Today we had 21 ladies at Nimblefingers. Last week we were lucky to welcome Cathy Y.'s daughter Tasha, and this week we were happy to meet Marie's daughter Maria. She lives in Californial and regularly reads the blog to keep up with her mother's doings. I'm very happy that both daughters were able to visit. Pat OR was back today. She's been home sick but still working on her table runner. She sent it out to be quilted and now just needs to finish the binding. She's the number 1 table runner finisher. Prizes will come later and she definitely has earned one. Deb made her sit down and explain this crazy table runner to her so she can be #2. This was my idea and my pattern and I won't be surprised if I'm #last. All quilting has been postponed for me until after the wedding. Speaking of which, I showed everyone my pictures of me in my dress, shoes and new fancy hair-do. I think everyone approved so I guess I can check wedding clothes off my worry list. Joyce spent her lunch half hour with us laying out a quilt to pin. It was made from a panel of children's illustrator Eric Carles' pictures so was very colorful, cheerful and bright. It would be very nice for a little kid but this quilt is to be for the little kid in Joyce. They make a lot of panels now from children's books. I know I see them and want to buy them so it must be a real temptation for Joyce who is a children's librarian. I've resisted so far but it's really hard. They are sooo cute! Jo-Ann got some instruction today from Cathy M. and Fran on doing redwork. She's been wanting to try something new and both Cathy and Fran are embroidering now--Cathy in red and Fran in blue. We do seem to have a lot of embroidering going on lately. That's good--it shows what broad horizons we have within our little group. Today was a lot of fun and I know next week will be too.

Tuesday we had 20 ladies at Nimblefingers. Linda H. brought in her finished punch-quilt picture. She picked it up when the Jacksons brought in all of the freebies and decided to try it out. It turned out very nice. She's going to keep it so that we can put it in our show in February. It's surprisingly lightweight, much easier to make than a quilt, but still looks like a quilt. Because Tuesday was 3 days ago and I had a root canal on Wednesday I don't really remember what else happened on Tuesday. I do know that we had a good time, as usual, and that many of the ladies signed up for the Sue Pritt workshop in September (the 8th). The other picture I am showing here is of the raffle quilt for this year. It was made by the Village Quilters and is made from selvages. It's very bright and fun to put together. The Friends of the Library will begin selling raffle tickets at the book sale which begins on Friday, Sept. 14th. I know I plan to buy a few tickets. It's really quite a unique looking quilt.

14 ladies attended yesterday--a small but happy group. Maxine was back and brought with her the beautiful rug she had hooked and was ready to add the backing. She and Marie go way back--they were hookers (rug hookers of course) together. The designs they made were just too beautiful! Maxine would go to a workshop in Vermont for a week to learn a new design and it paid off because her rugs are tremendous! Sandie had also finished her hardanger piece which she began in a class with the Embroiderers Guild. It too was gorgeous! I came in with supplies to sandwich a quilt. I was trying out my batting tape for the first time. No one else had tried it either so we were all eager to see how it worked and it did--work that is. With 5 of us pinning the sandwich was quickly made. Joyce joined us today. She has a kids sewing workshop today and needed to make sure the machines all worked. For those ladies who weren't there today, they missed a delicious pecan cake made by Winnie and a lemon cake/bread made by Daryl. Yummy!

Yesterday we had 24 ladies attend. It was nice to see so many ladies happily stitching away. Our friend Ann Bave passed away recently and Daryl brought in her obituary for us to read. Ann was a warm and generous person. I will always remember her surprise and joy at teaching a 6 year old to knit at one of our library programs. Betsey brought in a quilt top and asked for help pinning the sandwich together. She is making a group quilt for her priest in Arizona. Linda H. brought in her punch-quilt block which she picked up when the Jacksons brought in donations. She let me try a couple of pieces. It's an easy way to make what looks like a quilt block. I hope she'll keep it around to put in our show in February. Fran passed around a get well soon card for Pat OR who has been home sick for a couple of weeks. Marie brought in all of her 750 5" squares she has cut to ask for advice as to what to do with them. I had given her a pattern I found that was easy and could use 5" squares. She liked the pattern and picked out a fabric from her stash for the one common element in the design. It had green ivy leaves so it just seemed natural to pull the green squares from her pile to use in the quilt. She had enough different greens that I think it will make a very nice quilt. Sandie had to remind me again how to do the basket weave in my cross-stitch piece. I need to work on it more often so I don't forget. Sandie was working on a beautiful hardanger piece. She also helped Ethel get started on her new project. Sandie is a gem to have around! She's a very good teacher! On Tuesday Sept. 11th the Friends will begin setting up the community room for the booksale so we will have to go out to lunch that day. We've had a couple of suggestions so far but let me know if you know of a particularly good place for lunch.

16 ladies attended on Tuesday. Fran brought in the only show and tell: her sunflower. She says they are having a sunflower contest at the Altamont Fair this year so we should all make a sunflower and enter the contest. Marie was back this week. She was mostly recovered from her respiratory infection. Pat OR will be out for awhile though--she is at home getting physical therapy. Pat L. brought her granddaughter, Madeline, with her today. She spent her time on her laptop with headphones plugged in. I'm afraid us old ladies just can't compete with electronic friends to a teenager. And Lisa F., who works here at the library, came in with her son Benjamin to get some help starting a large cross-stitch. Sandie was on hand to give her some advice. Cathy C. came in late in the meeting. She is helping to clean out Linda O'Connor's studio. They started in the shed yesterday so Cathy brought in some of the things they found in the shed: some old books, yarn, threads, and tins. Everyone took what they wanted and as usual I took much of the rest. What I didn't take, Cathy was going to take to the Heldeberg workshop to see if they could use. Marie said it felt very strange taking some of Linda's things when she just saw Linda a few days before she died. We are all having a problem accepting that she could go so quickly. But, having been a teacher, I know she would want to share her things with everyone so that they could create, play, have fun and make something beautiful.

Tuesday 17 ladies attended. Marie was out sick. We all hope she is feeling better.We had a visitor attend--Sally Ann from Toronto. She was visiting her brother here in Voorheesville and decided to spend an afternoon with us. She won our last raffle quilt so she has a particular fondness for the group. She and Marguerite, who is originally from Canada, sat together and talked. I hope Sally Ann will think of us next year when she visits. Daryl was back after missing many meetings. She has had 2 sick family members to care for. I hope they both recover soon. We didn't have any show-and-tells this week but since I only seem to be able to add 2 pictures to each blog post I will include the two other show-and-tells from last week. I spent Tuesday showing everyone the Nook. We are now circulating fully loaded Nooks to Voorheesville cardholders so I wanted to show it to all of my ladies. Deb gave us a report on her trip to the Vermont Quilt Festival. She went with June and her husband. After spending some time at the quilt show they wanted to explore some territory up there so went to Tupper Lake as well as visiting some old forts. Deb didn't know if she liked the quilt show better or the sight seeing!

Today 19 ladies attended. The countdown is on for the Village Quilters quilt show (July 14 and 15) so several ladies are madly making fabric flowers. We will all be happy when we don't have to make flowers anymore. Pat L. brought in a stained glass window she made for her daughter (pictures to follow). It was totally amazing! Her granddaughter will be very happy--she wanted an owl window and this one has an owl in it. She said it only took about a month to make. That's quicker than most fabric/thread projects! Rosemary brought in a finished and framed cross-stitch she has been working on--a very nice angel surrounded by flowers. It's very pretty. Diane had made a basket of yo-yo flowers for her friend Jo-Ann's birthday. It was very cute. And finally, Fran was working on the sleeve for a new quilt she just picked up from the quilters last week. It was a poinsettia quilt. It's a very easy pattern and really works well with the large prints. We might be seeing more of that pattern--we all love a quick and easy pattern. Sandie was working on hardanger today and Marie brought in a small oriental rug she had made at some time. I'm sorry I've missed a couple of weeks of reporting on our doings. When I get busy at work my blog seems to fall by the wayside. I'll try not to let it happen too often though.