Status

I have lost interest in the barter quilt which is a very bad thing. It is, after all, a barter -- you know, an exchange of items. Of course, the way he is bringing the firewood, it could be next summer before I need to get this quilt done. But having things like this hanging over my head makes for a very large quilty guilt trip so progress must happen. It all stemmed from having to take the blocks apart and re-cut to a smaller size. As you can see, 60 blocks have been made -- out of 400. A friend in a recently joined small quilt group (The Finishing Club) gifted the charm pack to add to the borders. Yay for quilting friends! Update: Since the photo was taken, work has started on this quilt again and has actually progressed -- all 400 rail blocks have been trimmed to size!

This is the status of the applique quilt. As you can see, there is a lot of prep work. All the pale yellow pieces and all the burgundy pieces are glued. But this deep purple is giving me fits! There must be some kind of finish on this fabric that wasn't apparent on the others because I can glue the turned under edges and press them down with the manicure stick, let them dry and they have all popped up when I return. A grand total of three is done. Arggh! it is so frustrating. I am about to baste the stupid things down with water soluble thread. By hand. Another update: although the hand basting is more time consuming it is working. It is a good thing there is no time limit on this quilt.

MagicLady and I attended the Denver National Quilt Festival IV and were totally inspired and challenged each other to do a small quilt (24"x24") using a vintage block. It was the Vintage Revisited Exhibit that inspired us. The blocks are on the design wall along with some fabric pulled from the stash just waiting for me to have the time to work on it.

The fabric for CarGuy's new blankie has arrived and a pattern chosen. Stay tuned. I can not start on this until the barter quilt is done and the Roman Shades for the clerestory windows are made. Gotta block that hot summer sun, ya know. Plus there is the added problem of the sun streaming through the windows and then through the overhead fan blades; when the fan is on this causes a strobe-light effect on the back splash of the sink. Very disorienting!