Finishing Up a Nice Week

Even though nothing extra special happened, this was a lovely week. I got to have a nice visit with my parents. We knew snow was coming so we got together before their driveway became difficult. (They live about fifteen miles from here but they are at a higher elevation. When they get some snow, it is usually a lot.)

My yard earlier this week.

We did get some snow but just a dusting and it only lasted a day. I do love when we get a little snow. When I woke up that morning and saw it was snowing, I woke Julia up so she could watch the snow. It is such a treat for us. Most winters we don’t see any snow. I remember when I first moved up here (back in 1994) we did get snow each winter and it was more substantial. Climates have changed and now we rarely get any.

The rest of the week was quite rainy. This is always well received. Each time we get a good rain, we hope it means the fire season in late summer will be a bit less dangerous. Due to the rain, I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room. Above is a stack of strips I cut for a coin quilt. I am focusing on blues, greens, pinks and yellows. I told myself I don’t get to start sewing these strips until I get somewhere with my Meadow quilt though. I just don’t want to have quite so many projects in process at the same time. This quilt was designed by Kirsty of BonJour Quilts. Click the link if you want to see her version.

This is the background for the Meadow quilt. It is a series of disappearing nine patch blocks in three sizes. The largest size has a greater proportion of the cream and white colors to the greens. Medium has about an equal portion and the smallest size has mostly greens. I like how this causes the colors the gently change as the eye moves up. I will be appliquéing a large swath of cut florals through the meadow as soon as I have the background completed. I am almost there and I am itching to get to those florals.

I also took an evening to make some pink diamond blocks. These blocks are made using half square rectangles. I am going to use them for my RSC2021 quilt. I really like the blocks and found them (once again!) on Kirsty’s site, Bonjour Quilts. I think the quilt will have a cool mid century modern vibe to it.

The blocks are finishing at 6″ x 12″. I will need quite a few for a nice sized lap quilt. If I put 12 across and 5 down, it would finish at approximately 60″ square. I think I will be interspersing some plain rectangles here and there to break up the pattern though. I have all year to figure this out though. For now, I am waiting to see what the color for February is.

In the evenings I have been working on the hand quilting for this project which I am calling Homespun. I love this quilt. It is so cozy. Once I finished stitching around each of the background squares, I decided I wanted to keep hand quilting it. This is the perfect time of year to snuggle under a quilt in the evenings and do some hand stitching. I have nearly finished going around the background border. Hard to tell from this photo, but the outer border is a dusty purple color. I think I will mark a pattern on it and hand stitch that as well. It will be a while until it is finished, but really – what is the hurry? While stitching, I have been going back and forth between watching Queen’s Gambit and The Last Tango in Halifax on Netflix. I like both of them, though they are quite different. Have you watched either of these? What do you think of them?

I have also worked on some projects for my shop. There are a number of new bundles available – each one contains three coordinated pieces of fabric, cut in one yard pieces. They are perfect for using with the Fabric Cafe, three yard patterns. These patterns are very simple and quick to piece, making them nice for baby quilts, a gift or donation quilt. These kits and patterns are also wonderful when teaching someone to quilt. They make a lap size quilt and there are a number of different patterns to choose from. I also have some fun kits for baby or toddler quilts. To take a look, click here.

That sums up my week. How was your week? Hoping you found some time to be creative. I would love to hear what you are working on. Enjoy the weekend all. 🙂

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21 thoughts on “Finishing Up a Nice Week

  1. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts

    I love the bundles you offer in your shop! I’ve been using one that I just recently got for the Stay at Home Round Robin project. You’re so good at putting the bundles together! Glad you’ve enjoyed a little bit of snow and some quilting time this week. We’ve watched both of those Netflix shows and liked them both, although they are very different! I wasn’t sure I was going to like The Queen’s Gambit at first because of her struggle with addiction, but she grew on me and it ended well!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Diann. Thank you for the sweet complement on the shop. I like having bundles available for customers. Shopping on-line is a challenge for some and I think it makes it easier to see photos of fabrics already curated. Some customers really surprise me and choose various fabrics which look amazing together but I had not thought to put them together, know what I mean? I really enjoy seeing what customers pick.
      Beth grew on me too. I have just the last episode to watch for Queen’s Gambit. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sandra Walker

    Wonderful grouping of projects Bernie! I like having a bunch on the go, but yes, too many (which is where I currently am, but hoping to improve thanks to the PHD I’m working on this year) gets to be daunting. I really like the diamonds blocks! Kirsty has some terrific designs. I hear you on the climate change, not good at all. We, too, have had very little snow. We never got a lot thanks to the lake effect (a weather phenomenon) but this year has seen very little and it disappears right away. Moisture and cold is so important for the earth’s cycles isn’t it.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Totally agree on all counts! Great to have a few projects but not enough to be overwhelmed. Kirsty is fantastic with design and the climate is changing far too much and too quickly. Today I am going to work on the Meadow quilt. Last night I finished the background so now is the fun part, placing the florals and playing with them to make a pretty floral design on the quilt top. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl

    That sounds like a really lovely week indeed! It’s definitely the right time of year to be under a quilt doing some hand quilting. I’m glad you got a bit of snow and rain; the shift in the weather patterns in central California was really evident for the 12 3/4 years we lived there.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      We are surely noticing a lot of different patterns here. Too extreme, right? This week there was so much rain that Hwy 1 literally broke near Big Sur. I suspect you read about that whole tragedy. I hope you are doing well and enjoying your new home Yvonne. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Bobbiesews in CA

    I’ve watched both Queen’s Gambit and Last Tango, thoroughly enjoyed Tango but Queens was a bit different from my normal show. More about substance abuse than I usually watch but it did provide some interesting discussions in our home.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Queen’s Gambit did get a little bit dark. But I thought the chess play was so exciting to watch. Loved the music and clothing too. Last Tango makes me laugh a bit – each of the characters is always in a bind of some sort. Especially Gillian. Goodness she is a mess. Haha.

      Reply
  5. Barbara Esposito

    Sounds like a lovely week Bernie. I dare say we could all use a week like that! I would love more information about the Fabric Cafe 3 yard quilt patterns if you would be so kind? Enjoy the weekend…hoping the peaceful week flows right into a wonderful weekend.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Barb, these patterns might be helpful for you. I know you do a lot of brand ambassador projects. I have some in the shop, click here to see them: https://etsy.me/3j5PLbx. The patterns are simple in structure and don’t have complicated pieces. To see more of the patterns than what are available in my shop, go to FabricCafe.com. There are quite a few.
      Take care and have a nice Saturday. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Carole @ From My Carolina Home

    Yes, I enjoyed both Queen’s Gambit and Last Tango in Hallifax. Now we are watching Lupin, really good and different! Also, The Spy was excellent and a true story. Just started Bridgerton, and love it as easy viewing while sewing.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thanks for the recommendations. I will check out Lupin and The Spy. I had heard about Bridgerton as well. Have a nice Saturday Carole.

      Reply
  7. Linda

    LOVE the Homespun quilt! Yay on the snow – if you do move up north nearer your son eventually, would you be likely to get more snow? Looking forward to seeing your swath of florals across the Meadow quilt.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thank you on Homespun. I love it too. I thought I had some sort of stencil laying around for that last border and of course I cannot find it anywhere. I will keep looking though….
      As for up north, they get some snow but not a ton. It is more a rainy climate up there. Someday…. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Kathleen McCormick

    So pleased you saw your parents and had a nice week. We saw our son and my husband had his first cataract surgery….all is good. Looking forward to spring, although we still have 2 months of occassionally annoying winter weather to go through!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Winters on the east coast are much longer than out here. My daffodils are already poking through the ground, about 3 or 4 inches tall. Summer is my ‘annoying’ time – way too hot and fire season is August through October. So I am a fall/winter gal.
      I hope your husband is healing well. Enjoy the day Kathleen!

      Reply
  9. Rebecca Grace

    Ooh, using a Disappearing 9-Patch as the background for appliqué is a FABULOUS idea! And I am having such envy of that beautiful snow, even though I know that if the snow was in MY yard I would not want to leave the house until Spring!

    Reply
  10. Rebecca Grace

    Don’t know whether my previous comment went through or not because my browser crashed when I hit the Submit button! Bizarre! Just wanted to tell you that the Disappearing 9-Patch background for applique sounds fabulous, and that I’m envious of your beautiful SNOW!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      The snow lasted for just the day, but I did enjoy it. My background is completed and now I am going to start playing around with lots of flowers and see how best to lay them out. This is the fun part! Have a nice Sunday Rebecca. 🙂

      Reply
  11. Allison Reid

    I’m glad you are keeping busy in your sewing room Bernie. I’m looking forward to finding out the RSC colour for February – I’m tackling a tangled mass of string scraps this year 🙂
    We enjoyed the quirky characters and storylines of Last Tango in Halifax and it’s always refreshing to get glimpses of the Yorkshire countryside too.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Allison – Looking forward to pulling out my bin of yellows. Time to make some blocks!
      Loving the last bit of Last Tango. We haven’t gotten season 5 here yet but I am sure it will make its way over at some point. It is a fun show – from one disastrous decision to the next! Hahaha. Take care and stay healthy.

      Reply

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