Weekend Report

Look! Look! Here they are! Behold the entire stack of the twenty completed What Was I Thinking? blocks! They were finished at some point on Sunday afternoon. The tedious part of these blocks was getting the claws made and affixed. After that, cutting the logs for the two sides and choosing which logs to put on which claws, well, that was just fun! Putting the 80 blocks into foursomes to make up the big blocks was kind of fun, too.

The next steps are easy, but steps I'm not crazy about. So What Was I Thinking? may well get relegated to the proverbial back burner for a bit. We'll see. I've cut the cornerstone squares, and the next task is the lattice. That's a task I don't enjoy. Not fond of putting borders on either. Mentally, I've moved on -- more about that in a minute -- so we'll see how long it takes to turn the WWIT? blocks into a completed top.

These, friends, are the yield from the monthly birthday block exchange. And are they not utterly dazzling? (Those disagreeing need not reply!) This is the "basket of chips" pattern in the 10-1/2 inch size, and I think it to be mighty fine. The exchange brought me fifteen blocks. When I put them on the wall and spaced them out, twelve looked perfect.

But the finished project would be on the smallish side. So I've picked out more fabrics and begun cutting components to make five more and we'll see how twenty look together. It may well turn out that I go back to the twelve and have eight remaining for a second project. I've only made one block of this pattern before (the teal and brown one) and know that they take a little time to do. So I'm going to focus on one per evening for the next week and then decide what happens next.

Here it is! Here it is! This wall hanging (brought to you by the gal whose motto is "I don't do wall hangings") was the result of the very first round robin I ever did. I started with the trademark dancing ladies and explained that the inspiration for them was from Psalm 30: "You have changed my mourning into dancing." I suggested for anyone who couldn't wrap her mind around that to go with "Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon." I was so pleased with the completed project and sent it off to Kat for custom quilting. And when it came home, I was even more pleased. And then it got set aside. Until this weekend. Joe undertook the project of hanging it above our bed using a wonderful hanger that was a gift from Bob and Sherron. (In the process, we had to pull the bed all the way out and found several generations of dust bunnies breeding under there. Which necessitated getting out the vacuum and the attachments. And pulling the bed out further. Turning a project into an ordeal. You know how that goes.) Anyway, I think it looks spectacular. You should be able to click it to enlarge and see the detail; and I hope you will.

It will look even more spectacular in a year, though. In the stash are coordinating batiks for a Blooming Nine Patch. Which just might have to rise to the top of the project pile, now that we've come this far!

I mentioned picking up a little something for myself when I was at the artisan store looking for Elaine's birfday gift.

I saw these terrific dancers, males and females, doing different types of dances. There were large ones that would go on the wall, and smaller ones that would go on the table. I couldn't resist, and decided I just had to take one home with me.

She fits in very well, I think, and now I see her first thing each morning when I wake!

Thought that just to complete the theme here, I'd show you something on the wall in that same room. Working at a school, I have the opportunity to be surrounded by amazing student art. Every once in a while, I'll decide that a particular piece of photography is something I can't live without. I have two photographs in my office of graveyard statuary that are just lovely. I bought them from the student photographer soon after we moved into our new office space.

This winter when the senior photography display went up, this piece was among them and, obviously, it had my name written all over it. When the student got the notice to come to the Head's office, she was a tad apprehensive. She knew she'd done nothing wrong. She was astounded to find out she'd done something so right and quickly provided me with a print of her beautiful work.