Icy Day...

I've spent most of my day indoors...just heading out long enough to clear about a half inch of ice off of my car and my daughter's car. The rest of the day has been spent at one sewing machine or another. I loaded a customer quilt and quilted about half of it. Then I made a cup of tea and headed up to my sewing room. I finished the Heartstrings quilt blocks that I had cut foundations for, so they are ready to send off to become quilts. I love how the blocks look when they are put together. I didn't realize that I had made one block that was all pastels, it looks odd in with the others!
Mr. UPS man stopped by this morning and dropped off my Checkers order. These three books were in it. The Clever Quarters books have a lot of great scrap quilts in them, all made from Fat Quarters. I'm thinking the Lone Star quilt book will be an inspiration book...I can't see myself making one of these any time soon! The quilts in this book are stunning.

I love having a day off! I hope all of you who are affected by the winter weather are safe, warm, dry and spending this Valentine's Day with the ones you love!

Stripping...

I've been wanting to start a new project, knew I wanted to make it scrappy, but I'm so tired of working with the Thimbleberries strips that I cut last summer. After all, I've made two quilts out of them and have been using them in my Heartstrings blocks. But the colors are so boring....

Yesterday it occurred to me that Judy said we should pull a fabric from our stash and make something out of it for February...so why couldn't I pull a whole bunch and make my scrappy quilt more interesting and...fun! So, I spent last night and this afternoon ironing lots of old (very old!) fat quarters and cutting them into strips. I've decided to make a log cabin quilt for my bed for the summer. I don't expect it to be done at the end of February, but since I'm pulling lots of fabrics from my stash I figure I can take a little longer. The centers will be red and the logs will be all sorts of colors. While I'm cutting, I'm also cutting some strips larger than the 1.5" strips I need so that I can add them to the strips for my Heartstrings blocks to make those sing a little too!

So my bins are filling up...can't wait to get started!

Productive Headache

I was in Kindergarten this morning and got a nasty headache. And it wasn't even from the kids! :o) I went to the gym after work, but cut my workout short because my head was pounding. When I got home, I took some Motrin, but didn't want to sit down. I loaded a customer quilt, took my daughter to wrestling (she's the team manager) and was going to start quilting. But...when I leaned over the machine, my head would pound! I just couldn't do nothing, knew I couldn't focus on knitting or applique, so started making Heartstrings blocks. So...my head still hurts, but at least I have something to show for it!

I haven't sat down at the machine for over a week and felt like I was going through withdrawal. I had done lots of applique, a little knitting and had quilted 2 or 3 quilts, but there's nothing like piecing blocks and having something wonderful when you've finished.

Update on my Women of the Bible Quilt I haven't had time to make the blocks, many of them are very involved and intricate. I still plan to do them, but have set them aside for now to finish up customer quilts and my challenge. I am keeping up with the Bible Study though...I figure that is the important part!

HeartStrings Blocks

Happy Birthday Nancy! Here are two blocks to celebrate your birthday. Let me know where to send these.

I'm thinking these blocks can be very addicting...

Sunday Evening

and life is good! The Philadelphia Eagles just beat the New York Giants and will move on in the playoffs. My DH was at the game, I'm sure he's soaked, but I know he's happy!

This afternoon I loaded the first customer quilt of the year onto my longarm. Then I headed into my sewing room and worked on the blue and muslin 9 patch quilt I've been creating. It's very simple, just nine patches with sashing and cornerstones.



Then I began paper piecing the next block for my Women of the Bible Quilt. This is the center of it...the star is 3 inches across. It will have lots of little half square triangles around the edges. I love how it's turning out.





I've also taken Nancy up on her birthday wish and I've joined the Heartstrings group and will be making some string pieced blocks for Nancy's birthday. For the past few years I've quilted for Rosie's Calico Cupboard's Camp Reach for the Sky for children with cancer. I've quilted my last quilt for them and was looking for a new way to contribute. I've decided that Mary's Heartstrings group will be my charity project for this year. Thanks Mary for getting this started!