This and That

I have a dear friend named Eileen who I met through my online group several years ago. Although she lives in Maryland, we've met in person a couple of times, and we correspond by e-mail daily, usually exchanging two or three e-mails in the course of the day. Eileen and I have a great deal in common, although we're separated in age by 26 years. I've mentioned Eileen before; for one thing, she did some lovely hand quilting on a Jo Morton basket quilt I made and posted a photo of.

One of the many things I admire about Eileen is that she's not intimidated by technology as many people of her generation are. Perhaps her enthusiasm for trying out new things runs in her genes, since her older brother is very active on his computer as well. Although Eileen still enjoys hand quilting, after listening to the rest of us gals from our online group talk about machine quilting, Eileen decided to buy a Juki like mine a year or so ago, and has been teaching herself machine quilting. She's prolific at piecing quilts, and they were piling up at an alarming rate, so now she machine quilts some of the smaller pieces, and uses her hand quilting time to work on the quilts that are special to her.

Eileen reads my blog daily and has often said that she wouldn't know what to do with a blog because she just doesn't have much to say. In the last few days, our friends Kairle and Patty suggested that Eileen start a blog as a way of keeping in touch with all of her family and friends spread throughout the United States. Much to my delighted surprise, Eileen took the plunge and set up her blog today. I don't know how often she'll post or what she'll have to say, but I'm sure she'll at least tell us about her quilting progress and the various projects she's working on. If you get a chance, go on over to Eileen's blog and welcome her to Blogland!

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Why does it always seem like the little quilting projects you think will take you just an hour or two end up taking all day? My plan for today was to get a checkerboard border on my Thimbleberries Club quilt and then get started on the Hometown Christmas project. Here it is, 9:30 p.m., and I've just finished that checkerboard border. That's it up there at the top of this post. Next--but not for a few weeks--I'll add a fence border.

Speaking of the Hometown Christmas project, take a look at my sidebar and see all the quilters who have blogs and who have told me they will be working on the project! I know of several other quilters who don't have blogs but who may send me photos to post. I'm excited! I hope to work on this tomorrow and get a photo posted of the first section in the next day or two. My plan is to finish each section well before the deadline so I can post photos and give the block dimensions. I may well change some of my blocks from the original, and when I do, I'll show you a photo of the block I've made as well as a photo of what the original block looks like. I think there may be other quilters out there who haven't been able to find the books but who may want to design their own blocks or create blocks similar to those in the original pattern. I would encourage you, though, to try to find the books for a number of obvious reason, but also, each book contains additional projects and recipes, and I think that you'd enjoy adding these to your quilting library.

Our weather has stayed HOT here--over 100 degrees. The TV weatherperson reported yesterday that we can expect a bit of a cool down to the low- to mid-90s by tomorrow night--just in time for the work week! Isn't that always the way? I love Fall and am looking forward to the cooler weather and changing colors of the season. I keep telling myself that in another month, Fall will be here. Soon, in a few weeks, it will be time to change the indoor decorations from Summer to Fall. In some ways, Summer has raced by, but in others, Fall can't get here soon enough!