Bertha Gets a Day Off

Good morning, my friends, although we're almost to lunch time. I think I can still avoid breaking any laws with my "good morning" wishes. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had breakfast with my friend Sue this morning and passed off the baby quilt for her new grandson. 

Of course, I wasn't out this early, but the day started with a pretty red sunrise.

And you know how that goes: "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." Indeed. Our weather has been chilly, but sunny for the past week. We're expecting rain this weekend. So far, it's still dry out. We're expecting warmer and drier weather next week.

My first stop yesterday was to make some orange rolls for our morning snack. I had the hardest time getting the "glaze" to a "glazy" consistency. I never quite accomplished it, but they're good just as they are. You can find the recipe right here. 

Recently, I've discovered I can give a "gift" link to articles from the NYTimes. I imagine there's a limit, but you should be able to open the link to the recipe I've given you back there. If not, you know you can always email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

While those were baking, I finished off the 7th block for Grandpa's Bridges.

Finishing this embroidered block was my goal for December's

and so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

There are five more blocks for this quilt. Here are all the blocks I've stitched so far.

With that finished, I decided to trace the next two blocks for the Story of My Day. Altogether, there are 25 blocks for this quilt. These are Blocks 21 and 22, so there are just three left. I'll be stitching "Make a Daisy Chain,"

and "Walk the Dog."

That one is hooped up and ready for stitching.

First, however, I'll stitch the last block for "Joy in the Ordinary." It's traced, and that's where I'll start my sewing day today.

So, I decided to make the mini quilt for my "Quilter's Choice" project. It's tempting to do the black and white village shown in yesterday's post. My reasoning was that the black and white village really falls under the "small quilt" category. My whiteboard identifies a small quilt as a "fast finish." And so I'll set that aside for another round on the Quilter's Choice portion of my whiteboard. Instead, I'll do this actual mini. It will finish at 15-1/2 inches square, and so you know those pieces are small. I'm calling this quilt "Blue Blazes." Here's the picture from the book.

And here's the book:

The only thing I did in the sewing room yesterday was to choose the fabrics I'd need.

And then I cut all the strips I'd need to make the strip sets.

So that's a pretty good start. I didn't do any machine sewing yesterday, thus, Big Bertha got a day off. The kitties got a day off too.

I've selected this fabric for the quilt back, but I'm not sure I'll stick with it. I can decide later if it will be this one or something else.

I have one question to answer from yesterday's post, regarding this image:

My friend, Karen, has sharp eyes and noticed the metal arms clamped to my sewing table. Karen asked, "Can I assume that they take the weight off the quilt while maneuvering it under the machine?"

Karen, you are no-reply, and so I'm hoping you'll see my answer here. Yes, those are intended to take the weight off the quilt while I'm quilting it. I can't remember where I first heard about this product, but it was created by Patsy Thompson. I'm not sure they're available any more, however. I was going to link to the video she posted about it, but the page is no longer there. [🤷] In any case, I didn't find it all that helpful for taking the weight off the quilt, but I do like them for clamping the excess of the quilt to keep it from falling off the edge of my table. I suppose that relates to the weight, but mainly they help with the bulk, if that makes sense.

Okay, so I haven't done my slow stitching yet this morning. That's where I'm heading next. It will probably take me until tomorrow to finish the new piece, and then I can get started on the blocks for The Story of My Day. From there, I'll get busy sewing together the Blue Blazes mini. My day is going well so far. I hope y'all are having a good day too.