Monday

Go see Judy's blog to what other quilters are up to.

Here is what I have been up to:

I made this at the last quilt retreat.

It is for a friend. Her birthday and wedding anniversary are on Valentine's day, she is patriotic, loves hearts and the color red.

I fully intended to give it to her tomorrow. I had time. I got fabric for the back that I thought would work. It didn't. It seems too orange.

I ordered something else thinking I would have it in time. Every day I checked for delivery information. Nothing. And, then on Thursday I received an email saying it had shipped. It arrived on Friday. Still time, I thought.

Then my neighbor called. Her mother suffers from Alzheimer's and they needed to be away from home for several hours on Saturday, could I stay with her? They rarely get to go anywhere so, of course, I said yes.

I knew then that I would really, really have to work hard to get this quilt finished by Tuesday. I decided not to stress about it. So, I washed the backing. I will load it to quilt this weekend.

I know some people do not wash before cutting. I almost always do. 

Here is why.

See those Color Catchers? The top one is the (new) red backing for the heart quilt. The bottom one is the blue backing for the T-shirt quilt I recently finished.

I keep reading articles and hearing from my quilt friends that fabric dyes are 

more stable these days, but I still think I will wash first.

My quilt group also exchanged flannel fat quarters at the retreat. Every one participating was to contribute 2 different FQs for each person. I chose a mottled cream and a green print.

Then I added a few more to my stash.

I chose this pattern - Breezy Batiks from Moda Cutting Table Free Patterns.

Strip sets for the scrappy chains.

Aren't those flannels lovely?

Some stars and a chain block. 

The following pictures are NOT my workplace, or even people that I know. 

I see this happening all the time. It happens frequently to me at my workplace.

It happens to me when shopping.

Why do people feel the need to block aisles, hallways and doorways while they talk?

At the store I often just turn around and go down another aisle and come up from the other way.
At work, often I have to excuse myself to get through the door to the office. 

Then, have to do again to get back out. 

Thankfully, our school office has a door into the break room that has a door into 

the library that has a door into the hallway around the corner from the office. 

Sometimes it is just easier to go around rather than excuse myself through the group again.

It seems to me that if someone can't get through that these people would get a clue and move over a little so people can access halls and doors. I know people need to have a discussion sometimes, but do they really need to block the way for others? Or am I just being cranky?

 On a positive note, it was a beautiful day here. Sunny, little wind, mid 40s. 

The kindergarteners were happy to get outside for recess, and so was I!