Weekly update: a finish, a flimsy, and clue 5

After all the activity in the first half of the month it was nice to have a less-busy week.  I had two executive committee meetings (one of which was the last since I'm going off that particular board after 16 years). Rotary meets for Thursday breakfast (last meeting until January).  Pat J's retirement party on Wednesday was a library family reunion with many retired staff coming back to celebrate her 25 years of service. 

We saw not one, but two movies this week. (It's nice to go to the matinee showing.) We saw The Favourite on Monday (Queen Anne) and Mary, Queen of Scots on Friday.  The former was better but the costumes in both were wonderful.  What monarch will we see next?  Victoria returns to PBS Masterpiece on January 13!

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I finished the b/w 16-patch. The blocks are 6" and the quilt is 54 x 60. The square-in-square units on the back came from a swap.

I set the blocks that I made in the 6-week Secret Santa Sew-Along from Temecula Quilt Co.  I like the small-scale (11") Burgoyne blocks.  The flimsy is 52 x 66 and used 4 yards.

The sashing is a can't-cut-this print (Hoffman) that I'm pretty sure I bought in North Dakota.  That means it's been in my stash for more than 20 years. I still have a half yard of it!

I stated that I would take it easy this year and aim for just half the blocks of Good Fortune. I exceeded my aim and I have all the units made.  Clue 5 (in front) joins the others, each in a Snapware box.


I used the orange strips left over from Clue 4 to make these citrus-bright blocks.





Confession time:   I returned library books, checked out more, and dropped off a box of books for the ongoing booksale. There were quilt books on the sale rack and I bought 'em.  This two-binder set was included.

Someone not only subscribed to the 1995 Oxmoor House mail order BOM, but she also saved all of the parts of every packet and filed them under the appropriate tabs in the two binders.

I dropped off a box of clothing at Salvation Army. Then I went inside -- and came out with three cotton flat sheets: full, queen, and a never-used king.  $3.99 each --15 yards of fabric, eighty cents a yard.  They will make great quilt backs.

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Weekly update: holiday doings, catching up, and Clue 4

The United Methodist Women had their holiday luncheon on Thursday.

In years past I've made ornaments as favors but this year I made coasters. (20 coasters, 5" squares = 2 yards of fabric used!)


Thursday evening I went to my friend Erika's P.E.O. chapter's holiday party.

At both parties we exchanged white elephant gifts.  I was happy to pass along some perfectly nice items I did not want. In return, both times, I got candy.

(Yes, I hang out with middle-aged/older white women. I fit the demographic.)








At church this morning the kids performed the Christmas play. The theme was superheroes.  They had a meeting to talk about the new superhero who was coming -- sent by "Mr. G. O. D."  After they met Mary and Joseph ("Why didn't you call ahead for reservations?" Mary asked) and, with the help of the shepherds (played by two moms since the kids wanted to be superheroes) they realized that "We will save ordinary citizens. You, Jesus, will save all the world!"





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I finished Bookshelf #38 (or is it #39?) for Pat, who's retiring from ZBPL. The party is this coming Wednesday.  This is my OMG for December.  (Click on the label on the sidebar to see other examples.)

linking up with the December OMG finishes here  

I made 9 scrappy purple sawtooth stars for the December Block Lotto.














Here's the wonky house for the December guild BOM.


And, hooray -- this week's Good Fortune clue was fun and easy!  Here are the orange string-pieced blocks.



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Weekly update: Good Fortune and holiday flings about, out, and mostly in

Here's as much of Good Fortune Clue #3 as I was able to complete this weekend.  In the directions Bonnie cautioned to sew and press accurately in order to make the 2" bonus HSTs.  Using that method means that the units have very narrow seam allowances but it also means you don't have to make a separate set of HSTs.







Flinging about -- it was a week of holiday parties.   Monday: P.E.O. potluck and seasonal sock exchange.  Tuesday:  Zion Woman's Club holiday meeting (with a white elephant exchange).   Wednesday: Quilt Guild holiday dinner. We had an ornament exchange, a fat quarter exchange, and a White Elephant exchange.

Somehow I have become the "passing game" chairman.  At each of the events I read "Twas the Night RIGHT Before Christmas." There were rights and lefts aplenty in the poem to mix up the gift-passing.

Cardinals in the Pines 

The AAUW holiday luncheon was Saturday. No passing game, but a very productive silent auction, selling no-longer-loved stuff to one another ($517).  We had the drawing for the raffle quilt that I contribute each year ($335).  (Those along with proceeds from other fundraisers netted $2622 for AAUW Funds.)  Contributions to our local scholarship fund, for which I made the mug rugs ,were $1045 which exceeded what I offered to match. That means that our scholarships are fully funded!




Saturday evening Stevens and I enjoyed the Lake County Symphony Orchestra concert.  Master dulcimer player Charles Brown composed a piece specificially for the orchestra. Our seats were perfect to see Brown's hands as he played. Wow!









Sunday afternoon the Zion Woman's Club hosted a holiday tea at Shiloh House which was beautifully decorated for Christmas.  The tea was a benefit for Zion-Benton Children's Services. That agency provides dental care for children from low-income families.

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I flung more than white elephants this week!

I sent four quilts to Robert Kaufman Co. in Los Angeles. They are collecting quilts to give to the victims of the California fires. 
If you read the post right before this you saw the vintage hankies that were flung to me on Thursday.

The biggest fling was totally unexpected.  On Saturday afternoon I'd just gotten home from the AAUW luncheon. I got a message that fabric had been donated to the guild and could be picked up at the township center before 4 p.m. (It was the guild's UFO workshop day.)  Why not?  I arrived at 3:45. Shar explained that she'd been contacted by the family of a woman who'd been a prolific quilter. The woman had a stroke and moved to a nursing home. Her stash had to go and our guild got it.  Some guild members had taken some things but there was a lot left.  I said I didn't want to be greedy, but I'd make it all disappear. Shar was relieved. She did not want to take it home.

Left:  30+ books, mostly early 2000's, some that I've had, some new-to-me. (And one that I'd recently purchased after tracking it down on Amazon!)

 Right:  patterns, a few notions, and kits.

THE FABRIC! ! ! !  The stack on the right is all homespuns.  The bags on the top are filled with fat quarters.  There were four ecru FQs that I can put to use right away in Good Fortune.  Mostly browns and golds, very rich tones.  I weighed it.  68 pounds.  That's 272 yards!  Good Fortune, indeed.

All I want to do now is fold, refold, and file -- but first  I have to make the bookshelf quilt. The recipient's retirement party is December 19.

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What's in the box? Hankies!

The box has a nifty picture, too.

Dorothy gave me a box of hankies  at the AAUW board meeting last evening. She explained that they came from the estate of a friend who had recently passed away.   There were more hankies that she'd kept. (And she and her husband got the friend's cat (who has settled in nicely to its new home).) 

It's a good thing I didn't open the box until I got home. Had I opened it during the meeting the agenda would have stopped then and there. (Not a good thing, because I was presiding.)

Oh, what treasures!

Many of the hankies had never been used -- as in never laundered, always refolded along the same creases. They had the manufacturer's labels in the corners. Two had the original price stickers.

Marshall Field Centennial, 1952, showing a map of downtown Chicago.
(My mother was the secretary to the MF&Co. v.p. of suburban stores. She left to have me.) 

Tammis Keefe with sticker (it's in the upper left corner.) I love her designs!

 Carson Pirie Scott price tag ($ .39)   A lucky four-leaf clover for me!

 MF&Co. price tag: $. 50.

Love these colors!

 I knew this was Bermuda before I unfolded it.  I recognized the picture of St. Peter's. (We went to Bermuda in February, 2008.)

I'll conclude the show with a mid-century Christmas greeting by Carl Tait.

Weekly update: stash report, OMG, and Good Fortune

Fabric in, November:  118 yards, $215 (average $1.82)
Fabric out, November:  33-5/8
Fabric in, YTD:  580-3/8, $1191 (average $2.05)
Fabric out,YTD:  513-5/8
Net increase:  66-3/4
As I've said, if I can't keep myself from acquiring fabric at least I can get bargains! This month I scored big at an estate sale and another quilter's destash.

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It was easy to determine my One Monthly Goal for December:  a bookshelf quilt for a library staff member who's retiring. Her party is December 19.

So far I've pulled the novelty scraps boxes off the shelf.

Novelty stash

Since 2003 I've made forty-plus bookshelf quilts using a pattern by Christine Thresh (winnowing.com). I know there are many other bookshelf designs but by using the same pattern I've created a series.  Locally the bookshelves are for coworkers getting their MLS degrees, coworkers who are retiring, and for trustees completing their board terms. I've made them for my two longtime ALA conference roommates when they retired and for the ALA Executive Board members during the three years I was on EB.  In 2005 the ALA Biblioquilters created a group quilt using this pattern. It hung in the foyer of the ALA Washington Office for many years.

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Here's Clue 2 for Good Fortune, the Quiltville mystery.

I made 90 sixteen-patch blocks. At this writing I have half the rows assembled. I could tweak the block arrangement forever so I'm not going to! The blocks are 6-1/2" so the top will be 54 x 60.



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Elm Street Quilts OMG
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Moving It Forward