Coming Along!

I'm late posting tonight again, but this time it's all good. I came home to an empty house--even my husband wasn't home because he had a late meeting at work. What luxury! If only a cleaning service had visited before I got here!

My house is really filthy. At this point, I think the only really clean thing is the refrigerator I cleaned the other day. I might decide to live in it. After the domestic stresses of the past few days, I just didn't feel much like cleaning. Instead, I figuratively locked myself in the Sweat Shop all evening and got on with the very important job of quilting. At least when I'm in there, I can ignore any mess outside that door, and any mess inside the door is usually a happy clutter of fabric and quilting supplies, and I can live with that.

The quilting on the leaf quilt is coming along, and I think I just might finish tomorrow night; if not tomorrow, though, then most definitely by Friday. Well, unless a kid comes home to visit or some other natural disaster strikes. Of course, I'll still need to add the binding. Oh, and I guess I still have to clean house too, so there are a few possibilities that may side track my plans.

Speaking of projects moving along, how's everyone in the Hometown Christmas group doing? By now, you should have completed the first section and have the second section done by the end of the weekend. The first book ends, I think, with the red bird section which isn't numbered Section 3, but it will be the next one we'll work on, and that will be "due" by October 15th. Are you all keeping up?

I wanted to share a couple quilty things that have arrived in the mail. Since I couldn't attend the Thimbleberries retreat at the Main Street Cotton Shop in Hutchinson, Minnesota, I did the next best thing--I ordered the Mr. Halloween's Party bucket of strips from that line and I ordered a Buck Bundle of the Thimbleberries fall fabric line. If you're not familar with MSCS's Buck Bundles, they're kind of fun! A Buck Bundle consists of a 10" square of each piece of fabric in a line, so it's really about the equivalent of getting 4 charm packs. I didn't get a photo of the Buck Bundle, but here's a photo of the Mr. Halloween's Party bucket:

In other quilting news, did you know that Kim Diehl is coming out with her third book soon? She's one of my favorite quilt designers and I've preordered her book. Since I began quilting, I've always preferred quilts that are pieced with some applique added, and I love quilts done in the country/homespun/slightly primitive style, so when I "discovered" Kim Diehl, I felt like she was a kindred spirit. Looking closely at the quilts in her books, I see many of the same fabrics I have in my stash. Here's the new book:

My last bit of upcoming news is that a new Art to Heart/Nancy Halvorsen book should be out before long called "Be Attitudes." I really like the look of this quilt but I'm not certain I'd ever get around to making it, so this is one I haven't ordered. I may change my mind, of course. But for now, I'm resisting. Here's a photo of the book with the quilt on the cover--cute, isn't it?:

And since these aren't out yet, I'm not really "megging" you, am I? Nah! I wouldn't do that!