Blocks

Lots of blocks to share today.  Let's start with blocks from Michelle.  I shared a quilt kit with Michelle last year and she's been diligently working on it.  She's finished the last three blocks and trimmed them all.

Can you believe that workmanship and precision?  I am blown away.  I know I've said it before, but I'm so glad I shared this one.  It never would have become anything sitting in my closet, waiting for me to work up the nerve to try it. 

Here are the blocks, all laid out.  But, Michelle says this isn't it.  She's going rogue and adding applique to fill in the spaces and she's re-designing some of the borders. 

Beautiful work, Michelle!  Keep going!  I can hardly wait to see the end result. 

Yesterday was my class with Edyta Sitar.  It was a fun class.  Edyta does a lot of block swaps, so she did one with us.  She gave us each a pair of fabrics and a triangle paper and we each made hst blocks and we laid them on a table in 20 piles of 20 different squares that we used to make our blocks.  If you were watching Edyta's Instagram yesterday, you probably saw my picture there.  I finished my block first and took some gentle ribbing about that.  And, when she took my picture with my block, she wanted to make sure she got my vintage Singer 301 in the picture. 

The class had a large kit fee, but I brought home all the fabrics to make 18 of these blocks, including tree trunks, and the triangle paper to make the hst squares, and the quilt pattern, plus the hst that we made in class to make this block.  So, the kit fee ended up being a real bargain.  And, despite the fact I need to be working on other things, I kinda feel like I might be distracted by this for a little while. 

The class was nice.  I didn't get there as early as usual, so was worried about who I'd be next to.  But, there were a couple guild officers that I served with when I was secretary a couple years ago and one lady I'd only met in a previous class from across the room, and the rest of the table was from a bee I used to be a member of.  It was so nice to sit with them and spend the afternoon catching up.  I had not talked to some of them since leaving the bee and I had lots to tell and to hear.  Friends are like that.  Sometimes you see one another all the time.  Sometimes, you need to catch up. 

This next pic isn't blocks, but blocking. 

I washed three little quilts on Saturday and pinned them to the floor.  Not one of my most flattering pictures, but it's life.  Life sometimes has ratty old towels in it. 

And, I got the quilting done on the baby quilt on Saturday.  It looks mah-velus.  But, that's a post for another day. 

Okay, one garden pic.  Just one. 

This is the Iris that my Mom sent Rob a couple years ago.  I had lost track of it and just happened to look down at just the right angle and saw it under a daylily.  But, I'll be digging it up and moving it soon as the bloom is over so it can get a new start for next year.  And, maybe next year, we'll get more than one bloom.

Everybody have a great Monday.  It's a new week.  Yesterday in class, another participant was talking about how her 16 year old hates her.  And, I got to say what so many people have said to me over the years.  It gets better.  I promise.  It really does.  Give it a few years.  And, they start to see us as people instead of jailers.  And, as proof, on the way home from class, I stopped to pick up Syd from work and we picked up supper.  It gave us a few minutes to catch up.  I don't get those opportunities too often when I'm not having to nag about cleaning the bathroom or emptying the dishwasher, so I'm glad I took that opportunity when it presented itself.  We were both in a good mood at the same time.  How often does that happen?

Not enough.

Now, I need to get those quilts unpinned from the sewing room floor so I can move around.  Have a great day!

Lane