WIP Weds and other stuff

There was not a huge amount of productivity going on around here this last week. I quilted 3 of Marilyn's small baby type quilts all in one afternoon. ( Just easy straight line, stitch in the ditch mostly and only one for me to put binding on. ) The following day I quilted one of my Twisted Sister donation tops. I started another top the day after that but barely got half of the blocks locked in when I decided I would rather be reading. I didn't get busy on anything remotely quilty till the weekend. Oh well--- a break never hurt anyone if your heart was not in it.

The "Be Patient" block was my Wednesday WIP until just before lunch. I had done the fusing on Saturday, the applique on Sunday and quilted it Monday. I worked on the binding at the quilt meeting yesterday, finished it this morning and then added all the buttons in order to hang it, a little crookedly if not shoved a bit to the left. DJ insisted on helping me "right" it. I am really enjoying these Nancy Halvorsen designs. Since I started on mine, I found out some other quilting friends are making the quilt for a woman going through a rough patch in the evening J'ville group. They divided up the 12 blocks amongst themselves to get the blocks done.


This is the other sign of spring/summer in my house. When I put the Easter/bunny stuff away I pulled out the Gardening Angel I had made from a kit years ago---not even sure where I got it now but it is was another "dress up a soda bottle" things. My mom made the butterfly wall hanging several years ago and I added it to the area.

Speaking of Nancy Halvorsen's designs, I have her In Season book that has 4 small wall hangings for each of the seasons. (Click on the link, then books, and look for the title or number #507B) I want to make those to hang up for seasonal decorating. Not today or anything but down the line. It is getting too late for the "Spring" one but I could get started with Summer whenever I feel like pulling stuff from my stash and playing.

The quilt group and I received some bad news last week when our dear friend and quilting mentor Joy passed away on May 5th. She had had heart surgery earlier in the year and had complication after complication following it. While relieved that she is no longer suffering, she will be missed.

What a full interesting life she led! Not only was she was she a quilter but a writer, painter and singer. She was a teacher and librarian by profession and upon retirement, a quilt shop owner. She had even worked for the FBI for year right out of high school. She was a "hostess with the mostest. Made a darned good pound cake. I swear that anyone who knew her felt like her best friend. Her lovely children and grandchildren are a tribute to their parents. Good people.

I had lived here for two years and had not met a single quilter. How could I have done that? There was no quilt shop at the time, no known guild at the fabric shops where I asked. Then in July of 99 Joy's son gave her a computer, hooked her up to the first quilt list on onelist that he spotted which just happened to be one I co-moderated. It didn't take long for us to find out that we lived about 5 miles from each other. We formed Bama Belles about 6 months later following a sew-in for WTIL in early 2000 that she hosted in her home. Her husband passed away later that year and two years later she moved home to the town where she had grown up. Since that was about 50 miles away from here, I didn't see as much of her as when I could just hop in the car and be there in 10 minutes. But we had the retreats up in Collinsville where this group shot was taken. Rest in peach, my friend.

As I said, the quilt group met yesterday but not at our usual location. The church was having some painting and the sanctuary re-roofed so it was best that we stay out of the worker's hair. Betsy offered her home and we had a mini-potluck since we were clear out in the country at the north end of the county. It was hand work kind of day though we did pin one top too. Shown is a top that Lois was binding. I believe she said it was a Thimbleberries Block of the Month. It may go to one of her grandchildren, she said.

I did a bit of baking on Saturday-- Pearson House Hummingbird Muffins for one thing since there were a few over-ripened bananas on hand. DJ likes them a good bit greener than I do and I prefer them just a step above banana bread so I don't always get to eat them when I just buy a few. Muffins work!

Recently I had spotted a recipe online for English Muffin Toasting Bread that I wanted to try. I had all the ingredients I needed to proceed so as soon as the muffins were done I had a loaf to pop in the oven. That stuff is good! No kneading required--just plop in the pan, let raise and then bake. Later that day I was trying my hand a yet another pizza crust recipe. I am doing better in this regard but think I need to invest in two smaller 12 inch pans rather than 1-14 inch one. I missed one important line in the directions or I think this batch would have been better and less thick. I don't like thin crust necesarily but this was a little too thick since I wasn't making Chicago style deep dish. My bread/yeast odyssey continues.

What a wet spring we are having! It is raining again today--not hard but rain none the less. The weather guy says it might be early next week before this lets up. There is some possibility of storms in the area come the weekend. DJ has been out chopping on the kudzu roots in the early morning and has about 10 foot to go in the first section. He can't be out there if the ground is wet but if it dries up, then the dirt is too compacted to loosen up. He has grass seed planted in some of the area he has been working on but it may be a little too early to see any signs of it germinating. Honeysuckle is out everywhere! Some of our roses have been out too. The yellow ones never last though--out one day and gone the next.

Now what do I want to work on? I would like to get back to my "Two of a Kind" bu I should quilt, I guess---no one came in to do those donation quilts so I guess it falls to me. I could always use something to bind in the car on the way up to IL next week. Lord knows, I will have enough time to work on it, LOL as I am facing about 12 hrs in the car, give or take. Then I can have Mom mail it off with her next box to WTIL rather than drag it back home. That plan might just work but not if I don't get cracking!