Hi everyone. Life has been crazy lately. I’ve been away from home a lot helping out my friends, Sue and John, who are in Albuquerque dealing with John’s serious health issues. I’ve been holding down the fort at their house, taking care of their cat, and sharing “foster custody” of their dog with some other friends. I’ve been lugging my sewing machine and projects around. Another woman took over my duties yesterday, and fingers crossed, it will be a workable situation for her and her anxious kitty. I’ve been enjoying sleeping in my own bed the last couple nights!
One of the ways I’ve been taking care of myself is to focus on projects that bring me joy and being willing to let go of other projects. I’ve signed up for a year long membership to Alison Glass’ Bee (called the AG Bee), which she describes as a year-round creative community that will include some mini workshops, some swaps, presentations, and challenges. My regular blog followers know that I am a huge fan of Alison’s fabrics and patterns. Her saturated colors just make me happy!
I’ve decided that I’m going to continue two Block of the Month programs: the Frightful Fun Halloween BOM, and Starry Signs. I’m going to let go of the Murder Mystery BOM to have more time to participate in AG Bee workshops, swaps, and challenges. I just finished sewing the April and May blocks for Frightful and Starry Signs in the last fews days. Here are my April Frightful Fun Candy Corn and (6″ square) Pumpkin ( 12″ x 24″) blocks:
Our May Frightful Fun assignments was making two different bat blocks. The first one is 6″ square, and the second is a bat in front of a moon which is 18″ square.
The April Starry Signs block was the Aries constellation which was a very simple and quick block:
The May block for Starry Signs was the constellation Taurus:
The one project I completed was a donation baby quilt. Read about it here.
I also worked on a summit project for the Alison Glass Color Camp. I plan to get it quilted in June, and I’ll share about it next month.
In the coming week I plan to start working on a quilt for my niece using the free All Stars Quilt-Along pattern from Bernina We All Sew designed by Giucy Giuce (see pattern here). I’m using Sharon Holland’s Willow collection along with some coordinating Art Gallery Fabrics solids. Here’s a photo of my fabric pull:
Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.
Quilting is in my Blood 
So good to hear you are home and back in your own bed (nothing better than that). It was nice that you could be there to help out your friends, but good that you can have a break, too. Smart idea, working only on what brings joy right now. Those bat blocks are cute!
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The bats are very good! I’m so impressed with your foundation paper piecing skills.
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You did well for stitching on the road. Hope your friends are well along the road to recovery. Love the bat blocks, those are very fun.
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Wow your Halloween blocks look amazing, especially the stained glass bat! So glad you are back home, although I’m sure your friends deeply appreciate your devotion. You are a good friend indeed. That All Stars pattern looks beautiful, looking forward to seeing it in your pretty fabrics.
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The AG Bee sounds like a nice way of sewing some fun projects and connecting with other quilters and I can’t wait see to see more of your Frightful Fun blocks. Your starry baby quilt also looks great. I hope everything goes well with the other woman and her anxious kitty and you can have a well deserved break 🙂
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There really is nothing as good as your own bed, is there? I’m glad you are doing things to take care of yourself while you are also helping out your friends. I’ll be thinking of you all.
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