FIBER FONDLING

Wow, I got in some serious fiber fondling while I was at Anna Maria's babysitting for her while she was at quilt market in Portland. Her children are old enough now that I am able to do more than just child care. Her mother-in-law had already finished whatever huge pile of laundry may have there by the time I arrived. So what's a quilter to do with some time on her hands?

I used her big farm table to change my current quilt project from this


to this (using one of her fabulous new "Garden Party" prints for the border).


I played around with free motion and basted the quilt that way. It worked well, but it was most likely a mistake as it will be a real pain to take those stitches out. I am not going to try to free motion the quilt though (except maybe the border). Actually I think I'll go for hand quilting; I've got an idea in mind for how I want to do it. I'll have to play around with it a bit, but DRATS, I still have a sweater I need to finish knitting.

But the real fiber fondling came on Monday when I decided to transform her fabric scraps from this pile


to these stacks:


Oh, and before I left for home yesterday, we checked out a couple quilt shops in Franklin TN. (She had met the owners at market.) And, of course, I couldn't come away empty handed, so I now have the fabrics I need to start my next quilt--a picnic quilt with all kinds of "food themed" fabrics.

By the way, I can tell you that her market was quite successful, but I'm not going to spill the beans; you'll just have to wait for her to tell you.