Long lost blogger here

Wow, it has been absolutely ages since I've posted.  I knew I would be a little challenged when I stopped working and sitting in front of a computer all day but I've actually been spending time doing all those things I think about doing while I sit in front of a computer all day!  First I had a great summer with my son and the rest of my family.  When the kids all went back to school I turned my attention to getting our house ready to go on the market, including replacing three bathroom sinks, touching up paint throughout the house, rewiring and patching drywall and installing seven different lighting fixtures, as well as steam cleaning every carpet in the house and goodness knows what other little jobs I can no longer remember.

After that it was only a week until I gave a presentation at quilt guild called "Charmed:  Five things to do with five inch squares."  I talked about the disappearing four patch (picture from the guild presentation) and divided nine patch blocks, templates, easy half square triangles, The Happy Zombie's hourglass technique, and flying geese with bonus triangles.  Some photos below.

Disappearing four patch

Divided nine patch

step-by-step flying geese

HSTs

hourglass option one

hourglass option two

Right after I finished the guild class I flew to Phoenix for a few days R&R as a corporate spouse and thoroughly enjoyed it.  That brought us into this week, when I've been strategizing my return to the workplace, finishing up all the things I wanted to do before returning to work (car service, doctor appointments, etc.) and finding time to sew in between showings of the house (four this week alone).

At the end of September I participated in a quilt class taught by Barbara Cline on one of her triangle-based patterns called, "Chinese Checkers."  Here is a photo of Barbara I took in class holding up her quilt:

And here is the top I finished in the wee hours of this morning in an alternate colorway:

It was not the first time I'd worked with 60° triangles but Barbara taught a great new way of using templates that made me more willing to use them again in the future.

I think I'll try to clear a few more unfinished tops off my to do list before I start sandwiching and quilting the smaller ones of them (and sending the larger ones to Star City Stitchery).  Soon it will be time to start Christmas gifts (only pillowcases and table runners this year, I think - no quilts) and my challenge quilt for the 2013 quilt show.  I have an idea, which is half the battle; I just need to figure out how to execute it.

Now, one of these days, I'll catch up on READING some quilt blogs!!