Quilting!

I finally got my machine back, after 3 weeks, and can get back to sewing.  My plan was to make Chuck and Jodie (son and daughter-in-law)  a hexagon table topper, but when I pulled out the instructions, I discovered I didn't print out the entire pattern and was missing critical steps.  So - Plan B.  I opted to design my own, based on an Ohio Star.  In the picture, the fabric is in the upper left.  I have about 1/2 the squares cut, and once I get them all cut will go together pretty quickly.

For those of you who quilt, and design your own patterns, you know the pain of erasing colored pencils. I was erasing, without much success, when I remembered I had a clear plastic page divider. I pulled it out, and grabbed my dry erase colored pencils, and voila!  I drew the dimensions on my graph paper, put the overlay on top, and color away!  Make a mistake or change my mind? Easy peasy to erase and start again!  The picture is very rough, but it gave me the idea I needed to figure out what to do.  The final design may differ slightly, depending on how I change the layout once I get the blocks all sewn. 

I would probably have mostly finished the table topper today, except for the fact that I had a surprise visitor. Amanda (youngest daughter) is babysitting a very active 2 and a half year old for a  co-worker who just had her second baby early this morning.  I haven't had a toddler in the house in some time!  It was fun going to the playground in our development and watching Reilly running around playing on the slide and swinging away.  Because of him, I also discovered that a brown paper bag makes a perfect chalkboard for a toddler!   Amanda told me that he doesn't have grandparents nearby - his father is Active Duty Air Force - and his mom said she would welcome a surrogate grandmother for her kids!  So, I decided to do what any quilter would do - time to make a baby quilt on the spur of the moment.  So that's the fabric in the upper right of the picture.  It will be a simple 5" patch quilt, with very simple quilting. I'm going to run by the store and pick up some flannel to use as the backing. Since we live in Arizona, a thicker quilt isn't really that necessary, and using flannel will make it much softer anyhow.  That quilt will come together very quickly, I should have it done by the end of the day tomorrow. 

The next few weeks will be spent doing a LOT of quilting - I have a friend who wants me to make her a table runner and another who wants a soup cozy.  Then I have three more Christmas table runners for family, Amanda's quilt, a quilt for my sister using fabric she bought in Paris, a quilt for my niece, and...and...and... Well, you get the idea.  I think I have kits put together for 6 quilts in total. Oh, and did I mention tomorrow is the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival in Tucson?  Guess where I'll be at least part of the day?