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.