home again, and exhausted. who knew that waiting 5 hours in a hospital waiting room could be so tiring? and those chairs are NOT made for comfort! while I was waiting for my roomie to get through his tests, I got a phone call from my mechanic, letting me know that the transmission in my car is indeed shot, and the bill will be just under $2000. thankfully, I've been able to save up that much, fearing the worst. I will have my car back either Tuesday or Wednesday. okay, enough of my griping tirade. I'll post again tomorrow in a better mood. I did want to say though that Michelle's 8 blocks arrived today, and they are simply beautiful. It was like receiving a bouquet in the mail... thank you Michelle! Michelle appliqued flowers onto her blocks, and they've inspired me to try my hand at it sometime during this extended vacation. as santa would say... peace to all, and to all a good night.

Melissa, you're going to look great. Trust me. But, can I make a suggestion? You may want to get enough to put on the girls' dresses too. You know they're gonna want it, right? Lol, have fun! =========================================================== Okay, let's use those strips of blocks, shall we? Beginning with the 7-block long strip, center it on the edge of your panel block. If it doesn't quite make it the entire length of your block, don't panic. Half-square triangles can be tricky, and your block will be centered once we're done. Here's a picture for reference... Once it is centered, sew it. This is what it should look like... Next attach your 2 9-block long strips. Be careful and make sure you are continuing the checkerboard pattern around your corners... When that is finished, here's what your block will look like... Lastly, grab that 11-block long strip, and attach it too. Again, be careful to continue the checkerboard pattern. (The nice thing about an odd-numbered checkerboard pattern is that, if you need a dark-colored block on the bottom, all you have to do is turn your strip around until it is, and then your pattern will take care of itself and be where you need it once you are done sewing. I noticed this accidently when I was designing this block. Who knew?) ========================================================== While I was taking pictures today, I had someone helping me with her advice and critiques. Here's a picture of Miss Stella, ever the helpful one! She has asked me to ask you all if you'd like the rest of the mystery quilt instructions now, instead of after Easter. Apparently, Stella believes that it would give everyone the opportunity to plan ahead during what is a busy month for everyone... Easter, taxes, planting (don't forget the catnip!), babies (or kittens), and Spring Break. If you all want me to post those instructions, let me know, and I'll go ahead and do it. There are only 2 more sets of instructions, probably about an hours worth of good sewing, to do, so let me know, will you? And don't forget, it would be great if you can post pictures of your blocks! See Ya! Dan

Glad to do it! No thanks necessary. I probably won't post pictures each month because the blocks will be the same but with all of them different this month, it seemed like a fun idea. I'll do it again in June when we do the blue/yellow stars. I think that's going to be a pretty batch. And I can hardly wait until the month with the Santa Faces!

This looks to be a year filled with house projects, large and small, for us. Anderson Windows just finished up replacing most of the windows and door walls in our house yesterday. It was an intensive, but not unpleasant, three full day project . Here's a pic I took with all the old kitchen windows out. The weather was in the low 30's with snow on the ground. It started snowing again late-Saturday afternoon . . . right after they'd pulled the family room door wall out. That was a crazy scramble to get the new one in fast! What a huge difference, though! Before that we had redone our MBR and laundry room walk-in closets. Next comes some staining and painting. Then we/I need to reorganize the guest room and its walk-in closet. Then the garage and its big closet. I need to also research and buy a new dishwasher. And then find someone to build me a pretty replacement gate for my walled-in garden. New stucco on the house and then a new roof this year, too.