It's been FAR too long...

 I see that it's been almost a year since I last posted, and it was tempting to just pull the plug, but I'm going to give it another chance.  Part of the problem is that I haven't been able to upload pictures from my phone to the desktop (and typing a blog post on my phone is NOT going to happen!).  I'm not sure why I tried it one more time just after Christmas, but, voila!  I was able to get my pictures downloaded!  I promise to not overwhelm you with pictures and posts of all the things I've been working on since Feb. 2020.    Maybe I'll just pick a picture and start there - okay?

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed like everyone and their brother (sister?) was sewing masks.  I had a long to-do list and I assumed that the people who were already sewing masks had the situation under control, and I didn't need to sew any.  But, I could donate fabric to the cause - and because tightly woven cotton had been requested, I went to my stash of batiks.  I saved out a few really special ones and decided that I was going to use them up while I had them out.  I had 2 or 3 Bright Hopes blocks on my design wall, but they only measured 6.5" - and, while I wanted to use that pattern, those blocks would be far too small.  I had to fiddle with the block pieces to get the parts the right size - but it seemed like I had enough blocks in no time.  I tried to create a secondary pattern with the layout, and ended up having to alter a few blocks to make it happen - but I finally got the top done, and then quilted and bound it right away.  It's been put aside until I can donate it.

These are also donation quilts - the first one was started in 2019 and put away as I didn't have enough blocks.  It was started as a project for National Sew a Jelly Roll day - but I only had a part jelly roll, and I needed two more strips to finish the quilt.  I finally decided to just order some coordinating yardage - I ended up making 3 blocks with that colour, and used it for the border too.  The second one was for a donation quilt drive organized by Suzyquilts, and was a quick make.  The fabrics are all Kona cottons and were all in my stash!  I used my BlocLoc rulers to square up ALL those half-square triangles, and then just grabbed blocks and sewed them together.  Both of these quilts went to Project Linus. 

And now, I'm heading back into my sewing room to finish my scrappy Trip Around the World quilt.  I'm hoping to have it finished this week!