A Warm Day in January

Hi y'all out there--

We are in Tucson where the weather is lovely albeit at high end of the temp range that I favor.  Just put me in cool misty mornings for walking and  afternoons where the sea breezes move through.  Okay, that's not Tucson and never will be, but its not bad here today, I have to admit.

My brother had an accident recently where he went flying from his motorcycle and plowed his face into a rock in Saguaro National Forest.  He had to be airlifted to the Hospital's Trauma Center, where plastic surgeons did their best to put his face back together.

They really did an amazing job.  Now that the swelling is receding, he looks like his old self.  Don't worry, I won't be posting any before OR after pictures.  That would be unkind.

Just please remember him in your prayers.  He needs them in so many, many ways that I won't go into here.

I was very productive at Quartzsite, quilting-wise.

First I dived into getting the small units of the Orca Bay mystery quilt into larger units, all the while having to be super careful that the orientations and positions of all these units were consistent.

I had both light and dark Ohio stars that alternated, flying geese that had to point toward some blocks and away from others, well you get the idea.  This is a quilt that requires the piecer to have her wits about her with no daydreaming or lollygagging.

I pieced it in horizontal rows....You can see the first two stretched out on the sofa.  These two dissimilar rows repeat several times until the quilt is almost done.  Then there is one final row that is different still from the repeating ones. 

The piecing went much easier once I worked out this game plan for putting this complex design together.

Here are some more of the rows.  I pieced for about 2 1/2 days until I had all the rows completed.  Then I felt the need for a change of pace. 

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I took out this project that I started at the retreat at the beach, but I had been saving it ever since for Quartzsite.  I had all these little units that resembled plus signs and they still needed to have the four triangles sewn around the outsides.  This makes the red (or pink or purple) squares float inside the blocks.  This is a design from one of Bonnie Hunter's books called Criss Cross Applesauce.  I intend to come up with my own name but I'll have to think on it.

Okay, I'm outta here for now.

Genie