What I’m Working On…

Before I get to today’s post I want to propose something.  Last week I told you about the book Tomorrow’s Bread.  Several readers wrote and suggested I read another book by the same author called, The Dry Grass of August.  The author is Anna Jean Mayhew.

I went to Amazon to learn more about the book and saw that it was available free for Kindle Unlimited members and for Audible users.  That prompted me to think maybe I should offer to have a book club for the book.  So many of you already used these services so many of you would be able to read for free.

You can find the book HERE on Amazon if you don’t have a membership to Audible or Kindle Unlimited.  I think it was only around $8 for the book.

I did find the book available through my online library Hoopla as well.

How about whoever wants to read the book, read it and we’ll review it here on the blog on December 12th.  I’ll write my normal review and then you all can write in the comments and tell us what you think about the book too.  I think that should give you all enough time to get the book (or audiobook) and get it read.  That’s more than a month so that sounds do-able.

I’ve not read the book…I only know that several people wrote and recommended it!!  I hope it’s a good one!!  Doesn’t this sound like a fun idea??  I sure do.  Grab your copy of the book and I’ll meet you back here on December 12th.  Now to today’s post:

I am still on fire (when I’m not watching Kalissa’s boys) when it comes to tackling UFO projects.  Seriously, they are going to get done!!  Probably not all in the next year but certainly in the next two years.  In the meantime, I plugging along the best I can.

I told you last week that my niece had a baby.  It was a little girl and I needed a baby quilt for her.  I have what I thought were two UFO baby quilts cut out.  One was most from Kaffe prints.

The other was from these soft solid prints.

I cut them both out several years ago.  Blog readers had sent a bunch of scraps and I worked with them and cut out the two quilts.

They are to make this pattern…VERY simple and quick to finish.

It’s a free pattern on our blog find it HERE.

Well, Wednesday I didn’t have the boys so I ran to the sewing room and was determined to get all I could do.

I grabbed the first one that was Kaffe prints and started sewing only to find out that I had enough for TWO baby quilts.  I ended up sewing both of them into tops that morning.

In the afternoon I came back upstairs to the sewing room and put borders on those two and then decided to sew the solid print one together too.  Here they are….

I couldn’t believe that I sewed all three tops in a day!!

I made backings for them and then cut bindings.  It’s awesome as the quilts are only 42″ or so by the 42″ or so.  I’m using simple yardage for the backings.  It’s so easy that way.

I ended up sewing all of the backing pieces together and loaded them into the quilting frame at once.  I got a start on this one..but only about a third of the way done.

Then I didn’t touch them again all week.  I’ve had the boys a lot…two overnights included.  Kalissa said she’s been home two nights in the past 7 days.  She’s working overnights so sleeps during the day.  So that translates to not a lot of sewing time.   It’s all good.  The boys are more important.

Carver goes back to school on Thursday.  Craig is close to being done with combining (there’s more work after that but at least the crop is out) so between those two things, I think things will be a bit closer to normal….but then there’s Covid and numbers in Iowa continue to rise to who knows what that will mean for Kalissa.

Anyway, I did get a couple of hours to sew on two different occasions for a bit, and then I worked on the Spider Web String UFO.  I did a video of “Sew with Jo”.  If you missed it, the video is here.

I did a bigger blog post and explained more about the blocks.  Rather than repeat, I’ll just include the link to that post  HERE.

I’m super excited to say the video was very successful and well-received.  I will be doing more of them for sure.  I also got several comments from readers asking if I would do a follow-up video on the Spider Web String quilt showing how I trim and sew the blocks together.  I think I can do that.

Shooting the first video and visiting with you all was really fun so I’ll happily do another video as time allows.   In the videos be prepared for goofy family stories and even some stuff about growing up in southern Minnesota.  It won’t all be about quilting but a lot of it will be.

I have gotten a little more stitched on this…

It’s really not enough to mention.  I do have everything prepped now and for me, that’s often the hardest part.  I’m so excited that this is moving along.  A couple of you said you had the project and were pulling it out to work on too.  I’d love for you to send me some pictures to encourage me onward!!

That’s all for this week…Considering how busy I was, I really got a lot done!!  I hope I keep it up for the next week!