A Finish and a Start

Good morning, my friends. As I peered out the window just now, I noticed blue sky and a slight breeze. It rained hard for pretty much the whole live-long day yesterday. We got a piece of Seattle's "bomb cyclone." And, as I've already said, I think the weather people are just making stuff up now. Today I'll get outside to fill the birdfeeders for a few minutes at least. Also, I'll take a walk on the treadmill, but then it will be sewing, sewing, and more sewing.

The "Mosaic" piece is finished now. Here's your final peek. We won't speak of this again until next year.

We had grocery shopping to do yesterday. I'm hoping we won't need to go again before Thanksgiving. Yesterday's trip allowed us to collect a free turkey from our local Fred Meyer grocery store. Erik and Mae are cooking this year, so our turkey will go into the freezer for another time. 

When we arrived home and everything was put away, we had lunch and naps. After that, I got started on a new baby quilt for Sue's first grandchild. You might remember this quilt from last summer I called "Counting Sheep." I made this one for the first child of our CSA farmers.

This is a free quilt pattern from the American Quilter's Society. I chose it because it looked like something I could finish quickly. As I told my friend, Kate, this morning, baby quilts can't wait if you want to get them to the baby before they head off to college. When I made the quilt above, it was finished in five days from start to finish.

And so, in the interest of speed, I decided to make it again. I'd already picked out some fabrics. Taking a second look, they left me feeling a little meh. I had a second choice, and so I inquired of the Retired Resident Engineer what he thought. He chose this combination, and so I went to work cutting out the pieces I'd need.

The first step was to make 24 half square triangles. These were trimmed to 6-1/2 inches.

And then, I needed 16 four-patches.

And then, I could lay out the blocks. I'll sew these together today. All the fabrics are from my stash. I even have a backing fabric I can use.

So, I expect to get that sewn together today and sandwiched for quilting. If there's time, I'll get a start on the quilting too. Since I've already quilted this pattern once before, I know just what to do.

Before we left for the grocery store yesterday, I stitched enough of the first snowman to decide to move my hoop down and to the right.

I'll pick it up here this morning.

So, my Wednesday is planned. I'm hoping to get the baby quilt well along today. Right now, I'll make some breakfast and then get to work on my slow-stitching. Have a good day, Everybody. Try to stay warm.