I keep finding WIPs. Here’s one from eleven (!) years ago:
More about the process on this post, but this was discovered when I was looking for a February-ish theme for my Instagram Monthly Marker post, and found this.
I have this many finished. Even though I still like this group, I don’t even think selvage quilts are in fashion anymore, are they?
It wasn’t until I tried cutting out pieces for the Oh My Cacti Quilt pattern that I realized what a helpful thing are these little tags. I have digitally wiped all the dimensions off them so as not to give away her pattern, but yes — I’m in favor of little pieces of paper that tell you what to cut.
So this is one of those in-betweeners: technically still a WIP because it’s not yet quilted, bound, or labeled. But hey! The quilt top is finished! I met my goal of piecing a (complicated) quilt in one week’s time. And then I just laid about like a sleepy toddler the next week. Good news: it’s already been dropped off at the quilter.
BLOCK OF THE MONTH 2025 PROGRESS
I finished up Sherri’s February Block of the Month (BOM) and it has this cute little ribbon star in the middle. If you need calming down from the dumpster fire in your life (not naming names, here), put on one of Sherri’s videos and you will end up smiling and believing that you can Conquer All. She’s like that in real life, too.
Here they are together.
My Posh Penelope blocks are coming along fine. We are supposed to make four per month, Carol and I. I got in the groove and made more:
It’s tempting to just use all one color family in the blocks, but I finally busted out on that last one with the blue corners.
Here’s the family, so far. I could go green in March…but then there are also a TON of blues in my stash closet. One can never have too many blue blocks in my world, so we’ll see.
Farm Report
In spite of the signs on the front of the egg case, we seem to be doing fine in this department. At this point in our new presidency, I’d almost rather have the eggs scarce again and a calmer presence in the White House. When I saw the metal letters for USAID pulled off the building and on the ground, my heart cracked open a little. This agency was one of our best soft powers we had, which made me remember when my family lived in Lima, Peru for two years. My father had a dual appointment with Stanford University and USAID, working with the government of Peru, building bridges, making connections.
This was our family photo in 1966, just before we left our mountain home in Utah Valley and flung into the great wide world. There were many doing this at this time, for we believed in our global mission of making friends across the world, building bridges, and yes, maybe currying favor before the Communists in the Soviet Union got there first. Maybe that idealism just couldn’t be sustained once the enemy had dissipated (I do still have a Soviet Union guidebook), but oh, wow. The scenes and the stories from this week have broken my heart twice: once for the death of the ideals that USAID espoused and worked and accomplished, and once more for the way it was –and is — being done. Not in the open, where it can be debated and talked about, as is our usual approach here in the US, but in secret, with skullduggery and deception and anger, displacement and many many lives at home and abroad being harmed.
Whatever comes of this episode in our American History, our lives in the 1960s as a family were changed forever. We had lived outside our little enclave and safe enclosure and had been exposed to new ideas, and people who spoke a different language. We went to an American school, but the rest of our life was with the community in Lima. We traveled only a bit, for we were not rich, but enough so I have a picture of my little brother and I, standing in the town square in Huancayo, Peru:
I have very few photos from that time. (Wouldn’t I love to go back with an iPhone!) But the best gift from my father’s work at USAID and Stanford was the idea that people are people all over the world. This I hope to carry with me forever: the world is good and welcoming and we need to be a part of it.
Now, stay away from the news and get to quilting!
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Good for you busting out some old blocks. I don’t think selvage quilts ever go out of fashion. In an attempt to finally finish a few older UFOs I recently sent off a top started in 2008 and another from 2014. It feels good to know they will finally be done. Love that family photo. I envy you coming from a big family as I was an only child.
Love the hair in the family photo! I remember all that teasing to get the poof. I’d be inclined to make a 9-patch arrangement of the selvage blocks–unless you still have salvages saved up for more blocks–that way you could use the five that are made up. My UFOs definitely get smaller than their original plans.
I just hope we can one day put Humpty Dumpty back together.
You’ve made me cry, reading your story and looking at that beautiful family photo- when life was simpler, full of hop and love but more real than the dystopia we seem to be now facing.
I love all your sewing endeavours! The Posh Penelope blocks are wonderful! Keep calm and sew on…….
oh my goodness! It could be Barbara!!! I often ask myself how these same 60’s and 70’s idealists could be today’s boomers. What happened? When did we trade our POW bracelets for hate filled rhetoric??
Anyhoo – love your low volume backgrounds in your PP blocks. I’m trying to keep my colors even, but I’m tending pink.
People are people; I love that. I just saw someone on Instagram working on a selvage quilt recently… it might have been Joshua (Molli Sparkles). I say if you like the project enough to carry on, that’s all that matters. I hope you have a lovely week.
How can selvage quilts “not be a thing” anymore? I love them. It’s sad that things have to change to that point. Posh Penelope is looking fabulous. Will it not be a thing in a few years too? Sooo sad. Great job on finishing such a complex quilt so quickly.
I am new to quilting (as of September last year) and found your blog so helpful! In fact (and you will think this sounds crazy…) I went back in time and read all of your posts….going in reverse order LOL. So many wonderful quilts and good info! Anyway, now I’m all caught up and can just see what you’ve got going in the present day. Thanks so much for all your thoughtful posts, and the silly ones too. Oh, and on that Meta dump (yes, I was just now catching up with your last post), could the truck thing have come because you displayed all those quilts on amazing old trucks??? Anyway, that’s what I thought of!
-Beth (not sure how I am listed in WordPress)
I like your blocks – especially your Posh Penelope – and I enjoyed hearing about your time in Peru and seeing your photo from 1966. That was the year I was born 🙂
It really is so tragic and maddening about USAID. It’s scary too, because even when this administration changes over, so much damage will have already been done, and young people will be less inclined to go into civil service knowing that it’s now so unstable. Your colorful blocks are a balm, Elizabeth, thank you.
Selvedge quilts are definitely not out of style! I made Amy Friend’s “Bibliography” quilt, using selvedges. And happily for Amy, her Bibliography quilt was accepted into QuiltCon! I’m looking forward to seeing hers in person. I really like how your Posh Penelope blocks are coming together. They’re gorgeous! And you remind me, again, that I want to work on mine too. I’ve made two blocks and cut out several more, but other quilts have priority right now. And then there’s QuiltCon, coming soon. February has felt very full, and that’s not going to end anytime soon. It was nice to see your family portrait, and I’m glad you have that keepsake, as well as the picture of you and your brother in Peru. What an interesting childhood you experienced.
Hmmm…I wrote a comment and WP said it couldn’t be posted. Trying again but without the commentary…
Love your Posh Penelope blocks!