First things first. I want to thank each and every one of you for sharing your stories, your hearts, your hurts and prayers. I can't tell you how much they touched me. And made me wonder why I waited to share. Well, besides the fact that I was (and still am) so completely overwhelmed with how far behind I am.....
BUT, I do have some good news!
Tad's scan came back good and his tumor markers were down, so no surgery is needed right now. He goes back in a month for another check and they will once again look everything over and determine if he is ok without surgery. It is still at long road to complete recovery, but I'm thankful that he is at least on the mend. Energy level is way down, and his lungs were affected by one of the drugs so he's enduring some pain and shortness of breath, but things are at least looking up!
The other snippet of good news is that I finally got my new book sent off to the printer! YEA! I'm hoping to see the big semi trailer pulling into my cul-de-sac late this week or early next week. And because it should be here soon, I'm thinking that I need to share a few of the projects with you.
This is the quilt that kind of inspired the name of the book.....
I used lots of different fabrics for the spools, but they are all from my more recent fabric lines, as well as fabrics from my newest line Heartstrings. I must have been tired and in a slap-happy mood when I was working on it because this little play on words, "just spooling around", popped into my head.... Get it? Just spooling around instead of just fooling around?! I had myself a little chuckle and decided that it would be a great name not only for the quilt, but for the book too!
Another project that was really fun to make was this table runner....
Yes, once again I felt the need to use that jumbo rick rack that I love so much. I didn't plan it that way, it's just that once I got the whole thing pieced together, it just fit with the mood of the blocks. I love the wavy edge that mimics the wavy applique edge..... so fun!
This is a lap size quilt that uses the large scale prints from Heartstrings in the center of the stars. Actually, the entire quilt is made with fabric from my new line, Heartstrings!
And then there is my personal favorite....
I know, it may not look like a typical quilt that I would make, but I had such a blast making this one. I made this one for my son to take to college with him. He loves music, plays several different instruments, and even writes some of his own. It's a big quilt, sized to fit the XL twin beds in the dorms, so the music notes are pieced, not applique. I collected the black, gray and red music fabrics over the past year and just enjoyed every minute of making this quilt.
On this next quilt, I printed pictures on the Printed Treasures fabric.... I have to say, that stuff is awesome....
I picked pictures of my boys as three different ages and just have to chuckle about the way the pictures convey their relationship. Although they are 3 years apart in age, they have always gotten along great and I love that!
And, here is one that my mom designed and made. I liked it so much that I had to include it in this book....
Yes, those are all half square triangles. The funny story about this quilt is that these are all my fabrics, many of which were scraps that mom pilfered from my trash can! Some of the fabrics were from my very first lines of fabric, close to 10 years ago!
And then there are a few smaller projects I made out of wool....
What can I say? I still love working with wool. The colors, the feel, the texture.... things you just can't get with cotton fabrics. The first picture is a pincushion and the second one is a project bag that is a great size to keep my knitting projects in. Of course, that particular project has been in the bag for a long time since I don't get a lot of knitting done anymore..... Maybe my husband will forget that I told him I would make those felted wool slippers for him......
And finally, the project that is on the cover of the book....
Yep, after photographing it for the cover, I made it into a little pillow!
And that's it!
I'm still working on getting the fabric swatches scanned, resized, and put into some sort of format where they can be posted on my web page, but I did get the book added today, so if you happen to order it, just be aware that it will still be several days before it is actually shipped out.
Now, I'm off to do some more work on the next fabric line. I finally have a direction and a plan, which is a good thing since I'm already about a month behind getting it to Red Rooster. It's hard to believe that Quilt Market is looming on the horizon because there is still so much to be done yet. Yikes! Will I ever get caught up?!
