Monday Meanderings

First, a quick welcome to my new followers, and if you are looking for the Quilters Blog Hop and Giveaway post, you can find it here.

Yesterday was another busy day.  Barbara, who writes the Cat Patches blog, and I met up for lunch, followed by a quick visit to our LQS which is handily right across the street from the little diner, then off to the monthly Piecemakers Guild meeting.   I did complete the block of the month, which is called Farm Friendliness (though I have no idea why), and here it is:

This block will eventually become part of a baby quilt to be donated through the guild to our local hospital's layette project.
Speaking of the layette project, here are just a few of the baby quilts donated by the guild members this month: 

Unfortunately I didn't start photographing until more than halfway through the show-and-tell for these quilts, and let me tell you, it's almost impossible to get these ladies to stand still long enough to get a clear shot of their creations.  This small group of ladies donates on average about 15 handmade quilts, 5-8 afghans, several receiving blankets as well as gowns and onesies each month.   The quilt shown in my February NewFO post was also donated this month.

During show-and-tell, Barbara shared with the group the story of her recently completed Two Grandmothers Quilt.  Friends, this quilt is truly amazing seen up close and personal, and Barbara's free motion quilting is absolutely perfect for this heirloom quilt.   If you haven't read the story of this quilt, you can find out more by clicking the link above, and here is a photo taken while she shared the story with the group.

Our program for this month was a presentation on the history and tradition of signature quilts, their meaning to those who made them, and the special significance they held for the person who received these gifts of love and friendship.  I'm awaiting a call back from the presenter and hope to have her permission to feature a few of the photos of the signature quilts shown as part of this program in an upcoming post.

Monday's mail also brought a package containing these wonderful folk-art shamrocks won during a recent giveaway, created by Cherry at Cherry's Prairie Primitives.

These would look great propped in a wooden bowl or basket, but I'm thinking of attaching them to a natural linen cord and hanging them as a group next to my kitchen entryway.   So seasonal, and my Dad would have loved these - St. Patricks Day was his favorite holiday.   Thanks so much Cherry!

Today is thankfully a stay-at-home day and I hope to finally complete all the ditch quilting on Tropical Sunrise and maybe even start the free motion quilting, as well as getting more hand quilting done on the Biblical Blocks quilt.  I can finally see the end in sight for this latter quilt - and I do mean finally - it's been sixteen years in the making.  It WILL be done this year, one way or another.  There, I've made the commitment - maybe I should have done that fifteen years ago, what do you think?