I Admit It....

I've been stalling, or at least uninspired. I have 5 quilts that have to be done this year as gifts, and several more that I'd like to see at least started.

I picked patterns for a few of them, made templates for one, printed triangle paper for two more, but still, they sat. My desire to finish the ring quilt, and my lack of enthusiasm for the new projects, prevented me from starting them, and distractions have made the last border of the ring quilt take a lot longer than I'd have liked.

BUT...it's done. Finally. And with the finishing of it Saturday night came a very welcome surge of energy for the new projects. The quilt is so big, I don't have anywhere in my house big enough to get far enough away to photograph the whole thing...and it's too wet to take pictures outside. Here is a stretched out view, such as it is.

Below is a view of the border motifs.

And here it is draped over my little couch by the window.
I spent my free time on Sunday pinning fabric to triangle paper for part of Marshall's quilt (I'm hoping to buy at least one more of the needed fabrics this week) and for one of my nieces' quilts. The pattern I said was Emma's quilt has changed as I didn't have enough of the background fabric I pulled for the whole thing. As I chose new fabrics, the new choices seemed to fit Katie more, so it has become hers and I have to choose a new pattern for Emma.

The triangle paper is pinned for Katie's quilt, and I've cut the larger 1/2 square triangles and pinned them together.

I had a nice stack of sewing waiting by machine this morning.

As Rachel and I decided to watch a movie after her Bible study, I really didn't want to start the machine work yesterday because I couldn't to it and watch the movie at the same time. Instead, I got the freezer paper templates all marked for Debbie's quilt (my sister-in-law) and I cut that out while we watched the movie. These are the stems and leaves that are cut from freezer paper, the green fabric is what they will be made of.

When my husband has to go to bed earlier than I can fall asleep, I make a late night out of it if I'm able. Last night, after watching "No Reservations" with Rachel, Lucas, and Ruthie, both Lucas and Rachel went to bed, but Miss Ruth was still raring to go. We settled in to watch "27 Dresses" and about midway I looked over to see this...

On today's agenda is the stack of sewing by my machine, then cutting apart the triangle paper pieces and maybe even pressing them and pinning them for the next step.

The quilt that weighs heaviest on my mind at the moment is Marshall's as I'd really like to have it finished by his party, which is on May 23rd. I'm hoping to get both the red and the border fabrics on Thursday, the batting next week and be basting the weekend of the first. That will give me 3 weeks to quilt it.

Once that one is done, I can breathe easier as the other 4 are all for Christmas. While I'd still like to work my way through them and be done by the end of September, only time will tell if that is a realistic goal.

I also really want to spend some time on the posy and celtic as I'd love to be basting that on hunting weekend, which is the weekend before Thanksgiving. I still have to secure the second side of several sections of the applique and need to get fabric to make more bias for the border design. It may be hard to find the combination of colors I'd like to see in one fabric, so that's an unknown at the moment.

Ruthie came downstairs a little while ago in this getup, she was in Rachel's room and got into some of her accessories.

While waiting for pictures to load, I've been able to get some of the sewing done, so the pieces for Marshall's quilt are sewn now. We have sports fever in our house these days, with both the Bulls and Blackhawks in the playoffs in addition to our baseball addiction. Tonight will be spent in some combination of machine sewing, unpinning, perhaps repinning, pressing fabric to freezer paper and cutting for yo-yos while watching first the Bulls, then the Blackhawks both go for wins in their games.

Time to get to it!

Happy Quilting,

Sue

What Have I Done!

I will be quilting my fingers off this year. While the list is daunting, even for me, I'm really excited about it and feel really challenged.

The bad news is that the flying geese quilt will not be the next in the hoop. I'm disappointed about that, but with the addition of a graduation quilt to my list, the money for batting for the geese quilt needs to go towards fabric for Marshall's graduation quilt. Marshall is Rachel's boyfriend, they've been dating for nearly a year now and he has given her a beautiful emerald promise ring. He's very likely going to school only about an hour or so away, which will make weekend visits possible and I'm sure they'll be on the phone for at least a few minutes each day. It dawned on me just the other day that we will be invited to his graduation party. We really can't afford to give cash for a gift but a quilt for his dorm room should fit the bill. Rachel talked to his mom on the sly to make sure they didn't already have a plan for his bedding and I was given the go ahead. It is now about 2 months until the graduation and I don't even have the fabric, nor can I get it for a couple of weeks. It's an easy pattern, though, so still doable (except it will have to be set aside when he's here, LOL) and if all else fails I can wrap it undone and take it back to finish as he won't be needing it until August.

This pattern will actually be made twice this year, once for Marshall, in red, black and white and once for my niece, in mauve, peach, and aqua with a small print background. I have triangle paper printed for both quilts and plan to cut fabric for Emma's today. I was able to pull from my stash, so hers will be started first, though the piecing on this one will be set aside if it's not finished before getting fabric for Marshall's.

While thinking of the strip block shade for my sewing room, I decided to go ahead and print foundation blocks for the quilt to go on the couch by the window. I made the blocks a little smaller for this one to make better use of the scraps and it will take 256 blocks to make the size I want. This will most definitely be an "I need a break day" project or something to work on if I'm at an impasse on everything else...which isn't too likely. I can't help but keep one of these in progress, it helps to keep my scraps under control and allows me some mindless busy work if I need it.

This is the pattern piece for the shade for our bedroom. This, unfortunately, will be a back burner project. I was really hoping to have it done by the end of this year, that will depend very much on how everything else goes. If some of these projects that need to be done go more quickly than I anticipate, then there still might be time. With warmer weather coming and Ruthie loving the outdoors, that will eat into my sewing time, though I've thought about bringing my machine out to the picnic table, and of course I can hand quilt outside if it's not too hot or windy. This pattern was a pain to enlarge, I don't draw well freehand at all, so I used our business copier and enlarged it in small bits and then pieced it together like a puzzle. It was a challenge, but actually quite fun to do. At the end of each calyx is a folded 3D rosebud. I'm really looking forward to this one, and am still trying to figure out what to do for the cornice cover.

Here's the recap of work for this year.

Have to do:

Marshall's quilt, which I really hope will be done by the end of May

Brother in law's quilt, for Christmas

Sister in law's quilt, for Christmas

Quilts for 2 nieces, also for Christmas

Want to do:

Roman shade for sewing room

Roman shade for our bedroom

Cornice covers for both shades

Finish applique sashing and border on posy and celtic quilt

My tentative plan for hunting weekend this year is basting several quilts. The posy and celtic if it's ready, the flying geese quilt and at least 2 more tops in my pile.

Today, something very unusual is happening. For about 2 hours, I will be alone in my house. My husband is taking Lucas and Ruthie to a movie (Ruthie's first time to a movie theater), Rebekah is working and the other kids are at a youth conference. I plan to pop some popcorn, put on a movie and quilt the whole time they are gone.

I'm finally on the borders of this one. The one inch border just got a quilting line 1/4" from each side. The floral border has hearts in it, I'm just about to turn the corner and then one side of those is left. The outer border has the flower/leaf unit from the ring blocks and the flower worked into a feather motif going around the quilt. I can't wait to get to that outer border, which is being quilted in pink thread and as each is finished I know that I'm that much closer to being done with this quilt! The binding is made and waiting and my machine is set up and ready to go.

Speaking of my machine, I've switched for a while to the Featherweight, for a few reasons. One is that I was pretty discouraged when the reverse lever BROKE OFF of my regular machine. I don't use it very often as I mostly piece quilts with it, but it made me sad nonetheless. Another is that I have more bobbins for my Featherweight than for my White and the bobbins actually hold more thread. With all of the sewing I have to do this year, having to stop fewer times to change bobbins or thread them all up again will be nice. The fact that it's a smaller machine is also nice as I can sew and still chat with the kids, my husband, or friends without feeling like I'm hidden behind my machine. It also makes the table look less crowded so I don't mind it sitting there when not in use and it's really nice to be able to sit and sew a few seams if I find myself with unexpected spare minutes.

Ruthie's hair is nearly always in a pony tail, but last Sunday I left it down and curled it with a curling iron. It was adorable and she looked so much older in her tiny little body! Potty training is going well, she still has accidents but overall I'm very pleased with how well she's doing. We've graduated to pullups at night and when out, so no more diapers!
And here she is with the ever present ponytail. Her speech is also improving immensely, she's adding new words all the time and the "old words" are becoming clearer. She is walking faster and beginning to run, can walk (rather than scoot) down the stairs, and is taking in everything around her. I'm so glad the other kids are such good examples for her, because she mimics so much of what she sees.

I'm really hoping to have the hearts done before my moviegoers leave so I can spend the time they are gone working on that outer border. I'd better scoot! Have a great day and
Happy Quilting!
Sue

Long Time, No "See!"

It's been busy here! Not really anything particularly different or interesting, just the "usual" busy-ness of a household of 8 with a quilting Mom. I had hoped that by the time I posted again the ring quilt would be done, but when I laid it out and saw how much there really was to do, I knew that was unlikely. It's getting there, though, I have 11 blocks left to quilt (of 64) and the borders to do. My plan earlier in the week was to be on the borders by the time the kids left for the campout tomorrow noon, that won't happen. Now I'm hoping to be on borders by Friday night and binding by next weekend.

Since I last posted, Jonathan has had a birthday, he turned 15. Birthdays in our house are pretty nicely spaced overall. Our oldest two have birthdays only 11 days apart, but the rest of us are spaced 6-8 weeks apart, all year long. Birthdays tend to run several days in our house as my husband works evenings. The big birthday dinner always happens on the weekend, when he is home. The kids get to choose what they want for dinner and dessert for the family dinner and now also get to choose the meal on the actual day, if it's during the week. Now that they are bigger, most of them opt for shopping and lunch out for their birthdays, rather than us trying to pick out something they'd like. Jonathan wanted tools and camping equipment, so my husband took him to shop and then they picked me up and the 3 of us had lunch out. His birthday dinner was lasagna with homemade rolls, his choice nearly every year, and a trifle for dessert. We eat our big meal soon after church on Sundays, so the trifle was served at supper time, along with a variety of snacks.This is the next set of strip blocks. They were going to be "just" a throw quilt, but once I decided the roman shade for my sewing room would be made of them, I shifted the plan. I thought I'd be using some of the blocks for the shade, and could add a few more to make a matching throw for the couch by the window...but boy did I figure wrong! I actually had to make an extra 28 blocks to have enough for just the shade and cornice cover. The throw will have to wait, though I enjoy these blocks so much that I'm sure very soon another set will be in the works. I still have a lot of strips left, and more scraps to be cut. This project will be on hold for a bit while I get the Christmas quilts going.

Also still in progress is the posy and celtic quilt. This one is my takealong right now as it fits nicely in a bag with the few supplies needed to work on it. The braid pieces are all on, though many of them are only sewn down on one side. The finishing part is really easy since no pinning or thinking are involved, which make it the perfect "keeping my hands" busy project right now. I'm still trying to figure out the border, I don't have enough braid bias left to use that, which was the plan. I'm going to poke around and find something that incorporates most or all of the colors in the quilt, or see if I can get more of the green.

Next up in the hoop is the flying geese quilt. I'll be getting the batting for that with my groceries tomorrow and when my fingers need a break from hand quilting I'll be marking and basting this one.

The Christmas quilts will also be started along the way here. I have triangle paper printed for one niece's quilt, I have to practice with my curved piecing quilt for the other. For my sister-in-law's quilt I need to ready some applique and pull fabric, this will be the project to work on when Ruthie wants to be outside. I probably will need to buy fabric for my brother-in-law's quilt, so that one will be waiting a bit. When I have this many projects in the works, I keep a list of the next thing to do on each one, so I don't have to try to figure it out every time I switch projects. I think I'll make that list today, it really helps me stay on task.

Here is Lucas on Crazy Day at Awanas. He wanted to wear the clothing they wore for the Awana Games the weekend before and we put this gold gluey stuff in his hair to spike it. The ribbon is the first place medal his team won at the games, he was so excited!

And Ruthie! She is doing so well and is so proud! Potty training is well under way and most days she is staying dry. I think we're going to try pullups this week for nighttime and when out. She says new words every day and often is answering questions with words we didn't even know she knew yet. She loves to be outside, though the weather hasn't been too cooperative, yet. She eats well, sleeps well, and we're falling into quite a lovely routine.

So I guess that's it for now, if I'm going to get my big list of things to do actually finished today, I need to get a move on!

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Ooops! I Did It AGAIN!

Musing about quilting, while quilting, is not always a good thing! As I pondered the year ahead, I knew this year that I would have a couple of quilts to do for Christmas. Truth be told, I rarely even think about them much until mid-summer and often don't start until summer is drawing to a close.

We have a gift giving rotation with my husband's family. Several years ago, I decided that as each couple's turn came up, I'd make them bed quilts. With that finished a couple of years ago, the lap quilts came next. I did them for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, who live in North Dakota, two Christmases ago. Last Christmas we had my inlaws for the gift giving and they live in Arizona. They have no need for lap quilts, and I think get tired of getting quilted things so we got them a restaurant gift card.

This year, we have another brother-in-law and sister-in-law and I can hardly wait. They love to receive my quilts and live in Montana. As I thought about what I might do for them, I decided I'd also make them for their daughters. The last quilts I did for their girls were quite a few years ago now, very simple and machine quilted (that Christmas I made quilts for all 17 of my nieces and nephews.)

So that's 4 quilts to make. The thing is, my lap quilts....aren't really. If I need a quilt to coverup because I'm chilly, I need to be covered...so my "lap" quilts are at least 65 x 65, often bigger depending on the pattern and who they are being made for.

I have a quilting friend who often passes her magazines my way when she is finished with them. Some time ago, I started to go through them when I get them and I put post-it notes on the front with the pages and names of quilts or techniques that interest me. When I'm looking for a quilt to make, a quick look through the post-its gives me a pretty good idea what quilts I'm interested in and whether or not they will do for the project that I'm looking for.

I perused the post-it's on the covers of the stack of magazines and found 3 of the 4 quilts I need to make. I did some of the prepwork for them, I have a notebook I've been doing all my figuring in so I don't lose the sheets of paper. The notebook also has a nice vinyl pocket in the front, where I put the templates I made until needed.

While thinking about those four quilts that already need to be done, I remember that I've already decided on a few other projects for this year. First up will be finishing the quilting on the ring quilt and finishing the applique on the posy quilt. I had planned to quilt the flying geese quilt next, that one shouldn't take too long.

I had also planned to make two roman shades, one for our bedroom and one for my sewing room, both with cornice boxes. Our bedroom drapes have been up since we moved into this house, 23 years ago. They are in pretty poor shape at this point. In addition, this time of year the angle of the sun makes it very bright in our bedroom in the morning and I'm not an early riser. Right now, I have the valance taken down and a quilt clipped to the rod. It doesn't match at all, but was the only thing I could find that was near the right size and not to heavy for the rod. Each time I walk in the room, that shade is on my mind. I haven't chosen the design for that one, yet, I'll know the right thing when I see it. My hope is to have it done by fall, when it will also help to protect against the cold.

I think I've decided what pattern to use for my sewing room window, but haven't, yet, figured out dimensions, etc. This will actually be the same as my latest strip quilt, which may find a home on my chaise by the window since they will match. I'm going to figure out how many extra blocks that I need and add them to the pile since the latest strip quilt isn't that far under way.

The shades will be backed with room darkening fabric, not only for the room darkening effect but to protect the design side from the sun. The cornice boxes will be covered with a quilted topper, adding another small project to my list.

So...that is 4 "lap" quilts, 2 roman shades, the 2 cornice toppers, the ring quilt, the posy top, and the flying geese quilt...all on the agenda for this year. I also found a couple of tops while perusing magazines that I really want to make, those will likely have to wait unless some of this goes much more quickly than I anticipate.

Of course, in the midst of all this, I'm potty training Ruthie. We've been doing it off and on for a few weeks now, going full force when we are home for the whole day. Yesterday we *may* have had a break through, but I won't know for sure for a few days. She told me "potty" twice (usually this means that she's already wet) but was dry...she wet herself as we made our way to the potty chair. I didn't think much of it until it happened for the second time, then I realized she just may be starting to recognize that feeling.

Armed with quite a few pairs of training pants and rubber pants, I've been trying to keep her in underwear all day, only in a diaper at night. This doesn't work if we have to leave the house, but it's a good start.

I have to say, I'm tiring of sitting on the bathroom floor, and the many loads of wet laundry, but it's oh so worth it!

Rachel and her boyfriend went to a nice restaurant for Valentine's Day, so Rachel painted her fingernails and toenails red for the occasion. Ruthie had to have hers done, too. It's not easy to paint those tiny little toes and then get her to sit still long enough to dry, but we got them done and they've stayed pretty well. She loves it and admires her toes whenever sitting on the potty, LOL, I see a lot of painted toes in her future!

And now, I'd better get to it or I'll never get anything done. A few chores and a lot of hand quilting are on the agenda for today. Happy Quilting!

Sue

Busy Busy!

I've been happily busy, mostly with quilting. I've also been busy with some extra household things, going through and packing up what's not needed and storing what can be used later, while donating or discarding things that can't.

We tend to be savers here, as it seems as soon as we rid ourselves of something it's needed soon after. That served me well today as yesterday my new mouse and keyboard stopped working. Jonathan found old ones in our crawlspace and that's what I'm using at present. I haven't given up on the new, cordless ones, but know that's a task best left for when I'm feeling motivated and like my problem solving skills are in full swing.

In the meantime, I'm happy to have the old ones!

I'm on block number 11 (of 64) of the ring flower quilt. It hasn't been getting much attention because of the posy and celtic quilt, but all in good time. I'm hoping to get at least a few more blocks quilted on this one during the coming week. Once the posy and celtic top is done, the ring flower quilt will be the priority. I'm a little afraid of putting the posy and celtic top down for too long as it still seems like a daunting project and I'm afraid if I leave it sit for too long, it will sit for VERY long. I'm also so thrilled with the results of the posy and celtic quilt that it's actually hard to work on anything else right now. The main problem is my very sore underneath finger, which could surely use a rest. Though the same finger is underneath for quilting, I end up hitting a different part of it so can alternate between the two.

For now, I'll suffer, LOL, because I'm LOVING this. I was concerned that where the braids met at the intersections that it would just be a jumble and I'd lose the under/over feel of it but was pleasantly surprised as I laid it out to see that most definitely is not the case. Now that I've got the logistics of it all worked out, I'm working bigger sections at once. Combined with the fact that I've done so much applique lately, this is moving along much faster than I anticipated.

Another concern after sewing the first section was that it would over power the posy blocks, but that doesn't seem to be the case, as seen in this view a little further away. The blocks stand out even more in reality, and looking at the pictures my eye keeps moving around just fine and isn't getting stuck on the braid, so I think it's ok. It sure is hard not to second guess everything sometimes!

I've yet to decide for sure what will be on the outer border. I did pick out a design to applique in the same way, and may add some posies to that. I won't be deciding for sure what I'm doing until the rest is finished so I can gauge how much or how little needs to happen in the border for proper balance.

Everyone is in bed here and has been for a while now. I had figured on spending the quiet time appliquing but decided to do this post instead since there is so little uninterrupted time during the day. Tomorrow Rebekah is highlighting my hair and I promised Rachel we could do DDR for a while, it's our current choice for exercise until the weather is warm enough for me to start walking again. Other than that, though, I should be able to spend quite a bit of time quilting tomorrow, laundry and dishes are all caught up and the day is relatively free.

And Miss Ruthie. Her language skills are exploding of late. She'll try to say almost anything now and her speech is getting clearer. She has a long way to go, but words have almost completely replaced signs and she now looks for things to say. Last night I washed her hair in the kitchen sink (laying her on the counter) and when we got finished, she ran to the stairs and yelled down (we have a tri-level, so short flights and the family room is visible from the stairs) "Daddy! Wash!" He said "Did Mom wash your hair?" She said "yeah!" (yeah is said in an adorable sing-songy voice every time she said it.)

She will often go to one of her siblings and say, pointing to her head, "Mom, hair, OW!" (Translation, Mom brushed my hair and it hurt.) We have a long way to go, but are so pleased with the current progress and it really seems to be snowballing, coming faster and faster all the time.

A few minutes of applique and it will be time for bed. I'd hoped to make it a late, late night, but I'm feeling pretty tired and don't want to push it, I'd rather be well rested and ready for a productive day tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Finished Geese and Progress

As the Flying Geese top came together I got more and more excited to finish it. I'm so happy with the results of this one. I almost put it aside after I assembed the 4 sets of two rows and realized that with my configuration for the top that two of them were not facing properly for the geese to alternate pointing up and down. I hate having to rip any amount of seams, but ripping seams with paper piecing is even more tedious as I have to be very careful not to destroy the paper foundation in the process. Thankfully it didn't take nearly as long as anticipated and soon I was on my way again. I'm so thrilled with this top that it may be the next one in the hoop!

My other big project of the moment is the applique on the sashing between the posy blocks. The top went together pretty quickly, and marking the sashing didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. It was a little tricky as, rather than marking the braid from end to end going one direction and from sashing to sashing going the other, I decided I wanted the braids to "weave" where they met and alternate going over and under. I was able to keep my focus in spite of the stops and starts and had everything going the right way when I finished.

As I marked, I had what I thought was a horrible realization. The plan was to pick one of the "strands" of the braid and follow it all the way down until it's stopping point. Except if I did that, the bias tape would show in spots that it should be behind the design. This was going to have to be appliqued in small little pieces to get the desired effect.

I nearly didn't start the applique that day because I was really daunted by that, but decided to forge ahead and see what I'd gotten myself into.

I have to be very careful, as the order of applique is very important so that edges are secured under the proper pieces. I stared at it for quite a while, working out the logistics of it. The first completed section (shown further below) I cut and placed one piece at a time, but by the end of that section I was feeling more confident and this next section I'm pinning in place several pieces at a time, which is cutting down on the time it takes considerably. I don't want to do too many at once as it's hard to maneuver around too many pins. This seems to be just the right amount.

The pieces for each section of braid can be placed in four sets. Only one side gets sewn down and the second side isn't sewn until all the pieces for the whole section are in place. Here it is with the second set in place and ready to sew.

When all the pieces for all four sections are sewn on one side, then I pin everything in place and sew down all the second sides. While I do love the whole process, this part is especially enjoyable because I can just sew, the thinking has already been done.... at least until the next section!

And finally a picture with posies visible so you can get an idea what it will look like.

I'm babysitting this afternoon so there won't be much sewing time. I haven't decided if I'll be hand quilting or appliquing tonight, I'll have to see what I feel like then.

Tomorrow we're doing the grind from the deer hunt, which will take several hours but will leave me with quite a stack of packages of ground meat in my freezer. I'll be babysitting again in the afternoon. Wednesday will probably be my "free" day, though I will grocery shop, if possible, in the morning.

It's more likely I'll be shopping Thursday morning and babysitting all afternoon again. Friday is my quilting bee, and afterwards I need to do the prepwork on potstickers. The Super Bowl has always been a big event in our house and I'll be cooking all day Saturday for it so there won't be so much to do on Sunday except for the final cooking. It will be a busy week! I'm hoping that next week will be a little less full and I'll get to spend some good time on both the braid applique and the hand quilting on the ring flower quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Quilting Frenzy

I'm in one. Though in the 10 days since I last posted I've also done a boatload of cooking. Our son turned 22 on Monday and Sunday he had several friends over for playoff football and pretty much all they could eat. I spent Saturday doing all the prepwork, which took most of the day and cooked for most of the day on Sunday, but it was well worth it.

I'll be doing it all again for Super Bowl Sunday, though, as of now, for our family and the two boyfriends.

For the most part, though, I'm in a quilting frenzy. After spending the weekend cooking and cleaning it all up, I decided I'd take Monday "off". It was actually Joshua's birthday that day, but he had to work until 2:30. When he got home, about 3:15, he left here with my husband and other two sons (along with a friend and to drop off Rebekah), Rachel was babysitting. So at 3:30, my whole family was gone except Ruthie and they didn't get back home until 9:00. I had saved leftovers from the day before so I didn't have to cook and I sat and quilted for nearly the entire day. The result was four blocks completed on the ring quilt and I'm thrilled with the results.

I also have 3 tops that are in the works that I want to spend time on. One is the Posy and Celtic top and the next step on that one is to add the sashing and sew the blocks together. I'm hoping to get a start on that later today, but that depends on the flying geese. The blocks are finished and sewn into rows, I cut the border fabric this morning and will spend today sewing that top together. I hope to get it finished this afternoon, but one never knows what will thwart my efforts with all the activity here! At left is a picture of 2 of the rows sewn together and the barely visible border fabric. I went through my entire stash trying to find just the right fabric and I'd nearly given up when I found this one. I'm really excited to see it all put together!

In the planning stage I have an Irish Chain, being done as part of an email group. I've chosen my fabrics, figured out my size requirements and how to make the blocks, and have written out the cutting directions. I'm hoping to have this one cut by the end of the weekend and maybe even have a start on the sewing, but I'll have to see how time plays out. I'm doing a Double Irish Chain and the open white spaces will have flowers appliqued in them. I'm really excited about this project!

I promised myself that I would finish quilting "Joyful" before starting the ring flower quilt, and I did. When I photographed the top, I had a hard time getting the colors to photograph true to color, this time they are spot on.

Here is a closeup of the quilting on the blocks and borders.

And here is a closeup of the back. I enjoy the backs of my quilts nearly as much as the fronts!

And no post is complete without a Ruthie picture. She was quiet for a while so I went to see if she was sleeping and found her all curled up with a blanket and a movie. I never tire of that smile!

I babysit all afternoon today and have to get a quick lunch before he comes. I'm hoping to get some, if not all, of the flying geese top assembled this afternoon and Thursday nights are quiet here so I should be able to finish whatever is not done. Then there is all the paper to pull off since this one is paper pieced. I don't mind that, though, it's great TV work!

Here's to a healthy, productive day, and QUILTY day for all!
Sue and Ruthie