The Deadline Project

Being Presbyterian (USA), we observe the Liturgical seasons of the church calendar and the colors associated with those seasons.  Most of the year the color is green for Ordinary Time.  Purple is used for Lent, the time anticipating Easter, and Advent, the time anticipating Christmas.

As a quilter I wanted to upgrade our church's paraments (the hangings from the pulpit and lectern) so a couple of years ago I began with the green set based on a Storm at Sea setting.  I followed that with purple, based on an intricate interlocking cross design by Peg Bingham.  The white set was last, a simple diamond-in-a-rectangle design.  

I should have pictures of all of these, but I don't have time to look for them right now.  A project for another day ...

Anyway, in the process of working on the white set last Easter, apparently I "borrowed" the purple lectern hanging for measurements.  It disappeared.  I kept hoping it would reappear amongst layers of fabric, but it did not.  With Advent beginning next Sunday, I have been under pressure to reproduce the missing piece.  Monday I accomplished my goal (shown draped over my stair rail).

UPDATE:  Paraments were installed Tuesday morning. The chancel lighting affects the color.

Now on to prepping for Thanksgiving with the Arkansas contingent.  

One of THOSE Projects

You know, the kind of project once you start you can't stop ...

Someone (Nann doesn't claim it, maybe it was Wanda or Michelle) sent me a photo of these sweet little blooms ...

Although I'm not typically a 30s kinda gal, I had picked up a charm pack at a recent quilt show and I thought those would be perfect for the flowers.  Working strictly from the photograph, and limited by the 5-inch size of my charm squares, I worked up a sample.

Too cute!  I decided to use a pile of miscellaneous white-on-white scraps for the backgrounds and chose the green to be a constant.  And so the cutting began.  I headed off to retreat with a pile of blooms made and the leaf and stem pieces ready to stitch.  You might see I originally planned over 40 blocks with sashing, but after two days of sewing I decided 25 was enough with an alternate setting block.

I had to stop at that point because I had not selected an alternate block fabric.  When I got home I decided the fabric I hoped would work was just too distracting, so I cut three options, enlisting my husband to make a decision.  We agreed this fabric was the best option (though not perfect) ...

After a day's labor at Devo and Sew I have this to show ...

I'm thinking a narrow inner border of green and an outer border of setting fabric will finish it off.

However the finishing had to stop while I worked on a deadline project for church.  Hoping to report success on that project tomorrow.

Home Again

Saturday in SW Kentucky began with cold rain and pellet ice, but the roads were clear and I was able to make it home from retreat safely.  I've shown you what I worked on; now it's time to show you all the beautiful projects from everyone else.  First, though, take a look at our well-lit workroom

Donna's Grand Illusion (Bonnie Hunter mystery from 2017, I think).

Ruth made three T-shirt quilts for one family.

Sena-2's  Kaffe Fasset-inspired colorful diamonds 

Ari made this 2-color beauty; I don't remember the pattern name ...

Sena-1's McKenna Ryan project.

Mary's baby quilt

Donna completed this 30's creation from blocks she had appliqued years ago.

Shirley's assembled Downstream

Mary's stars

Susan's gold and gray fabrics are so lovely together.

Sharon's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  She ran out of black fabric for that last block ...

Nancy worked on this project from a Cindy Williams workshop.

Kim's Christmas tree

Kim's kaleidoscopes in progress - reminds me of TV test patterns. 

There were many more finished projects that I failed to photograph.  All-in-all a most productive retreat!

Blaming it on Nann

After seeing pictures of my recent project of Edyta Sitar's Zinnias, someone (I think it was Nann/With Strings Attached) sent me a picture of another type of flower block that I might be interested in.  There was no pattern or indication of size.  So I worked up a sample using a charm pack of 30s-style prints.  .

I cut the charms into quarters and proceeded from there.  The block will finish at 6".  I had all my pieces cut and kitted for retreat and I worked on them yesterday and this morning.  I think I have settled on a setting of 25 posies with alternate solid squares, fabric to be determined, as is color placement of the flowers.

Aren't they just stinkin' cute?  This one will stay with me unless there is a new great-grand in the works any time soon.

Good Intentions

In spite of all my good intentions to blog more frequently, life keeps getting in the way.  On Monday afternoon, while continuing with the studio reorganization that I planned to blog about, I discovered that the S'mores retreat was scheduled to start Tuesday (as in "next day") rather than next week like my calendar indicated!  Thankfully I had already selected projects to work on and started assembling meals and snacks.  

I quickly loaded up my best machine and staged a number of items at the foot of the stairs for DH to carry up for me.  In a wakeful period Tuesday morning, the thought occurred to me that I had not packed the tool box with the machine.  So at 1:30 a.m. I trundled downstairs to get it.  Good thing I did because I also saw that I had not packed the power tower OR the power cord to the machine!

Nevertheless, I managed to get to Sally's house down the street only 30 minutes later than our planned 6 a.m. departure for the drive to Loucon Camp and Retreat Center in Leitchfield, KY.  No trip to Loucon is complete without at least one stop at Whittle's Fabrics.

If you don't know about Whittle's, you need to.  Their fabric prices are low and their customer service is unparalleled.  They stock many well-known brands, including a nearly complete line of Grunge, as well as Aurifil thread and Bernina machines. I was very reserved and only bought 2 yards of a beige Grunge ($9.95/yd) to use as a sashing in a current project.

Tuesday afternoon I worked on my RSC project Hope of Hartford (formerly known as Labor Day Madness).  Thank you, Nann, for telling me the block name.

I spent Wednesday finishing my Christmas Strippy throw.

Thursday was devoted to another project worthy of it's own post, so stayed tuned ...

Catching Up

We went to Maggie Valley, NC over the weekend and stayed with SIL in her cabin on the mountain that overlooks the valley.  She and her longtime friend are selling the cabin, now that friend's husband has passed away and we figured this would be our "last hurrah," as they say.  Indeed, they already have offers on the house.  Anyway, we had a very relaxing time and the only photo I thought to take was my Sunday lunch.

A Prolific Sweet Potato from Bogart's in Waynesville, stuffed with BBQ and slathered in cheese, sauce, and sour cream.  That's on a dinner plate, Folks!  Two plates, in fact, as apparently it is intended to be shared.  That mongo potato was cooked to perfection and the BBQ was delish; I brought half home for Monday's supper.

Oh, I also snapped a quick photo of a table runner I had made for the cabin several years ago.

It is going home with SIL, along with a couple of seasonal wall hangings I made for her and all of her mother's original artwork.

Tuesday was Devo Day, the one day a year when we, as a group, work on finishing up Encouragement Quilts to restock the closet.  I think we finished five, many of which I had contributed but needed borders added to meet the size we like to keep on hand.  Again, I only thought to get one photo at the end of the day.

This is one of those 3-yard quick quilts that I had cut from my stash.  Two gals teamed up for the day to put it together.

Wednesday was grocery day and we took the opportunity to vote early while we were in town.

Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning I measured, tagged, and restacked all my backing fabrics.

All of my finished tops have been moved to a table in another room to be reviewed, measured, and paired with backs.  I am determined to get my "studio" back under control.  It had gotten to the point I would go downstairs, walk in and see the mess, and just turn around and go back upstairs.  Definitely not conducive to productivity.

Today will be more of the same.  I'll probably work on those TBQ tops, restack wayward fabric, and think about some Christmas gift projects.