Getting Caught Up

I've been hopelessly behind in working on a few sewing projects and was actually able to do some catch-up over the last few days.

At the right, are four of the Eensy Weensy blocks (4 1/2 inch finished) that I'm exchanging with my pal Nancy, Near Philadelphia. My blocks are coming from Judy Hopkins' book Around the Block Again. The top two blocks, Grandmother's Pride on the left and Glacier Bay on the right are catch-ups for January. On the bottom row, Jack's Delight is for April and Mosaic is for May. Nosy Gretl is pictured in front. Sensibly, we've cut back to one block per month. Now that I've adjusted to working small (as in--I'm paper piecing them) things are going much faster. Now I have only to do my blocks!

The other project is the Sew-A-Row for 2006 masterminded by Phyllis. I added the top row of circle of life blocks, the middle row of checkerboard was started by Vandy and the bottom row as pieced by Pam. I'm still trying to decide if I want to add some tiny white heart buttons to the centers of each "flower." Two more people will work on this project between now and the end of October and we'll draw names among the participants to see who gets to keep it. I'm actually done early with this one, which is a shock.

Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting is one of my favorite quilting magazines ever. I've been quilting since 1975 and began subscribing to Quilter's Newsletter Monthly shortly thereafter. While QNM is a great magazine as well, you just can't beat the projects in Love of Quilting. Not only that, F & P gives our guild a rebate on each subscription the guild sends in as a group! You can't beat that kind of marketing, can you?????

On the nature front, hubby spotted a coyote meandering up our street this morning and I got outside in time to catch a glimpse of him. During the three years we've been here, we have seen a fair number of wild turkeys and deer, but never a coyote before. We live in a suburban subdivision in the hills above Santa Rosa, but with 80 or more homes, it is hardly rural. I hope the little guy was able to move out to the hills behind us safely....