Siggy Blocks

One thing my online quilt friends like to do, every few years, is swap signature blocks. We recently did this again and I received 56 lovely blocks. As I was looking for something in my "almost" organized sewing room, I came across another batch from 2006...and later, a few from 2004. Hmm. I'd forgotten I had those! Of course none of the batches of blocks were the same size, and the earlier ones are even a different pattern. Nevertheless, my goal is to put them all together in ONE quilt. Stay tuned. Here is a photo of the first two batches, lined up on the floor. Of course Taz is investigating. She feels it necessary to supervise my quilting projects.
And give her opinion....

Patchwork Puzzle Balls

Here's another one of the patchwork balls I've been making; a good "in front of the tv" project when I don't have a quilt to bind. I hand-stitch them. They really don't take long to make, once I got the first one figured out. The pattern is from Jinny Beyer's book, "Patchbook Puzzle Balls." I made one for Aurora, granddaughter-on-the-way, and then I started thinking how cool they are and wondering if my Sunbeams (4 year olds in my Primary class) would like them. Were the balls too babyish? It has been a long time since I've had munchkins this age; what DO they like? I couldn't decide, so I took one along to church on the Sunday that Michael was supposed to tell me if he was getting a new brother or a new sister in December. His mother had an ultrasound and the answer was known, but wanted Michael to have the thrill of telling his teacher the results. Unfortunately, by the time I saw Michael in class, he'd forgotten! Some thrill, hmm? Never mind, I had other sources so I'd already found out the answer anyway. I gave him the ball for his BABY SISTER and told him to hang on to it for her. No reaction from the other children until a week later, when Lucy came up to me, out of the blue, her hand on her hip and said, "I have a baby sister. You didn't make a ball for HER! I think my feelings are hurt!" Too funny! I think it was the hand on the hip that cracked me up. I maintained a serious exterior, though, and told her I didn't want her feelings to be hurt, so I'd bring a ball for her baby sister the following Sunday. When I gave Lucy the ball that day, Cameron said, "I have a baby brother! MY feelings are hurt you didn't make one for him!" Oookay, another ball to make and give away! By this time I was starting to suspect... I mentioned to both Lucy and Cameron that if they wanted to keep the balls for themselves, that would be all right too. They both admitted that is exactly what they wanted to do! AHA! Four year olds DO like the balls! Now I know! I told the rest of the class that I'd make one for each of them: Holly, Sadie, Grant, and Sophia.
Here are the Sunbeams, minus Sophia. They are a fun group.

New Toy

In July, I upgraded from a Juki TL98E on a Grace Frame, to a HQ Sixteen. My Grace/Juki system was lovely, but the HQ was an opportunity too good to pass up! My quilting room had to be totally reorganized, since the HQ is longer and wider than the Grace is. It is a wee bit more cramped in there now, but well worth it. My quilting room is, unfortunately, also the laundry room. If I could figure out how to get out of ever having to do laundry, I could get the washer and dryer out of there, and have a lot more space! But since that isn't ever likely to happen...I can deal with it being a bit cramped. Here are a couple of photos of what my new room looks like.
Notice Taz over by the window? She got upset when I first set up the new room, as I had forgotten to put in a cat-sleeping spot! What was I thinking?


Tom, as an engineer, is very interested in machines and how things work. Once we got the HQ Sixteen up and running, he has been wanting a chance to play with it. Yesterday I loaded a quilt in it, for Aurora, and let him have a go! The plan is to have a label with something on it like this. "quilt top by Grandma, quilted by GRANDPA!"