Every once in a while I think about my blogs, and then I get busy with something else. It is a grey and windy day , and jotting a few notes seems like just the thing.


Life has changed greatly since the last time I wrote. Loved ones have passed on, and new loved ones have joined our family. I am now a Grandma of a charming six year old and a darling almost 19 month old.


I have given up my regular assignment of teaching Music, and now do occasional teaching, mainly Special Education. I enjoy it very much, and it is lovely to have a flexible schedule, allowing for babysitting, attending guild and doll club meetings,  and occasional travel.


I have started quilting again, and that is a good thing. Sadly, our lovely local quilt shop has closed business, but some of us have started a weekly quilting group in the basement of a local chapel. The group is open every Wednesday and Thursday, and we can set up our machines Wednesday morning and leave them up until Thursday afternoon. Very convenient! It is inspiring to see what others are working on, and supportive to enjoy friendship, chatter, and advice while working on our own projects.


One of the smaller quilts I have been working on for several months now is Vintage Nine Patch by Primitive Gatherings. It was fun to learn a new technique for making perfect little 9 patch blocks, two at a time. Now I am doing the wool applique in the inside borders. I am surprised at how long this little quilt is taking. It is comforting to have it ready to pick up and work on in odd moments. A quilting friend and I shared fabrics and also added in prints from our own stashes, so it will be fun to compare them when both quilts are completed.

I have also been working on tiny silk tie hexagons for miniature quilt projects. Here is a little pillow with appliqued hexagons. You may recognize the miniature tumbler quilt from an earlier post.

I deboned a few more silk ties last evening, and also received a lovely surprise package of silk tie pieces from a friend in last week's mail, so I am looking forward to making more little hexagons very soon.

I will be looking for old photos to update previous posts.

It has been a long time.....

I have been thinking about this blog on and off for a while now, and since school is out, I thought I would finally set aside some time to update it and also to locate the photos that have disappeared while it lay dormant.

I am still a Grandma, and our wee guy is now ready to start school in the fall. We have plans to go camping with him in a few weeks and he is quite excited. Our daughter will be taking a course, so we will have him all to ourselves each day until her classes are over.

It has been quite a while since I have been a "quilting Grandma", but there are several very overdue projects all ready to begin working on in the next few days. I can hardly wait!

My goal is to post more frequently in the coming weeks.

Beautiful Flowers

Mom carried red roses and white calla lilies at her wedding, so that is what we chose for the party. The cake had a centrepiece of red roses and a white calla. The tables had bud vases with red roses. The focal point for church, and later for the reception, was a large bouquet of roses and callas.

60th Anniversary Plans

Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary will be on May 29th. There will be a celebration at Dad's residence on Sunday June 1, and our niece,Chef Lyndsey, will cater the refreshments.

I have been browsing through stacks of photo albums and selecting photos of significant events in their lives, and today I will be scanning them and sending them off to our daughter to use in a powerpoint slideshow. Copies on DVD will be lovely mementos for the children and grandchildren.

We are looking into copying Mom's wedding bouquet of red roses and calla lilies for the front of the church that day, and then for the party later on.

Hitty Charm Quilt

At long last I have completed the tiny Hitty charm quilt. I chose the tumbler as my template, and used all of the provided squares, as well as new pieces from my fabric collection.

Hitty Stella and Hitty Olivia are very pleased with it. Tomorrow we will try it on the bed, but for tonight they are just admiring it.

More tiny quilts

After signing up for the Hitty Charm Quilt challenge, I got thinking about the original Hitty's summer quilt, and decided to give that one a try. It is reminiscent of a single spiral log cabin block, and it requires partial seams for each log. The logs are added round and round instead of being added in opposing pairs. I found a block diagram for it once, but at the moment I can't locate it! I was hoping to get started tonight, but I think now I will just plan it now and start it tomorrow after school.

I also printed out all the Pat Sloan Farmer's Market blocks to date from her blog, and I'll pack them to take to the Dear Jane Retreat in Shipshewana with me. Hand applique will be very relaxing to do in the van and while visiting.

Itty Bitty Charm Quilt

Yesterday a challenge was issued on Hittygirls. I will receive a kit of 16 pre-cut charm squares in the mail to create a Charm Quilt that measures 5.5 X 6.5 inches. They will be prints and solids and I can add my own fabrics too. That sounds like fun. I think I'll cut a few 1.5 inch squares later today and make a practice quilt for my Hitty.

Have you seen the new webcam at Pat Sloan's Blog? She has it aimed at her design wall so we can watch her work in progress. There is a block swap on the wall now, but she will be changing it out later today.

http://patsloan.typepad.com/quiltershome/pats-design-wall.html

Happy April Fool's Day!