Oh, what a weekend!

My husband and son went to Ann Arbor, Michigan to meet up with Andy's cousins, Matt, Bob, and Scott for the U of M game with Minnesota. This was the first time Andy has gone to a U of M game and you would have thought it was Christmas Eve! He was like a little kid having to wait until Christmas morning to open presents! All 4 "boys" are huge Michigan fans. This left me home, all by myself!! (Some day I will figure out how to get the pictures in the right order, so bear with me!) We have Wild canaries in our yard, (American Gold Finch). Right now they are darker because winter is coming. What a wonderful racket they make. One of the feeding socks is outside the window where the computer is, so I can watch and hear them. This morning there were at least 5 on the sock and 4 more, on a wire plant support, waiting for their turn. This picture I got leaning outside the patio door.

On Monday I took a workshop with Judith Baker-Montano through the Prairie Star Quilt Guild in St. Charles. She has an interesting way to work with the crazy patches. This is my block. So far it only has fabric on the muslin base. I have ribbons, and thread picked out to embellish it. I would the only one from our quilt bee that took this class. Three of our bee members took the second day class about stitches used in crazy quilting. It was a fun day! Always something new to learn

This is a little quilt I bought at the big quilt show at Rosemont in 2007. It is a miniature that I fell in love with. The piecing got done, but embroidery not. About a week ago I decided it was time to finish this one up. (picture is on its side) I have a couple more flowers to embroidery, then the quilting on the border. I had forgotten how I loved to do embroidery. I think with all the blogs showing such great projects using embroidery, has peaked my interest again.

Here it is the first thing I completed this weekend! Apron Strings. This is the quilt I worked on at the retreat with my friends from Michigan. My design wall is my carpet, so the quilt looks like a rectangle. It is square. I am so pleased with how it turned out. Again there was a learning experience. I had never squared up a block as big as this, (15 inches). I used way more fabrics making this then what Judy Martin's book (Stellar Quilts) calls for. Those 2 1/2 inch strips and squares, that I have been cutting using Bonnie Hunters ideas, came in handy.

Then I had 16 blocks to make for a Basket Block Swap. They are 6 1/2 inch blocks. They need to be to the swap hostess by the 15th of October. I had kept telling myself I need to get them done, but somehow other things got in the way. I agonized over putting those handles on. I wanted them to be as perfect as possible, as 16 other ladies were going to get them. So in the mail they go today!

Lat but not least. this is the last project I worked on. In January the Plainfield Quilt Guild had a basket block swap. We supplied the background fabric and a dominate fabric that we wanted in each block. I chose purple 30's fabrics, and a white on white background. The quilter making the block could add another fabric if they wanted. Three of my blocks came back with yellow as an added color. I finally put all these blocks together. The border is a 30's with yellow and purple in it. Tried something new and added the little yellow flange to the border. I am loving how this turned out. One more project done!!

This past week I also picked up 3 more quilts that now need the binding put on. I feel good about what I got accomplished while the "boys" were gone.

In my attempt to stay organized I filled zip lock baggies with wool projects. I can pick up a bag, that has all I need, and take it with me to work on. Thank heaven for the person that invented zip lock bags.

Hope you had as productive a weekend as I did! It sure feels good to have a couple more things done. What to work on next??

Have a great quilting week!