17 ladies attended today. I was very surprised when I saw Linda Crannell walk in the door with her uncle Pete. Linda moved to Florida last year so it was very exciting to see her again. She had come up attend the Old Songs festival and to visit with family and friends. I'm so glad she remembered us in Nimblefingers! She had never actually been a member because she worked but we all dearly loved her grandmother Betty Smith who was an inspiration to us all. Diane was also back for the summer. She's a school nurse so can only come during the summer months. She was our driver for the quilt shop hop this year so I had a chance to get to know her a little better. She brought in the quilt that she had been working on last summer and had gotten some advice from us about. It was a beautifull sunflower quilt. Fran brought in her finished african quilt made from the fabric I picked up for her at the Adirondack quilt show. It will be going to some child in South Africa eventually. I have not yet made mine though I have been thinking about it. These will go to Patti's quilt shop in Saratoga Springs where they will deliver them to the group that travels to South Africa. Ethel brought in her finished and framed button sampler cross-stitch. It is made with buttons from her mother's button jar and it is absolutely precious! It is a beautiful keepsake. If I were one of her daughters I would be begging for it! I also brought in my finished "modern" quilt. It was quick, easy and a lot of fun to make. Rosemary was also back this week. She has been out for some time with a very bad back. Even now she wears a brace and tires easily. I'm glad she was able to make it in though. We have missed her. Everyone seemed happy and chatty and looking forward to the 4th of July weekend.

18 ladies attended today. Ethel brought in her finished quilt top for her grandson (picture to follow). It is very nice with lots of good kid fabric. Marie brought in part of her Oops a daisy quilt. She has made all of the applique blocks and is starting to add the in between blocks. It will be very nice when it is finished. Since Agnes is making the same quilt they had a talk about the difficulties and things to watch out for in making this quilt. Marie also brought in some books, magazines and roving to give away. She's still clearing out her house. I pulled out the 12" blocks we made so that we could pick a fabric for the lattice strips. Next week I can get started on them. Elaine was gathering more information about machine quilters who might work on her quilt. Pat H. also brought in some fabric scrapas to give away. Daryl informed me that she won a basket during the quilt shop hop! I'm jealous! Those baskets looked wonderful! Maybe next year.

Today the Voorheesville kindergartners came to the library to get their new library cards so we had to vacate our room and go out to lunch! This happens once in a while and we really don't mind too much. Today we went to the Cider House restaurant in the Altamont Orchards. There were 16 of us there plus Tina's husband who is a very good sport. The restaurant is lovely--you sit looking out at the golf course. I think we all had a good lunch and I know that at least I left full. Next week we'll be back at our regular place and time. See you then!

Today 17 ladies attended. Last week I attended two quilt workshops with Karen Eckmeier at the Delmar quilt guild so I brought in my pieces to show and share. She does layered quilts--all are put together with topstitching. It was fun and I like learning new techniques. I hope I can actually make something with my samples. Ethel brought in the start to her I-spy quilt she is making for her soon-to-be new grandson. It has lots of good boy fabric and is in a very clever pattern. Marguerite got out the sewing machine and worked on the raffle quilt. After next week she will have sewn the entire top together (minus borders)! I think she deserves a prize for all of her hard work. Jo-Ann was back. She has been out sick for several weeks. Daryl made a couple of blocks for prayer quilts and Cathy M. brought in an orphan block to use in a prayer quilt. We need to start getting some together now. Sandy is still working on her beautiful needlepoint. Winnie has a pre-printed children's fabric book to put together. Fran bought some cute Maisy (from the books by Lucy Cousins) fabric for a baby quilt. Pat OR is still quilting her tablerunner. Marie brought in her patches for her Oops-a-daisy quilt. Last weekend I went to the luncheon for Katherine Denegar, our former Nimblefinger member who passed away recently. Katherine had planned this party before she died, complete with guest list. I went by myself but family and friends soon adopted me. It was a nice service/lunch. It's unfortunate that Katherine could only be there in spirit because I know she would have loved being surrounded by all of her favorite people. She was quite a woman and I am glad I had the opportunity to get to know her.

I just received some sad news. Our old friend Katherine Denegar, the "cat lady", passed away yesterday. There will be a get together for her this Saturday at Red's Restaurant in Coxsackie at 12:30 if anyone is interested. I know we will all remember Katherine fondly. In spite of everything, she always had a funny thing to say whenever she left the group. She had a great sense of humor. I know she loved the group and I'm glad that she found us and joined us. I enjoyed getting to know her as well.
More sad news is that Margot Hayes who moved to Florida also passed away. I'm not sure when but she had cancer which took her way too young. I used to enjoy going to quilt show with her. She always felt like a substitute big sister to me so I was very sorry to hear of her passing.

Today we had 13 ladies attend, one of which was Cathy M. back from her sick bed and one was Jean K. back from Florida! We were very happy to see both! Ethel brought in some yarn to give away most of which was snapped up by Daryl who does lots of work for the Hilltowns. A local needlework shop is going out of business so Ethel has been going through her projects and making a shopping list to catch the going out of business sale. I hate to see shops go out of business but I do love the sales. She was working on a very cute cross-stitch sample entitled Buttons with buttons sewn on. It is very nice. Sandy is still working on her needlepoint piece. Marie was appliquing flowers on her Oops a daisy quilt. Marguerite came in late from one of her hospital luncheons. Pat O. was hand quilting a table runner she had purchased at Flying Geese. Cathy M. was embroidering a redwork piece. Fran was making placemats. Cathy Y. was hand quilting her baby quilt. Daryl brought in a book she has that had an African quilt in it. She knows I like African stuff so I copied it. It's all applique and that's not my specialty but we'll see. I brought in a quilt top I made last weekend and made a quilt sandwich. I'll be doing some machine quilting for the next few weeks. Then I got out the blocks we have for prayer quilts. Fran and I both brought in some orphan blocks so we now have enough for 2 small quilts. I took one home to see if I can find some fabric for the lattice, border and backing. Daryl is working on a block she wants to put into the other quilt so I'll hold off on it until she's finished.

16 ladies attended today. Daryl was back. We all assumed she was off visiting family but it turns out she was in the hospital and quite sick! Fortunately she pulled through and is back now, sewing up a storm! Winnie brought in a fabric postcard she had received from Jean K. who is still in Florida. It was a beautiful postcard so I hope that Jean will have us all making them when she returns. I pulled out all of the blocks we have made in the past from our closet to see what we have. We have the start of 3 prayer quilts. So people are going to go home and either stitch up some more 12 1/2 in. blocks or bring in their "orphan" blocks to see if we can use them. I'm determined to get these little quilts made up and out of the closet. Marguerite pulled out the sewing machine and sewed together 3 more rows of our future raffle quilt. I sewed together 2 rows and Marguerite took all rows home to sew together and iron. This is going to be a very attractive quilt I think. Ethel showed us her purchases from a quilt shop in Florida. She's expecting a new grandson so bought some "I spy" type fun fabrics. June is off to Florida next week to visit her family. It's amazing how many connections to Florida there are in our little group.