Exercise Time

I used to be a jogger. Then I stopped – big mistake! It’s hard to get back into the routine. The scale says it’s time to get in gear again. I surround myself with yummy vegetables, whole grains and low fat choices. But, somehow I always manage to talk myself out of the healthy version and add some extra calories to it! Can you relate?

My GrandMother's Flower Garden.... is small and full of weeds

I got suckered into buying a packet of Hexagons. 750 paper 1/2-inch hexagons. OMG. So, I've started basting them and it's not that difficult and actually goes quickly. It's portable, so I can easily take them along to bee meetings. But they are SO small. Right now I have enough basted, so I'm putting some together. No pattern or specific color scheme - so it's random. This will NOT be a bed-size quilt! Maybe a table topper....maybe. I found 1 1/2-inch strips of fabric and cut them up into 1 1/2-inch squares. I'll never use all these! I am basting with a contrasting thread - easy to pull out. I am piecing them together with a neutral color Auriful thread. The stitches don't look very nice, but I'm getting better. I tried silk thread, but it's so fine and slippery - it falls out of my needle. (I need to try it with a smaller needle.)

Round Robin II

I spoke about the first round robin I was in so much, that my other quilting bee (The Quarter-Inch Queens) wanted to try it too! We made our center blocks and exchanged them at our May Bee meeting. We are allowing two months to add on to the blocks. I've posted most of the starting blocks here. Can't wait to see what blossoms out of these starting blocks!

Scrappy Red Stars

Finally Finished! I put the final borders on last night.

It's a pattern from a Buggy Barn book, Certifiably Crazy. I changed the border so that the "white" stars are completed.

Now it sits on a hanger with my other quilt tops that need to be quilted. That pile is growing...I need to add my own quilts into the schedule or they won't get quilted!

Round Robin

Have you ever participated in a Round Robin? Each person starts by creating their own center block. The blocks are then passed to participating bee members and they add a "round" to it. After all the members have put a round on all the blocks, it is returned to the original center block owner. Each member now has a beautiful quilt top made by all the members of their bee. What a wonder keepsake!

Last year, the Wanna Bee's talked about starting a Round Robin (RR) and we came up with some simple guidelines. Basically No Rules - and be creative. We can add one-two-three or four sides to the block. We officially started in January 2009 with the exchange of our blocks. Each person took one home and we had until our next bee meeting (one month) to add to it. The blocks are so different. It is the most creative, challenging project I have ever done.

The picture I posted is my center block. It was a hand-applique project that never went any further. I can't wait to see the end result. We are shooting for all the rounds to be completed by January 2010 and we'll have a reveal party!

Last night I started another RR with the Quarter-Inch Queen Bees. We are giving ourselves two month for each "round". I'll post a picture of my center block here once I get it off my camera.

I can't post any RR updates in case my bee members read this blog! We are taking pictures of every round so I hope to be able to post those pictures when we are done. You'll be able to see the transformation of a simple center block into a beautiful quilt top!

Block by Block

The quilt is taking shape. Somehow, I ended up with some extra pieces. I only have to sew some rows and a couple side borders.

Have you read a good book lately?

I went to my local library yesterday and couldn't find a book to read. (in the Fiction section) Isn’t that pitiful? They never have the Best Sellers listed where one can find the list, and if they did, all the books would be checked out anyway. I didn't want to take a chance (and waste my time) on some book off the shelf -- I'm always disappointed. So I walked over to the Non-Fiction area - I always find stuff there. After thumbing through the 20+ books on quilting from the 70's and 80's (the selection is just pathetic). I browsed the "New Books" cart and left with 6 books on topics from dog photography to pincushions.

One book I did find was “The Book Club Bible” by Lionel Shriver.
It is a listing of great books with summaries that don’t spoil the ending. There are about 100 book reviews, sorted into categories. Each title has a review, discussion questions, background information and suggested companion books. Categories include Top 10 American and British Classics, Top 10 World Classics, Top 10 quick reads, challenging reads, men’s books, humorous reads, non-fiction books, you get the idea. It gave me a list of great books to choose from.

We’ll have to resurrect the book club one day. Right now I’m just happy to find a good book to read.