Yesterday we held our 2010 Nimblefingers Open House. About 50 people attended. It was another nice showing. Thank you to those of you in the Friday group and the Altamont group. We had a good turnout from those members. I need to get the news to the Delmar Q.U.I.L.T. group sooner but we did have some visitors from that large group. As usual we had great desserts to offer, good punch, good conversation and Kathy O. taught her Hidden 9-patch II pattern to quite a few people. I was told that last year after Kathy taught the Hidden 9-patch I block, that the Delmar Q.U.I.L.T. group made dozens of them for service projects. Jane Stearns, who saw it made at our show, went back and taught them. Maybe she'll do the same with this year's pattern. Cathy Y. found out that the baby for whom she was making a baby quilt was born early, in the middle of a blizzard, so she was eager to get it finished. Agnes helped her get it trimmed, then I sewed on the binding for her. It's a nice flannel quilt so it should keep this blizzard baby warm! Next week I plan to bring in the stuff I bought on my trip to Tucson including fabric, patterns and tools.

17 ladies attended yesterday. I wasn't here last week. I was off visiting my sister in 60 degree Tucson where we attended the annual Tucson quilt show. I had a great trip and the quilt show was fantastic! I can't wait to tell you all about it in a couple of weeks when our activities die down a little. Today we hung the quilt show. It is always an exciting day: do we have enough quilts or too many? Is Deb still spry enough to do her monkey act on the top of the high ladder? But, as always, it looks great! We all deserve a pat on the back for our good work! Next week is our open house so I hope we get a bunch of guests. Don't forget to bring some goodies! We have a bunch of pictures of our setting up so enjoy!

17 ladies attended today. Kristin was back. She was making some Celtic cross panels for wall hangings. She made them by appliquing decorative trim in the cross pattern. They were quite stunning! I brought in my psychedelic 60's quilt to sew on the binding. Marguerite worked on the raffle quilt. Pat H. took some pictures of her VA hospital quilts. She and Agnes also finished tying them. Kathy O. gave Cathy M. the pattern for the knitted socks she makes though Kathy O. was crocheting scrubbies today. Marie brought in some tatting patterns to give Rosemary a lesson on tatting. Fran was appliquing leaves. Pat OR was embroidering her wool piece. Cathy Y. was quilting her baby quilt. And Deb is still working on her grandmother's flower garden. She says she's ready to burn it now she's getting so tired of it. She really picked a difficult project. We ended the afternoon with a very interesting conversation at my end of the table. Hmm...it had to do with gravity and the female body leading to a food discussion--limp cucumbers, muffins, cherries, watermelon. Can't you just imagine this crazy bunch of old women having this conversation! You never know where the conversation might lead in Nimblefingers! I will be gone next week and the following week we will be hanging/displaying our work so don't forget to bring it on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

17 ladies attended today. You can always tell when we have a good group because the noise level goes up considerably. Agnes and Daryl were back from visiting their kids. We haven't seen Daryl for awhile so it's nice to have her back. Hattie was knitting some mittens. Cathy O. was back to crocheting scrubbies. Pat H. brought in 3 quilts to sandwich. She makes quilts for soldiers stationed around the world so these were patriotic quilts. Cathy Y. came in with her boot on--she cracked a bone in her foot last week. Marie has been taking some meds so the frog in her throat was gone. Fran brought in another beautiful blue-work teddy bear quilt. I assume it will be in our show along with the kewpie doll quilt. Pat OR was working on her wool table rug. Winnie was getting some help cutting out a quilt. Tina was quilting her little wall hanging. Deb pretended to work on her endless hexagon quilt. We'll all be glad when she finishes this one. And I helped Pat H. for awhile then made some announcements: this year for our show we get the community room, the hall and the display case. Plus I handed out some posters for people to hang. I think we should have a nice show this year. Of course, we outdo ourselves every year so this one shouldn't be any different!

This week 13 ladies attended. Everyone brought in their leftover holiday sweets so we had lots of cookies and candy! Fran was sewing the binding her kewpie doll quilt. She got the kewpie doll embroidery patterns from Marguerite. They had been Marguerite's mothers so had been around for a long time. She gave them to Fran, who loves doing redwork, and next thing you know the quilt is made! It will be in our show and will be a big hit I'm sure! Marie, who came with a frog in her throat, brought in her Japanese tatting book and hooks to show us. Her book is in Japanese which she can't read but as she says "I can read pictures." Japanese tatting uses a two-headed crochet hook with flat ends instead of a shuttle but I thought the lace looked the same as that made by a shuttle. Rosemary wanted to get a new library card since she is now an official resident of Voorheesville. She likes her new apartment and neighbors very much. Tina was working on her double thickness scrap afghan. I'm sure it keeps her warm as she works. Ethel was working on her "Old West Virginia home" needlepoint again. I hope she'll finish it in time for our show in February. Pat OR and MaryAnn were both doing wool work. Deb was mostly just causing trouble and making us laugh like she always does. She did pull out her hexagon top for a little while. Marguerite did some more quilting on the raffle quilt. Our dear Cathy Y. wasn't here--she slipped on the ice and broke her foot. This has been a very bad winter for slipping. The highlight of the day for me was when Lew Schedlbauer ("the quiltsmith") came in with my finished op-art quilt. He does such a great job it really looked stupendous! I spent the next 2 days showing it off to everyone in the library. It will be in our show just in case I missed anyone. Happy New Year to all and watch out for the ice!

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.