Next....

I have probably 20-30 UFOs in bags and boxes all over that sewing room. So now that Milton's quilt is done.... what did I pull out to work on?

Something new!

(Stop laughing!)

A couple weeks ago, in the course of cleaning out a bin and cutting more strips for my string quilt, I came across a bag with a pattern that my friend Judy had sent to me. Judy was my mentor in transcription when I first moved to SoCal. (This was 15 years ago, at least!) I had been transcribing for quite a few years on the East Coast.... but it was an entirely different field out here, namely because of all the new accents I needed to learn. The good old Southern Boys I had been transcribing were tortoises in comparison to the rapid-fire Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian accents I encountered here. Judy was my lifeline! We worked on the same account, and when I was stuck, she would listen and patiently tell me the word I could not understand. More often than not, it was a word I KNEW. I just had never heard it said quite that way!

Judy eventually moved away from SoCal and landed in a little town in Texas. She is supremely happy there tending her kitties and has retired from transcribing. She was at a quilt show one day and came across a cute little package of various green fat quarters, folded into little triangles and packaged in a clear plastic fast-food box, and labeled "salad greens"! She bought it for me, with a pattern, and sent them to me. I have never forgotten those "salad greens", although they have long since become a part of the quilts I've made. I set the pattern aside for "someday".

Someday is here!

Here's a picture of the pattern, with Judy's note that says "Dear Joy, just thought of you at the quilt show and wanted you to have these, JAC"

I've kept that note tucked in the pattern for going on six years now.... I'll probably pin it to the back of the wall-hanging when it's done!

Here's a closer picture of the pattern. This is a wall-hanging that says "Do What You Love, With All Your Heart".

Tonight, I got the top shelf pieces picked out, cut out, and Steam-A-Seam'd.

I will actually fuse it and stitch it tomorrow night. I love this basket of fabric.

I'm having Way Too Much Fun with this one!!

P.S. To Susan in Texas: Yes, I used my walking foot on the binding of Milton's quilt. I also used a decorative stitch on my machine named Grandma's Garden. I have carpal tunnel in my wrists from all the years of typing, and I just can't sew bindings on by hand.... But this finishes so nicely, that I actually prefer it! And high fives to your husband, both for the 4 years (Yay!!) and the beautiful leather work he is doing for the Big Books! I'd love to see a picture! I bet they are beautiful!

:)