W.I.F. (What I've finished)

Photos as promised in previous post.

Two small quilts for children's hospice at local hospital: 

Quilt for my sponsored child in South Dakota.  She will be 9 on October 21st.  Need to make label and mail.

Almost Amish, made from swap blocks and given as wedding/housewarming gift to the daughter and son-in-law of a colleague who has been especially helpful since I've been alone.  Used the extra blocks in the pieced backing.

Don't have a full-length photo since, now that daughters are gone, I lack a quilt "holder".  But I took one with the quilt lying on my bed which shows most of the blocks. 

Progress report: month 15 (September 2011)

September!  The second "new year" of each calendar.   In which I helped both daughters settle into their autumn surroundings -- #1 in DC for a fellowship, #2 back at college for her sophomore year -- and returned to my empty nesting. 

Completed:
17.  Plant shrubs around front porch and perennials and shrubs in side yard.
48. Watch 125 movies (actually 128).
77. Set 1 set of swap blocks into quilt top. (Finished Almost Amish [photos to
      come].  Given away as wedding/housewarming gift)
Extra quilts: 2 small quilts finished and donated to the children's hospice at the local hospital.  (Photo to come but Nancy posted a description of the group effort.)

Progress: 
    6. Resumed work in basement.
    7, 26, 28.  Kept up-to-date.
    9. Gave away 20 more books to HS teacher for classroom "library".
  10. Started sorting clothes for donation to costume shop.
  12. Completed a few "small things" around the house.
  33. Went to the gym 2-3 times a week -- usually 3!
  48. Watched 7 movies:
        Come back, little Sheba
        Of mice and men
        Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
        The American
        Cry Baby
        The Road
        Scott Pilgrim vs. the world
  49. Read 5 books (45/60, 29/30, 13/10)
        The Eyre affair (Jasper Fforde)
        Through a screen, darkly (Jeffrey Overstreet)
        Room (Emma Donoghue)
        High fidelity (Nick Hornby)
        Celebrity detox (Rosie O'Donnell)   
  75. Started cutting scrap fabric
  78. Scrap quilt (first EVER from100% scraps and stash; background for RR was
        purchased) sent to quilter.
  84. Extra contribution to ASPCA; pledged higher amount to St. Paul's.
  99. Updated blog with progress (15 out of 15)
101. Blog posts:
        W.I.B.W.O. -- Leader-ender project
        If I were a widow
        Taking a class with a friend

October priorities:
  6. Continue work in basement.
  8. Get bookcases into living room and sorted out.
  9. More book sorting.
12. More small things around house.
44. Attend Family Weekend at M.C.
74. Label and mail quilt to sponsored child. (Her 9th birthday is 10/21)

Taking a class with a friend

Spent Friday looking at the quilts, combined with a session of S.E.X. (that's Stash Enhancement EXpedition for the uninitiated) at the modestly-titled "Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza."   On Saturday, my friend Pat and I took a class with John Flynn who has his own method of making a Double Wedding Ring quilt.  The DWR demands attention, precision and respect because of the many pieces in the arc and the curves!    

When I signed up for the class, I knew I wanted to work with rainbow colors, in batiks because .... well, because I love clear, bright rainbow colors and batiks and had never used them in a project!    I spent a long time looking for the "right" background, since I wanted an "updated" DWR.  I had a FQ of a white with black "squiggles" (technical term) that I thought would be ideal.

However, nothing I could find in stores or online approximated what I thought I wanted.  I bought some white fabric with small black dots in case I continued to be unsuccessful.    Then, on our Saturday, Labor Day weekend Fabric Expedition to Berks County, I found this batik with pale gray dots spread out sort of topographically on a white background:

This seemed to be a good alternative and, now that I look at both choices, I much prefer it to the black squiggles.   The layout will be warm color circles intersecting with cool colored ones and four-patches in black and white. So this is what my DWR will look like...

... someday.