10 ladies attended today. It was very hot and humid outdoors so we wondered if everyone was too hot to come to the library. Whatever...it's their loss. Agnes told me she got a call from Kathy O. who had bought a new Bernina, an embroidery machine, and was ultra excited. She's embroidered all of her t-shirts and now has started on Al's (though she promised him she wouldn't put any flowers on his t-shirts). When Kathy returns in the fall I'm sure she'll have a whole lot of show and tell. That will be something to look forward to for sure. Winnie was working on the mini-tin pin cushions. Sue and Betty were crocheting and cro-hooking away. Jo Anne was knitting away on her turquoise scarf and Marguerite was knitting her magenta scarf. I brought in a quilt to sandwich so several of the ladies helped me with that. I also brought in a wall hanging I had made from a kit I bought at the Somers quilt show. It is somewhat arty, though very simple.  Ethel came in towards the end of the meeting with her granddaughter Vivianne and Vivianne's finished quilt top. It's purple and pink with embroidered cats, dogs, hearts and flowers. It looks very little girlish and Vivianne seems very proud of it.

We had a small group yesterday--only 9 of us. We were surprised though when Sally Olly from Canada walked in! She visits her brother/hometown every summer and likes to check in on us. Last year Jo Anne and I took her on a mini-shop hop but I'm afraid I'm too busy this week. It is nice to see her again though and very flattering that she  likes us enough to visit every year. Cathy C. also stopped by. She's still emptying out her Voorheesville house so brought in some magazines to give away. She has bought a house in Cape Cod now. She'll be wintering in Florida and summering in Cape Cod. Pretty nice! I just hope she'll stop by and visit her old friends when going between the two homes.  She seems very happy about her decisions but tired from all the packing, cleaning out, etc. I can imagine. When you haven't moved for a long time it's a real job to get rid of all your stuff. I dread when that time comes for me. Sally was putting the binding on a quilt she made for her neighbor who is a WWII veteran. It was a Canadian/American friendship/patriotism quilt with fireworks border and back. It was very nice. He'll be very pleased I'm sure. Fran was putting the binding on a large flowery quilt. It was cheerful and spring-like. Pat OR was working on a wool applique table runner. Elaine brought in her finished birdy table runner. It will be a Christmas present for a friend. Jo Anne keeps plugging away on her knitted turquoise scarf. It will be beautiful when it is finished. Marguerite was binding a quilt for the hospital made from donated squares. Debbie the librarian came in and cut some fabric in preparation for the teen sewing program on Thursday. We'll be making a simple bag. I'm helping out but anyone who wants to help can.

There were about 12 of us at Nimblefingers yesterday. Sue brought in our raffle quilt having fixed my 2 quilting goofs and put on the binding. So now it just needs a label then will be ready to turn over to the Friends of the Library to raffle. I think it's a very nice scrap quilt and it's been a long time coming. Pat OR laid out her sewn together top and back, laid on the batting, then we tried Eleanor Burns' method of rolling the corners till you reach the unsewn edge, then turning the whole thing inside out. It worked! I don't know why we doubted Eleanor Burns, she knows what she's doing. Pat is going to tie the quilt. I assume it will be done and in our show in February. It is a very pretty batik quilt. JoAnne brought in copies of the pictures of Winnie representing Nimblefingers on the library float in the Memorial day parade. They won the award for best float and it surely must be due to Winnie. Betsy came in yesterday. We haven't seen her for awhile. She is always busy going here and there so it's nice when she takes some time off to visit her old friends. Joyce also came in and showed us the bag she made in a class at Amelia's Garden. It was very difficult to make--she said it took about 20 hrs. but it was spectacular. I loved the fabric she used also, with butterflies on it. I brought in the Quilts without borders quilt I was just finishing so told the group about that. I picked up a free kit at the Houston International Quilt Festival the last time I went. It took me a year or so, but I finally made it up and sent it off to Quilts Without Borders. After they received it they asked if I would be willing to quilt some quilts for them. They have lots of tops and not enough people to quilt them. So I said ok. They sent me 4 tops, backs, bindings, and labels. I finally finished the last one today--hurrah! I feel like I've been making charity quilts forever. Now I can finally get back to my own projects. I also took some time before the meeting to book the community room for some retreats this winter so we will have some fun sewing days to look forward to and can finish some more projects.

I finally made it back to the group. I'm still not 100% but better anyway. Today we had 9 ladies and 2 grandchildren. Ethel brought her grandson Hunter and Rosalind her granddaughter Lucy. Lucy and Elaine became great playmates during the meeting.  I brought in the raffle quilt and Sue took it home to put on the binding and to see if she could fix the 2 tucks on the backing that are most obvious. It's a beautiful scrap quilt...I just wished my quilting was better. Pat OR brought in a quilt top and back to pin. It was a very pretty batik quilt. Rosalind helped Sue to knit a strong cord for a bag. Agnes was binding one of her pretty watercolor wall hangings. I also wore my new jacket made in a class at Amelia's Garden. It's made from Kaffe Fassett fabric so is very bright. Marguerite finished binding another quilt for the hospital. Ethel is doing some hand embroidery on a quilt she is making for one of her granddaughters. Rosalind was embroidering something as well. We were a small group on this rainy day but I was glad to be back with everyone.

I missed Nimblefingers again. Two weeks in a row. This cold, or whatever it is, is really terrible. It's been almost 2 full weeks now and I still feel awful. And I hear there was a good show and tell on Tuesday. Debbie, one of the librarians, said she took some pictures. I'm sorry I missed it. On Monday I was determined to get back to work (on sewing of course). When I don't feel well all I really want to do is play with little pieces of fabric. When I last sewed I had been machine quilting and I knew I didn't have the energy for that. And my sewing room is a mess right now with no clear space for fabric cutting. I knew I also didn't have the energy for cleaning either. So I grabbed my box of 1 1/2" squares and played with them. I am still infatuated with the plus sign scrap quilt I made so I arranged my little squares into plus signs. I had enough for 1 placemat. Then I got out my 3 1/2" squares and made a bunch of plus sign placemats with them. When I no longer had enough of the same fabric squares to make a plus sign I started making 4-patches. I put 6 4-patches together to make more placemats. So I made 11 placemats all together. It used up a lot of my squares, some big pieces of ugly scrap fabric for the backs, and a lot of my old scrap batting. I like to make an accounting of how much of my stash gets used up in projects. I always seem to bring in more than I use up but there is still satisfaction in using up some of my stash. Tomorrow I am supposed to go to Amelia's Garden to get some help finishing my jacket since I missed class last week. I hope I'm feeling well and I really hope I'm not contagious. Then on Saturday I'm meeting Julie Ann Fortran and Linda Crannell for breakfast. Linda is in town for the Old Songs festival. I know some of you remember Betty Smith. She was one of the treasured quilters in my life. Linda is her grand-daughter. Julie Ann, Linda and I all went to the Houston International quilt festival together (the 1st time I went). We had a great time so it's nice to get together again. Since Linda moved away we don't get to see her often. I'm glad she contacts us when she does come for a visit. Again, I hope I'm not contagious. I'm hoping for better health so I can get back to my nimble friends. It's been way too long.

I didn't go to Nimblefingers today so I don't know what went on. I'm home, sick in bed. I guess it's just a really bad cold but whatever it is, I feel dreadful. I was prepared to go though. I quilted the raffle quilt on Saturday. It only has a few little tucks so I was going to let the ladies look at it and see if they think it's okay to raffle. If so, I got the binding ready and was going to recruit someone to take it home and sew on the binding. It's getting close to being finished anyway. Then I'll look at our other quilt to raffle. It needs a border. I bought a couple on the shop hop I wanted to look at as possible borders. If I think they would work I'll take them to the group to get their opinion. I also bought some possible backings we can look at. This quilt I think should be partly machine quilted but it has big areas that I think we should hand quilt. Maybe we can get it ready for next year.
Hopefully I'll be better next Tuesday and can make it to the meeting.

June 9, 2015

Hurrah! My blog is working! So that means I have to start writing in it again regularly. More work for me! Today is Tuesday and I'm back from Nimblefingers.  I counted the ladies twice and forgot twice how many attended. It was a good crowd anyway. Tina is getting ready to leave for the North country but Diane C. is back from the South.  Somehow it kind of evens out. Today I brought in our raffle quilt which we started about 4 years ago. It was lost in my sewing room for a couple of years but I pulled it out this year determined to get it finished. I didn't think it was big enough so we added more blocks. Then we sandwiched it and I took it home to machine quilt. I have been practicing machine quilting but haven't worked on a quilt as big as this one. Everyone thought it should be quilted on the diagonal and I have only practiced vertical and horizontal grids. I started quilting and was feeling very cocky when I turned it over and looked at the back. It had many, many, some very large tucks! So I started ripping out the quilting. I ripped and ripped then thought I'd iron it and see if I could straighten it out. But it was too big to put on the ironing board to straighten so I took it to the meeting today. No one thought I should rip out all of the quilting which is what I thought I should do. They thought I should quilt the diagonals in one direction only--not in a grid. This meant doing minimal un-sewing. Then we used some spray and bond to hold the sandwich together and straightened it out again. It's home now waiting for me to try again on the machine quilting. I, of course, think the quilt needs to be close to perfect but everyone says not to be so critical. If it looks too bad we can just raffle it among ourselves. What a nightmare! I will be so glad to finish it and get it out of my house!
Ethel came in with fabric and stories about her shop hopping. Jo Anne with fabric and stories about our shop hopping. I didn't bring in my fabric since I'm only focused on the raffle quilt. Maybe next week I'll bring in mine. Trudy brought in some hot pads someone gave her. They were crocheted and very nice. She had been shown how to make them but couldn't remember how. No one else could figure it out either so Trudy's going to work on it on her own. Betty brought in the pin cushion we had made in the Village Quilter meeting. It is cute and very easy to make. Some of us might make some more. Fran brought in a finished cat quilt. It was all black and white with the cats' tails quilted in (by Linda Denner of course). It was really cute. Tomorrow is Jo Anne's birthday so Tina brought in a card for all of us to sign and some cupcakes to help celebrate. Happy birthday Jo Anne!
So, welcome back to my blog. I'll try to keep it going this time!