On the first Wednesday of the month, we DayStitchers exchange boxes.  I’ve added a button at the top of my Web page where I can post photos of our blocks:  Box Quilts.

This month I took home Cathy’s box.  Cathy’s request is to make a heart block, but use no heart fabric.  The colors are turquoise/purple/olive and white (which she has supplied).  Any suggestions for a fun heart block?  She hasn’t requested a specific size.

Sue

 (Click on photo for a larger image)

Is this the cutest bag or what?  I think we all love bags.  Yesterday fellow DayStitchers (and they’re also friends) June, Betty, Margarget and I met at Pam’s house for a day of quilting.  We each made one of these bags.  I hope to get a picture of the five of us with our finished products.  It was a super fun day, chatting, laughing, sewing, laughing, lunching, laughing – and actually getting something done.  This bag (I did the “tote” size in the whole-cloth variation) is by Indygo Junction.  Not a beginner pattern, for sure, but the end result is just smashing.  This pattern utilizes drapery grommets to thread the handle through.  Very clever, and a very nice bag.  And isn’t quilting with friends just the best!

Sue

I am typing my fastest so I can get to a window and watch the show.  (I have GOT to start planning my time better.)  We live within a very few miles of a large lake, a large casino, and a large amusement park, and so we have a pretty good view of multiple fireworks displays every year.

Wednesday our DayStitchers group continued our box exchange.  We each have a “box” with fabrics we’ve chosen and specific theme or instructions for our box.  We take home some else’s box for the month, and return it on the 1st Wednesday of the following month.  I’ve added the new June photos of the DayStitchers’ boxes.  It is so much fun to bring back someone else’s project and surprise her with what you made.  And it’s even more fun to see what someone else made for you.

My mom’s 80th birthday is Sunday, and we’re planning a birthday party for her in the party room of her apartment building.  Nothing elaborate, but still a million details.  Tomorrow I’ll make sure all the details get pulled together and make sure I haven’t missed anything, as I’ve been picking up what I think I need here and there.  As I said, I’ve GOT to start managing my time better. 

Then we’ll be heading west to Seattle for a grand-nephew’s wedding.  Woo-hoo!!!  Family weddings are always the BEST!!!  We’re looking forward to seeing all our Washington family, as well as family from North Dakota, Minnesota, Denver and Texas.  In addition, we’re going to make it somewhat of a road trip, so we will be able to also do some family visiting on the way back home.  Yes, we had the wisdom and foresight to plan on driving THIS year. 

It will be a fun trip though.  I have been cutting and preparing Baggies of fabric for my in-car project.  I’m going to start a Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  Should be done just in time for my first grandchild’s graduation from college.  We don’t have any grandchildren as of yet, so I figure the timing will come out just right…

May was the first month in 2008 for our Wednesday stitching group (Daystitchers) to resume our box exchange (we had to wait for all the Snowbirds to return from the south!).  I posted photos in my photo album of our first month’s efforts.  It’s always fun to see what everyone did and how they interpreted the theme and the fabric into a block.  Note:  The person holding the block is the person who MADE the block, not the owner of the box.