Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Yesterday morning, I finished off the last of the half square triangles for the Quiltmaker's Garden quilt. Before I did that, however, I made the third block for the Solstice Challenge quilt from Pat Sloan. This block is called Tide Pool. Mine is to celebrate the New Year's holiday.

That went together pretty quickly, and so I was ready to work on those half square triangles. There were eight of these 2.5 inch blocks.

The rest were all 4.5 inches. Ten of these...

and seven of these.

There were just a few more to do when Smitty showed up to help.

Together, we polished off the final ten. He wanted me to remind you that he helped with these.

With that, I snapped the lid on the bin where I store all this crap and then jumped for joy...but not too high because it makes my knee hurt.

So then, I pulled out all the sections for Wind in the Whiskers...because I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment. Actually, I've never laid these out together before. Ever helpful, Smitty assisted in holding down the largest section.

Momentarily, I panicked because I couldn't find Section 4 that goes in the upper right-hand corner there. Finally, I found it and then remembered that all the pieces were made for Section 4, but they can't be fused down until all the sections are sewn together. After Smitty moved on, I took another picture.

If you look at the whole quilt,

you can see that there's a large tree trunk that spans the center block and the one to its right. (I've only partially finished it in the center section.) This also forms the branches and trees for the section in the upper right. I'll need to sew the background for that section to the rest of the upper and middle sections, and then fuse the pieces for that section down. Then, I'll sew the bottom two sections to the bottom of the quilt. Clear as mud, right? That's how I feel about it too. As I've said all along with this quilt, it's best to take it one step at a time and not look backward or forward. Looking backward or forward will make you weird, nervous, and thirsty.

Depending on how long that takes, I'm hoping to get to work on a Small Quilt Challenge. I've been following Kathleen Tracy's Small Quilt Lovers group on Facebook. She issues a monthly small quilt challenge and I've never participated. This year, every other month will be a quilt from her newly published book, Small & Scrappy. I actually bought the book quite some time ago without realizing the challenges would be coming from there. Handy, huh?

The challenge for this month will be this "Be My Little Valentine" quilt. I figure I can find somebody with a granddaughter to take this off my hands when it's finished.

I decided to opt out of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year. I've participated the last four years, and I'd like to spend some time doing some other little quilt challenges, and hopefully, use up some scraps that way.

It's still so freaking cold outside. My only task outside yesterday (which required all of about 20 steps) was to trade the little hummingbird a thawed feeder for his frozen one. A little later on, I noticed he'd returned to the feeder. Poor thing...all fluffed up and looking so cold.

Recently I read that we didn't used to have hummingbirds year-round, but that backyard feeders like ours has made it possible. We get two different kinds of hummingbirds. This is one of the Anna's Hummingbirds. The other one we get are the smaller (if you can imagine) Rufus Hummingbirds. Those tiny little guys have the good sense to head for warmer climes at this time of the year. I'm keeping the feeders thawed as much as possible, but there's only so much one can do for these little birds.

Today I'll continue on in my quest to sew together the quilt top for Wind in the Whiskers. Keeping my fingers crossed it won't turn into another Nightmare on Quilt Street.