charity quilt tops

after some "fiddling" with the purple one, these two quilt tops are all stitched (the copyright printing on the print fabric there was about 2 inches into the edge, which made it hard to get the full 6 inch blocks all across, so I had to "fudge" it a bit)

now they just need pressing then they'll be ready to go for the next meeting

while I was working on the Hoffman Challenge quilt on Wednesday, I decided the "fins" on the fish that is the center block would be improved if I couched some gold thread around the edges

I didn't know that DMC had started putting out these lovelies!

this was definitely a case of going looking for one thing and finding something much better

last night I started on the tail, and got two of the fins done -- one of the best things about this thread is that I could split the strands and use one strand of the metallic to couch down the thicker thread -- a perfect thread match!!

oh, and have I mentioned how much I dislike working with metallic thread -- grrrr! but the results here are worth it
another of the blue and gold beads is complete

as I thought would happen, I didn't even have to look at the pattern to do this one

and now I'm thinking about taking this whole technique another direction -- maybe making some longer beads, putting them together with loops and making a bracelet

or working the back side to match the front and making them into earrings

meantime I still haven't found those glass cabs I was looking for --


when I went out to get the paper this morning, there was a robin sitting right on my front step, all huddled up in the shelter of the bush that grows there, trying to stay warm and out of the snow

the dog went out and had to have a rub down to remove the snow when she came in

yesterday it was 71 degrees here, today we'll be lucky to hit 30 --- such are the ways of Spring in the Rockies (and all this on the same date as the 2003 blizzard that shut things down for almost a week!)

so even thought about now I should be zipping around the house gathering my things and getting ready to head out the door for a quilt meeting, but it's not happening today folks

back to working on projects