Good morning!

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted. Where does the time go? Seems like there just wasn't much of anything to talk about. Seven days of baby sitting in a row really emphasized why God gives children to young people! I've not mentioned that I've been having trouble with my left knee since the end of March - both arthritis and bursitis - and the knee took a real beating chasing babies for a week straight. I wasn't able to walk without a limp, and had trouble sleeping due to the pain in spite of taking Ibuprofen several times a day. Wednesday morning I got a cortisone shot in that knee, which gave me relief almost immediately. There is still some pain now - I've probably been on it too much since the shot - but it is much better.

Not much to report in the way of quilting. I'm still working on the red and white quilt, sewing blocks and sashing together, so it isn't enough progress to justify posting a new picture. I have been doing some appliqué also, and that I can show you.

It's been over a year since I last worked on "It's a Wonderful Life" - Jan Patek's Girl Gang quilt for 2006-2007. It was almost finished - all I needed to do was appliqué the borders. I started cutting out the winter border for the bottom right corner, and decided I didn't like Jan's design. I got discouraged and just put it away. As it's one of the few unfinished tops remaining on my list I decided to get it out and finish it. I started with the spring border in the upper left corner, then moved on to the three stars that comprise the summer border. Unfortunately, while I was sitting in the recliner stitching away watching the Mariners lose yet another game I caught the quilt in the chair and ripped a small hole in it right below the stars. Thank goodness it is a primitive quilt! Apparently I've used the last of the gold and cream plaid when making this house block, so I had to patch it with something else. It's impossible to tell in the picture, but the patch is a narrow stripe of gold and cream. It looks a bit odd now, but should be more or less unnoticeable when the quilt is quilted. I said a few choice words when I discovered the tear, but I'm over the shock now.