Week over....

 At last this week is over....Macbeth had surgery, we had to have a tree cut down before it fell on the house, and my DH's car was rear-ended at a stoplight.  Ever want to just crawl under a quilt and wait until it is safe to come out again?!

Anyway, looks like the coast is clear now (as I toss salt over my shoulder and hang the rosary beads out the window...) Macbeth is eating and walking around fine though he hasn't quite forgiven me for the whole ordeal.  The tree came down safely and now there is more light for my flower garden.  And finally the car will need some work to the trunk lock but overall isn't too bad though my DH is grouchy about his back, his baby Mazda, and a spot on his no-accident streak of  over 20 years....


So what did I do during the past week...well besides worry a lot I played with my Liberated Amish quilt and worked on some applique.  The photos above has color issues...the star is two shades of purple not maroon and black.  I'll try and get a better one today as I finish the star.  While going through solids I found this little Amish quilt-lette I made years ago...I was debating adding it to a liberated block or just finishing it up.  I did find my applique stitch suffered for all the stress this week.  (Note to self - only work on primitives when so much is going on...)

The photo to the left is of my friend Margret's applique.  The pattern has been around for awhile but now People, Places and Quilts down in Summerville, SC put together a kit with all these wonderful Kaffe fabrics.  And of course Maggie is changing the whole kit up a bit...

Is anyone else using the new blogger system...not sure yet if I like it...maybe it just takes practice...I thought I had added five photos but only three came over and now it will not let me get the other two....grrrrr....

Quilt Day!

My guild celebrated National Quilt Day by holding a sewing bee/demonstrations at the local Arts and Heritage Center. Most of us worked on quilts for Quilts of Valor and a few on their blocks for our next quilt for Camp Rainbow. We used the Twist pattern from Bonnie Hunters website to make the first quilt and then the "leftover" pieces to make the center blocks for the second quilt...sort of like a two for one!
The center is a great place to work with wonderful lighting and lots of space. Being surrounded by local artwork helps too!We got two quilts tops in Autumn colors almost finished and the patriotic themes blocks ready to go together. Not bad for a few hours work. Amazing how much faster it goes when many hands work together!I also tried out a new tool today. You know me - always in search of the perfect rotary cutter.
(And for "perfect" read one that I don't slice myself with when my eyes and/or hands are feeling all MS-y) I was told this fingertip controlled Mini rotary cutter was good for folks with weak hands...since it sort of clips to your finger so you don't have to focus on holding the cutter just on moving your finger. It took a few minutes to get used to it but in no time I was cutting out a pile of leaves to applique on my border. Now the downside - if you have any problems with your hands there is almost no chance you will get the plastic blade cover off without serious damage (for that read one lost fingernail and a nasty slice on the knuckles - big ouch!) What were they thinking? And it doesn't get any better the more you put the cover on and off either. I made a small felt cover for mine and ditched the plastic....

Happy St Patrick's Day

Well my DH just left for work wearing his Irish Rugby shirt and carrying a large loaf of Irish bread made with lots of raisins and caraway seeds...funny how it was tucked under his arm like a football! There are some scones in the oven to take over my friend Magaret's house where we are planning on doing some applique this morning. A pretty quiet St. Patricks day here.
On another topic...this is a photo of Margret's most recent quilt. She started it in a class with Kaffe Fasset when he taught here in Georgia last Fall. I love the fabrics in this one!

Back to Irish...are any of you quilters following American Idol? Have to admit that it has grabbed me this year because of Siobhan...and I am not just supporting her because she has the same name as me! That girl can sing! She is also a bit quirky which helps too....

Catching up is hard to do...

I finally got out of the house and made it to our local guild's morning meeting. Lots of fun stuff...
This top was made by Anne for our Quilt of Valor National Quilt Day Project....boy that is a mouthful! I love the colors in this quilt...Next Saturday on NQD we are going to make some quilt tops using one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns, Twist and Turn, that will then be quilted by some of the members and give to soldiers at a local Army Post.
This next photo is of a Birthday quilt made by members of the guild for Maggie Hunt. There is so much going on in this quilt!
I still haven't gotten back to doing much sewing. Mainly I have been cutting fabric. I am "mentally" working on making one of these Parisian Overnight bags (name of the pattern) in some great Kaffe Fasset Browns. This bag was made by Maggie who got the pattern the same day I did...she has finished two! I've thought about making several....

And I had to share a photo of these strawberries...I love spring. And, they taste just as wonderful as they look...I love spring....Can you believe I ate and entire box of these berries on the way home from the store! Fortunately I bought two so we can still have strawberry shortcake for dinner...whoops I mean for dessert. (I lost 5 pounds from that darn cold/flu so I have a bit of room to celebrate!)

Fabric Auditions....

Not much sewing done around here the past few days but I have played in the fabric piles and done a lot of auditioning (between rounds of coughing, hot tea, and lots of pills and potions...) My guild did however have our quilt (in photo above) that supports camp rainbow at the local Home and Garden show last weekend and it raised a lot of money for the camp. The camp is sponsored by a local hospital and allows critically ill children a chance to play like the rest of the kids for a week in the summer.(This is the cherry block I made for the quilt...)

Back to playing in fabric...I was trying to find the right center fabric for the star in my crazy liberated amish piece. This is the one that started by my slicing up an old UFO and then morphed into a project piece for Tonya's liberated Amish class. Funny how things morph no?

Anyway I am OK with the black star points (there are about 5 different shades of black in this quilt...mainly because of age and maker of the fabrics!)

My first thought was to go really light for the center square. I'm not even posting the photos because I hated it that much. It high-jacked the entire quilt (who knew light pink could be sooooo powerful?!) So I am down to two choices...a medium eggplant that shines because it is just off the brown and the maroon but nowhere else is there purple in the quilt top.

Then there is a bright blue of about the same value as the eggplant but which blends with the blues already in the quilt top.Enough excitement for the day...I'm off the wrap myself in quilts and sit on the back deck and get some sun on my face. Feeling the need for some vitamin D! Plus someone has to go out there and keep these daffodils company!

Knocked out....

Just a quick post to let ya'll know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...just feel like I have! My DH was "kind" enough to share his latest cold with me and it has knocked me for a loop. Not getting much sewing done here (or anything else for that matter!)

So it may take a few more days of rest, fluids, and cough meds before I am social again....

(photo is of a little quilt my friend Rachel made me a couple years ago...it is about 6 inches by 6 inches...makes me smile!)