Home Again

I'm home from attending my brother's wedding in California - it was SO nice to see all of my family and meet the bride's family - a very happy occasion! They seemed to like the quilted table runner I made for their gift, so that made me happy.

Now that our newest grandchild has arrived, I finally got around to making this new piece of wall art using Scrabble game tiles to spell out the names of everyone in my little family. It was a fun project and I did have a bit of help doing it, which makes it even more fun. If/when we have another grand baby I'll just have to start over, and that will be fine with me. Luckily, it fit perfectly into a thrift store frame I had on hand so I just had to paint it. I used Heat & Bond to adhere the fabric background to a sturdy piece of cardboard, the tiles themselves are attached with hot glue, and the book page scallops received a shot of spray adhesive to their backside after I inked the edges a bit. I twisted a strip of burlap to make the flower and added a vintage red button to the center.

Yesterday I attended my monthly meeting of the Salt Lake rug group - it's been two months since we saw each other so it was really nice to catch up on the visiting. Myra's beautiful floral rug is nearly finished - she used a pattern that was originally for an appliqued quilt but adapted beautifully to a hooked rug. I'm sure you would recognize each of the flowers if you could see them up close.      I love it!

Nancy is making this Susan Quicksall design for a new grandchild - just has to work on those borders.

I began a small round rug that I will fill with cat's paw circles - scrappy as usual.

Yvonne was hoping to get the wool applique on this quilt finished quickly, so she could layer it and begin quilting it on a road trip she'll soon be leaving on. It was her first try at using wool for the applique and she's not quite sure if she likes it as much as using cotton needle turn.

I bought myself one of the new Zirkel magnetic pincushions recently. I've used a magnetic one for years now, but this one is extra strong, and the pins hang over the edges in a circle so they're easy to grasp without any fumbling. I worry a little about it grabbing onto my thread snips on occasion, but it's supposed to be okay with the electronic sewing machines. I'll see how I like it after a week or two of use. Have any of you tried one?