New York Beauty

This month Jen asked for New York Beauty blocks for the Incredible Shrinking Quilters' Bee.  Here's my test block:

And this is what I made for Jen:

The pattern is here, by Donna Duquette.
Read more about the fun we're having over at the flickr group.

blue & white

My friend Shannon is putting out a BOM over at her blog and I decided to make the December block.  I don't know, I was in the mood for blues and whites.  She's a very advanced piecer and some of what she does intimidates the pants off of me, but I thought I could handle this one.  If January doesn't scare me, I might try that one too.. :)
I have never done a full year of BOMs before.. I've started once or twice, but then get distracted by other projects and have lost focus by the time the next month's block has come out.  Have you ever done a full year?  did you finish the quilt?  I think I'm also having mixed feelings towards samplers these days too, which is ironic, seeing as I just started one of my own for an online quilting bee..
I don't know.. since I finished the binding on 1994 and stitched the next binding on the anti-depression quilt, I was almost feeling a little tired of quilting.  Like, I'll make all these blankets and then what?  What kind of weird hobby is this anyway? But then I came to my senses and remembered that I love quilts because I can stare at them for hours, think about them for days, get lost in them and immediately feel better once I connect with one.  Not to mention the security I feel being part of group that labels themselves as "Quilters", even if I'm not currently in a guild.  So yeah, it was a fleeting thought.  I won't be giving up quilting any time soon. But I have been thinking about it a lot (what else is new?) and I guess I'm just thinking about different things than before.  I also started reading Quilter's Home.  Yeah, who's late to the party this time?  I fall in love with Mark Lipinski after he leaves his own magazine?!   that's what I get for being frugal and checking the issues out of the library insead of buying them off the newsstand.  But anyway..
In one of the back issues from this year he had an article about an inspiration journal and got me thinking about making a Quilt & Fabric Journal.  So last week (?) I started one.  I collected photos of each quilt I've made, got archive safe photo corners, pulled out an old blank scrap book, and got to work.  When it's more complete I'll write a full post about it, but just working on it is so satisfying.  Going back, thinking about every quilt, when i made it, what inspired it, what else was going on then.. And it's really amazing because with one quilt per page, I've already almost filled up half the scrap book.  I'm gluing fabrics in there too and it's nice to have texture, photos, and stories together on the pages.  It's a really selfgratifying project.  My life hasn't always been good, but I like to spend time remembering, contemplating, and appreciating it for what it has been. 
Well, George is asleep and I've got the house to myself, I think I'll go upstairs and fill in a few more pages..