Allietare Link-up and Design Wall Update

It's a bonus day! That's when a surprise snow/sleet storm comes and cancels school the first Monday after Christmas break. (It made getting to church interesting yesterday, too!  And I have to give kudos to my mother-in-law, who made the attempt to drive herself to church but turned around when she figured discretion was the better part of valor. We were able to pick her up and have Sunday dinner with her anyway, and returned her safely after helping her with some errands. It was Peter's last family dinner before heading off to college, so I'm glad we were able to have her over.)

This is what it looked like outside my sewing room window this morning. Very pretty! And a good day to stay in and sew!  Fortunately for all scrap quilters everywhere, New Year's day marked the release of the final clue in the Allietare mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter, and we all have something to work on.  It is such a pretty pattern, and I'm really excited to see it come together.  There are many others doing their interpretation of this design -- check them out at the Quiltville blog link-up party.  You can also find links there to download the pattern clues, for a limited time, if you missed it.

Here's what my design wall looks like at the moment.  I decided not to remove the rainbow string star underneath, but just pin the Allietare stars up to see the pattern develop.  So far I've made about 25 of the main stars and 4 of the Pisa blocks.  I also re-discovered that basket of flannels when I was attempting to tidy up some things, and started piecing a scrappy flannel baby quilt as leaders-and-enders, which are pinned on the right. There are three quilts on my design wall (which is not really big enough for a bed-sized quilt), and about 7 others in various stages scattered throughout my sewing room. My sewing room messy?  No, I'm just a creative genius!

 It's pretty, the way those patterns play off each other.  I still like my light gray, even though it's a bit subtle. It saves something to enjoy close-up. If I hustle, I might even get the blocks done today. But probably not. It's a good day for not-hustling.

Flannel baby quilts... my mother-in-law made several for my kids and they loved them to death.  These are some scraps from her as well as flannels I have saved for years.  I'm trying to clear them out.  They're just 4.5" squares.  I'll probably back them with more flannel and not put in any batting. It's a good, flexible but comfy weight that way.

I haven't set any quilting goals for 2016, or knitting goals, or anything. I'm still recovering from the great quilting wasteland of 2015, and hoping to finish a few things, that's about all.  Maybe in a month or so I'll figure out some concrete objectives.  The biggest challenge will be getting back onto the quilting machine. I have had my Farmer's Wife quilt on there for about 2 years now with very little progress in the last year. Yikes!