Churn Dashes Galore!

 In case anyone has wondered about my lengthy absence from blog posting, school has started. Whew, what can this old dog learn? I'm working harder than I ever imagined I would to learn virtual teaching methods and programs to make my two sections of freshman comp as successful as possible. Monday was an absolute disaster; Wednesday was mildly successful. I commended my students for coming back to day 2, after the rough opening day. I wasn't sure I'd get anyone back.

But, let's talk about quilting. Even with all the extra school work I'm doing, I am still quilting. Only the blogging has taken a backseat. 

The last time I wrote, I had 32 5" churn dashes on the design wall along with setting blocks of neutral shirting fabrics. In the foreground of this picture is a stack of 30 more churn dashes. I have not cut any more setting blocks, but I've run out of room on the design wall, so I will just continue making parts; I don't need to see it in its entirety.

Plenty of fabrics remain. My churn dash pairings are fanned out in the photo above. I am sure I could get at least 2 more churns from each set. In front are two shirtings, but I have more I can cut into, so it looks like I'm set to finish the block construction phase of this quilt.

Now, my title says churn dashes galore, and while I am completing the construction of this quilt, I have just cut out the parts for another.

One of my goals for quite awhile has been to make this quilt called True Blue. The original features feedsack fabrics (which I do not have), however, I do have a good supply of blue in my stash. So I pulled out a big stack and began cutting.

My choices came from the huge stack above. The quilt has 42  churns; I used 20 blues from the stash. I am using Thangles for the HSTs, and the rest is just straight sewing. I was so eager to see the block made up, I went ahead and made a couple. Ooooh, I am excited about this!

This pattern has 9-inch blocks, considerably larger than those itty-bitty 5-inchers I've been making. It will be so fast to get this made.

True Blue will be my main activity for next week. Because of the pandemic, the Frankfort Girls had to cancel the annual Canter's Cave Quilt Retreat. Rescheduling has been iffy, so Terry is having it at her house next week. I will have to miss most of  M/W because of my classes, but I will be able to get quite a lot done in the remaining time. Going in with this cut out and ready to sew will speed things up quite a bit.

I have been working on a few other things, too, and Sharon has been here to sew; always pretty, fun stuff coming from her sewing machine. Hopefully, you'll be hearing about all that soon. Now that I am getting into a groove for my classes, my blogging groove should return.

Happy Quilting, Friends!