a little progress?

In the past days I have gotten a little bit more done in several areas.

I almost have 4 blocks completely hand quilted on the Bird Brain Santa. I am still looking for a cable idea for the sashing and have a few on order that MIGHT work. I think it needs something more than in the ditch. I did check in my inventory at home and have one that may be more in keeping with what I am visualizing though. I have NOT looked in any of my quilting motif books yet either.



Next we have most of the flower stems hand appliqued down on this project---the one on the extreme left is only partially stitched. Note: this is April's quilt of the month of the Joined at the Hip Button Up. I am so far behind since I elected to go with hand work. Oh well, that is why the" Welcome" one is done and hanging. I am considering jumping ahead to July since I so far behind and catch finish this up more at my leisure. Actually if you leave off the July wording, this one would work for any of the patriotic US holidays. HMMMM

I am also thinking that I should pull the stuff for the "In Seasons" Summer wall hanging. DJ even was commenting on the fact that the one hanging says "Spring" but it sure feels like Summer is here with a vengeance. Not by the calendar of course but tell that to the jet stream, LOL. I am drawn more to THAT than what I was working on yesterday though. Maybe it will get me out of my doldrums a bit?? I can hope.


This was what I was piddling with yesterday but did not get too far. I am using the Puss in the Corner method from Billie Lauder's Quick Quilt Tricks book #2 for this. This is not what she calls it, however; "Four = Nine Uneven Nine Patch " is its name in the book. Anyway, you start with a big 4 patch to make the finished block. This is part of my scrap bag challenge for the quilt group. One of many kits and a few started projects in that area.

I was going to cut some 6 1/2 inch blue blocks and try the disappearing 4 patch blocks that my pal Pat had featured on her blog but have not done it yet. I was thinking that they might work for a veteran's home quilt. Just two colors like hers shown HERE --classic look, don't you think? So striking in the green fabric she chose making me wonder why they all insist on RWB or service related colors. Shades of blue might work for the Air Force folks though. HMMM again.

I took this bit of embroidery with me on my trip last month but barely touched it. It was a fast trip and I really did not have a lot of time to just sit and stitch plus we were sharing driving duties in order to get up there and back in one day. It is the Button basket block from Bee Tree Designs. Scroll back to previous post to find the link from the Flickr page if you want it. (Being lazy, LOL) There is a ton of stitching on this thing and I think the next one, honey and biscuits, is a similar situation! But I am liking how the green floss looks. This will be my meeting project. I have quilt guild coming up this Saturday and a Belle's gathering on Tuesday.



And here is the other thing I have been doing---reading. Some days, it is all I can do to look at the local newspaper but I enjoy reading. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we used to head up to the town library almost daily in the sumer to check out some books, read them and head back to get another stack. Some of these, my mom just sent back with me and a couple I had on my shelves. I finished up the Kristin Hannah book last evening and started on 3 Nights in August right after that. The next thing I knew it was almost midnight and Skyler has been waking me up around 5:30 in the morning. Short nights!

Normally I prefer fictional works but this book written by Buzz Bissinger, the same guy who wrote Friday Night Lights is an interesting account of Tony LaRussa and managing the St. Louis Cardinals. Since I often wonder why they make the moves they do in the course of the game, it ia enlightening. Actually I remember the 3 games the title refers to--classic Cubs/Cardinal series played in STL. Since it was written back in 2005 and the events took place in August of 2003, you see the turnover in position players and pitchers. I would have to visit the MLB site to even know if some of these guys are still in baseball or when others began their time with the team. Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols might be the only holdovers that spring to mind.

And so it goes----not getting much done but doing what I want to do even if I still feel like I am in a slump. Hope you are having a good day and thanks for stopping by