drippy day

I think this is the first morning in months that we have had rain in the morning. Of course, DJ was set to play golf. I got in my walking clothes, including shoes/a double pair of socks, waiting to see if it was going to stop. Not pouring, just dripping--two hours later, it is still at it. I briefly considered walking in Wal-mart which is close--the enclosed mall is about 12 miles away but decided I get an extra day off this week instead. Got find an alternative walking site, obviously, for days like this or when it turns cold. I made some tuna mac salad for our noon or evening meal in the meantime.

In my last post I reported that I had been tackling some things in my sewing basket. I've got quilting to do but just haven't felt like doing it plus some of this sewing stuff has needed my attention far longer. With all of our efforts combined I now have a stack of 9 tops "pin ready" to take to the meeting. By "pin ready" I mean that the top is done, it is paired with the proper sized backing (seamed if necessary) and the binding joined (hopefully pressed) and placed with the top. When I am in quilting mode I do not want to have to stop to make binding. At that point I am ready to move onto the next quilt, not cut or sew. Anyway, 3 of the Belles tops were complete but just needed to be paired with backing and binding --not a lot of time involvement on my part. 2 of them were Nancy's previously prepped tops from a few months back. (Boot Scootin' Boogie 2, the link below for original quilt, and Faux Log Cabin 2--the original halves are already quilted, Nancy and I'll have pictures for you soon)

So, my tally for the last few days:

2 tops from Nancy reassembled and bordered--Hidden Spools and Rising Star, the bottom one in Nancy's post. These were twin tops shown here and we will get two small ones from them as we did with the other two I mentioned.

1 set of blocks assembled in a 5 x 7 set---Nancy's Cross Roads to Jericho--the quilt at the top of her post is already quilted but see the stack of blocks to the right? That's the group I was working with. No need to post the pic as it looks very similiar to the part she had together

12 blocks sashed and assembled--some of the Ohio Star blocks Finn sent as seen in the picture above

5 backs laundered, pressed, seamed--I got lucky and two of the 9 didn't need seaming.

1 back marked in a big diagonal grid since the front is a whole cloth thing. We'll pin it backwards for quilting

6 quilts worth of binding cut and joined but still need pressed---ugh. I got lucky and was able to pull from some leftover binding or some that I had previously cut and changed my mind for two others in the stack. That's when it pays to over cut. Stashbusting, at its best.

There are some leftover Ohio Star blocks and Finn had included the pieces to make at least 4 more which will be good. I am thinking that I could use 8 blocks with an alternating square of some sort to get another top out of the deal. Got any other suggestions for an alternating block besides something plain? These are 12 inch blocks and something like nine patches would just look odd that big. Maybe something like this though the colors are not right in the EQ sketch. In reality the background color is a nice light green with a ribbon figure on it but probably from a distance reads sort of grayish. Part of the reason why I chose white for sashing on the top I assembled is it would have been hard to match the colors in the background and there was not enough left if I want to squeeze out some more QST's. The snowball colors would be dependent on what color predominates or contrasts best with the available blocks.

Joy will be bringing me the last row robin top in a few hours. Knowing me, I'll put off working on that since I have nearly a month to do my obligation but I still want to see what it is! Appliqued and houses, I have heard. But for now, I'll concentrate on those Ohio Stars for the remainder of the weekend. Beyond that, a stack of 4 quilts is waiting for me with the possibility of bringing more home after the meeting.

And so it goes in my little corner of the world..........