Cold is Back

After a good week of milder (even hinted of spring) weather, the cold is back. It was -1 when we got up this morning, and only 9 now at 2 p.m. Needless to say, I was not happy. Since it was 38 deg. on Thursday, I had blindly assumed today would be good for running early in the morning, which would've been great since we have a basketball game at 4 p.m. But I did not go out. I will probably regret it.

Instead, I took the valances to the church and hung them in the classrooms. After finishing them last night after supper, I was eager to get them into their proper place. They look very nice. I'm glad I lined them, as well as the ones I made last spring for the other two classrooms. Tomorrow I will return the leftover fabric to the lady who bought it. Then the project is done. Yay!

I decided on an outer border for drh's quilt, and cut and sewed it last night and this morning. Now I'm ready to piece the backing and layer the layers. It's a simple single Irish chain pattern. Most appealing to me right now are the patterns with nine-patch design, and especially ones in which the diagonal is somehow accentuated to lead your eye across the entire quilt. Also, I just discovered the disappearing, or tossed, nine-patch variation, and am intrigued and inspired to see how that really works. I'll post more photos of this Irish chain, and other forays into quilt blockdom, as I progress.

This is the center of the quilt with the first border. Each block is 9", and the border is 2". Below are the two options (just laid out to test) I had for the second border. I decided to use the second one as a 5" border, which provides a bigger contrast with the alternate (dotty) blocks, and because I am also using the dotty fabric for the backing. It's already sewed on, but my camera battery is charging. Then I will use the darker marble print again for the binding.