Divesting . . . and a little hope

Last night I invited a bunch of my girlfriends over for wine and books.

I know you are thinking, "Oh another book club."

But, NOOOOOOOOOO!

I invited these darlings over to empty my bookcases and take whatever they wanted.

I have read most of them and well, in my new place, these bookcases will be for FABRIC!!

Everyone was very cooperative!

We drank some wine, we laughed, they teased me about some of my books.

We laughed some more . . .

The kid and I made them each take one of our hand knit scarves.

We have so many, we went through a "stage" of knitting scarves all the time,

How many can you have??

I didn't want to sell them at a tag sale, I wanted them to go with people I love.

There was a table full of the kid's jewelry too, and that got a lot of action!

Here is the after picture, they cleared out more than half my books!

Yeah! And we had a really hilarious night too.

So onto the hope . . .

I am in the line of the lovely Irene this weekend.

I have spent the last couple of hours moving all the lawn furniture

into the garage and trying to start this little baby . . .

After a little prayer, it finally started.

It is so loud, but really when you have no power it's the best sound in the world!

Here's hoping that everyone who has to make it through Miss Irene

does so with very little discomfort and fear, and that you are all safe and sound

on the other end of it. Fingers crossed!

Bee Blocks

July was my month to be the Queen

in our NYC Metro Mod Bee

I have received all my blocks now,

except of course for my block!

It's still in pieces on my cutting board.

I sent everyone a red triangle they had to use,

and then they could do whatever they wanted.

Look at all these great blocks!

I am playing around with sashing and corner stones.

Jess sent two! So maybe I don't have to finish mine ;)

Thanks Jess!

Other than a very little bit of sewing time,

my weekend has been filled with cleaning out closets,

dressers and bookcases.

Really all I want to do is sew, but I guess that's

what I'll be doing in November!

A Start, A Finish and Some News . . .

I am taking a class at the City Quilter in NYC this month.

I am mostly taking the class because there are two other

ladies taking it with me, so it's more of a social event.

I need no excuse to sew and giggle with GF's!

I really have no right to start ANOTHER quilt,

but well . . . . you know.

The class is a variation on Court House Steps.

Mine, (above) is not really following along with what we are supposed to do,

such a surprise!

This one below is what we are supposed to be doing,

but my mind is shot these days, (more later)

and I knew I would be ripping out more than sewing

if I tried to follow Judy's sample.

It is pretty though and in another time frame,

I will probably try it.

Here is my finish!

I finished my Modern Quilt for the Show!

I did a grid design for the quilting to follow along

with the Mondrian look.

I love the back and I have to say this is only the second

sleeve I have ever done and it was pretty easy.

My quilts don't really hang on a wall,

They are snuggled and loved.

And now for the news . . . .

Funny how things change so quickly.

I will be moving to an apartment in a couple of months.

That means pairing down 30 years of "stuff," from a house,

to a much smaller space.

The funny thing is, I am really loving parting with most of the "stuff!"

I am looking forward to a simpler life.

I will have a much smaller sewing space, but that's okay too.

Fresh start! It's time.

What have you been up to?

Metro Mod Sewing Day

Today was our NYC Metro Mod sewing day

at the City Quilter. There was only room for 14 of us,

but we had a great time anyway!

There are rumblings about trying to put together

a sewing retreat! I can only hope . . .

Since I treck in from the burbs, I just grabbed a box of kaffe

squares I had already pre-cut and without any idea what I would do,

I started making some blocks.

Not sure where they are going, but it was fun to sew something I didn't

have to think about too much, so I could chat and laugh and

giggle with everyone around me.

There was lots of sewing, cutting, ironing . . .

Here is a busy crowd.

Victoria and Kim having fun . . .

And the lovely Earamichia showing off her Winter Quilt.

A great day had by all!

Thanks to Victoria for putting it all together.

Top Done!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the first event

of the Quilter's Take Manhattan Weekend

at Victoria's Loft.

Victoria was interviewed about her process and how she came to be a quilter.

There was also a diverse panel of creative pips talking about

the modern quilt movement.

It was a great evening with lots of friends and quilty talk!

Just what I needed to inspire me to come home and finish

the top for my Modern Quilt for our show.

You can read about the start here.

Now I just have to figure out how I am going to quilt it.

BUT . . . amazingly enough, my grid method for planning this quilt

worked and it came out the right size.

It's quite a miracle for me! hehehe.

I also received my solids swap from Shelly!

I think I know the perfect place to hang this little wonder.

The quilting is amazing, and I just love it!

Thanks Shelly!! So fun to swap with you.