Peace and quilt

Funny thing - the title of this post was going to be "peace and quiet" - and I was going to comment that peace and quiet is definitely what I need after not only having my own kids home from school for Easter holidays, but having extra kids (4 and 2.5) visiting for a long weekend - but when I typed it, it came out "peace and quilt", so I decided to leave it be. My fingers seem to have a mind of their own when typing, I guess!

Anyway, my friend Cathi has now left to go home (indeed, is probably home by now) and despite us both being quilters (albeit of very different styles on the whole except for a mutal fondness for scrap quilts) we didn't sew at all this weekend. Or very nearly not - Cathi finished the last sleeve of a gorgeous cardigan she is knitting; I, who can't knit to save my life, did manage to cut out enough batiks & creams for 6 more of the Jacob's Ladder blocks and also, I spontaneously did a bit of surface design (of sorts) on a denim jacket I own. I can't claim it's very sophisticated or anything like that, but at least it has the advantage of now being a garment I might actually wear - the panel was originally a Dyan tour t-shirt, from the late eighties, and though I used to wear it a lot (or perhaps because of that!) I haven't worn it much in years, partly because I don't really like to wear t-shirt style shirts (hate that neckline) but partly because it was getting worn. So I have cut out the design, stabilised it and fused & sewn it to the jacket. Wore it to see Dylan Sunday night at Wembley Arena and actually saw a guy there with a t-shirt from the same tour series (for you Dylan fans out there, his said "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more" but was in the same mock-newspaper style).

We might not have done much sewing, but in addition to doing stuff with kids, we also had a couple of trips to local charity shops (we are big charity shop/thrift store fans from way back - I've been hitting the charity shops with her for more years than I like to lay claim to - nearly 20!) and among various purchases of clothing & books, I also picked up this Liberty throw in Oxfam - just the thing to revitalise one of my poor sofas. Only a fiver - the original Liberty tag still on (along with the original Liberty price of £39.99) - so I'm well pleased with that.

And once again, it's been a good day for squishies in the post. I received the postcard above (thanks Mary!), which is part of the upcoming sky swap I am in (personally, I haven't thought about those cards yet - they aren't due until May...) and the black scraps from my friend Brigid. I shall have to start cutting up black squares, now that I have so many arriving in the post. It's great though, I think the effect will be superb, and I will have fun thinking about all those who sent the scraps.

Also I received the lantern block at the left - the second I have received. One of the first things on my list now that Cathi and crew are gone, and once the kids go back to school (maybe before if I am lucky) is to finish the last two lantern blocks so the rest of mine can go in the post.

One final note - I decided to create a new gallery - technically it's a blog, but really, it's just a place where I can show all the cards for any specific swap, all together. At the moment, it's just the swap, with the cards and who made them, and links to blogs where I know them, but in future swaps, I might put details about techniques or materials, if I have time and feel like it. If. Anyway, that gallery is here...check it out!