocked on until this happened.   

And I thought I was doing so well ...

I managed to get 8 of the 9 done before I was ready to move on to other projects. (Note the missing star points on the bottom left ...)

Tuesday I worked on some miscellaneous gift items.  I quilted and added the binding to this little table topper that I made several years ago but everything else I attempted hit a stumbling block.

And yesterday I did a bit of this and that but didn't finish anything.  I'll give a full report when I get home.