Earthquake & Hurricane Week

Well, this has been quite an eventful week. On Tuesday afternoon, I was in the basement folding laundry (such an exciting life I lead!) when the windows rattled and the whole house shook. First thought: a truck ran into my house. Second thought: a bomb (this is Washington, DC, and we think about those things). Third thought: an earthquake? Yep, that's what it was. My son and I ran upstairs and turned on CNN and saw that we were right. I had experienced one once before, in Chicago of all places. It's very scary but over quickly. We had no damage and nothing fell so we're good.

Just as the dust had settled from that, we are now bracing for a hurricane that is predicted to hit the east coast tomorrow and Sunday. I'm not too worried - I think the worst thing that might happen is that we lose power. I stocked up on tunafish and granola bars but the stores are out of bottled water. Keep your fingers crossed for us this weekend!

Carolina Lily & Empty Spools

Here is the latest (#32) block of Civil War 150 - Carolina Lily.

And here is the one before that - #31 - Empty Spools. Funny, I just posted a "Spools" quilt that I made and here is another spool. You can see that I didn't make it an empty one. It looks kind of big and blobby but if I put it with the other blocks and step back about 10 feet, it looks okay!

Prairie Paisley

Now August is here and that makes me sad. Even though we have a month left of summer, it somehow feels like less than that. Of course it has been bloody hot here in the nation's capital. Rain is in our forecast today and I am hoping for it.

Above is Prairie Paisley, a top I just completed. If it looks familiar it is because it was on the cover of a recent magazine. Yes, I am a magazine quilter at times. I had actually bought a jelly roll and yardage of Minik & Simpson's fabric a couple years ago and was waiting for inspiration to strike. When this pattern appeared, I pulled out the fabric and started sewing.

Spools Doll Quilt

My great-niece turned three last week so I sent her this little doll quilt that I made.

Civil War 150

I haven't posted any photos of my Civil War 150 blocks lately, so here are some that I have made in the past month or so...

I've been having a lot of fun with feature fabrics - fussy cutting them to fit the blocks.

Now I have both Generals Grant and Lee represented.

I am up to date and have 29 blocks so far...that makes 29 weeks out of the year.

Acadia National Park, Maine

My husband and I returned last week from a trip to Maine. Isn't this just how you picture it to look? We had a marvelous time, hiking, eating lobster, and just enjoying each other's company. I even found a quilt shop in Bar Harbor called Fabricate where I bought some blueberry fabric!

Flag Quilt

Happy Fourth of July weekend! This is a mini quilt I made a couple years ago. It now resides in my friend Kitty's country house. I have made a few little flag quilts - they are awfully fun to make when you are in a patriotic mood! We are planning to go to a baseball game on the 4th - how American is that? - and then we leave on the 5th for a week's vacation in Maine.