Where does time go?

Everyone I know who is retired agrees that times seems to fly during retirement. There just never seems to be enough time to do everything we want. This week I felt I did very little, but the week was gone in no time at all. It was a nice week - book group, oil change, quick trip with Paul to NH, cookout with Chris.

Tuesday, after walking in the mall with Cindy, I shopped for a quilt class next week. That afternoon and evening, I cut all the pieces I'd need for the class, and Wed. and Thurs. I sewed them. There were 43 tubes of varying lengths to sew, turn right side out, and iron. I used the bodkin I'd had for years in a box marked "miscellaneous supplies," stuff I'd decided I might need someday. I had thought about just tossing it when I moved, but now I'm glad I didn't.

After I finished that project, I decided to finish my Dear Jane Spring Fling blocks. I appliqued several "Buffalo Treehopper" blocks while waiting for my oil change Thurs. and then started work on "Molly's Muffins." These are in mint fabric - very sweet. I'm hoping to make a few more blocks in '30's fabrics soon.

My next project will be to bind a red and off-white quilt that Mary just finished quilting for me. It looks beautiful.

Face Book, Spring Fling, etc.

Last week was another busy one, but fun. An old friend from public library statistics days, Keith, was in Burlington speaking at the VLA conference, so we met several times for rambles and meals. Tuesday, we went to the Skinny Pancake for breakfast and a walk along the lake and Church St. He helped our local economy greatly at Danforth Pewter, and I even bought some summer birthday gifts. Wednesday afternoon, we explored Stowe, stopping for goodies in the Trapp Family Lodge's Austrian Tea Room. Thursday, we roamed around Woodstock but were disappointed to find the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller estate closed until Saturday.

Keith introduced me to Face Book, where he posted photos of his trip to Vermont. I started my own page and put up photos of the Central Vermont Quilt Show as well. It's fun surfing around, discovering friends from high school, college, and work. As Susie says, "it's silly but nice to visit virtually."

After dropping Keith off at the airport Friday, I went to Home Depot and bought some blueberry bushes to plant along the east side of the house. We hope they do OK in that sheltered spot. I also got some tomato plants for hanging upside down in two planters Chris got ("as seen on TV"). They aren't in their planters yet as we've still been having frost at night.

Saturday, I attended the semi-annual Green Mountain Quilters Guild meeting. We heard a delightful talk about one woman's life as a block swapper and UFO creator, and I was elected recording secretary. I felt renewed, so tackled a few more "Buffalo Treehopper" Dear Jane blocks for the Spring Fling swap Sunday. I have one more set of DJ swap blocks to work on after I finish these tedious blocks. I'm making seven of each set so that I can send one to the swap hostess and keep one for myself. I like the way the '30's fabric looks with muslin, though I'm not sure how big my resulting quilt will be. As a diversion, yesterday I started and almost finished on a string quilted baby quilt - not pretty but a good piece to practice free motion quilting on.

Central Vermont Quilt Show success!

308 visitors + 9 vendors + 38 lovely quilts by area quilters = lots of energy! I guess the cliche "if you build it, they will come" really applied, and that's exactly what Paul and I set out to prove. There were some bumps along the way and we were exhausted at the end, but it was all worth it. People had a good time, and quilters realized that not every show is full of art quilts by professionals. I think they may feel less threatened to enter a show another year.

My good friend Samantha took a lot of photos which are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=irishlazz&target=ALBUM&id=5333963081041097121&authkey=Gv1sRgCMvAmqHhlpKllwE&feat=email
The variety of style and skill is evident, and so is the accessibility of the show. The Old Labor Hall is a perfect venue for such an event - funky, not too big, comfortable. I'm glad we did and glad it's over. Time to do a little quilting for myself!