Catching up ....

Sometimes it is hard to know where to begin, especially when it has been awhile since I have posted. I haven't forgotten about my blog friends- Its just life has been a little more than busy these days. A very nice thing happened - my blogging friend Rosa sent me this gorgeous yellow sunflower center piece a couple of weeks ago as a giveaway gift. It arrived just before Canadian Thanksgiving and has adorned our dining room table since its arrival.( Do check out Rosa's post about making my sunflower) My husband brought home some gorgeous Star gazer lilies the other day to add to the dining room decor. The flowers are very fragrant - I sure notice them when I return home from work each day.

My husband Bruce was away last week in British Columbia visiting his mother and sister& family. Someone left me a comment on an earlier post, asking to see the texture quilt that I had made for her so here is two views of Mum's quilt. I found this pattern in an earlier post by Laura of adventures of a quilting diva. (I'm sorry that I don't remember exactly when she posted the tutorial) Laura has a lovely blog that she shares lots of interesting quilting ideas in each of her posts.
My mother in law Betty has Alzheimer's and recently celebrated her 87th birthday. She is pictured with Bruce's sister, - It is a beautiful photo of both of them. Don't they look like they are having a lovely time together!!! Betty was a gifted knitter and enjoyed painting, sewing and quilting. She loved knubbly textures and I hope that the quilt gives her pleasure. I used various fabrics (silk, velvets, lace, velour wool, satin, tapestry, cordoroy, brocade) that were fused to a foundation to stablize the 6 1/2 inch squares. There is a teddy bear fleece back on it and no batting as it is not meant to be used as a blanket.


Bruce brought back a couple of things from the family storage unit. This quilt was one that I had made for his parents 63th wedding anniversary. It is a harmonic convergence quilt that is made from Ricky Timms book "Convergence Quilts". It has chickadees and cardinals in the fabric and is quite a soft looking quilt. His mother has 3 quilts in her room and this quilt is too large for her single bed.

I am always happy enough to giveaway my quilts to my loved ones- it is harder to have them returned to our house. I have a quilt that I made my gran, that my mother gave back to me after my grandmother passed away. For along time, I did not want to look at it, it made me miss my grandmother more! My gran has been gone 6 years now and when I wrap myself in it- I remember how much she loved it and I feel this tenuous connection with her. There is a bittersweetness that does not go away, but it doesn't hurt like it once did. Time has helped to soften the loss and replace the sadness with joyful loving memories.

What happens to your quilts when your loved one passes away? Does someone else in your family get them? Do they get given away? Are they placed with your loved one when you lay them to rest?
Something else that Bruce brought home in his suitcase, was this lovely hooked Cheticamp rug, that comes from Nova Scotia. It belonged to my inlaws, and was given to them as 40th wedding anniversary gift, from some of their friends. We went with my in laws to Cape Breton, and stopped in Cheticamp. It shows the beautiful Nova Scotia shoreline. I have always loved the rug and plan to hang it in our living room.

There are some great giveaways going on right now- here are a couple of very nice ones but there are more you may want to check out on my blog list.
Brenda at Pumpkin Patch Primitive Quilt shoppe is having a fantastic fat quarter giveaway. I would love to win this giveaway as my friend Gran. sent me the panel earlier in the fall as a giveaway prize. Just think what I might be able to make with all these fat quarters. It is a wonderful gift for someone - do go and check it out- Brenda will close the giveaway on Halloween night.

Sue has a lovely jelly roll that she is giving away- she needs your opinion on fabric- How fun is that? Go quickly as Sue will draw on October 25th.

Life has been very busy at work - The first 6 weeks of school are busy with assessment and the setting of routines. Our days are full of interesting things -especially as they are beginning to do a major renovation in our school.

We had school pictures this week and are having a storyteller doing a presentation tomorrow. The next couple of weeks will be particularly busy at school with a field trip and a Halloween party. Halloween day at school will be exciting. It is always fun to see the kids in their costumes. I wonder how many superheroes and princesses/ fairies I will have this year? They are pretty excited already!

Last night Bruce and I had a lovely date- we went out for dinner ( Vietnamese food) and then saw a Harry Manx concert. He is a blues artist from the west coast of Canada (Salt Spring Island). Harry Manx is playing a piece in Montreal. If you are interested he has other pieces on you tube- just google his name.

Did you love the Virtual Blogging Festival? Amy's button is still at the top of my blog in case you would like to see more of the quilts. I have been working my way through the list but there were over 600 beautiful quilts to see and learn their stories. I feel like I have neglected some of my other blogging friends, as I got caught up in reading the Virtual quilt show posts.

At home this weekend, we are having a large bin come to take away some of the overgrowth and clutter in and out of the house. So far, it looks like the snow will stay away- We hope to make some more room in the basement. Space is a neverending challenge in our little house.

As you can see, life is particularly full just now. There are report cards looming on the horizon, Christmas concert to prepare for... I have been doing a bit of quilting but it is in small spurts of time... I continue to strive for more balance in life but it is a bit of a challenge just now...

Soon it will be November... Where has this fall gone...

Be well,

Warmest regards,
Anna

Fall Blogging Festival

"Star Blue Night" is one of my earlier quilts. The quilt originally was supposed to be 12 twenty inch feathered star blocks. The pattern was from a book By Nancy S.- Johnson called "Rotary Magic". Each block had about 150 pieces. It was a challenging quilt and I decided, after making 5 blocks, that that was enough of half square triangle piecing for me. I chose to do something different with my blocks. This was the final result.

I completed this star quilt around 2002-2003. The 5 feathered stars float around the large overall star that was created by using the " Courthouse steps log cabin layout". The border is a chain link border using star fabrics. The chain link border pattern came from an older magazine called " Quilting Today."

As a rule, I like to create my quilts by using many different colors- This quilt has a really limited palette and that made it a different kind of creative challenge.
"Star Blue Night" resides on our bed and still looks almost as nice as it was in this photo.





Congratulations to Amy for hosting The Fall Blogger Quilt festival. I am looking forward to visiting many other blogs and seeing all the beautiful quilts. Last spring, I met many new bloggers through the festival- I am looking forward to visiting new blogs, seeing all the beautiful quilts, and making some new quilting friends.

Thanks for stopping by to visit- I am sure you are going to enjoy the show. Should you have a quilt that you would like to share, click on Amy's icon and it will take you to the sign up list. Amy also has provided information about the process so that you can join the show. Come and participate in the fun and perhaps win a lovely prize.

I'm off to see all the beautiful quilts..How about you???

Warmest regards from a Western Canadian Quilter,

Anna

Just in case that you thought I had disappeared...

This is my god daughter' A's birthday quilt- in an unfinished state. I finished this quilt at the beginning of the summer and in the photos below you can see the quilt close up with its completed border and quilted.


Sunflowers was given to a friend who is dealing with some health issues. Both of these quilts are made using the Disappearing 9 Patch pattern.

Fabric choices make so much difference to the way a quilt looks.
In my god daughter's quilt you can see a more distinct pattern happening because of of the use of tone on tone fabrics combined with the the same central block so that it repeated.

I love the riot of sunflowers in the sunflower quilt but it is much harder to see the repeating pattern than can happen with the disappearing 9 patch pattern.

Which look do you like better? When you are making a quilt do you like quilts with overall designs or quilts that have repeated blocks? Do you like sashing between your blocks or the blocks sewn together without any separation?

This past week I have been busy doing some assessments with my students. It is a new testing instrument for me to use so it is a learning process for me.

Other accomplishments included finishing the baby wrap and making a couple of bracelets. I have cut out another baby wrap and am working on redrafting the pattern. For some reason the pattern keeps getting smaller and the babies are getting bigger so that is not a good. I hope to get a couple made on the upcoming long weekend.

The weather is turning cool and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees. I am sure that GoTo the squirrel is grateful for all those peanuts collected earlier in the summer. I put on close toed shoes for the first time today- a sign of the changing seasons.

Today was World Teachers Day- a time to reflect on the work one does as an educator. Each day, I hope to make a difference in my children's lives- and each day I learn something new from my children. To me, that is joy of being a teacher. Happy World Teacher's Day to other teachers around the world- I hope you had the opportunity to celebrate being an educator.

Next Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving- I am looking forward to an extra day to spend with my son and some friends - My husband will be away visiting his mother and sister in Victoria. Perhaps there will be some time to get the yard and house cleaned up too.

Have a great week.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Where to begin.....

Gran of Knotty Embroidery lady sent me this fantastic giveaway prize in the mail that arrived last Friday. In it, was this beautiful Sunflower fall panel( and as you all know by now, I am crazy about Sunflowers)
Gran also posted some pictures of her lovely giveaway prize on a recent blog post. You can check it out by clicking on her name. Thank you Gran for choosing me- How lucky can a lady be...

For all you fans of GoTO the squirrel, friend Rosa sent me this very funny post of another squirrel. It is very funny-- and the squirrel is amazingly adorable!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8108297.stm

My mailbox has continued to have other lovely things that included this pattern from Kellie of " Don't Look Now" is the brilliant designer of these patterns from Australia. I also received this lovely pattern from of Toni of the Red Boot Co. Isn't it a great children's quilt pattern. She also is a pattern designer from the land down under. A very big Thank You goes out to both of these talented ladies. If you click on their names you will be able to visit their wonderful blogs too.

Last weekend, my friend Lou and I got a chance to go out together. We often go east of our city but this time we decided to head west to one of our surrounding communities called Stony Plain. They have two quilt stores in their little town- I bought a few bits and pieces to add to the stash. As always, I enjoyed a pleasant afternoon with a very dear friend.

At one of the shops,though, there was a set of tables like a flea market. I came home with some great thrift finds- some beautiful floral tiles, some dishes like ones my gran had that are carnival glass, a ruler box, a set of 5 fabric sunflowers in a reproduction can, a gorgeous primitive doll in her chair an and a great green club chair...
I love floral tiles and these ones have a space so that one can hang them as a set of four on the wall.
Isn't the doll beautiful? Don't you love her hankerchief dress? I love her primitive face!

I remember having the reproduction tins in our kitchen at home - they were the blue version of this particular can which she also had, but had just sold it before I chose the sunflowers container that I wanted. The ladies' prices were very reasonable and I came home with things that brought back a flood of memories of my childhood. As for the chair, it looks great in our living room.

On the quilty front, I have a baby wrap waiting to be quilted..
I have made many many of these baby wraps - this one is for a friend of my son's who has just had a baby... Hopefully this weekend, I will get to it- When I first made this design I tied them, but now I machine quilt them and use minkee or fleece on the inside. They work great inside car seats or when babies are first playing on the floor.

Some of you were wondering about some of the patterns that I mentioned in my previous blog. Here are the two patterns that other people chose to make in this fall's class.

However here is my project: I will continue to make more flags and form half hexagons
to form the diamonds. VBS Hopefully, I will figure out how this design works.

Pat at Silver Thimble Talk is having a giveaway- go quickly and check it out..
She posed the question of "When did you begin quilting?"

I thought I had a clear answer to her question but when I thought about it, I have been quilting for a lot longer than I realized. My quilting experiences first began when I was about 18 and I met a friend whose grandmother taught her to quilt. We made "Dresden Plate" pieces with cardboard templates and used scissors to cut them out. After that, I made baby wraps, panel vests and bags with quilted fabrics. I took a few classes to learn how to seminole piece and make "Cathedral Windows" Christmas ornaments. In 1987, I made my first big quilt - a" Log Cabin Quilt in a Day"Pattern by Eleanor Burns. It took me about a year to complete- I used a double layer of polyester batting and wrestled its queen sized bulkiness in my regular domestic machine. That quilt still exists though it is quite tattered now.
I recently bought a new book " Not your grandmother's Log Cabin" by Sara Nephew and Marci Baker. It is a lovely book with lots of gorgeous stars by making a diamond log cabin block.



My current passion for quilting began in 1996 when I started to quilted regularly. I have made over 50 bed sized quilts since that time- I continue to enjoy exploring different techniques and designs. What about your quilting journey? When did you begin to quilt?

Fall has been warm here in Alberta and the leaves are starting to turn.. My little ones continue to keep me busy and life is a bit hectic these days.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Be well,
Warmest regards,

Anna

And the work begins....

Progress- Waa Hoo! I have made some slow and steady work towards completing this quilt- On Sunday, I was able to get this Wonky Rail Ties all quilted. I am very pleased with the results- even though it is a large king sized quilt, I managed to quilt it all in one fell swoop. It is a great feeling to have it quilted and was wonderful to get in the groove and have it quilt up so quickly. Don't you love it, when you get on a real roll and everything works up perfectly. I used about 15 bobbins of thread to meander it. I hope to trim it this weekend and get some binding made up for it.

Life in September revolves around the routines of school and getting back into the rhythm of being a working person.

At school, we had our annual corn roast for our families yesterday and it was nice to meet some of the families I had not met before and get re-acquainted with others. The corn was sweet Taber corn and delicious to eat.

It was nice to meet with some quilting friends and begin our class on Monday night.
Some of the others were making two new patterns, "Endless Stars" and a scrap quilt that can be found in the recent "Fast Quilts" magazine.
However, I have decided to work on a quilt called "The Hollow Cubes". This quilt will keep me busy for many months. I started this quilt about 5 years ago. I have many many triangles cut, and the quilt resembles a large group of flags- they now need to get joined together to form half hexagons. It is a Challenging pattern and I have had a great deal of difficulty getting my head around the design. It is the primary reason that it has remained a UFO.
In general, I have few projects that remain UFO's. Over a year, I may have as many as half a dozen quilts on the go, but I like to finish all of them up before beginning more projects. I have been stymied by this pattern so far.. Hope springs eternal so maybe this time I will finally figure it out. The fabrics are beautiful batiks - I would really like to see it completed.

My mailbox continues to have some pleasant surprises for me. I received a wonderful package from Heather Mulder Peterson It is a 4 Moda Charm Packs and a whole series of patterns of Heather's designs that use charm packs. They are scrumptious looking and it will be hard to choose which of Heather's designs to make first.

Thank you so much Heather for the wonderful gift- it is a real treasure trove that I will enjoy exploring and creating with your lovely materials.

My friend Rosa send me gifties from her surprise giveaway. She sent me some lovely " I SPY" squares and a coffee card from a Canadian company called Tim Horton's. Tim's is famous across Canada. Rosa you are a real gem- Thanks so much for your lovely thoughtful gestures.

The gumtree designers are a fantastic group of Australian women who are having some giveaways. Do check them out - They are all wonderfully creative and do such beautiful work...

Caroline of the Contented Quilter is having two giveaways. I hope that you will use the link and check out her lovely blog.

Gypsy Lulu is a new blog to me but she also is having a nice giveaway for you to check out -- especially if you love jewellery(which I do) I love baubles of all descriptions and probably would make a good magpie bird(though I am not mean like they can be, to other animals.)

And if you are interested in making something with Jellyrolls,well, you may want to check out Sarah at the Missouri table blog who is having a jelly roll giveaway this week- I have never used a jelly roll but I am sure one can make something beautiful with them.

Many of you enjoyed the antics of "GOTO" the Squirrel. He continues to entertain one and all at the observatory on the weekends. Our weather has been unseasonably warm so he is going to have more time to collect those nuts to "squirrel away" his bare necessities for winter. LOL

Time to cut out paper doll shapes for a school project for my students where they show me "How many people live in their house".. My students and I are getting to know one another by singing and dancing and reading our favorite stories. Each day is full of interesting things - I love looking at the world through my kindergarten children's eyes-hopeful, honest and often humorous... Today one of them was looking for a shortcut across our room- not sure he found one, but he went looking anyway..There is always something to make us laugh...

Happy fall to one and all...

Regards,

Anna

Life is sometimes a bit squirrelly..

I thought I would introduce you to a furry friend of my husband's. He is a squirrel named GoTo and acts like the landlord of the local observatory where my husband Bruce works. Fortunately his rent is peanuts and he welcomes all visitors. GoTo has a lovely tent and a picnic table with a telescope.
He often likes to show off his prowess with the telescope- I wonder if he likes to see the craters on the moon- perhaps GoTo thinks it is one large peanut that is just out of his grasp??

Life has indeed been hectic - it is the same each fall when I return to the classroom- I have not had much opportunity to post this past week. I continue to have some problems with my own lap top but managed to take some new photos to show you of the slasher quilt. You can see that I have added some additional borders to it and I am much happier with it, than the original version before I had added all the leaf fabrics to it.
I have ordered some die- cut leaves from Keepsake Quilting to scatter across the quilt randomly. I had some silk ones to try out the idea and I think it will be like leaves blowing across it. I am not sure when I will get a chance to get back to finishing it up.

I did get two of my quilts spray basted last week before I returned to work.Unfortunately I had miscalculated the backing for the third so I will try and spray baste it soon. Bruce took photos of that process of preparing the quilt for quilting. Perhaps, it will be part of an upcoming post. In the meant time, the trip around the world and the Wonky tiles are both waiting for me to quilt them. Recently, it was just too hot to sit under the quilts and quilt up in the eaves of our house last weekend.

It has been unseasonably hot here the past week- about 30 degrees Celsius. Our classroom is sweltering with 26 little four and five years present. They are entertaining group as always- At one point, one little one came up to me and said " My dad rode a cow" so I asked:"then what happened ?" She answered " He got buck -ded off". She said it so straight faced, it was hard not to burst out laughing...
I can see we need to learn the difference between cows and bulls :0) but she obviously had been to the rodeo over the summer. There is always some story to make me giggle each day.. We are beginning to learn the routines like how we walk down the hall and where to find the bathroom...I sometimes forget how much my students have learned over the school year until September comes and we begin again...and how tired I am by the end of the day -Bedtime is early these days..

Yesterday, we went to honor a younger woman's life,Vanessa, who lost her battle with breast cancer in June. People came to reminisce, comfort, laugh and cry together. She was 40 years old and well loved by all who knew her- we grieve for the loss of her presence and zest for life. One of the powerful lessons that came from the evening was the importance of living in the present. While she could not change the fact she had cancer,Vanessa never let cancer define who she was or how she lived her life. Today is where one should live - not the yesterday we can't change or the tomorrow that has yet not come.. Vanessa's legacy left me contemplating the importance of living with presence in the present...

My mailbox has been blessed with some lovely things that I won from other quilter's giveaways.
Julie of "Me and my Possibilities blog sent me these wonderful patterns when she gave away 45 patterns from her giveaway. I love Pieces of the Heart patterns and the hat one looks very fun. Thank you so much Julie, all the patterns are wonderful and I hope that I will get a chance to create some more lovely quilts with your patterns.
Natima from Not Just Nat sent me a fantastic handmade journal- It has sunflower binding and is beautifully hand quilted. I love the log cabin pattern and it is some very pretty pink fabrics in it. Look at the pretty button and the beautiful crazy quilting needlework that Natima did on it. I shall treasure it always Natima- She also included a wonderful magazine for making bags- there are some wonderful designs in the magazine- my list is going ever so long :0) Thank you so very much Nat..
And lastly some special things from my blog friend Rosa sent me a fabric postcard (I had not received a fabric postcard before), some maple leaf candies and some fat quarters. Rosa knew how much I loved floral fabrics and I was so pleased to see florals with black backgrounds. She is one thoughtful lady- sending me happy positive thoughts regularly. You are so kind Rosa - Thank you for your kindness and special treats.
This weekend I received word from Kellie that
I won a pattern from her beautiful blog "Don't Look Now". My fellow blogger, Thimbleanna won Kellie's beautiful quilt. Kellie is a wonderful designer who has some beautiful patterns on her blog for sale. Do go and visit her very pretty blog.

I have truly been spoiled by other bloggers this summer- I am thinking how I will return others generosity --- we shall see....

In the meantime, I am getting into the swing of school and fall activities. I am determined to make some inroads on a quilt that I began about 5 years ago. It is called " Hollow Cubes" and it has been hanging around long enough. One needs to strive for balance and I am notoriously bad at it. Perhaps this fall is a new beginning...

Until next time, be well..Happy Quilting
Warmest regards,
Anna

Progress ....

Kaleidoscope completed in the late spring of 2009. I am a big fan of Ricky Timms and this Kaleidoscope was made using his technique. It was fun to make- not as complicated as it looks and you get the most fantastic designs with it. I would love to make another one but other patterns beckon too..

I have been trying to post for the last few days but my computer woes continue on my own computer and the photos that I took to update my August progress disappeared. So now I have retaken the photos (I damaged the large photo chip as well:O( Finally, I can show you some pictures of the borders on the quilts.

Over the summer I hoped to get a star quilt made,and a star wallhanging finished.(You can see the completed quilts in a recent post)

When August came, I decided to get in on Kim's challenge. I finished the star pieces and then planned to get three other larger quilt tops to the(flimsie stage)completed.


Winding Ways with the 3 added borders.

. The trip around the world couch quilt- It is the second version of this quilt and is a completed flimsie.
Here is the 99 blocked king sized wonky tiles with its framed blue border...

I have met these goals and still have a few days to spare... Wahooo!!
The only problem now is, that I made new goals and have added to the list.VBG Now I want to quilt these three quilts and get some baby quilts made too...

Oh and there is also the slasher quilt to consider... and how many days are left until I am back teaching...... Five .... my list may need some modification as I have other things that are planned as well to do before I go back to my classroom on Monday... Too many plans and not enough time HMMMMMMM

Thanks to all of you who responded to the slasher question- I received lots of interesting ideas and suggestions as to how I might change my quilt. Many of you thought I could applique something on the background while others encouraged me to try out slashing. Here is what I have done so far.
In the end, I wasn't brave enough to be a true slasher though I did cut across the middle block. I chose to stay with the straight lines. My next step will be to add another small green stop border and then will frame it with the framed black leaf fabric. I am taking it one step at a time and seeing how I like the additions- I did contemplate adding a piece of black leaves going either vertical and diagonal across the horizontal added leaves. When I tried laying it in those directions it didn't seem to add anything to the quilt.
I may still applique some floating leaves across the green and red pieces. It is an ever changing project and I am not finished yet- I guess it is my WIP...

Now my other news this week- I have been a very fortunate lady this summer and been declared the winner in some giveaways.
Last week I received a pattern from Toni called Woodstock. She is from Australia and makes very fun patterns. It is a lovely flowered pattern and she has another very cute pattern giveaway with Bears. It is a wonderful children's pattern- if you love bears you are going to want to enter to win this pattern.

Natima chose my name and I was the fortunate winner of a handmade journal and magazine from Australia. I love handmade things that others have made- it is a special thing to do for someone else.

Rosa, a fellow Canadian from the east coast chose my name in her surprise giveaway. She has sent me questions about my likes/dislikes and has put my name up in lights. I have never had my name up in lights on a sunflower billboard- I am honored to win her giveaway. Rosa has a very fun blog and is a keen quilter. Do check it out..

Then if this was not overwhelming enough, I was given some patterns from Julie who gave away 45 patterns to a number of quilters. It was a sweet thing to do Julie. I know that all the quilters are going to enjoy using your patterns.

By now I am totally gobsmacked by these gifts and my blog friend Gran emails me and tells me that I won her giveaway- fair and square. It is some wonderful 30's fabrics and fall fabrics.Gran is a beautiful embroiderer and has recently started her own website.

A very big Thank you to all of you for your generosity and kindness. I am more than a little embarassed by all these wins- Perhaps I should go out and buy a lottery ticket...

Now I want to let you know about some great giveaways happening in blogland- There are a large number of them just now... You just never know what might happen- you could win some very cool things and meet some wonderful new blog friends.

Kellie has made a beautiful tree quilt. She is a pattern designer and has created a quilt that she is giving away The tree quilt is exquisite and beautifully quilted. Do check it out!!!

sweet treats Is a blog that Rosa introduced on her blog- The sweets and treats are so yummy looking....

Elaine is having a civil war fabric giveaway. Do you like civil war fabrics? She has a really great blog too.

Lurline has some gorgeous Regency fabrics that are reproductions from the mid 1800's> The fabrics are such interesting colors- not your typical ones from that time period.

Khris is a doll maker and she is having a giveaway of an Annie doll. One of the things she has asked the people entering her giveaway is to send postcards from where they live.

Sheree is having a big giveaway of lots of interesting fabric and quilter's tools. It is really lovely prize for someone.

Heather is a wonderful pattern designer who is giving away a quilt. It is truly stunning to look at. Do go and check out her beautiful giveaway.

Kim continues to clean out her sewing area and has been parting with some fabrics,patterns and books. Kim has encouraged others to take part in her challenge. She has finished some lovely pieces and celebrates the accomplishments of others. I know you will find her blog an entertaining read.

Thank you to one and all for your generosity- it is a testament to the kindness and thoughtfulness of the quilters out in blogland.

I had a wonderful visit from my aunt Jan on Tuesday. She brought me a wonderful vase with sweetpeas in it, that had belonged to my grandmother. She also gave me a large photo of my great grandparents on their wedding day. We shared a day of laughter and memories of things gone by. She and my mother are great collectors of family photos and stories and are the genealogy afficiandos.

Genealogy is like a big jigsaw puzzle- the more things you find out - the more questions you start to ask- Do you have other hobbies that you enjoy exploring besides quilting?

Today I am off to lunch with a dear friend. I will go and do some work at school in the morning - the last days of summer vacation promise to be full. Thursday I will go and spray baste my quilts together so that I can begin quilting them. I also hope to get some baby wraps cut out so that I can get them quilted. I may have to make a quilt time schedule so I can continue to be productive in the quilting department. Some quilters set aside an hour a day to quilt- perhaps that will be my fall goal. A girl needs to play as well as work - balance between the two is a neverending challenge. How do you find enough time to quilt?

Wishing you good health and good times as the seasons change.
Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna