What I've Been Up To

Besides nurturing my first bronchial disaster of the year, I have managed to accomplish a few things here at home. Today youngest child, the father and I loaded a 10' U-HAUL and managed to get the furniture that has been in the garage since the Kentucky move off into a storage unit not far from home. It will be nice to be able to put one of the cars into the garage now that the colder weather is becoming the norm. I'm not so sure I'm at all ready for this. I know my immune system isn't. Ahhh, well! Flu shot in another week and then maybe I can rest a bit easier. But for now, I'll continue to cough, blow my nose and just generally feel sorry for myself (smile).

I am on a bit of a sewing roll, however. This little lovely is my homage to the holidays and will be the featured little quilt at the shop. Several months ago, I had proposed starting up a club where ladies who would enjoy making smaller projects could come once a month and begin (and if it is a good night-complete!) a project. October was a fairly packed house- seven lovely ladies came prepared to sew, laugh, make new friends and share a fall treat in our small, but cozy classroom. I taught them a simple square in a square project- about 16" square, and every one was completely different, each was lovely and all the ladies were thrilled to go home with a completed top. They will be bringing back their projects to our next meeting (which has picked up 2 more ladies!). The girls are excited to begin making this next project:



I am calling it my Ode to the Holidays as it is not the usual Christmas fare. The colors in this piece are not your typical holiday prints, but the I found them rich and quite lovely. I know it will look nice in my home, and several of the girls have asked for kits of the same fabrics for their own project. I have baskets up my sleeve for them to make in February, and I think I am going to start off the new year with a bit of a larger project- 30" by 36". A nod to the 150th anniversary year of the start of the civil war that 2011 brings. Stay tuned. I promise to tell you all about it.

I also got to enjoy doing some "continuing education" by taking a class with my workmate, Mardi. I told you all about it in this post. I've been working on my star blocks as time permits (and there hasn't been much to spare these past couple of weeks) and am so happy to report that I have gone from this:



to finishing all 13 blocks. I am ready to set them on point and put the top together. Since I have definitely decided that this is going to be a Christmas gift, I'd like to arrange to bring it to my machine quilter next week. Can you tell I am positively excited?

In the mean time, my other October projects have suffered. The "block of many parts" begun last month during Friday Night Sew In is still in pieces (but there is another night of sewing scheduled for the 17th), and my Paganini Schnibble by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company is still only a single block! It's all cut out, I just need to sew it together. Maybe it will become my November small project instead of starting a new one. Think that could be a good move. Once the holiday season gets underway, I think my free time will become even less that it is now. Que Serra, Serra so they say. At least I'm getting somewhere....