Change of Plans

 I was supposed to be here. 

Sally came instead. 

DH and I were planning a month at the beach to celebrate his retirement. But this is 2020....

I had projects kitted up to take with me, packing lists, stuff staged for loading in the car, care arrangements made for the dog, meals prepped, etc. Then the hurricane hit. It came ashore at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach AL. We go to Perdido Key which is just across the Florida line from Orange Beach. They got at least 20 inches of rain and 100 mph winds. We don't know yet about the damage at the condos where we always stay because the managers* there are too busy with hurricane recovery and we don't want to bother them. 

We've been looking forward to retirement and opportunities to travel. 2020 is the first year since 1978 that we have not taken a trip. Sigh.

But this is a quilting blog so let's get back on topic....

I've been working hard on a secret sewing pixelated project for a Christmas gift. My goal was to have all of the blocks pieced before we left for our trip. 

So pedal to the metal, I've been making blocks and I not only got them all made, I got them sewn together into the center of the top. It's ready to have the borders added. I set it aside to finish up after we got back from vacation and I packed up other projects to work on while we were on vacation. 

Those semi-pixelated blocks have a lot of seams! Even though I chain pieced as much as possible, there were a lot of starts and stops so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to use leaders and enders. I had some precut squares of this bug print so I cut some squares of this splatter print to go with it. 

A few more squares were needed, but with leaders and enders this top came together quickly. 

It's about 45 x 58" which is a good toddler size. I'll quilt it and donate it to STLMQG's LEO quilt drive. LEO (law enforcement officer) quilts are carried by first responders to use to comfort children in scary situations and may be given to a child. 

I was looking forward to visiting a unique fabric shop in Pensacola, but obviously that's not happening now. Those projects that got kitted up and packed for vacation? I'll be working on them at home. 

*The managers at the condos we go to are Valerie and Lawrence for whom I made the Beach Baby quilt in May. You can see that quilt and the place where we stay in this post.

Monday Link-ups: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt