Meeting day comes around

Hope you all are having good day. We are getting some much needed rain and earlier this morning such a nice breeze for a change. Seems like the only time we have much wind to speak of, it is because of a storm of some sort.

Pippi is such a goof ball. She will not drink water anywhere but in the sewing room. She did briefly when she had her ACL surgery last year but soon she was back to not drinking unless it was in her usual spot. We have been through the bladder problems with her and her predecessor so I don't worry so much about the location of the water but making sure she drinks. I didn't mind that she was always trying to drink the water out of the measuring cup I use to fill my iron for that reason. She sometimes winds up with fabric and/or strings in there since it sits right by my cutting/pressing table.

So what have I been up to if I haven't posted for a couple of days--a few of you have asked me. Guess it must be nice to be missed or for someone to notice I haven't updated my blog.

The Belles meeting day came around again. It seemed like a long time since we had a work day like today. We played "hooky" two weeks ago and delivered the quilts to the Big Oak Girls Ranch but just met for lunch before we left. Some of our pals had been on extended vacations--Lois to Ireland and Beverly, to Yellowstone and parts all around, Aline to visit family in Rhode Island-- and so forth. It was good to vist around the pinning table and at lunch time--solve the world's problems etc. Earlier Theramae and I had made some "executive" decisions about what to keep and what could be donated to Salvation Army if we were absolutely not going to do anything with it. (Storage concerns mostly but perhaps someone else will appreciate those materials more)


Finn would be delighted to know that Theramae had TWO "Whatever" tops done up with the cut squares she had sent recently. I am supposed to tell you that if you have anymore floating around, she'll be happy to take them. She is a whiz bang maker of nine patches too! Sarah loved the green and yellow leftover blocks as she is presently working on a top that has a lot of yellow in it and those will work in very well!

We had several tops to pin but I admit that there were plenty of helpers doing that today and I had brought my machine for once. Aline was working on a square in a square top and I had some binding to cut and sew. At one point Pat and Aline needed to consult about my round robin. The next thing I knew they were all going off to look at it in one of the Sunday school classrooms. I had to promise not to head that way and see something I shouldn't. A couple of the girls were cutting for a crazy quilt class that is being given at Hancock's.

We set the fall sew-in dates for October and shared the "thank you " note that we had gotten from the Girls Ranch staff . I loaded the hard copy pictures in the photo album and briefed them on the age breakdowns for the quilts we will make for the Boy's Ranch in coming months. This time we are shooting for 55 to 60 quilts but will need more in the 13-18 age range than the 5 through 12--just the reverse of the girls. They have also just opened a new house for 8 boys--age indetermined. This just means quilts in the 50 x 70 range more than the standard 40 x 60.

Some quilt ideas were bandied about--do we all do the same block for the sew-in or do our own thing?? No decision there but I am leaning toward nine patches as you can arrange them all different ways and the quilts will not be the same. Lois had a nice pile of fat quarters that she was donating to the cause so I can see us whacking those up soon and finding something fun to do with them. Puss in the Corners are also good or Bowties or sailboats or what about that Garden Window thing I saw in Fons and Porter, LOL. No shortage of ideas!

I totally forgot to pack my camera either the standard or the digital and I am kicking myself for that. Beverly had a queen sized personal quilt that was similiar to a very simple one shown in summer issue of APQ--blue shares in white sashing. She personalized it the center with family photos and machine embroidered some blocks with the wedding date as it is meant for a 50th anniversary present.

So what have I personally been up to the last couple days?? Hand quilting--slow going even when the project is small but I am enjoying it. Last evening I took the last stitches in the Wild Goose Chase Santa that I showed you a week or so back. Still had a couple of hours to work so I drug out the little Fans quilt that you see above. It is probably of even older vintage than the Santa.

I am thinking that was something I bought at a NQA quilt show in Davenport, IA--I was the bus trip planner or the assistant planner that year and we had left town just as the flood waters began soaking the streets closest to the Mississippi River. Later we heard that the lobby of the hotel was filled with water--a few streets away and more uphill. What year, I cannot recall without digging through my folders, etc. If it drives me sufficiently crazy to want to know the year (for the label or something) I'll do some searching online to see when the show might have been there. Or maybe my Mom will recall as we were both members of the same quilt guild then.

Suffice it to say, this puppy is OLD, LOL. The pattern is from Little Quilts called "Feedsacks" There is also a cute appliqued basket quilt and a little nine patch on point with appliqued hearts for the alternating squares in the same pattern. The pattern cost $5 and the kit with feedsack fabric and utility muslin cost $18. I had to put some of my own flea market finds in the borders as well to fill it out. A couple pieces are NOT vintage but most of it is. I like the appliqued basket for the flowers on it as I had something like this in mind for my ostrich round robin in the setting triangles (SBS on point)

Lastly, let me thank you all for the help and suggestions on what to do on the 2 inch round for the round robin. Mary sent a good link for a method I was trying to describe for appliqued dogtooth or sawtooth borders from Darlene Christopherson which requires a special tool. The Frog Pryncess also advised a link to the book this was contained in which I did order, used, from Amazon. Others had good suggestions that I will take under advisement. I am not sure what I want to do quite yet and Aline and I are running over to the Birmingham quilt shops on Thursday to see if we can track down more of this neat background fabric she had used for her part. She found some but I am afraid it is not going to be enough to get the job done with the quilts getting so big at this point. If we cannot find an exact match, then something else in the same family---I can do this without her seeing it.

In the meantime, I'll keep hand quilting and taking it easy since the donation work is less pressing right now. As I finish typing this, it is about 4:15 and the next thing I know it will be time to scrounge up something for supper. Where has the day gone?