Ready for Ruler Work

I have my first practice block put together for the ruler work lesson:

The fabric/color combo is one I pulled a few months ago thinking I might make a quilt with it (adding in a nice sunny yellow), but I decided to use it for this project, instead. That purple Blah Blah Blah fabric makes me laugh.

The block is huge—21” square, which almost makes it a wallhanging. The lesson overview indicates that each block can be made into a pillow or combined into a quilt at the end of the class. There are nine blocks, so either everyone I know is getting pillows for Christmas next year, or I’ll have another quilt to add to the donation pile.

I stopped by the quilt store and picked up the ruler foot and a set of five rulers for the Q20:

The rulers have paper backing on them that needs to be peeled off. I went ahead and got the Bernina set because they are the ones used in the class.

Because I did my trip to Missoula on Monday and finished up 2020 paperwork and ran errands yesterday, the rest of this week will be devoted to learning how to quilt with these rulers. I also need to spend some time making a plan of attack for January.

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Elysian and WS and I had our gift exchange yesterday afternoon. I am so proud of her! Last spring, she bought a gorgeous Singer 600 in a cabinet, with all the accessories, from the Habitat store. (The 600s were some of the last slant-shank Singers with all metal gears.) She and WS spent three weeks in December hunkered down in their sewing room making all the Christmas gifts for her family, including zipper pouches for her siblings out of clothing they had worn as kids. It sounds like those were a big hit.

I love handmade gifts. They gave me this coffee can onto which they decoupaged gardening-themed fabric.

I am going to put it out in the greenhouse to hold my hand tools. Inside the can was a batch of homemade fudge—I love fudge—and this darling vintage Simplicity charm, which is going to get hung near one of my machines.

WS made a fleece neck warmer for the husband, who pronounced it very warm.

I got WS a Slinky and a gyroscope as two of his gifts, which seem to have been a good choice for an almost 7 year-old boy. I also got him a big container of Costco mixed nuts, which has become a tradition. The husband usually has a container of them sitting next to his chair, and the boys know they can help themselves when they’re here, but WS appreciates having one of his own.