Still here!

Though I've been inactive for several months, I am still here!  Still doing what I always do!  Not much changes and that's how I like it (highly resistant to change!) Running the shop, Starting new quilts, Finishing a few!    Working on several (actually Many!) projects at one time so it is a long time between "finishes"!  And, I will admit that I have found Instagram and have made a few postings there which I find quick and easy!  BUT, if you count the time I spend perusing everyone's postings, I've lost the time I thought I had found!

Long Time Gone in Repros...this is the upper left corner.....made my own mini version of the Jacob's Ladder section.  Plan to make a few other changes too.....smaller Bow Tie blocks, postage stamp block instead of Trip Around the World, center chimney Log Cabin blocks instead of "off-center log cabin blocks".......you know how it is, we are inspired by patterns written by others but change them according to our own likes and preferences!

Stack of  eighty 6" log cabin blocks that need one more round of logs!   For an 84" x 84" quilt,  I will need 196 so have started a stack of 116!  Rather enjoy "mindless"  chain - piecing while listening to audiobooks......currently it is "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate, based on the true story of a notorious woman named Georgia Tann who ran an orphanage in Memphis for about 30 years ending in 1950.  Other books I've recently listened to are "Where the Crawdads Sing", "The Tatooist of Auschwitz", "Cilka's Journey", "Auschwitz Lullaby","The Clockmaker's Daughter" by Kate Morton, "The Great Alone"and "Winter Garden" both by Kristin Hannah......slow start to "Winter Garden" but glad I hung in there for the Real Story in the second half of the book!  

Using 1" strips as "Leaders and Enders" I have made 3-1/2" Railfence blocks.... 607 made and need 177 more for an 84" x 84" quilt.  Pictured above is a quarter section of my planned quilt.  I think I will find it easier to handquilt if I do it in sections and then join together.  This Quarter section is 14 rows by 14 rows, which means 196 blocks and 1176 log strips!  And guess what!  There is a Duplication in two blocks that are close to each other!  Happens every time!  Don't care!!

Made the darling Diamonds quilt all by hand this summer  (well, except for borders/binding!).  Quite enjoyable to sit and piece by hand during quiet times in the shop and then quilting by hand.  Pattern is from Betsy Chutchian's book "Quilts For All Seasons".  The "change" that I made in this quilt is that I made 2" diamonds as I had an Ardco window-template for that size.....Betsy's were 1-1/2".  

Glad to see these horses, bunnies and keys!

Chesapeake by Di Ford

New fabric arrivals this week from Andover Fabrics....."Watts Valley" wonderful shirtings by Australian duo Max and Louise......Conversationals even!  And the always wonderful offerings from Di Ford (another Aussie!) with her "Chesapeake" line!  Her blue is the closest we've seen to Prussian Blue for a long time!  Even better in person!  Next to arrive will be Sarah's Story byBetsy Chutchian.

Will end today's post with a bit about our 19-year-old Maine coon cat, Sally.  She was dropped off here as a very tiny kitten (too small to be away from her mother!) in the fall of 2000.  My husband found her lying on the back of a resting cow.....we then knew she would be resourceful, and even opportunistic!  She's had a great life!  Roamed and did as she pleased for many years!  Still does in the summer months, but now her favorite spot is right beside the woodstove and vocalizes if it runs out of heat!  She disappeared a couple times.....the last time for about 5 days......when she dragged herself home (wish I could know where she had been!), she was thin and scruffy-looking and had a single deep wound in her neck.  My husband (farmer who has nursed many animals over the years for many maladies) pulled her through.  Though I thought she was goner, she is not.....has gained weight, appears healthy and has returned to her mostly ornery and aloof self!