A Little of This and That

I think one of the absolute BEST things about living in the good ol’ USA is the Public Library.  I and my family have always been big patrons of libraries.  We haul out books by the dozens, treat them with respect, then go back and exchange them for more.

I recently went to a nearby library that has a Master Gardener volunteering to come in for a few hours once a week.  I was able to ask about the orchid that I posted about here.  It is continuing to thrive and is now getting a new leaf in addition to the flower stalk that is growing.  I wanted to ask whether it needed to be repotted and when would be a good time if it did.  All of my questions were answered by a knowledgeable person and for free …  What a deal~!!

And the library that I can walk up to just got in this new quilt book:

I have been trying to get out of the box without much success.  Maybe these designs (with explicit instructions) will help – ok, that’s counterintuitive but it’s a start!  Maybe I can see a Funky Chicken in my future …

I’ve just been dabbling in the sewing room this past week.  I finished quilting the Tam’s Patch quilt that I made with leftover novelty fabrics.  This was the one that I had so much trouble with the thread breaking and I had to rip out a few rows of quilting.  I would really have loved it with the variegated thread, but I guess *done* is better than perfectly undone.  This one will go to Wrap-a-Smile.

And I am joining in a block swap with Mailblocks that has us making 3 sizes of blocks (our choices for the designs) and I have been experimenting to make sure my choices work up properly.  These are the 12 and 6 inch blocks.

Two 12" Fair and Square Blocks

Cathy's Campfire - 6"

Fair and Square is from Quilt.com at this site:

 http://www.quilt.com/BlockOfTheMonth/1997/FairAndSquare.html

And Cathy’s Campfire is from Marcia Hohn’s Quilter’s Cache at this site:

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/CathysCampfireBlock.html

Now I need to get serious about finishing my orange and green cats quilt.