Sunday, December 5, 2010

Quilting for Christmas

I don't do much for myself at Christmas although I seem to do a lot of Christmas projects. This year I dug into my stash and pulled out these Star of Wonder fat quarters and added bows and used different threads for accent to complete these six placemats. I like the result and feel it was a great use of fabrics...except for the one with the gold bow which just doesn't stand out. Too bad but there's more fabric in the stash and it can be replaced pretty easily for next Christmas.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

I Spy With My Little Eye, something that is FINISHED!!





This week I finished TWO I Spy quilts!! Done! Bindings done; labels on; DONE!! Can you tell how happy I am about that?!






One is for our GrandBaby Jocelyn who lives in Florida. When her Daddy was a little boy (keeping in mind that this was before cable tv and computers, and do you understand that I mean THANKFULLY before...) we used to play I Spy With My Little Eye something that begins with the letter.... Well you know how to play the game. I am so hopeful that Chris will play this with Jocelyn, and play it on her quilt. I had so much fun shopping for these fabrics and searching high and low for appropriate pieces.






After making the top for Jocelyn's quilt, I mentioned it to a friend of mine and ended up piecing one for her as well. She is the grammie of a little boy and there were two dozen pieces in J's quilt that couldn't appear in his. The hunt was on once again. As it happened, there were many pieces purchased for his quilt and although it looks similar to J's in construction detail, it is quite a bit different. I love his. I love Jocelyn's as well but the second quilt has some corrections and some details missing from the first. That having been said, both are done and they are wonderful. They were machine quilted in Richmond County CB by Betty Gillan and she did a beautiful job on both. Jocelyn's is quilted in a dragon fly motif and the second quilt is done with a random meander with stars. Great choices!!






Two toddlers will get these for Christmas from two sets of G-parents!! What fun is this!!?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Fractured!!

As I have mentioned before, learing a new technique can be great fun and this was GREAT FUN for sure. In October, with eighty other people, I attended a quilters retreat at the beautiful Liscomb Lodge on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. In my group, there were probably fifteen participants and we were graced with the presence of the brilliant Deb Plestid who taught us her Fractured Landscape technique. Not for everyone. I, however, loved it and cannot wait to do another, in which I will correct the mistakes I made in this first attempt.
Choosing the photo was the first hurdle and although I knew from which collection I was going to choose, it took me some time to settle on this particular one. LB and I were driving home from Florida in March and took the Skyline Trail along the Shanendoah Valley with the expressed purpose of getting some photos from which I could choose one for the the retreat workshop. I believe it was a good choice, offering varieties of color and movement with a bit of drama thrown in for effect. I love the picture and I am quite satisfied with the art quilt.
The technique of producing a fractured landscape is slow and painstaking. Fabric selection and placement are key. Mine is flawed, to be sure, but I know more now than I did that day and I am looking forward to doing a second picture, perhaps from the same collection as this one. I will definitely change my fractures and I would love to do one in a monochromatic color choice. Maybe all reds. As long as the darks, mediums and lights are distinct, I think it would be dramatic to do one in just one color. That is a project for a winter's day...and right now, I am busy with those UFO's that must be completed for Christmas.
Foir myself, I would take any workshop lead by Deb Plestid. She is an accomplished and widely recognized fibre artist and she possesses a wonderful ability to break down the steps of a complicated project and make it doable for the interested quilter. Going on this retreat was a teriffic experience and I can't wait to do it again!!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Getting back to work



October is a blurr and here we are in the month before Christmas. In the past four weeks, I taught a workshop, went to a retreat, took a workshop, finished the tops of two I Spy quilts (which are currently at the machine quilter's) and flew across the country to visit our son and his wife in Saskatchewan. In addition to that, life happened and all of the usual things had to be done as well, including dinner guests and evenings out. All this having been said, I am getting back on track and finished two projects in the past few days. Attending a workshop and being a participant was great fun and although I had to leave early due to another engagement, I very much enjoyed the whole experience. The bag I completed is from fabric I bought at a lovely quilt store called Periwinkle Quilting in Saskatoon. It will henceforth be my Sask Bag. I found the fabric to be expensive in that lovely shop, perhaps because of the difference in sales tax between our two provinces. Same thing in Alberta. Nonetheless it is a great store and now I have a tangible memento from the trip.

Our Guild's Christmas challenge this year was to use a Nutcracker fabric in some project with the fabric clearly visible. I love making Christmas pillows as they are a great gift and are fun to make. This little pillow is just the right size to place on a chair and not be in the way. It's about fourteen inches square and has a zipper in the back in case it falls victim to an errant mug of egg nog during the holidays.

My biggest project currently in the mix is catching up with all of the other Guild members in making the first steps in our Mystery Quilt. Mine is done in Christmas fabric simply because it's easy to match the fabrics ... everything goes with Christmas!!! This particular quilt has dozens and dozens and then more dozens of half-square triangles and were it not for Ta-Da's, I never would have undertaken the project. I can do eighty-four HST's in MINUTES and after that, it's just cutting. Thanks to the person who devised those little gems. I was initially sold on Thangles, and I do use them for six or eight or ten HST's, but when it comes to hundreds, I prefer the Ta-Da's. There's nothing to tear off and they provide additional stability along that bias seam. I am using my stash for this quilt and had to buy only one fabric, which is a real bonus and it' good to see that the level of my stash is going down.

For some unknown reason, I have not been able to get a quilt on my frame this fall. That is the next project and perhaps it will happen sooner rather than later...at least I hope so!!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Smaller pieces are fun to make

I like this cheery little hanging. Again, late in the summer, I decided to start something I could finish in a short time and this was the item.
I had bought it as a kit from Harbour Quilts and if you know HQ, then you can see Kim's colors all through it. I like that it's dimensional with the stems and leaves left 'unattached' and the buttons add a bit of detail as well. This will hang in the laundry room which I am finding is a great place for those projects that really don't belong anywhere else but that I had to do for some obscure reason. It will be the third piece to go in that space as it has been recently renovated and needs a little 'interest'. A great place for my projects...I am really the ONLY person who uses that room regularly so it's a bit self serving, but who really cares!?

Bonnie's Sandcastle

I love paper piecing. Sometimes. Not that often, actually, but I had this pattern in my queue for some time and late in the summer, when I was feeling rather unproductive, I decided to have at it and settled in. I decided this time to use wash-away paper and probably won't bother with that again. I used the whole package of paper on this project and didn't find any real benefit to using it. There are people who love it. For me, it just wasn't necessary ..and there were MANY little pieces in this project. The sun, the umbrella, and even the castle itself took a lot of time but I am very pleased with the end result. It's for my friend Bonnie who lives at the beach. I hope she likes it...she will receive it this week.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I Spy With My Little Eye...


When most of my friends were making their I Spy quilts (otherwise known as Talking Quilts), I didn't have a Grandbaby to my name. They shared their fabrics and pooled their resources and finished up with interesting quilts that will be treasured for years to come. Now that I have a grand daughter Jocelyn, I decided it was time for me to jump into the I Spy craze and make her a quilt to play on and with, learning colors and letters and all that! It was a great project to piece together and now that it's finished, I am taking it to a quilter to have it machine done and Jocelyn will have it for Christmas. I am left with DOZENS AND DOZENS of fabric pieces that are part of the quilt...approximately 130 different patterns: animals, fruits and vegetables, toys, passtimes, sports equipment....you name it. My friend Lillian has a grandbaby boy and I am going to piece a quilt for him in the next little while. All of the pink pieces that appear in Jocelyn's quilt will be replaced with 'boy' pieces for this little guy. I have been shopping again for the fabrics to make this quilt for the opposite sex (seems odd to say that about one-year-olds!!)and really can't wait to get started.

The fussy cutting takes time!!!!! I am making these quilts with blocks a little bigger than the ones made by my friends. The blocks finish at 12 inches and in each block there are two six inch squares and two half aquare triangles or one HST and one stripped square. These blocks are framed with 1 1/2" strips rather than using posts and sashing. Jocelyn's quilt is 20 blocks, set in a 4 x 5 layout. It's larger than I originally planned but just couldn't stop!! I think it will be a quilt she will enjoy and I hope it will be used again and again.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Mock Mola quilting

Well I didn't know quite what I was getting into when I attended a workshop in a neighbouring community a few weeks ago. Not much fabric was required...a few fats and some dark batting; the usual tools...but I had been having back spasms for about four days and my level of concentration and comprehension were suffering and I found myself sitting with nineteen women who seemed to know what they were doing and I was a bit of the odd quilter out. Being such a strong visual learner, I needed samples or EXAMPLES and perhaps a pattern or a template.... Carol had taken a similar course at a major show and her group was given templates to work from. I needed that kind of concrete help and then, after doing the first one, I would be able to do a second project knowing what I wanted to improve on or what I cared to repeat. I find myself in possession of a half-completed hanging and no intention of ever finishing it. Kind of disappointing. The lesson from this is...do the research and presume nothing when you are attending a workshop you are not really familiar with. Check out the internet for some videos and take the time to do the groundwork so as not to be discouraged. At the same time, avoid being over prepared. There is nothing worse for a teacher than to find someone who is well underway with the project you are teaching when you expected to be the one giving the instruction. More than likely I will do another of these Mock Mola pieces but I will know more before I start this time, and for sure, it will be finished!! If you are interested in this Mock Mola work, you can go to www.singingquilter.com and check out Cathy's work. Shd did a great job of the instruction and it was my fault that I didn't come away satisfied. Her projects are beautiful and her talent goes beyond being able to sing!! I would encourage anyone to attend her sessions if she happens to be in your area.

Monday, May 24, 2010

How can I find the time...?

Right now I have three large projects that need to be hand quilted. One is a beautiful quilt I saw made by my quilt doctor, Sylvia. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and I had to make this quilt. It's been finished for at least a couple of years. This year I made The Gathering. Stunning quilt. Not completely bed sized; rather SQUARE but absolutely beautiful. Dark rich colors; many different sized blocks. I love it. Last year I did the Debbie Mumm BOM and that too is very pretty; more of a sofa quilt than the other two. I may do that one on a hoop just to try out that technique.

This year I am doing the Christmas Row By Row BOM and all of my friends who are also doing it are MILES AHEAD OF ME. They are caught up and have done ALL OF THE APPLIQUE which I have not started. So that one is on-going.

On the way home from Florida I stopped at Mardens in Waterville (OK...I stopped in ON THE WAY TO FLORIDA as well) and bought a total of 16 yards of fabric for two projects. The 10 yards will be part of Janice's Mystery Quilt which will start in September. The other six will be used for a fall project I guess...it's fall-ish but in a lovely quiet way!! THEN when I was barely back in the nest, I headed to Harbour Quilts...and bought the fabric for a quilt that appeared in Quiltmaker some time ago, called Moondance. I made it in seven shades of green and called it Greensleeves. (You can do that, can't you?!) Well that turned out to be my almost favorite quilt ever sewn here at 124 and this time I am doing it in seven shades of neutral starting with a gorgeous chocolate brown as the darkest.

So...the question remains...How Can I Find The Time For All of These Quilts?? ...and you know, there are probably more things in my sewing room to do as well. In fact, I know there are. Purse patterns. Karen Neary patterns. HILLARY RICE landscape patterns....GOTTA RUN!! Things to do and promises to keep!!! Thank goodness I have all of those new needles!!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Here's a look...


Found in my sewing room

Today I decided it was time once again to work in my sewing room and see if I could put better order in that space. It's not that I am unaware of what's in there...I know everything that can be found in that room...but finding it may cause a problem. Today I am going to comment on a few things that delighted me and which I found to be most interesting. Hope you can find the joy in these things as I did!!!

First of all I have to comment that my sewing room is also my closet and my ironing room as well as my gift room and our Christmas storage room. Are you getting the picture? All of my "soft" Christmas decorations are in there as well as the usual UFO's and patterns and fabric and tools and notions and plans and templates and sewing machines and things too pretty to use ... well you get the picture. But it's the OTHER things in there that I find funny.

A few years ago I decided I needed/wanted pasta bowls. After eating at The Outback in Orlando, I figured pasta bowls were the answer. Well I searched and searched and ultimately found them here in Pictou County; bought eight of them and they are on a shelf in my sewing room. No room in the kitchen; they have never been used. LB doesn't even know they exist. Some evening I will pull them from their resting place and fill them with a delightfully delicious pasta and look like a culinary genius or a lesser form of such. I am ready with the bowls when the occasion is fitting.

Four Royal Doulton ladies are neatly and carefully lined up on the top shelf. Before LB and I were married, I spied Fleur in Alteens and commented on her beauty. Do you remember when "your wish is my command" actually was a reality?...well before you could say "Buy Me", she was delivered and I have loved her since then...but the others....? Do my boys want them? Do their wives? Now that the piano is gone...where do I put them? The cats would knock them over....Top shelf of my sewing room. ... with the pasta bowls.

And then there is the beautiful black bag from Ann Taylor!!! I love that bag!!! The texture is smooth and silky and there isn't a wrinkle to be seen. Stunning graphics. Gorgeous!!

My favorite unusual item is a set of leather juggling balls. All of my boys can juggle. Back in the day, it was fun to watch one of them call out.....MOM...Juggling tomatoes!!!!!...in the produce section of Sobeys!! I can't bear to dispose of the balls and keep promising myself that someday soon I too will learn to juggle!!! Life long learner!! That's me. ... and so, what's the most interesting thing in your sewing room!!?? Can you beat juggling balls??!!


Saturday, May 15, 2010

Let's Hear it For The Big Stitch

Yes indeed...let's give a cheer for the big stitch!! Ofter overlooked in these days of machine stitching, it's time to consider the use of this technique to quilt those projects that seem to be in between hand and machine quilting.


Several years ago I made a Christmas wallhanging by Meme's Quilts and liked it so much, decided to do a second one, which I had planned to give to one of the boys for his apartment. Well the top was done and Christmas seemed to come and go that year, and the quilt top was put aside...out of sight and somewhat out of mind. I always knew it was there and it was certainly intended to be completed but its time just didn't seem to come. Getting ready for the upcoming quilt show, I realized that this short time period was just the thing to get this little gem finished. Any full sized quilt that went on my frame in May was just not going to be finished by the end of the month so the Noel quilt went on and is done...in a matter of days. HOW GREAT IS THAT!!??


I am using a thread by YLI which is a red shiny rayon twist, a #5 John James needle with a great point and a large eye, and of course, the needle nosed piliers to pull the needle through the fabric. The extra bulk at the eye makes it a bit of a challenge to pull through with just fingers and I use the NNP's rather than the little grippers which always seem to be among the missing. It's a great technique to use for such a project which will likely be hung in a large space or draped over a piece of furniture. It doesn't need the denser stitches of hand quilting and works well for me on this kind of item. The pieces were appliqueed onto the top with decorative machine stitches, which makes me think I did this project right after I got my new Pfaff and I was trying out the different things the machine would do.


As long as you have the right needles and thread for the big stitch, it's a wonderful alternative to machine quilting. It's fast and eye catching. I like it!!!...and one more item is ready for the quilt show!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Fitness while quilting...who'd a thunk it!?

I have been a proponent of therapeutic massage for years, after a comment made by chance to my RMT while she "worked" on an obvious problem. She asked if there was 'anything else' bothering me and my response echoed my physician's ... just a bit of arthritis in my hip which I supposed I would have to live with. Upon examination, she indicated that she felt she could help that problem, and I jokingly told her to just have at it. After two visits dealing with that situation, I was cured. It seems that the time I was struck by an errant golf club on the driving range at Bell Bay, some damage had been done to a muscle group and Sonja was able to relieve years of pain in a matter of a few weeks. A BELIEVER!!! Over the years I was a reguar on her table for this or that until eventually she worked herself out of a patient! My walking routine seems to have eliminated chronic problems and it's just been pretty clear sailing until this weekend. THE QUILT SHOW IS THE END OF THE MONTH!! I have been FINISHING things and quilting too much ...or so it seems.

The muscle spasms started two days ago. Ignoring them didn't help and so I enlisted LB to work on the location. His hands are very very strong and although the engineer's massage helped over the past couple of days, I went off to the RMT this morning. Good results but I have to sit with heat on the area every hour for twenty minutes each time. Eating into my day!!

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER...after a vigorous walk this morning I believe I am on the road to recovery. The arm swinging seems to have helped, combined with yesterday's heat and rest...still lots of pain but not as often. The RMT told me it would take about 48 hours so today should be the day. I am sitting looking at the small quilt that has to be FINISHED for the show. It Will Be Done!! Slowly! With breaks. And Stretches!! Another victory for the massage therapist. I love that branch of my health care team!! Perhaps a little sewing this afternoon!!!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Hand Quilting and all that...


I tried to figure out a good visual to add to this post on hand quilting. There isn't all that much I can say or photo...hand quilting is what it is. To me, it is what quilting is all about and I love sitting to quilt. For the first time ever, a few months ago I put my quilt frame away with a quilt on it that was just STARTED. I won't do that again. Part of the interest in quilting is the starting. Getting out the new needles...I use new needles on each new project...and threading up the first dozen. Deciding on the stencil for the first border and marking the pattern, usually with my Pounce. Sitting at the frame and looking and looking at the blocks and choosing the way they will be quilted. But here I am, sitting to quilt, and all of the fun things have been done...and I might add...some have been forgotten. I can't find my lamp that clips onto the cross member of the frame, and slides along to be right where I need it. It's not in any of the usual places, and I believe I will have to go and buy another, assuming that I can find the one I want. I can't find the strips which I use to tighten the quilt on the frame. ARGH....I may have to make new ones. Inspiration is oozing away through my pores. This quilt has to be finished for the end of May. I should be INHALING inspiration instead of feeling it depart my body. This is not good. Maybe tomorrow will be better. It can't be any worse!!



There are only a few things critical to successful hand quilting, other than the will to spend the hours it takes to complete a quilt. Good lighting is the most important and for me, that comes from a little lamp that attaches to my frame and moves along with me. I have friends who use an OTT Light on a stand with wheels that can be located wherever they want it. I still prefer the one that warms my nose as I am leaning over the quilt.



Lots and lots of needles and YLI thread comes next. I thread a dozen needles at a time and never get up from my project without checking that there are plenty of needles ready for starting up again. Nothing is worse than sitting down to quilt and finding that the needles aren't threaded. The YLI thread is a must as it doesn't twist or knot and moves smoothly through the layers of your quilt. I have two colors: light brown and ecru. That's it. Since I don't have any white in my stash, I have no need for white quilting thread which I really don't like at all.



Small needle nosed pilers help to pull the loaded needle through the fabric, being careful not to bend the needle as you draw it through. Those little John James #10 needles bend easily enough. I know people who use tinier needles than those, but I can't do anything smaller and there are people who think the JJ#10 are pretty small. They do bend...I go through a couple of packages of needles on a big quilt because you don't want to sew with a bent needle. Right now I am using a jelly thimble and the jury is out on that one. I like it but that little flat-top metal thimble has done just fine for me over the years. For my under finger, I cannot manage with Thimble-its. I cut the little ovals in two and once I got used to them, I never quilt without one.



Add a chair that adjusts and great music and you're good to go. Now I know people doing great quilts on hoops on their laps. More power to them. They are producing more than me. But when I sit to work at the final stage of a project, the items above help me to go at it with enthusiasm and desire.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Opening the Brown Bag


I was in Florida in March and the Brown Bag Challenge came to a conclusion that month at Guild (http://www.thistlequiltguild.com/). Last night I received my bag from Margaret and it was a completed runner! Ready to go!! What a lovely surprise.


This was one of our most successful challenges done by Guild members over the past number of years. Receiving an assortment of fabric from an anonymous quilter in a little brown bag required each of us to put on our thinking caps and decide on a small project which we hoped our person would like. Margaret was certainly on the money with this one. Great job!!


Thursday, April 8, 2010

More on the Disappearing Nine Patch

When I first saw the technique to make this quilt, my response was that after sewing a block together, the last thing I wanted to do was slice it through the middle both horizontally and vertically and then puzzle how to put it back together. There are many web sites that show this technique if you are unfamiliar with it (just type 'disappearing nine patch quilt' in the search box and hit enter and away you go) , and after visiting a few, decided to leap in. I now think it's a great little quilt for a few reasons.

There are no points to worry about! That in itself is a great bonus. After sewing the blocks together and measuring them, I found that they were pretty well the same size with a couple of deviations here and there, so I decided to square the blocks up at thirteen inches. An easy task and a very good plan. The block squares up with no problem and the absence of points makes this a real snap.

It's a great stash buster of a quilt. I think that in the future, I will cut some strips of perhaps four inches from each of my fabrics and put them into a box till it's full...and from there I can make one of these dandy little quilts. .. or just cut squares...which is a little more time consuming to piece but still a good way to use up those bits you hate to toss. When I did garment sewing, I would get rid of all the scraps upon completing a task. No more!! Quilters save everything, don't we!?

I think this would make a great miniature quilt pattern. Make a little nine patch...and I mean LITTLE, and then do the magic cuts! Cute!

The DNP is a teriffic beginners quilt; for REAL beginners. Fast track quilting. The down side here of course is the small learning curve. You won't LEARN much about accuracy and piecing when the whole purpose of the quilt is to avoid the points and nesting of seams and not having to WORRY about acuracy. You can line up on either side of this argument. I know a quilter who is into production and not detail. She would love this!!!

My quilt is very scrappy looking although I used the Layer Cake. It's quite country as well. Both are fine with me. Not for everyone, but the DNP has a place in our arsenal. I will likely do another one: first the mini and then...it's into the queue!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Disappearing Nine Patch


Perhaps I am a slow learner/quilter...but I have just pieced my first Disappearing Nine Patch quilt top. Quite some time ago I bought a Layer Cake called Cranberry Wishes. Beautiful dark rich Christmas fabrics...but what to do with them!? One day last week I decided that a DNP might be just the project. I cut the 10 x 10 inch squares into rectangles and started piecing and cutting. The nine patches had dark/light/dark on the top and bottom with the opposite combination in the middle. Quite random. Press and then slice; pin together and then think. I decided to reassemble the original patches so as to have some integrity in the quilt but the process of turning the cut up nine-patches into a quilt can be whatever you want it to be. I am not a 'totally random' kind of a person!! Once together I had a square quilt top, four assembled blocks by four. Added a two and a half inch border and called it done. I may add another narrow border but I am not sure...right now I am enjoying the thought that I used the Layer Cake and have a lovely Christmas quilt waiting to be quilted. What a great combination!!

Two great new purses





Making a purse is a great quilting project. It's small; it uses your stash and it can be a wonderful gift, if you are willing to part with it. Additionally you can use it yourself and people really love seeing a new completed project...no matter how small. Recently my friend Wilma gave me a beautiful assortment of fats and right away I knew I wanted to make something specific with them. A purse was the logical choice. The ladies at Lucy's had also given me a few fats that matched those from Wilma. I was able to make not one but two purses...the larger one was designed to use Bali Pops but fats worked very well. The smaller purse was one of Mary's designs and I think it's great. Shown also are two others...the purple bag is Laura's and is a great little purse for a single event. You can't cram much into it but it's not meant for that. Heather got the smaller bag in our Brown Bag Challenge and I hope she likes it as much as I liked making it.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010




It's Spring. Hard to believe that winter is practically gone; I say practically because here in the east we could get up any morning and find the ground covered with snow. That's just the way it is here in Northern Nova Scotia. Additionally I have to say that I missed winter due to a totally unexpected visit to the emergency room on November 31 and an eleven day stay in hospital. A ruptured bowel. How absolutely unglamorous. In the first days after my surgery as I lay in bed, I thought about the things I would do when I got home. My doctor kept telling me I would be finding the time to read and undertake new tasks....didn't happen. I lost my mojo for three months. I had no interest in reading or writing or sewing or quilting or crafting or doing anything. Looking back, it's hard to believe that anesthetic can do that to you. Recovery was slow and sometimes painful. I was sad and I cried buckets of tears. I was impatient with myself for that behavior, being the over achiever that I am. If someone took two months to recover, I could do it in one. NO I COULD NOT!! I learned lessons I wasn't prepared to learn. Friends fed us for a month. As a child, when I would ask my Mother what we were having for supper, she jokingly would reply "whatever the neighbours sent in". In December, when Left Brain would ask that question, he got the same answer. I would make breakfast for LB every day so as to maintain some normalcy in our lives. His patience was tested beyond belief and he met every challenge graciously. He insisted on a Christmas tree, albeit an artificial one, when I couldn't be bothered with the thought of one. We did our best with the holiday season and on January first, I got dressed up in my Ann Taylor dress that I had bought for the Christmas season, and went out to a Gyro levee. I paid the price for that outing for three days but it was lovely to see friends and feel alive again. Gradually I got better. After two and a half months, I could drive again. And so, ...spring is here and I am back. I have started to sew. In March we went to Florida. We hung out with our son and daughter in law and precious grandbaby Jocelyn; visited with Bonnie and Peter in Perry, Georgia and attended the NASCAR race weekend in Bristol Tennessee. I bought sixteen yards of fabric in Maine and just for good measure, eight more meters at Harbour Quilts in Antigonish (http://www.harbourquiltcompany.com/) for my next quilt. I must be back. That's a lot of fabric!! Carol and I walk the Samson Trail again. Life goes on. Life is good! Thank you, Jesus!!