Catching Up

I've been neglecting my blog lately. Someone even noticed (thanks JW!). Between travels, the heat, reading, the heat, sewing, and the heat, well, I've just run out of steam at the end of each day. But I did want to make an attempt to catch back up.

So here's what I've been sewing. I machine quilted two quilts. One is a fairly large square "Blooming 9-Patch" from the book Tradition with a Twist by Dalene Young Stone & Blanche Young. This quilt is about 5' x 5'. My mother-in-law bought the fabric for me for my birthday about 6 years ago. I finished the top before she passed away, but sadly, she did not get to see it. The top sat for several years while I figured out how I wanted to quilt it. Here are some detail shots of the quilting from the front and then the back. It took me about 3 months to finish this, but I'm VERY pleased with the results. As soon as I get the binding on, I'll post some more pictures.




I also finished the quilting on a baby quilt for a co-worker. She comes back from her maternity leave soon, so I need to get the binding on this one also. This has a thick batting in it that makes it puffy with lots of texture. Once it's washed a few times, it'll have a nice, soft feel and I hope baby likes using it. For fun, I just doodled across it, randomly adding hearts here and there. And mixed in with the hearts are about half a dozen flowers. You can see one of the flowers in the third picture.





And I completed my July block for my precision piecing Block of the Month project. See the white triangle near the top? Argh. One of the points got cut off. Because of the way the unit was constructed, I couldn't fix it. But I DID figure out what I did wrong. Hopefully that will be the only one like that. The rest of the corners match almost perfectly and it measures 12.5" just like it's supposed to. So far, so good! I need to finish my August block before September so I'm back on track.


And finally ... I was at RomCon.

For 1 hour.

Yes, it's true. One hour.

My employer sent me to a conference in Denver July 11-14. I thought about going early to attend RomCon's Friday & Saturday events, but I couldn't make it work financially. I did manage to schedule my Saturday flight so I arrived with enough time to attend the book signing because I really, really wanted to meet the incredible Brenda Novak. The smaller nature of RomCon meant I got to sit for half an hour and chat with her. We brainstormed some new ideas for next year's auction and we're both looking forward to how it might turn out. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, here's a shot of me with Brenda:


And bonus! A shot of me with equally incredible Pamela Clare. I had a great time chatting with her for a little while too.

I said hello and "I love your books" to a couple of other authors, but then my hour was up and I had to leave. I caught the hotel shuttle BACK to the airport so I could then shuttle to downtown Denver. 3 airports, 2 airplanes, 2 hotels, 4 shuttle rides--all before dinner.

So, that's what's going on in my life these days. With football season around the corner, I'm about to get my serious sewing mojo on. Cannot wait!

Comments

  1. HilciaAugust 20, 2010 at 9:39 AM

    Oh Phyl, how wonderful that you got to meet both Brenda Novak and Pamela Clare. I'm hoping to at least do a flyby to one of the conferences if or when they come to New York. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 21, 2010 at 1:01 AM

    Janet W: You must have seen this but everyone else should too: Mary Balogh talking about YOUR plot for the upcoming anthology "It Happened One Season" ... just can't wait! http://www.marybalogh.com/news.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. PhylAugust 21, 2010 at 11:10 PM

    Hilcia--isn't RWA in NYC next year? If so there's your chance!

    And thank you Anonymous for the update about the book! I had been poking around Mary's site just the other day, but I didn't click on the newsletter. Good to finally have a release date!

    ReplyDelete
  4. HilciaAugust 22, 2010 at 2:33 PM

    I saw the news about It Happened One Season and I'm really excited about that book, Phyl! I'll be getting it when it comes out in April -- so glad they have a release date.

    And yes! I forgot RWA is in NYC next year! I'll make sure to attend at least one day. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChristineAugust 30, 2010 at 4:58 PM

    Hi Phyl,
    The Blooming 9 Patch looks amazing. I love the green blended with the fall-like colors. Really just lovely.

    How very cool that you went to RomCon even if just for one hour. It'll be great to finally meet you at RWA in NYC next summer! You can set up a booth to sign the historical romance anthology next to Mary Balogh. LOL! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. PhylAugust 30, 2010 at 6:59 PM

    Thanks Christine. I can't wait to have that one hanging on my wall.

    And while I'd love to come to RWA, I doubt it'll happen. It was serendipity that I made it to RomCon.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I think I have ADD

Image
I'm one of those people who constantly moves from project to project. I do finish things, but midway through one project I'll stop and pull out fabric to start another one. Or something will come up that makes me start in on something else--a challenge, a class, a need to make a gift, or a new fabric purchase. All of those things change my focus. I don't want to admit how many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I have here, but if I were totally honest, it's probably at least a dozen. Here are 3 I started this summer. And I'm not including the one I started the other night because I couldn't get a decent picture of it. This first one is from a class I took in June with 2 friends. I still have 4 more flowers to add to it. This is funky and fun, but it's large and appliqueing down the flowers is awkward at times. A while back I posted a picture of some flower blocks that I'm doing as part of an exchange with the same 2 friends. I had another set of blocks to finis...
Read more

TBR Day. Conor's Way / Laura Lee Guhrke. 1996

Image
Back in the early 2000's, when I began lurking at the old AAR  boards, I heard talk of this book. And according to Amazon, I apparently broke down and purchased a copy for myself via Marketplace in 2004 for a "mere" $4.75. Today a used print copy goes for about $25. I don't know why I waited so long to read it. I'd keep seeing references to how good it is, especially from KristieJ who has been nagging our TBR hostess to read it forever. I think I was saving it for a day when I knew I needed to read a really good book. But when I saw that this month's theme was "Recommended Read" it was clear that this was the book I had to read. I was really, really stupid to wait 8 years to read this. Frankly, I should just end this review with that statement. I am writing this Tuesday evening. Earlier today I saw on Twitter that at least 2 other TBR participants are reviewing this for today as well. And they'll probably do a better job at it than me. B...
Read more

57, 3, 15

Image
57 years. 3 months. 15 days. That's how old my sister was when she died on December 30, 2015. Char spent four and a half years in a tug of war with cancer. For a while there she seemed to be in total control. But that insidious disease came back and this time would not let up. Here's the kicker. She had uterine cancer, just like me. Only hers was Stage 4 when they found it. Mine barely qualified as Stage 1. Life is often unfair, but that seemed the cruelest irony of all. As I wept that she was dying, she wept because I was not. It's taken me a long time to process this and to be willing to talk openly about it. Some of you reading this have been very open with your own struggles with health, grief, death, and dying. I've wanted to be, but I think I needed for the worst of it to be over first. Every time I tried to write about it, I'd sit paralyzed at the keyboard. I just wasn't ready I guess. Char decided to suspend further treatment last August. It wa...
Read more