Mixed Feelings

Today is a day for me with mixed feelings as I'm sure many of you can relate. 10 years ago today I was in High School, the entire school was in the gym listening to a presentation by grandparents of one of the victims of the Columbine shooting (off to an eerie start)... Then one of the teachers runs into the gym and announces to the whole school, "The World Trade Center just got bombed, the US is under attack!"

Needless to say, the rest of the day no classes were taught. No lesson plans were followed. Every single classroom was watching in awe as part of our country began to crumble in front of us. There were fears that the draft would be reinstated and many of our friends would soon be off. Several parents came to the school to collect their children early in fear of an attack on our school.

Today I watched much of the coverage of the 10th anniversary of this somber day and reflect on where we are today. I am thankful for the country we live in and the sacrifices many people have made, civilian or enlisted. I am honored to know several members of our armed forces that have served. I am grateful that many friends have gone into battle and returned home. All but one have returned home unharmed (physically at least...)

I am also thrilled to have my Father-In-Law home after he voluntarily worked in the Green Zone in Iraq for five and a half years. It was a lllooooooonnngg period of unknowing and fear that I will never forget. It is truly a blessing to have him home with us....

But - today I am happy that my beloved Browns are playing the Home Opener (and leading at the moment :] ). I have been able to quilt and finish a project and start another. I am home safe and got to spend it watching football with my husband...and quilting... What more could a girl ask for?

So, without further ado, here's the quilting on the Wonky Triple Rail quilt I just finished:

 I quilted free-form swirls all over this one for a lighter/fun feeling. This quilt is just so cheery swirls seemed perfect for it.

 By the time I added borders the top measured approx 34" x 42". Not knowing how large this quilt would be I got a yard of the backing fabric and would go from there. I wanted the pattern on the back to run up and down (I didn't want to the animals to look like they were tipsy or anything) so I was about 6" short on my backing length. I took a few strips of coordinating fabrics and added them to the back. I think it turned out pretty cute!

AND here's my Challenge Quilt for our Guild!!! Don't you just love it?! I have been seeing a gazillion spiderweb/kaleidoscope variations on the Internet and thought that would be a fun block for this challenge. I was originally thinking of doing more of a string version of a spiderweb block, then my Mom and I were searching a few blogs the one day and I noticed this by Cindy (also a Chef on the Moda Bake Shop) and I knew I had to make it...

The only thing was her blocks originally were made out of 6" and 4" strips. I only had a Fat Eighth of my challenge fabric to use and I had to use all of it. The solution - I thought to get the most out of my challenge fabric I would place it in the corners. There was NO WAY there would be enough to use it as one of the main fabrics. So I started with those pieces being cut from a 4.5" strip. I would cut as many as I could and go from there...

So, with a bit of new math and equipped with my trusty Kaleidoscope Ruler by Marti Michell I started cutting. I had this quilt together in no time. I honestly think it took about as long to lay out the quilt to arrange the colors as it did to piece it together. Quick! I like it!

It's still not quilted but it was too stinkin' cute not to show it off. I have to prepare the backing still (all 10 fabrics added to the Challenge fabric have to be on the back of the quilt) and I will quilt it simply this week.

Let's see, this weekend I finished a top, a quilt and put borders on another to get quilted this week AND I started another top... Productive week if I do say so myself.

So, now that I'm done blabbing, how are you spending your day? What projects are you working on?