Where To Begin?

Once again I'm having issues with Blogger wanting to lay my pictures out in a different order than I'd like to have them. Guess we'll just have to deal with it!

Up first is Louise's blue batik quilt. She made this for friends who love blue and who have a king size bed. It's large.

No, bigger than that. Probably bigger than a big king size.

It took two full packages of Bali Crackers plus more fabric. The backing is 108" wide Stonehenge in...blue.

It's quilted in a pattern of undulating waves and ripples, very appropriate for a couple who live on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Quite an accomplishment!

As an example of wonky uploading, this is a closeup of Anne's quilt which is shown below in the whole. The pinwheels where the blocks meet is pretty subtle in the picture but a little more obvious in real life.

It's backed with that purple medallion fabric and she quilted it with a lot of stippling.

What did Santa bring? His elves??

Then there's Ethel, with one of her pillowcases. She's getting ready for Christmas already!

Feed me, I'm starving!

Hi-Hi wanting his breakfast at the first light of dawn. I swear, I went from having a morning-person husband to a morning-person cat. Come to think of it, I guess it's because Bob always got up early and he had a lot to do with training this guy to be a "lark."

I'm definitely a night owl.

Anne finished three of her Dear Jane blocks today! I didn't work on mine; instead I finished cutting sashings and cornerstones for the pinwheel quilts.

Anne's Dear Jane blocks

Pinwheels still in progress.

I needed to have at least 720 sashing strips, so I decided that it would be a good idea to cut 750. I had cut 500+ the last time we met at Sandy's, so I only needed another 250. After a little dithering, I wound up clipping them into bunches of 25--few enough so they could be clipped  without stressing out my hands opening the clips wider than they wanted to go, and a pretty easy number to manage.

I cut and cut and when I did my final count tonight I came up with 749.

That is good enough.I did not count the cornerstones. Enough is enough!

Anne's quilt with stars and pale blue pinwheels.

Sashings, cornerstones, oh my.

So there are big changes coming in my life. After a lot of time spent looking at houses and  condos and neighborhoods and possible places to move, I've found a condo to buy.

I'm in escrow.

The good: it's close enough to let me keep the same doctors and keep on with quilt class and keep up with the knit group. The development is beautiful and feels comfortable. It's all on one story and the floor plan is open, it feels airy and light. It has two patios, one small one and one larger one across the back.

The bad: it's half the size of this house. Less than half.

This house is pretty full. No, make that VERY full.

It isn't as full as it was a few years ago, but there's still an awful lot of stuff in it. So there will be more purging and giving away and selling and generally downsizing.

There are closets full of stuff and the garage, while well organized, is still full. However, needs must and all that.

So it begins.

There's already been one day of clearing and assessing, and a couple of boxes have been designated for yard sale.

Except that they may not be, because some of the things in them have more value than I originally thought. And, of course, there's the sentimental aspects for not just me, but the offspring as well.

I think it's time for an adult beverage and a little TV time and then try to get a good night's sleep.

If a certain fur person will let me!