To cut or not to cut

I am trying to decide whether to cut out a new quilt today or wait and use a pattern I am borrowing from a friend.  Both patterns are similar.  I am going to use Berry Bliss Bali Pop strips.  See how I've started to arrange them? Oh, I do love batiks.  My first quilting retreat is coming up this week!  I hope to get lots done, but my bet is I won't get as much done as I would on a normal weekend.  The reason? - there will be lots of new friends to meet and lots of projects to look at. I won't be able to be my normal compulsive, speed-quilting, finishing-project self. This is a good thing.  I need to expand my quilting hobby to one that includes building friendships with others who are like minded.  I know there is a wonderful community of friendly, caring quilters out there. I am so "not social", but I've made myself get out of my little introverted box in the past and it has always been good for me.  So here goes.

Resilience Prescription

I liked this.  Taken from Ben Sherwood's The Survivor Club

1. Practice optimisn
2. Identify a resilient role model
3. Develop a moral compass and unbreakable beliefs
4. Practice altruism
5. Develop acceptance and cognitive flexibility
6. Face your fears and learn to control negative emotions
7. Build active coping skills to handle your problems
8. Establish a supportive social network
9. Stay physically fit
10. Laugh as much as you can.

By Dr. Dennis Charney, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York

Frugal Soup

I got this idea from a book I read recently.  You keep a plastic container in the freezer and you accumulate leftovers.  When it is full, you make soup!  Well, so far, so good.  The first time I had leftover chicken fajitas, onions, peppers, white beans, refried beans, lima beans, I can't remember what else.  I added chicken broth to it and it was great soup!  We both loved it.  Today, I had accumulated leftover roast meat, sausage, lima beans, a few white beans, green beans, and baked sweet potatoes. I added beef broth and wallah!  It was good also. If I had to do it again, I might leave out the sausage.  Not that it tasted bad, it was just a bit strange having sausage in soup.  Nonetheless, it was still very tasty. I really love to experiment with food.  Seems you can make soup out of anything!  From my Russian travels, I do remember having all kinds of various soups that I grew to enjoy.

Batik Back to Nature

I did the first block of my Batik Back to Nature BOM quilt.  Right now I am very glad that I only do a little bit each month. This was the first time I've had to cut pieces too big, make the HST and other pieced items and then have to square them each up.  Takes too long.  Maybe it will make my accuracy better, but I really couldn't see that much difference in the final block and it took way longer than normal.

I spy

Jesse likes to sit on my Gammill table and look outside.  We have a scraggly crepe myrtle planted just below the window.  He likes to spy on the birds. 

Flowers on flowers

I am pretty pleased with it.  I did the freehand flower in the squares, the small stippling in the sashing, and did a stylized stipple (as the Pajama Quilter calls it) on the green border. It is a little difficult to see unless you click on it to enlarge it.

Decisions, decisions...

I am thinking about doing this design on this quilt.  It is a new little freehand flower design I would like to try.  Seems fairly easy.  Then some small stippling on the sashing.

Progress Report

Progress on Cathedral Windows.......sure is slow....

Singer

I got my new toy today! Linda - if you are reading this, I am going to have it in the car tomorrow and am going to try to get it to the man who works on them. I've decided to have it checked out really well before I do too much on it. It is so neat to be using a machine that is 59 years old!

Ready for Spring!!

I am so ready for spring! It has been so cold, gray, and dreary lately. I enjoyed my day off on Thursday, made a little trip for some shopping on Friday, but today I have been so bored. I finished an awesome book, "Uncharted" by Angela Hunt. A really good allegory-style book. I really love her stuff. Did a little sewing. This is my latest five yard quilt.



Jim and I got out and did a little riding around this evening before dark. Ended up at the "Good Ole Days Diner" in Midtown. Pretty good philly cheesesteak sandwich, fries and a chocolate malt!

Day off

I decided to burn a day of vacation today. Nice. Slept late. Oh yeah, and I made a purchase last night that I am very excited about. Ebay. Singer featherweight 221-1, 1951 year. So many of my quilter friends have them and use them at retreats. I only have my one little Janome Platinum, which I love, but it will be nice to have a little spare.

Civil War BOM #2

Got February's BOM yesterday. Finished this today. Have three more to make exactly like it.


My cathedral window is growing. It is up to about 36" square now.