This & That

Hello Family & Friends,

I've been pretty busy and avoiding posting recently. I hope you all enjoy reading our news and looking at my pictures.

We have lovely weather today but are expecting thunder storms by mid afternoon and into the evening. J.D. is flying in this evening from his visit with his Mom in Arizona. He will be staying with us for a few weeks. We are hoping he will be able to go to Indiana University in the Fall. To prepare for him using our extra room, I had to make room in a closet for some of my quilts. That was a real chore as there were over 20 big quilts to find a spot for. There is still a stack of smaller quilts in the room. Time to donate, I guess!

I've had the sewing machine humming away the past two days. Clue #5 of the Quiltville.com mystery quilt was posted and I managed to finish the step for the two quilts I'm doing. The photo to the left goes with the block I posted earlier - the lime green star block. I made 30 of the lime green star blocks in an earlier step. For this step, I made 20 blocks, 18 half blocks (setting triangles) and 4 quarter blocks (for the corners). Are you confused? The more I look at these pieces the more I'm convinced I will be doing some tea dying to tone it down a bit.

Photo to the right shows the sections for the

second quilt - same as the one above, just a

different color scheme. I haven't taken a picture of the star block that goes with these pieces.

Many of you are probably wondering if my stash is being reduced - well, this should prove that it is!

Truthfully, I'm ready to pack a lot of the stash up and donate it to Good Will.

Finished this little gem this morning. Am trying to use my the Aunt Grace fabrics in my stash - but it seems like there is no end to them. This is a 27" square, string pieced from strips cut for other projects. Even the batting and backing are pieced.

Decided it was time to take a picture of Chet - he rides while The Price Is Right is on TV. Notice he has only one handle on his exercise bike. He is using his quad cane around the house.

Weather man said this morning that we've had 16 days of rain for the month. But then that's normal because it's also Indy 500 race month! All the digital clocks in the house were "flashing" when we got up this morning, so we must have had an electrical outage sometime during the night. Never heard a thing! Everything is nice and green but it's just not warming up yet.

It was so good to hear from Carol last week. Sounds like she's getting her spunk back. And of course it's great to hear from other nieces, too. Hmm - wonder where the nephews are!

Off to find some lunch and then a nap.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

One busy lady here in Indiana! Made a trip to the grocery store this morning - someone in this house was opening and closing drawers and cupboards and sighing alot. This means the goodies are all gone! Amazes me how much two old people eat!

While at the store I ran into a gal I'd not seen in ages. She is a quilter and I invited her to quilt guild next month; hope she's able to go.

My quilt guild met on Monday and the program was on antique quilts. These were all family quilts, utility type. A couple of them were in rough shape and when someone peeked in to see what was used for batting they found an even older quilt and it was much prettier than the top that had been covering it.

I've been busy at my sewing machine the past two days. I have a bag of baggies with different blocks in them. Monday morning I just grabbed a baggie, laid out the blocks on my bed and started sewing. I had to keep sewing till the top was completed or I'd not be able to take my nap! The machine hummed at full speed and the top was done. The next day I decided to make the backing for this quilt using solid fabrics (leftovers from my Amish style days) and pulled out a big tub. I found a lot of strips cut different widths and decided to make blocks from them in addition to using just a solid color. Need to do a count of the blocks and see how many more I need. I am determined to use up as much of my stash as I possibly can! So my plans are to sew up a storm - after my nap, that is!

This rosey/pink strings quite was made a while ago. Nate needed a gift for a coworker and shopped from my quilt room. Most of these rosey/pinks are leftovers from when I made quilts for a friend.

Off to have a sandwich and then a nap and then sew for a while.

Joan

Ah - I've taken the big step and decided to do a blog. This is my way of sharing news of our family and my quilting adventures. So everyone is free to look and read if they choose to and I won't be cluttering up their emails with my "boasting"!

The picture is a block from a quilt I'm working on now. It is a mystery quilt and it is a true mystery. Clues are posted on quiltville.com about every two weeks and I am stitching along with many other people around the world. Quiltville.com is a unique website - Bonnie Hunter is a scrappy look quilter. I've made several of the patterns from her site and have really done a stash reduction but there still is a long way to go.

Sun is shining in Indiana and it's a bit chilly and windy. I have quilt guild this afternoon and can't decide what to take for "Drag & Brag" - perhaps it will be the 100% African cotton bundle of Fat Quarters I picked up in Cincinnati on Friday. ( I hope they don't drool on it!)

I had a lovely Mother's Day. Saturday evening Nate, Deanie, and her son Chris, Chet and I went to eat at a steak house. The waiting line kind of reminded me of being in labor! We waited for over an hour for a table and another half hour for our meal. The place was packed. We enjoyed the food - even brought some home.

Mark stopped in with a lovely plant and we went out for a sandwich. Tracy called later in the evening. Only one child didn't check in - but I won't mention any names!

Am signing off - need to find something to eat and something to put on for guild.

Till next time.

Joan