A Flurry of Activity

This past week brought a few days of solidarity as I quilted right along with my friends out East who were getting snowed in, even though there was little snowing going on here. I enjoyed every minute of it, finishing two quilt tops — the batik quilt I’ve been working on and another UFO that had been sitting on my sewing table and staring at me.

I’ve also been doing a little bit of designing this week, having fun as I putter with some ideas for my brother and sister-in-law’s business What A Hoot Quilting. They have been working together in a crafts/quilting business for as long as I can remember and continually come up with really creative and clever things. My brother makes amazing quilt room furniture, so if you’re in the market for something like that check out their website. If your quilt group or guild is looking for a speaker or a quilt class, take a look at what Steve & Nita offer on their website. And yes, I’m extremely partial and this is a shameless plug for them.

I’ve been stitching away on my elephants. Current finished count is 9 — only 15 more to go! I’m still enjoying them and I’m also finding that the appliqué process is getting easier and more relaxing. After losing my needle twice while stitching with my cat on my lap, I’m happy to say that no person or cat was impaled during the recovery.

When I’m not quilting, I often have my nose in a book; well, books — I read more than one at a time. One of my current reads is Things as They Are – Mission Work in Southern India by Amy Carmichael. It’s a free book on Kindle, but worth reading. So much has changed in missionary work in some ways, not so much in others. This book reminds me to pray for my friends who are missionaries and those they are ministering to.

Thinking about India also makes me think of myriads of bright, intense colors and designs. Intense color and design also makes me think about the winning quilt from the Road to California Quilters’ Conference and Showcase. Have you seen it? If not, check it out here. It is absolutely amazing. We quilters are a creative bunch.

On a much lower quilting level, here’s a little peek into my quilt projects this week. I’ll post a picture of the batik quilt after it’s completely done and given to our friends, so stay tuned.

The quilt on the left is a mini periwinkle quilt, a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial. The middle is my elephant progress (the bottom right fella is an interloper – my sample block), one of the completed nine is missing in this picture. The right is a mini scrappy block I’m playing with.

Let me know what you’re working on. I’d love to see! We quilters inspire one another!

Until next time, keep that machine purring . . .

Wendy