My Very Own Wintry Mix

 Around these parts - well, around the entire country, it seems - we are having winter in a very pronounced way. A veritable wintry mix wherever one looks! Snow and frigid temps from Texas to the Atlantic! We Ohioans were blanketed by about 8 inches of snow last week, 3 or 4 more inches added this past weekend, and then Monday  it was all topped off with a layer of ice. Nice wintry mix if ever I saw one!

In the sewing room, my attention span is as random as the weather. I flit from one project to another to another. 

For handwork, I reach for Lake Effect. I finished the vine I wrote about in the last post. Next up is to prepare for leaves. 

I have promised myself to work on the commission t-shirt quilt, and I have been. Today I finished construction on the center portion. Next up is a narrow inner border, followed by an outer border that will incorporate more t-shirt parts.

While I was pretty well focused Tuesday,  I enjoyed my own sewing room version of a wintry mix on Monday. I must have dabbled in a dozen different directions. I wanted to write a blog post, but my brain simply would not focus on a topic. I gave that up, at last, and spent time in the sewing room, making numerous efforts to settle on a task with absolutely no success. Instead, I did 'parts' of things.

Let me show you a little pictorial of some of the varied 'parts' accomplished. 

 First, I made 20 more 9-patch blocks for the sew-along we will be starting here with Sharon and Dee come March 1st. I now have a total of 50 completed. I felt the need to have a bit of this done in advance so that I'd have photos ready for when we officially begin.

Next, I thought about some additional pictures I could use for the sew-along, so I made some extra blocks. Then I thought about sashing for those extra blocks, so I did a bit on that, as well. These extra sample blocks are much scrappier than those I've made for my actual quilt.

After making the scrappier sample blocks, I added sashing. I have a few opinions about this little sample, and as we get into the sew-along, I will expound on all that. 

The sew-along was definitely my most-focused on project, but I was all over the place with my efforts. After working with the sample, I tried to figure out sizes. I didn't bother taking a picture of that attempt of diagrams, numbers, dimensions, and eraser crumbs on 2 smudged graph paper pages. What a mess.

Another part of the sew-along I pondered was sashing fabric for my quilt. My original thought was to use a polka dot, and I found 2 with potential. I have added a third option that is not dots. In the photo below, I've stretched the 3 contenders across my strips to see which one I like best.

While I was digging in the fabric stash, I began thinking about a quilt on my goals list - a red and white quilt. I have an inspiration picture in mind, so I also pulled some fabrics for that future effort. I've stored it and labeled it; you'll have to wait to see the array of reds I've selected.

Had enough of my wintry mix? It took me all day to finally get busy working on the one thing I ought to have been doing all day - the t-shirt quilt. After supper, I headed back upstairs and forced myself to cut the sashing strips and cornerstones. That little bit of effort put me in the mood to stitch some rows together. I stopped around 11pm with two rows finished.

Thankfully, the ability to focus returned on Tuesday, and like I said up top, I finished the center section of the t-shirt quilt. I'm so glad! The sooner I get this quilt finished, the sooner I can get going on that sew-along quilt and then that red and white quilt, and a whole bunch of others that I have lined up.

Happy Quilting, Friends!