Yikes, what happened to April?

Wendy at Snippets of a Quilter bemoans she hadn't posted for a week, so I checked and I haven't posted since the middle of last month. That doesn't mean my sewing machine is getting rusty though! I actually made a pair of pj bottoms yesterday!

I'm quilting too. I finished the borders on my skinny seascape, added hanging sleeve and one at the bottom (to weight it since it is so long and lean), and now have to add some embellishments. Photo soon.

While that seemed to take forever, I was also quilting a couple of joint projects made by the small quilting group from our church. Now that I have HQ-16, I get that part of the process. These quilts are given away.

Cheri's post today over at Jovaliquilts reminded me of a quilt I made for my husband. He is one of those guys who hates to toss his favorite shirts, but finally put 4-5 into the rag bag. I took off all the buttons, cut them up, and made him a small lap quilt to use in the car on those days he drives to work and it is -40. He was totally surprised. I called it "Optical Illusion." I posted it before, but am feeling guilty about not posting for so long, so here it is again, draped over the back of a sofa (the lines are actually straight).


My other excuse for not posting is that I'm making a two-hour presentation to a group of people (not quilting related) at the end of May and this requires lots of preparation, Powerpoint, and handouts. I know, it is four weeks away, but life keeps interrupting my good intentions.

Optical Illusion

My husband is one of those guys who loves his old shirts. They must be falling apart before he will part with them. When he reluctantly added several plaids and stripes to the 'only good for rags' pile, I grabbed them without him knowing, removed the buttons (whatever for, I've no idea - who uses old shirt buttons?) and cut off all the parts that were not worn thin or paint-spattered.

The result was this small lap-quilt which I called OPTiCAL ILLUSiON. I surprised him with it since he'd thought those shirts were gone forever. He uses it in the winter on those days that hit -20 or even -40 and he is almost home from work before the car gets warm. Besides the fact that quilt keeps his knees from freezing, I rather like the way it makes my eyes bounce.