November and December are a bad time for me at work (long work days and short rest nights at the post office), but that's behind me now and I can feel my sewing engine beginning to rev up... lol! Today I finished a 1-Day Mystery Quilt hosted by planetpatchwork.com, and I just finished going thru my stash and getting it a bit more organized. While doing so, I found that I've already got the fabrics needed for the first 3 blocks, so I can begin sewing tomorrow. Yep! I'm enjoying a 3-day weekend, spending a lot of time with my fabric and sewing machine! I like it that the first blocks aren't due until late February, what a relief after getting thru the holiday season, eh? Talk with you all later... Dan p.s. Here's a picture of the mystery quilt I worked on yesterday and today. It's unfinished because I want to add some more borders to make it a 90"x90" quilt.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and suggestions. I had not thought about the template issue, but many of the quilters will select a pattern from Quilter's Cache and some of those involve using a template to cut the fabric. I guess if you have no idea what a template is, take a look at some of those patterns. If you do not think you can make a block that uses templates, that will be another thing I will add to the list. It really is not difficult though so consider that you might be able to do it even if you have not done that before. The main thing is that when you print out the template, it will tell you the size the sample should be and check that. If it is not the right size, your printer needs to be adjusted - otherwise your block will not turn out the right size. Quilter's Cache also has a scale (using symbols) as to how difficult the block is so if you are considering requesting one from that site, make sure it is not at the most difficult level. Thanks and I'm sure I'll pop back in with some more thoughts. By the way, I am not making a list yet, so even if you sent e-mail or posted here, please do that after I list all the rules and begin sign-ups - likely to be mid-Sept. Jeanne

Yes, magothyrivergirl - the Patchwork Pines quilt is to be suitable for a female/girl/teenager. Our new hospital in Orange, NSW, Australia, is still being built and is due to open in 2011. So the quilting group I belong to has made the Oncology Ward at our new hospital our project. While the hospital is being built, we are all trying to make quilts to stock up. Our existing hospital doesn't have an oncology ward - all patients with cancer must go to Sydney for treatment. So the new oncology ward will treat patients all over country NSW. The last 2 years my quilts have been blue, so next year I'm aiming for pink from the Patchwork Pines and really bright fabrics from Carolina Lilies. Thank you in advance for everyone's help - makes my job a little faster. Tinyteena (Kristene)

Hi, Eileen and others - Within the US, I would suggest 7 - 10 days before the birthday just in case the mail is a little slow. Maybe allow up to 3 weeks for those being sent outside the US. It probably won't take that long, but that would get it there in time for the person's birthday. Now, I was in an "early bird" group this year, so you may run later than what I am saying ... and we all know sometimes something comes up and you just can't get it out exactly when you planned. It's great to get it there before the person's birthday, but if not - at least aim for her birthday month. If your questions was more in terms of how early is too early, I think most people would be happy to start celebrating 2-3 weeks early. I will be following up by sending another e-mail to everyone with the list of your group members blocks, etc. I have been sending out updates as they come along, but I would like everyone to have the current list with the updates in place and all and we got the lists out early so they may have been misplaced. Thanks to all who are joining in. This will be a lot of fun! Jeanne