Quite a challenge!

After a lot of moaning and groaning but certainly not a lot of time, I finished Todd's Army retirement quilt. It was somewhat out of my comfort zone, but what a challenge!
Todd is Paul's niece Beth's husband, and officially retires in January, 2009. Beth sent a box full of fatigues, t-shirts, patches, medals, pins, khaki-colored cord, and blue starred fabric. After trying a few different possibilities, I settled on some sawtoothed star blocks to hold the "fruit salad" and other pins. Todd was a member of the Polar Bears out of Ft. Drum, NY, and served in


a variety of places, thus the blue polar bear and different styles of fatigue fabric. I did a little research on ranks in the Army to make sure that the ranks were in the proper order and right-side up. The cord wound around the top to signify the "long and winding road" of Army personnel. I wish Todd and Beth well in their new life, featuring new jobs and a new house in NH.

Works in progress

I have nothing to show, but lots I'm in the middle of:

1. A pink baby quilt for Justin & Kelly's Natalie - just needs to be photographed and then it's on its way south.
2. A memory quilt for Beth's husband Todd, who's retiring from the Army at the end of the year. This is definitely out of my color comfort zone! I put the "sandwich" together yesterday and am ready to quilt.
3. Quilting a scrappy house baby quilt in lime and blues which I just "sandwiched" yesterday, too. I will give this to a local organization to raffle off this winter.
4. Dear Jane winter/holiday swap blocks - 3 sets of 5 each, plus one for me
5. Dear Jane birthday siggie swap blocks for Sept.-Dec.
6. Dear Jane polka dot fat eighth swap

I also offered to make a few quilt blocks for a raffle quilt to publicize the Central Vermont Quilt Show next May. Should be getting my assignment next week. That's a lot but will surely keep me busy through the fall foliage season. The B&B is just about full from mid-Sept. through mid-Oct.

Yve gave me a great journal to record my quilts in, and Cindy has been printing photos for me from my Flickr page. I still like having something I can just page through now and then to see what I've done.

Finishes

I finished two projects last weekend. The landscape had been hanging around for years after an initial blast of post-Jo-Diggs-workshop energy. The garden was inspired by Sharon Baker's first "Fabulous Flowers" book.