Where Has January Gone?

I guess keeping busy is the key to time passing quickly! We've enjoyed a couple of "warm" days - up into the mid 40's. We escaped the house to run errands, get groceries and go pick up quilts from a nearby town.

Also have enjoyed visits with family in Mississippi and Wisconsin. And I have pictures to share of
the Wisconsin G'kids. Amanda is holding a quilt made from Carol Doak's paper foundation piecing book, State Stars. Those blocks are real beauties and it took up to three hours to make some of them! But it was well worth the time! Caroline, a long arm quilter in Rushville, quilted this quilt and as usual, did a great job with it.





And Paul is smiling behind the sampler quilt. This was a Block of the Month quilt from Kaye England's shop, Quilt Quarters in Indianapolis. Each month I received patterns for one 12" and two 6" blocks. The backgrounds are different black prints. This was my first BOM and first time for using such a variety of bright colors. Judy Wilson, a gal in Texas has a long arm quilting business and she quilted it using a variegated primary colors thread. She did a super job, lots of swirls and feathers and anything else she could think of. She asked for permission to play and I said okay - and it's just super. Perhaps you can see some of her work if you click on the photo to enlarge it. (Doesn't Paul look just like his father?)





Now I'll bet your wondering just what this mess is in the next picture! Well - I picked up two quilts from Caroline yesterday and this "mess" is the binding being sewn on. This quilt measures approximately 82" square and created a real wrestling match while sewing on the binding! But it's now sewn on and I can sit in my recliner and hand stitch the binding to the back while watching Desperate Housewives this evening. I may sit and stitch all night - it's always so cozy under a quilt. The blocks are all made of a different plaid fabrics and the sashings and borders are a burgundy color. The block has several different names, I got the pattern from Bonnie Hunter's book, Scraps and Shirttails. She called it "Swing Your Partner" - mine isn't quite like hers - she had half square triangles where I have solid fabrics for the sashing. I started to make the half square triangles and gave up after about a hundred of them! The backing is a brushed cotton - not quite as heavy as flannel.




The "pretties" shown below are something I just had to make! Gals were talking about doing these fabric baskets in my fabric-stash chat room and also on Stashbusters, a Yahoo Group! The blue and yellow basket will go to a little girl in Mississippi who is having a birthday soon. I plan to find a few goodies to put in it! The polka-dot basket is for the Mississippi Grandson - can't send a gift for one and not the other! Right?





Wouldn't these be cute for coworkers B'days and holiday gifts? Ah - so many ideas and so little time!

Nearing lunch time for me and Chet is due home soon so I guess I'd best go rattle some pots and pans.

Till next week - - have a good one!