quilting!

I'm quilting again!

Well, piecing, but that counts, right?

One of my coworkers has been dating this guy for a few years and they've had some major ups and downs.  I fully expected their relationship to eventually crash and burn, but while I was away, working elsewhere, they got engaged!  I'm happy for them and hope it truly works out.

So you know what that means!

I had this long-hoarded fat quarter bundle (okay, maybe only a few years, but still) that just screamed Tara...

Clearly the Goblin had been after something inside it on one of her naughty closet adventures, but it's all good, just wrinkled.  I untied the ribbon and dug in.  This gal is special enough to earn this fabric.

But...there were two blacks and three very light off-whites in there and, if you look close, you can see my intended background fabric in the upper right of the photo above.  Lights are not good.  And I'm making the Goldie Quilt, which needs black in the cornerstones and centers, so no blacks...

To the local quilt shop!  (She doesn't usually carry Ruby Star Society, but I'll find something.)

I think I did pretty well!  The fat quarters are on the left, the additions are set diagonally on the right.

Tara was there, arrived just seconds before to give me my lunch break, when Lily turned up at work needing a home.  She saw me swoop her into my arms and rush off to lunch - now a trip home instead of a quick meal in the back room - so I suppose it's only appropriate that Lily helps with this quilt.  (That orange does look quite good with her pretty furs.)

The fat quarters don't leave much room for error, but I checked and double checked my sizes with each cut (I did cut 3-4 layers at a time) and pretty soon I had stack of pieces.  Some rearrangement to make block sets and I was ready to sew.  (Sorry, no photos of cutting or rearranging...I got on a roll!)

Yesterday I had a whole day off and dug into sewing...

Since my mixing and matching didn't include the inner block sashing, this is where this block stopped.

And then later, after I thought we were going to hang out with family, but the plans fell through, I did a second set!

They take a bit longer than you'd think, but trimming all those half square triangles to make sure they line up nicely takes a bit of time.  Totally worth it, though.

I'm making the throw size, which takes 9 blocks, so this is a fair start for just one day of sewing.

I can't remember when she said the wedding is, but I think I've got a little time?

And of course, now that I have an actual project to work on, the cat rescue group contacted me, asking for more carrier covers.  Since they're still dealing with a roof-less clinic/shelter, surgeries continue to require transport, which means the covers are seeing a lot of use.  I'm in!  (When it's for the kitties, I'm pretty much always in.)  They've put out a call for fabrics, so I suppose I have a week or two before the real work begins.

In the meantime, probably I should finish up those cat toys that have been languishing in my sewing room for way too long?

Salem jumped right into the box and made herself comfortable.  I'm trying to do a batch every time I head into the sewing room, but it's still a little overwhelming.  (Remind me not to cut so many at once ever again!)

I promised an update on the frozen English muffin bread when I thawed it - last night I took it out of the freezer, moved it from the plastic freezer bag into the cloth bread bag and left it on the counter to thaw.  Delicious this morning!  I might go have another piece?

And lastly, the one book I finished this week:

This was one that someone somewhere recommended or talked about or something and I thought it would be good and interesting.  

It wasn't bad.

I guess I never thought about the fact that our first president had slaves.  So did his wife and upon marrying her, he got more.

Ona Judge was one of her slaves.  She was her personal slave and acted like a ladies maid if I understand correctly.  Her life wasn't as brutal as one who worked in the fields all day, but she had different challenges (attention of household men for one) and was still a slave.

The book tells both her story (though mostly through speculations that we are continually reminded are just that) and the Washington's story of how they moved her around to keep her from earning the freedom she might have been awarded if she lived in Pennsylvania for long enough.

So she ran away.

She was found, but the people where she was living weren't particularly interested in continuing slavery, so she was never arrested or caught.  Though I imagine the continuous worry about it was horrible.

The book was interesting and I learned a fair amount, but the continued reminders that we could never know what her life was like, but this is probably how it was, got to be annoying.  And I never really felt like I got to know who she was, despite the claim (and photographic proof at the end) that she published her story in a couple of newspapers at the end of her life.  (My eyes are too bad to even try to read what was there, if it was even readable!)

More of Washington's story was available because his documents were all preserved - I'm sure partly because of his position in our country, but also because he was a white man.

In all, not bad, but not as good as I had hoped.

The next book I'm taking my time with, but really enjoying.  More on that one next week!

Happy quilting!

Katie