Happy Saturday everyone!

Rain is still pouring down in buckets - a perfect day to stay inside and quilt. Unfortunately we have to go to the "Winter Party" for work tonight - it's "politically correct" for me as a manager to be there. I'd much rather be quilting!

I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped at the Sew Frenzy last night. Too much gabbing I think! It would have helped, too, if I'd remembered to bring the pattern for the applique block I planned to stitch. I got all the freezer paper templates ironed onto the fabric, marking done, and pieces cut out. But no idea whatsoever how they were supposed to go onto the background LOL. Whoops! I didn't stick it out until midnight - no one did. Left about 10:30 when I'd done everything I could with what I brought to work on.

I love the idea of "maverick" quilts and want so much to start "freeing up" my quilting in that direction. I have so many ideas but so little time! I have one "maverick" that I've finished so I thought I'd share a picture of that quilt.

Years ago I taught a class called "Precision Machine Piecing" using Marcia McCloskey's book "Lessons in Machine Piecing". I taught it several times at guild "Saturday Class Days" and a couple times at Daisy Kingdom in Portland Oregon. I had so many teaching blocks - including these LeMoyne stars, Barbara Fretchie stars, and Churn Dashes. Plus little blue and white nine patches left over from a Burgoyne Surrounded quilt. They sat in a drawer for years. I just didn't want to make enough to make a quilt from any of them. One day in a mad cleaning frenzy I dug them out and decided to throw them all together in a single top. I had to put narrow borders around the LeMoyne stars to make them the same size as the others, then stuck the smaller blocks on each end. It turned out WAY better than I ever dreamed it would. I'd just gotten it back from the longarmer when I took this picture. I love the Baptist Fans she quilted all over it.