Let's Chat!

When you are with friends, you can let your hair hang down, get burdens off your chest, sing the blues, cry in your beer, shout with each others joys, laugh at jokes and unload your sorrows.  And these friends, who have ventured with you down the long halls of life, lift you up, give you support and bring you the peace you desire.  They are truly there for you no matter what!
We are just chatting, but oh what a strength we get out of these chats!
The expatchers gathered Tuesday to 'just chat' as our hands were busy with various other chores.

Karen brought her four patch flannel blocks to square up.  She is making blankets for 'her boys'.

She has her ruler marked where the boundaries should rest--that makes it doubly correct, before trimming.

Camilla has brought her machine so she can work feverishly away on a Binky quilt top.

These squares were cut at a previous gathering and quick to sew.

Linda was adding the finishing touches to the binding on this quilt top.

Brenda, our hostess for the day, was happily stitching away on a burp cloth.

This lovely collection is going with her as she journeys to be with her newest grandbaby.

Bet you can guess the sex of this new addition?
Yes, we are just chatting.  But, somehow, when you walk out the door, your steps seem lighter, your heart is filled with laughter and joy--just knowing your friends are listening and they care.

Spinners Delight

Tuesday was the monthly meeting of our spinners group--a great group of talented people who brighten any dull day.  The highlight of the gathering is the round robin of show and tell--Here's what was shown on this special Tuesday.

Rosemary had her crocheted sari silk (or maybe it's rayon--hard to tell without a burn test) scarf to show--lovely colors.

From the hands of Scharine, we have this seafoam yarn from fiber purchased from Rhonda Selser's sheep Buffy.

Connie, a master at any spinning wheel or equipment--this charka especially--showed her brown cotton/silk noil blend--such fine spinning.

An interesting way to contain the spun yarn.

Up close and personal of this fiber combination

Another one of Connie's brown (red) cotton skeins.

In this experiment, Connie carded wool and angora bunny-dyed it one color, then overdyed to give the skeins a rich shade.  She was trying to achieve a halo affect--we think she succeeded.

Susan brought her sick little bunny so he could receive his meds every two hours.  She is wearing one of her latest shawls--she has joined Ravelry group--12 shawls in 12 months--really ambitious.

This is a lovely color combination that Penny was plying.

This is the label on the fiber combination that Penny was spinning.

 

Scharine was showing lovely ikat woven fabric that she has created.  She has become a super ikat weaver having studied under her grandmother.

Susan showed off her spinning--she is a fairly new spinner, but is doing good work. 

Not Really in the Mood..............

Not Really in the mood...is right!  What is it about those cool rainy days that makes one just want to sit by the fireplace, have a nice cup of tea and read a book?  Our area has had plenty of those days lately--not complaining too much though, as those rains are badly needed in this drought.  So, we'll just take our cup of tea and a nice book to sit in front of the fireplace to enjoy some relaxing days.  The sewing room 'called' out a few times though....................

This small quilt was begun last summer so have been sewing these 3" wide X 5.5" blocks together to give us stairs.  This was made from a jelly roll.

This will be an addition to the Binky Patrol quilt stash for Expatchers group.  No borders needed, just a nice binding will do the trick.

Not in a real mood to sew on these squares either--another one of the Binky Patrol tops.  One of these days we'll be in the mood--it won't take long to sew these.

Let's pull out some bright colors to cut strips to make for nine patch blocks--okay, these are easy to sew too.

And the nine patch blocks will be added to the already finished 6" snowball blocks in the stash.

This free pattern was pulled off the internet last summer as we had snowball prints to work with.  This is a great setting and will make a nice size Binky quilt for an older child. 

And it doesn't take much energy to fuse February's FatCat Patterns to keep up with the project.  Just need to thread the machine with black to do the buttonhole stitch around the edges.  Sindy also has another interesting BOM going on--Be My Neighbor--house blocks.  check it out.  Okay, today is another cloudy day, but maybe a long walk will turn the tide of 'not in the mood'!

Binkies and Sundry Baby Covers

Tuesday was gathering day for expatchers quilt group.  It was my first attendance for some weeks so interesting to see what had been happening in Judy M's studio.  The group is on Binky Patrol!  The gals have been busy sewing their little hearts out for this worthy project.

This quilt top began with only the two center Sunbonnet Sue blocks--

This one began with only four of the outside blocks--see what can be added to make a nice size baby quilt.

This began with the center block--great borders add to the width and length.

And these two quilts used panels with added borders.

Judy M was working on this quilt with brights but the light blue just didn't add to the flavor of the top.

So bright yellow was auditioned.

but the bright blue won out!

Brenda was showing off her latest creations.  Happy frogs have their place on this quilt gift. 

Judy M did the quilting and the frogs really look as though they can 'hop' off the quilt!

Fleece for the backing with no batting makes for a soft blankie for the fortunate baby.

Another one from Brenda--happy butterflies!

The back is lofty fabric--hard to see the quilting pattern though.

Joyful butterflies don't care--they are ready to cuddle a new baby girl!

And the swirly heart patterns come to life on the back of this third quilt from Brenda's hands.

The Camera does lie!  The true color of this soft baby quilt is browns, pinks, white--not black and white.  What a shame the colors didn't pop in the camera lens--but, this will be a nice cuddly quilt. 

"Spoils" from Spin-in!

One of the best things about January Spin-in is the opportunity to have all the vendors right in the same room with you!  Of course, it is not very cost effective if you are planning to save your money!  The fibers and yarns are right there to stare you in the face every single day.........We can only resist for so long before pulling out the old pocket book and taking the plunge.  Ohh, so many lovely colors and great variety of fibers right at your finger tips.  What we purchased was only from a small portion of the vendors present. 

String Theory Colorworks --Color strips are different for each skein. 

Lorna Laces yarn from Weaver's Corner in Baton Rouge had a super discount--so had to purchase several skeins for various projects.

Loved this cotton/cashmere blend--such a lovely yellow color. 

Red never shows up right with photos--this is cotton/merino blend--great spinning!  These slivers came from a new vendor at spin-in--love those newbies!

Daily Fibers was a second year vendor-just couldn't reist this BFL, which is the new BFF in the spinning world.

This silk/wool blend comes from the creative mind & hands of Dicentra Designs.  You can also find her on Facebook.  These fibers are a real dream to spin.

River's Edge Fiber Arts had this lovely overdyed BFL (looks more purple in photo than it is).  The orginal was oatmeal BFL wool.

Uncommon Threads of Palm Harbor, FL had this silk, wool, silver fiber--just right for our 2013 anniversary--25 years of spin-in!  Now what will we produce with this silver/wool roving--hmmm, it will need to be very special.  Put the thinking cap on--we do have a few months to ponder............