10 ladies attended today. Marguerite brought in a finished quilt top. She needed to look through the quilting templates we have here to see if she could use them. She found some that should work so maybe in a few months she have another finished quilt! She made this top a long time ago so she's very eager to finish it. Ethel brought in another quilt top to sandwich. It will be a Christmas tree skirt for her daughter. She also brought in a traveling jewelry bag she had made. A nice gift for her daughter-in-law who always travels with jewelry. Deb told us the story of her friend who won the patriotic quilt raffled by the Village Quilters. This is a very nice lady whose husband is a veteran. Deb helped her out when she was run over by a tracter. She loves her new quilt and wanted to send a thank you note to the two ladies who were most responsible for making it. I will give it to them the next time I see them. Pat H. brought in some yummy buckeyes. They were melt-in-your-mouth good! And Marie regaled us with more tales of all of the crafts she has learned in her life. It was a small group today. Next week we will be eating at Evans restaurant on Western Ave. at 12:30 pm.

20 ladies attended today. We had our holiday lunch--a potluck. That means lots of delicious food! I think Marie's brown bread and Cathy M.'s coconut cake were the big hits but it's hard to say--there was so much to choose from. Linda O'C was back from Florida. She spends Christmas with the grandkids then returns south for the rest of the winter. Agnes and Pat O will be away next week visiting family. Cathy Y's daughter will be visiting her for Christmas. Everyone's getting ready for the holidays. I am still trying to get over my flu so we've barely been thinking about Christmas. It's tough when you don't feel well and especially tough during the holidays. Today I brought in my finished batik quilt. I still need to take a picture of it before I send it away. Kathy O. made another hidden 9-patch 2 quilt with train fabric. It was really nice. That's such a great pattern! It always works out nicely. And Agnes brought in a baby quilt to show. It was a 9-patch with an iron-on applique fish and bubbles. It was totally cute! Most people didn't bring in anything to work on since we were going to concentrate on eating, but Fran put us all to shame by pulling out some pincushions she's made and stuffing them. We had a great day today! We will still meet at the library next Tuesday but the week after that we're going to lunch. That will be Dec. 29, we'll meet at 12:30 at Evans on Western Ave. across the street from the Guilderland town hall. For those who want to car pool we can meet at the library between 12 and 12:15.

11 ladies attended today. It's two days before Thanksgiving and I assume everyone's busy. I brought in my finger-knitted scarf to show off. Everyone was suitably impressed. Fran brought in a quilt to sandwich and Jeanne brought in an already sandwiched quilt to ask for quilting or tying suggestions. Winnie reported that the bazaar at the Methodist church was a success but she thought people are more careful about what they buy now. Kathy O. was knitting a pair of socks. Tina is hand quilting a pillow top. Marguerite is hand piecing another quilt. Pat O'R and Fran are appliquing. Deb made a quick stop to say hello, catch up with everyone and to return her DVDs and check out some new ones. There was a lot of talk today about what everyone is doing for Thanksgiving. Some are cooking, some are not. The one thing we are all doing is eating!

13 ladies attended today. Unfortunately I had another meeting to attend so I was there to say hello then came back to say goodbye so I don't know what happened during the meeting. I do know Deb brought in some pumpkin pie: my favorite! There was even a little left for me to sample. Marie brought in some old books of patterns she had collected at some point. She and I had been talking about Ruby McKim the week before so she wanted to show me these books which came out at about the same time as Ruby McKim. This woman, also a Ruby, came from Arkansas (R.McK was from Kansas City). I quickly looked through the books. I have a quilt at home made by a woman in Louisiana probably in the 40's or 50's. It was suggested to me by a quilt expert that the pattern was probably one published in the newspaper at the time. I didn't see this pattern in Marie's books though. Nice try though. Tina was back after being off sick for a few weeks. And Kathy O. informed me that the method of finger knitting that Ethel had taught me was actually better than the finger knitting that her granddaughter had taught her. Pat brought in some give-aways. I took some even though I'm trying to get rid of stuff too. Oh well.

17 ladies attended today. We were a lively bunch today. Lew Schedlbauer, the "Quiltsmith", brought in some scrap batting. It was gone in about 5 minutes. But we had some nice show and tell we could share with him. Fran was binding a quilt she made some time ago and didn't like so just let the top be for awhile until she finally decided to have it quilted. Everyone agreed that it was a very nice quilt and deserved to be liked by its maker. Then Jeanne K. had a black and green zigzag quilt she was binding. It was all made of half-square triangles--very easy to make but it looks complicated. It was beautiful. Then Cathy M. was sewing the binding on one of her Flying Geese Saturday morning samplers. We are going to have a really great show this year! Everyone's doing such nice work! Marie awed us all with her crocheted tablecloth she is working on. Marie says she likes to do hard projects that no one else wants to do. That's exactly what she does and they are all just amazing! Pat O'R was binding her appliqued flower quilt, Agnes was binding her hidden 9-patch 2 quilt--lots of binding going on. Ethel has started a new cross-stitch pattern. She says she has several going already so I guess she just likes to switch projects periodically. Today was another good eatin' day: Marie brought in an apple cake and Agnes brought in an orange juice cake. Both were scrumptious! These ladies sure can cook!

14 ladies attended today. We left Betty Smith's quilts on the wall from her party. With Nimblefingers and the Village Quilters meeting at the library we wanted everyone who didn't make it to the party to have a chance to see her quilts. She was a real artist--they are all so beautiful! Today I brought in some giveaways. Last weekend was the Quilter's Paradise at the RCS High School. Julie Ann Fortran and I rented a table and tried to sell some stuff. I admit that the stuff I took to sell was really old but nevertheless, I only netted $10. Don't think I'll do it next year. So I brought in the patterns that I didn't sell so everyone could take what they wanted. The rest will end up in the trash. Pat O'R also brought in some giveaways. Plus I had some things that Linda Cr. had given me to sell at the Q.P. I didn't know she had left them for me so I didn't take them. But today all of her antique quilt tops and pieces found nice homes with my ladies. We had some good eats today: I brought in my usual Hannaford goodies but Deb baked a pumpkin cake plus cider donuts (or do nots as she calls them) and apple cider. Ethel brought in some pumpkin bread she baked for a church sale. Plenty of goodies! Poor Daryl limped in with a bad back. She made a wrong move the other day and has been suffering ever since. We had a long discussion about what everyone watches on TV these days. The British comedies seem to be favorites of many of the ladies. Kathy O is continuing to assist Rosemary in making a Hidden 4-patch 2 quilt. Rosemary picked out some rich looking fabric so it should be very attractive when finished. I pulled out the raffle quilt to stitch on. We've made it to the edges with the hand quilting but we still have a ways to go.

13 ladies attended today. Once again everyone was working on a project except me. But every week I get more curious about how to make the pincushions that Jean K. makes. She says she'll teach us next spring when she comes back from Florida. Daryl was back from her vacation on the Cape. She had bought some cute little quilting things at Heartbeat Quilts in Hyannis. One was a small finger pincushion for the tiny applique pins. The other was a pincushion, again for applique pins, that fits into a spool of thread. It has petals glued to a golf tee--very ingenious. Marie brought in one block plus the pattern for a beautiful bedspread where the block, which has one large and one small hexagon sewed together with the large one wrinkled to fit the small one. It would be a great bed covering, but what a lot of work! I am always amazed at Marie and the time she is willing to take to do the extra hand-sewing and embellishing necessary to turn a quilt into a masterpiece. I wish I could slow down enough that I was willing to spend the time necessary to do that. Down at my end of the table Linda O'C and Marie got to talking about old Voorheesville and its surrounding areas. It was a fascinating discussion of local history. I'm sorry that we didn't have a tape running to catch this conversation: old stories about times past. Today was also special because the room was decorated with the quilt collection of Betty Smith. Her family left them up after the party last Sunday. It is an amazing body of work. Betty's unique style really comes through in the quilts. She was very playful, she was definitely not afraid of color and she loved trying new things so her quilts are truly one of a kind. Betty meant a lot to those of us who had the privilege of knowing her and her quilt legacy is one to be cherished.

13 ladies attended today and 3 of them brought food! Good food! Ethel's famous chocolate cake, Winnie's mince meat cake and Deb brought some cider donuts from Indian Ladders. Needless to say, I shouldn't eat another thing today. Our friend Katherine Denegar who now lives in Connecticut sent some craft books to me which I delivered to our crafty ladies from the Methodist church who busily make things for the annual rummage sale. I hope they get some good ideas from them. Marguerite was back from vacation and Cathy M. was back from wherever she's been hiding lately. No show and tells today but everyone (except me) was busy working on something. The conversation ran from books, to recipes, to swine flu, grandchildren, old friends, etc. I think all that cake is making me sleepy--I'm ready for a nap.

13 ladies attended today. We had 3 show and tells. Agnes and I each made the hidden 9-patch II pattern that Kathy O. taught us last week. Agnes made a Christmas table quilt and I made a patriotic baby quilt for a service project with the Village Quilters. Then Marie came in with a beautiful quilt top she had just finished. It was called Morning Glory although Marie didn't think they looked like morning glories. Quilt pattern flowers never look like the real thing though. It will make a gorgeous bed quilt. Fran is making placemats for the QUILT group in Delmar so Ethel gave her some she had started a long time ago but never finished. Fran said with those she will have made 24. Rosemary started a hidden 9-patch II with some terrific gold touched fabric she found at JoAn's. I can't wait to see it finished. Ethel is working on her Old West Virginia home cross-stitch, Pat was cutting squares from gingham, Jean was making Christmas decorations, Cathy Y. basted her baby quilt and Tina was quilting a pillow cover. Jean brought in some delicious cookies. A pleasant way to spend a grey afternoon.

Today 15 ladies attended. The big news was that Kathy O. was back from her summer in the North. We told her she couldn't come back if she didn't come with a new easy quilt pattern to teach us (she has every year so far) and she didn't disappoint! Last year she taught us the hidden 9-patch. This year it was the hidden 9-patch 2. I like this one even better than the last one. This one would look great using a fabric with a large print--the kind that are too pretty to cut. I might just have to try making one tonight! Last weekend some of us tried selling quilts at the Apple Fest. Fran hit the jackpot: she sold 1 large quilt. I earned all of $15, and unfortunately Marguerite's quilt didn't sell. Oh well, we tried. Today our dear Pat H. brought in a delicious cherry cheesecake which we devoured in no time. Cathy Y. brought in some home grown hot peppers to give away. Fran and Marie were our knitters today. Cathy Y. who is usually knitting is now quilting a baby quilt. She had to search high and low for a cheater-cloth baby quilt that she liked. That just goes to show that when you see one you like you should buy it on the spot even if you don't need it, because sure as shootin' you won't find one when you do need one. We had some giveaway paper piecing patterns and magazines. But best of all, Kathy O. demonstrated her hidden 9-patch 2. It will be fun to see how many ladies go home and try one this week.

18 ladies attended today. Tina was back from her summer up north. Kathy O. will return later I suspect. We had a good crowd. Kristin set up some tables to lay out, pin and start tying her antique grandmothers flower garden. Marguerite brought in her finished mile-a-minute quilt which she hopes to sell for $350 that she will give to her granddaughter to help pay for the sports camp in Aruba she will be attending next summer. So if you know of anyone looking for a nice quilt--call Marguerite. I'm taking it to the Apple Fest this weekend and we'll see if it will sell there. Which reminds me, the Apple Fest is this weekend at the Altamont Fairgrounds. The Village Quilters are having their last show and sale in the Dutch barn. Hopefully it will be a nice weekend--the Apple Fest is a fun time particularly on a beautiful fall day.

11 ladies attended today. Pat H. was our knitter today. She was making a hat on her little knitting machine. Agnes sewed the binding on an angel wall hanging. Winnie was copying a purchased Christmas wall hanging--quilted with yo-yos. She wants to make a few to sell at the church bazaar. Rosemary was working on her cross-stitch wall hanging. Marie was piecing the border of a quilt. Cathy Y. brought in a baby quilt panel she had purchased. We laid it out and made the quilt sandwich and she began quilting it. Kristin got out a sewing machine and sewed the borders on her antique grandmother's flower garden quilt. Deb was painstakingly sewing her flowers together on her antique grandmother's flower garden quilt. Marguerite pulled out the raffle quilt to add some more quilting stitches to. And I mingled. We had a small group today. I know Kathy M. is getting ready for her granddaughter's wedding but I don't know where everyone else was. I had some sad news this week. Our former member Anne Bave is doing very poorly. We shared some memories about Anne.

11 ladies attended today. Last weekend the drawing was held for our raffle quilt (a mile-a-minute quilt). It was won by Warren Schlichkenrider. I hope he is very pleased with it. The highlight of today was seeing Ethel's bride cross-stitch framed! It is absolutely stunning! A marvelous piece of work! Also Kristin brought in a quilt top she made some time ago and became disenchanted with when she discovered that she had made a mistake in the piecing. She showed it to us and none of us could see the mistake. Even when she pointed it out it didn't look like a mistake so I think we convinced her that she should go ahead, finish it, and be proud of her work. Then she pulled out another quilt top that needed a border. She didn't know what fabric to use for the border. She and I studied it for awhile and decided that she was thinking too narrowly in her color choices so she pulled out some sample fabric with color that she could take to the fabric store. I'm sure she'll find the perfect piece. Marguerite pulled out the next raffle quilt and continued hand quilting. Pat H. and Winnie were tying a couple of quilts. Cathy Y. was knitting. Rosemary stopped by for a little while just to take a break from her unpacking: she just moved. And, Pat H. brought in some zucchini bread and homemade chocolate and peanut butter candies. Yummy! Another typically pleasant day in Nimblefingers.

11 ladies attended today. Winnie and Jean were working on a quilt together. Pat O. had bought a halloween panel at a fabric store. When she put together the backing fabric she got inspired and appliqued some ghosts and cats. So now her quilt is going to be reversible--beautiful on both sides! Ethel was finishing up a small cross-stitch to make it frame-ready. It had the word STITCHING in cross-stitch with sewing charms by each letter. Very nice. I took down all of the camp quilts today. They will be picked up on Friday. I still have to finish tying one as does Joyce L. Jean says she has one at home to finish too. Deb came in today with tales of giant campfires at her camp in the Adirondacks. A bunch of us got together yesterday and went to the movie Julie & Julia. We had a good time.

I skipped a week in my blogging. On August 26th we had a good show-and-share. Jean Kallop showed us her cute flower pincushions. Fran also brought in her completed kewpie doll quilt plus the newspaper patterns from a very old New Brunswick newspaper given to her by Marguerite.

I skipped a week in my blogging. On August 26th we had a good show-and-share. Jean Kallop showed us her cute flower pincushions.

21 ladies attended today. Daryl brought in a delicious brown sugar walnut cake. Yummy! Remember--the library is putting together a community cookbook and the Nimblefingers will have their own chapter so bring in some recipes. Samples are nice, but optional. Pat H. taught several ladies how to make a braided ribbon scissors holder. Marguerite brought in a finished mile-a-minute quilt top to lay out and pin. She's making this quilt to raffle. The proceeds will go to help her granddaughter Rebecca go to an international collegiate baseball camp in Aruba next summer. We began tying the quilt but only finished about half. Marguerite brought in 3 grandchildren today: Lexie (who I call Alexandra), Amy and little Nathan. I brought in 2 camp quilts to sew on the binding. Kristen was using the sewing machine to put a binding on her beautiful black and silver star quilt. She also brought in an antique grandmother's flower garden to show. Deb was working on her antique flower garden so the two compared notes. Ethel has started a new cross-stitch piece: my old West Virginia home. It will be very nice when finished. We're still trying to find a time when a bunch of us can get together to see the movie Julie and Julia. We have a long weekend coming up so I'll see if I can't arrange it. Linda Crannell has asked me to advertise the Betty party so here is the information:

Betty Smith Celebration!

An event is planned to honor the spirit of Betty. She died this year on June 9. Betty was a longtime citizen of Voorheesville and a Nimblefingers member. This party is for all to gather and celebrate her life. Come for an afternoon of food and fun. It will be at the Voorheesville library, 1-4 PM on Sunday, October 25th. Please save the date and join us.

Betty's 100th birthday would have been this Friday. As a result, I've been thinking about her all week. It will be nice to celebrate her life with her friends and family. I know we have all missed her.

18 ladies attended yesterday. Aly and Jackson continued sewing the binding on a camp quilt. Jackson took it home and finished it herself. She brought it in today and it looks great! Congratulations Jackson (age 9)! Several others of us pinned and tied another quilt top that I had made. We then finished tying the quilt we had pinned 2 weeks ago. I have taken both of them home to sew on bindings. Joyce L., the children's librarian, made a quilt top too. We'll pin it next week. With the addition of several quilts from the Village Quilters I think we're about up to 23 finished quilts for the camp. We will be turning them in on Sept. 9th so if you're thinking about making more there's still time! Louise brought in a wall hanging her sister-in-law had made her to celebrate her (Louise's) wedding anniversary. The hanging had wedding pictures incorporated in it. Louise says she's a beginning quilter but she did a great job! Rosemary tells us she's moving to Voorheesville from Altamont soon. And this week Hattie was back. We haven't seen her for awhile. Unfortunately, I'm over working on the quilts so I don't get to hear everyone's news.

16 ladies attended today. Unfortunately I couldn't be there so I don't know what happened although looking at the sign-in sheet I'm sorry I wasn't there. Betsey Hoffman made a return appearance. I hope she's in town for more than a week so that I can see her next week. Sorry I missed you ladies.

Yesterday we had 15 attendees including a grandson and 1 jr. nimblefinger. I brought in 2 tops with backs ready to be sandwiched and tied. We pieced some batting and almost finished tying one of them. We'll finish it up next week and I'll take it home and try to find a binding for it. The other one we'll have to piece the batting next week and start on. The quilt Jackson and I started before, Jackson and Aly sewed on the binding so it will need some hand-sewing next week. I also brought in 2 new knitting books which Marie very happily checked out. Rosemary tried out our sewing machine to work on her apron. It is really looking nice. Cathy M. brought in one finished quilt and another ready to be tied. She and Agnes made quick work of it. We now have about 18 quilts ready for the camp Erin kids. And, best of all, Agnes brought in a yummy blueberry cake! We made quick work of that too!

13 ladies attended yesterday, 2 of which were juniors. The juniors and I worked on another Camp Erin quilt. We finished tying it, got the binding ready, and trimmed it so next week we can put on the binding and be done with it. Linda Crannell had brought in a box of Betty Smith's supplies to share. Her family is busy planning the Betty Smith party which will probably be on Betty's birthday, 9/4. Pat O'R and Fran came back from their quilting week at Wiawaka with pictures (Fran) and a finished wallhanging (Pat). They go every year and have a great time. Marguerite came in with her cute little grandson Nathan plus her finished colonial lady wallhanging and her granddaughter Alexandra's finished mile-a-minute pillow she made as a gift for her mother's birthday.

Today there were 15 ladies attending, 2 of which were Jr. Nimblefingers. Jackson finished sewing a quilt for the hospice kids, then we sandwiched it and started tying it. Pat O'R let us use her basting gun to baste the 3 layers together. She had brought it in to baste a pretty little quilt she had made. The basting gun is much quicker than using safety pins. I've never used one before so now I might just have to get one for myself. Betsey H. sent in a quilt from New Jersey. It was finished except for the tying. We made quick work of that and it now has a place on the wall. So far we have about 14 quilts finished. I think that's pretty good considering our regular attendance is only around 15. Winnie was working on a hidden 9-patch piece with some help from Agnes. Marguerite pulled out our raffle quilt and added some more quilting stitches. Gail S., the director who is just back from an ALA meeting in Chicago, reported that she met a woman from Pennsylvania who had heard of the Nimblefingers group. I guess we have quite a reputation! I'm eager to ask Gail more about this. There were a lot of conversations around the table. Jackson and I listened to a discussion of the Harry Potter books. Jackson says I need to finish reading the whole series: that the 7th book is the best. Then there was more discussion about Michael Jackson. I think the consensus is that when he's on the TV, everyone is changing the channel. We've heard enough about Michael Jackson already. Then there was talk about catching mice, bats and other critters. You never know what you'll hear around our Nimblefingers table!

Today we had 12 ladies attending. Kristin Lauster, one of the original Nimblefingers, made a return appearance today. She plans to come back again so welcome back Kristin! She is working on a paper-pieceing (although she is using plastic) grandmother's flower garden. It will be beautiful when finished but my, what a project! Everyone said I had to look at Marie's crochet project but somehow I missed it. I hope she'll bring it back so I can finally see it. Cathy M. brought in a camp quilt ready to be tied so Cathy, Fran, Jackson (a junior Nimblefinger) and myself tied it. It's in very pretty pinks and greens and will be a beautiful girls quilt. Then Jackson and I pulled out a cheater cloth so that we can put together another camp quilt. The top should be finished next week so I'll have to be on the lookout for a backing. Ethel brought in the issue of the Enterprise which has a feature story on her daughter who is walking across the country to earn money for the homeless. She is very ambitious but I wish her well. We also got a visit from Linda Crannell who filled us in on her life without her beloved Nana (Betty Smith). We all miss Betty but for Linda it's been a real change of life. She seems to be doing just fine though. The family is busy planning a Betty party which they are having in lieu of a funeral, at Betty's request. We'll look forward to that.

We had 13 ladies attending this week. It was a busy week. Cathy Y., Agnes and Marie were all knitting. Pat H. had Marie show her how to knit the Continental way. Cathy M. and I were sewing bindings on quilts. Pat O'R brought in some pieces to sew together for a quilt block but couldn't remember how they fit together. It was an interesting puzzle but even when we all put our heads together we couldn't figure it out. Linda O'C, Sue, Hope and Betty were all making rings out of garbage bags. They cut thin strips, braided them together and tied it around their fingers. A cute little project they can teach their grandkids. Pat H. was working on prayer quilts. Fran was appliquing leaves. The highlight of the day was Marie's show and share. She brought in a pineapple quilt she had finished recently. It was exquisite as you can see in the picture. She also brought in some tatting that she has done. She is such a talented lady!

Last week I was on vacation but did attend Nimblefingers with my sister who was visiting from Tucson. 15 ladies attended last week and 15 ladies attended this week. Last week my sister and I sandwiched another camp quilt I had made, plus 2 of my own personal quilts. This week I sewed a binding on the Helping Hands lap quilt for the V.A. hospital. This week was special because our friend Louise Claflin from Florida is back. She brought with her a family history quilt she had made. It was a quilt with 9 state blocks from the 9 states she has lived in with pictures taken while living in those states. Louise always has something wonderful to show us on her return and she didn't disappoint this year. Also showing today was Ethel with her very nearly completed bride cross-stitch. With around 400 beads it was truly beautiful. She and her daughter are taking it to be framed, then going to Mexico for the wedding so the framed work should be ready when they return. Cathy Y. did some more quilting on our raffle quilt; Fran was making applique leaves; Jean K. was working on an appliqued bird block; Marguerite's granddaughter Alexandra popped in to show me her finished mile-a-minute pillow top she is making for her mother. She did an excellent job!

Yesterday we had 12 ladies. Marguerite brought in the 3 finished quilts she has worked on for the Camp Erin kids and we hung them on the wall. The room already looks brighter! By next week we may be adding a couple more to the wall. For a small group, I think we're doing pretty well on this project. Pat and Agnes tied the quilt Agnes had made. I sewed Winnie's quilt so that it would flip properly, then Pat, Winnie, Agnes and Cathy tied it. I sewed on the binding to a quilt we had finished a couple of weeks ago. Marguerite took it home to finish the hand sewing. And Winnie took hers home to do the finishing touches. I will take pictures of our wall next week and post them. This weekend Cathy M., Fran, Marie and I are attending the Wings Falls Quilt show. It's always a good one so I'm looking forward to it! Here is a picture of the Village Quilters annual raffle quilt.

10 ladies attended today including Betsey Hoffman back from New Jersey and Arizona. She's looking for a rental here in Voorheesville that she can live in for 6 months of the year so if anyone knows of anything, give her a call. Today we had tons of food. I baked brownies, Agnes baked cookies, and Tina, Ethel and Pat all brought in cookies, etc. in case there wasn't enough. We had plenty. We began the meeting by un-sewing Winnie's quilt which I had layered incorrectly last week and sewn together. With 4 or more of us working on it, it was un-sewn in no time. Agnes and RoseMary layered it correctly and pinned it. Next week I'll sew it together correctly so that we can flip it and tie it. We also pulled out the cowboy quilt for the grieving kids and tied it. I'll take it home to put on the binding then we'll have another one done. Maybe next week we can hang them up and see what we have so far. This is Tina's last week for awhile. She's going to her camp up North next week so we may not see her again until late in the fall.

12 ladies attended today. It was a hard working day. We laid out 3 quilts and pinned them. One of them we tied. Unfortunately, we laid out one of the quilts incorrectly so we will be doing some ripping out next week. All three quilts are for the kids at Camp Erin. I think right now we have 6 quilts finished or in progress. That's not bad for a relatively small group. Thanks to Marguerite and Winnie for their dedication to the cause. Today we also had help from Cathy M. I added the binding to our mile-a-minute raffle quilt. I'm taking that home to see if I can get the binding sewn down and make a nametag for it. Then it will be finished and we can get it out of the closet! I can't wait! We had lots of good eats today too. Besides the store bought stuff I brought in, Jean K. made some delicious brownies and Pat H. some homemade chocolate and peanut butter pieces. Yummy! Other projects being worked on: our newest member, Rosemary M. was working on a prayer quilt for church. Ethel is working on a new project, a needlepoint bell pull. Tina is making a pillow. To tell the truth, I didn't see what anyone else was working on. I had my attention on the camp quilts. Don't forget to vote today!

16 ladies attended today. I stopped and had lunch today with Betty Smith. She is in her living room and still taking visitors. She's happy for the company, but for short visits only. I saw the finished 100 yr. birthday quilt the Village Quilters made for her. It turned out very nice and colorful! Betty's granddaughter Linda is still busy quilting and they had the blocks on the design wall so that Betty can study the arrangement. It will be another beautiful quilt. Linda has a truly great eye for fabric. I came in with a finished top for the grieving children, Marguerite had finished one, and Winnie just needed to sew a border on one. Next week we will have 3 quilts to tie! I sewed together pieces for the binding of the mile-a-minute quilt. I can't wait to sew it on and actually say goodbye to a finished quilt. Then I need to make a binding for the quilt we tied last week. Eventually we will have at least 6 finished quilts for the grieving kids at Camp Erin. They need 60 so we still need to make more. Kathy O. is gone to her summer home up north now. Tina won't leave for her northern retreat until June. Next week Cathy Y. and Deb J. will be on vacation. Cathy M. brought in some pictures from China. It's getting to be vacation time. I am looking for to my son's graduation from RPI next weekend. Spring is finally here and all the things that go with it. Nevertheless, there's always time for needlework.

18 ladies attended today. We had a newcomer join us, Rosemary McGowan, who belongs to the quilt group in Altamont (Cathy M. and Deb also belong to that one) and to the Crafty Christians at the Methodist Church. As a result she already knows about half of the group. Welcome Rosemary! Marguerite and I pulled out some more tables and got out the quilt we prepared last week for the Camp Erin kids. Today, with some help from Cathy Y. and Kathy O., it is all tied and ready to be bound. I hope this is the first of many our group makes. Several of us pricked our fingers while tying the quilt so here is one useful tip: when you bleed on a quilt, use your spit for your blood. Not my spit, your blood or your spit my blood. Strictly, your spit, your blood. Isn't that delightful! Maybe we should wash the quilt before passing it on. The one problem with my working on a project during Nimblefingers is that I don't hear the talk around the table so I can't pass on any gossip or news. Deb brought in a bag full of fabric. Thank you Daryl for taking some of it. It is knits so if anyone knows someone who sews with knits please take this bag of fabric! Jean Kallop was also back today. She's been in Florida for the winter where her husband passed away just recently. She's home now taking care of business and trying to get back into the swing of her life here. Welcome back Jean! Agnes and the bazaar group (or is it the bizarre group?) are making snowmen. They do come up with some cute projects for the annual church bazaar but unfortunately they have to sell them cheaply: no one wants to spend large sums of money at the bazaar. It would be nice if our labors could be priced according to the time and materials spent but instead it seems that it always has to be a labor of love. But at least if you come to the group we can show our appreciation for the work put into these items. We try to support each other in our love of crafts.

15 ladies attended today. Winnie treated us all to brownies with a German chocolate cake topping. It was delicious! I brought in some fabric that I've been carrying around in my trunk for a couple of months and Ethel brought in some yarn to give away. We pulled some of the fabric to use for the grieving kids quilts. Marguerite and I prepared 1 top, 1 back and batting for one such quilt. Next week we can lay it out and tie it. Marguerite has made another quilt top which also needs to be tied. Before too long we should have a nice little start on our grieving kids camp quilt project. Kathy O. will be leaving us soon for her summer home. She usually comes home with some new idea for an easy quilt. We'll have to wait till Sept. or Oct. to see what she learns this summer. Daryl was back today. She had been to the American Sewing Guild show in Worcester, Mass. While she was there she tried out sewing machines. She got an 1 1/2 hr. lesson on Baby Lock so she made the plunge and got a new machine! By buying a machine she got to enter a giveaway contest. She spun the wheel and lo and behold, she won the grand prize--a flat screen TV! I'd say she did pretty well for herself. She's busy cleaning out her sewing room now to make room for the new baby. She's got some fun ahead of her! Our friend Ingrid also came today. We haven't seen much of her lately. She told us the horror story of her husband's fall he had two years ago. He's still recovering apparently. As a result of his fall she retired from her job and has been at home ever since. Hopefully she will decide to come back and spend time with us again. While Marguerite and I were getting a quilt ready, Pat H. and Agnes were cutting netting to make more crocheted scrubbies. They make them for the Methodist bazaar but our group finds them very useful so we keep them busy making more. On a sad note, one of the original Nimblefingers group, Marian Hatch, died last night. She has been in a home with Alzheimer's for several years but we all still remember her impressive Norman Rockwell cross-stitches. Marian was a nice lady with a great sense of humor. We bid her a fond farewell.

13 ladies attended today. It was a gray and drizzly day today and at least 2 of our members are at home sick. Hopefully the sun will come out soon and chase away everyone's colds, flus, etc. Last weekend was the Delmar QUILT groups biennial quilt show and many of us attended. We compared notes on what we bought from the vendors and which quilts we liked the best. Ethel purchased some more embroidery thread from Bonnie Turner so she could make some more needle cases like they made in the workshop. Ethel is also a member of the embroiders' guild and does beautiful needlework. Cathy Y. and I were back at the sewing machine. We finished quilting the mile-a-minute quilt. Next week we'll put the binding on, then a nametag and it will be done! Hallelujah! There's nothing better than finishing a quilt! After that we'll have to concentrate on making quilts for the camp for grieving children. Linda O'C came in. She returned from Florida last week. She brought in some interesting little bags she had made covered in cheesecloth with lots of needlework. And Marie was back from her carpal tunnel surgery. She had a heckava time for about 3 weeks, until the doctor gave her a shot in the arm. Since then she's felt like a new person. Her message: take care of your carpal tunnel in its early stages. She waited a long time to take care of this because it was in her right arm. The pain was worse since she had let it go so long.

There were 13 of us today at Nimblefingers including Marguerite's granddaughter Alexandra who brought along some knitting to keep her occupied while Marguerite did some quilting on our raffle quilt. I got out one of our sewing machines and did some machine quilting on another raffle quilt with some help from Cathy Y. Kathy O. brought in a quilt she is working on with some borders to get our opinion of her color choice. Fran brought in some applique pieces. She took a workshop from machine quilter, applique-r Harriet Hargrave last week and she wanted to make a second piece using the techniques she learned. Fran also brought in her needle case made in the Bonnie Turner workshop. She, Ethel and Cathy M. have all given me rave reviews on the workshop and the needlecases they made are beautiful. Winnie reported that Jean K.'s husband Roger had died and that Jean will be returning to town next week. Our thoughts will be with Jean.

12 ladies attended today. I have been gone for the last 2 weeks and also missed today because of an appointment. 2 weeks ago I was in Las Vegas either walking around in the Venetian hotel and casino or sitting by the hotel pool. I thought Vegas was beautiful. It has the bluest sky I have ever seen (because there is no humidity in the air) and the best looking palm trees. They looked like the kind of palms I would expect to see in North Africa. They are completely different from the palms I'm used to in Texas. Las Vegas was warm and beautiful. It was also crowded. A cab driver told us this was the high tourist season and I believed him. The streets and hotels were packed. I didn't gamble at all and in fact the only thing I bought was 3 murano beads for $20. I had hoped to buy at least a designer scarf but the one I looked at cost $375. I decided I could live without it for that price. I returned home at about 11:00 p.m. Friday night. I got a call at 8:00 a.m. from my sister that my mother had died during the night. So I made my plane reservations, washed my clothes, took care of some business at work and left bright and early Sunday morning. Texas was also warm and dry but I barely noticed. All of my siblings (and their spouses), one of my cousins and my 97 year old aunt all attended the funeral. My siblings and I spent the week sorting through all of the family photographs. I brought home way more than I needed. Plus we looked for any valuables that my mom had left which wasn't much. A few pieces of jewelry divided between the daughters, daughter-in-law and granddaughters. I took home the 50th wedding anniversary quilt my sisters and I made for my parents. Plus I found an old yo-yo quilt which must have been made by my grandmother. I brought that home too. We also found homes for my carpenter grandfathers furniture and my grandmothers dishes. We stayed pretty busy but my little sister and I did make it for one last trip to Creations, our favorite quilt store. I bought some sale fabric which I used for padding in the box of photos I sent home. I'm going to have to continue to visit my sister in Kerrville so I can shop at that store. It's definitely worth going out of your way for and I hate to think I've made my last visit. Now I'm glad to be home and hope I don't have any more excitement for awhile. Time to calm down now.

12 ladies and 2 girls attended today. The 2 girls are Deb's yellow labrador retrievers Tessy and Ayla. I had to put my sweet black lab down last week so Deb brought in her girls so I could get my fill of doggie hugs and kisses. Thank you Deb. They are extremely well-behaved dogs. They greeted everyone then slept for the duration. Deb also brought some cider donuts to fill our bellies. Monday our own Cathy M. is leaving for China for 2 weeks. I hope she has a great time and comes back with some stories to tell. She told me today she'd had a letter from her grandson Justin who is currently sunning himself on a beach on some island off the coast of Thailand. Her grandson is one of my favorite library patrons. I remember him from when he was in high school and was reading the classics for fun. Since then he still visits the library whenever he is in town and often leaves me with a list of CD's he recommends. I look forward to his visits as much as Cathy does I think. People have been leaving me bags of yarn lately so I put that out for grabs. Tina was knitting a scrap afghan so I hope she took some but I think a few of the knitters did take some because I only had 1 bagful after the meeting. Daryl brought in her lovely embroidered butterfly quilt to sandwich and baste. Marguerite and I pulled out our future raffle quilt and worked on that for awhile. Pat O'R and Cathy M were appliquing flower blocks. And Ethel was working on her bridal crossstitch for her daughter who is getting married soon. Another busy day for the Nimblefingers ladies. Next week I will be in Las Vegas checking out the strip while my husband is at his meeting. See you in 2 weeks!

I'm getting behind with my news! On March 10th we had 13 ladies for a potluck lunch. Lots of yummy food as you can imagine with this bunch of great cooks. And, even though we didn't sign up for a dish ahead of time, we ended up with a nice array of main dishes, salads, breads and desserts. No one came prepared to do much in the way of crafts so we mostly just ate and talked, two things we are all good at. Everyone enjoyed the lunch so I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't start doing this more often.

15 people attended today including Daryl's grandson Brady. He was cute as a button and everyone thought he was the best behaved boy they had ever seen! We took down the quilt show today. Deb was a little late so Marguerite and I took down all of the quilts within easy reach. But, hurrah! Deb did come so we were able to take down the out of reach quilts. Now the room looks quite empty. Agnes brought in a delicious orange juice cake. Cathy M. brought in a cream cheese crumb cake and Pat H. made a peanut butter cake of some kind. Marie brought in her collection of folded flower books to show Fran who makes the ruched flowers. We all oohed and aahed over the pictures in the books.

15 ladies attended today. Marguerite brought in her finished quilt. She didn't finish it in time to hang in this year's show so I hope she puts it in next year's show. She does all hand piecing and hand quilting and is about the only person I know who does that anymore so her quilts are a particular treasure. I got out the mile-a-minute quilt so Cathy Y. and I could pin it together. First we had to piece some batting scraps together though and sew the backing. But we got it pinned so in a few weeks I want to have the group practice machine quilting using the walking foot on our Brother sewing machines. Agnes and Pat H. worked on tying Pat's hidden 9-patch prayer quilt. Kathy O. brought in her sister from Elmira for a visit. Kathy had also promised to give Daryl personal instruction on the hidden 9-patch. We will be taking down the quilt show next week. Then on Feb. 10th we will have a potluck lunch.

Today was our Open House for our show. 43 people attended, 16 of us and 27 of visitors. That's not too bad. We had lots of good food as usual, beautiful quilts, and this year Kathy O. demonstrated the Hidden 9-patch and Fran demonstrated ruching. Several of the visitors looked familiar. I think some of them return to our open house every year. We'll see if our group expands after this year's show. I'll put on some more pictures when they become available.

New additions for the open house only were Fran's handbag, my wild faces quilt top, Winnie's red, white and blue lap quilt top, and the group's mile-a-minute quilt top. Other new additions to the show were Agnes' poinsettia wall hanging, Laura DiVirgilio, one of the Jr. Nimblefingers, brought in her 9-patch quilt, and Marie's golfer.

14 ladies attended today and thank goodness, one of those 14 was the fearless ladder-climber Deb J.! We hung the 2009 Nimblefingers quilt and craft show and it's beautiful as always. This year we also included works by the Junior Nimblefingers. Pictures will follow.

11 ladies attended today. Kathy O. brought in her sewing machine to demonstrate machine quilting for Deb J., but Deb didn't show up. I hope she's here next week to put up our quilt show! She's the only one brave enough to climb the tall ladder! Pat H. brought in some scrap fabric to give away. Then she sat down to teaching Agnes, with me watching, how to make a hat on a Knifty Knitter. It looked kind of fun. Fran brought in her finished except for the binding appliqued flower quilt. It was truly beautiful. Winnie was doing some fancy crewel work and Marie was doing intarsia knitting (I think that's what she called it). Daryl is adding some embroidery to a Noah's Ark preprinted quilt panel. Pat also brought in all of the Prayers-and-Squares quilt tops she's made lately. She uses only scraps and they are all colorful and cheerful. Everyone was busy except me. I just moved around and watched what everyone was doing. Next week will be a busy one putting up the quilt show. Then our open house will be on Feb. 10th. We will take down the show on Feb. 24th. Then everyone thought we should celebrate by having a potluck lunch on Mar. 3.