More quilting

 Our quilt guild has over 100 members and is a very active group.  I am privileged to be a part of this guild and have made some great friends.  I don't think one is ever to old to learn and I am learning new things constantly.  At the 2nd meeting of the month, we have a series of "clusters" which are groups of people learning new techniques from wonderful teachers.  There is no cost, unless a pattern needs to be purchased for a larger project.  The ornaments in the top picture are completed "cathedral window" examples, all of which can be incorporated into a larger quilt.  I have done the cathedral window quilt in the traditional fashion and it is very time consuming and uses a lot of fabric.  This technique is so much faster and more economical! The second picture shows one method of turning back the "windows and the bottom picture shows all four.  There are only two different patterns, but depending on how the stitching is done on top, the end result is 4.  I have ordered a pattern for a large quilt and will have at least two more "cluster" sessions to complete all of the techniques. 

Top and right squares are the same and left and bottom are the same. They are just tacked in different places.

On a totally different note, our daughter lives in Washington and has been without electricity for at least 5 days.  Finally she and her husband got power on today.  We forget what we have until we lose it.  But she got her fridge cleaned out at least.  Gotta find at least one good thing.  They did have a wood burning stove, so were not without heat, but really....it would be tough to be without for that long. 

Craft and crab

 So when we went to Wash state for Christmas and went to Boston Harbor, we met this family with a small boy who was out for the day.  As we had informed them that we were from Wyoming earlier, we heard the mother say "Show it to those people from Wisconsin."  I turned and said that we were from one of those "W" states, but not Wisconsin.  Anyway, they had spotted a couple of crabs clinging below the pier and after a little prying, the boy's father pulled this one up for us to see.  We got a lesson on "sexing" them which I can't remember.  It was something about the number of stripes on the belly.  But it really was the first crab I had seen.  Actually our daughter had just picked up a 3 lb crab for our dinner, but unfortunately, he was wrapped in paper and I didn't see it again until he/she was ceremoniously dropped into the pot of water, screaming and kicking that night.  YUM!

I am embarking on another of many projects which I have wanted to do for a very long time. This is going to be a penny rug.  However, as with most projects, I tend to jump in without a lot of research 'cause I am so anxious to try a new craft.  After carefully stitching these black wool "pennies" onto the wool background, I  realized that I need to complete the pennies first. DUH! Did you know that since these are so large, they are derived from early American coins.  Their pennies were much larger than modern pennies. Women used these large pennies as a template to draw around the wool scraps.  Fortunately, my quilt guild has an opportunity table and someone left a box of wool squares in beautiful colors.  Yeah!

New year resolutions

 With the onset of the new year, gardening is tugging at my soul.  These wonderful clay or stoneware plant markers were a gift from my daughter.  Note the detail on both the front and back of the 12 plus inch babies!  They are almost too pretty to poke into the soil, but alas, in they will go.  Won't my herb garden look spiffy?  In fact, I have a couple of buckets of clay and still have not decided to put my kiln up for sale, so I may have to put my own spin on this idea.  I have a stained glass project waiting in the basement to be foiled and some quilt projects needing attention also.  Gotta get in gear!

And speaking of quilt projects, this is another table topper which I made for another friend for Christmas.  It was like a puzzle getting it put together, but apparently I did get everything cut properly and stitched correctly as it all went together just fine.

As for the new year and the resolutions.  When you get to be 65, as a lot of baby boomers know, you need to change a lot of things; one being the way you choose your insurance.  One big thing we have discovered is that some plans offer some advantages over others.  The plan we choose this year allows me to go to a fitness center for no charge.  The other thing that happens after 65, is that some of us discover rolls of excess fat that just magically appear.  How did that happen?  So, I am hoping with my resolution (get better FIT) that my rolls will shrink.  Today was my orientation on the many machines that will offer enough resistance to strengthen my flabby muscles.  Indeed, I have gotten lazy.  If I can remember how each machine works, and I am finding that the memory also gets flabby,  I hope to keep this only resolution this year.  Wish me luck!