Facebook is a marvelous thing. I've been able to catch up with old friends--friends from grade school and college, 4-H camp, and from all five of the states I've lived in since college. Lately, two different friends asked me if I knew anything about making t-shirt quilts. Honestly, I've never made one myself, but when I managed the quilt shop in Florida (which I ought to blog about sometime--it was a GREAT job), I picked up a lot of knowledge about it. Sunnie Malesky taught the class for us and I was always able to pick up tips to pass along to customers when they needed advice between classes. But as for those friends that asked, since they can't head to Florida for one of Sunnie's classes, I've passed along those tips to them.

This week, Cathie Filian blogged about making a t-shirt quilt. As I was trying to get rid of extra stuff in my house, I ran across sorority letter shirts and tee's and sweatshirts from date parties and such. I can't donate them; I thought about making tote bags out of them a while back but didn't know if the young women at my college sorority house would use them. But now it seems like the concept of a t-shirt quilt is coming at me from all angles. Though I have to go through the drawers to see how many I have and what parts of them are salvageable, I might have a good start. Now I'll just have to use Facebook to round up more from those years from Gamma Phi Beta sisters who are savers like me. Oh yeah, and then actually put it together. But no deadline, so I've got time.

Since the last photo, I finished the two aqua fan rows, two tan fan rows, three brown fan rows, and one more tan fan row. It measures almost 20" long and 46" wide; the desired size is 60"-66" long and 46" wide. So I'm about a third of the way done, and it's been moving along so nicely! I don't know what has taken me so long to get working on this project, but I'm really enjoying the process and the finished product as well. It's predictable since it's a four-row pattern repeat, so it's great for working on in the carpool, in the office at lunch, and while I'm watching old movies. Last night, it was The King & I; tonight it's Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

Either Mom's not checking in on my blog or she doesn't know how to leave a comment yet, but I haven't heard boo from her about the fact that I'm working on her afghan. I hope to finish it by mid-March. Now if I could only figure out a way to crochet while I'm walking on the treadmill or riding the exercise bike at the gym, I'd be VERY happy.

As for the rest of the day, I did make it to the gym for a double workout (twice the cardio time and four sets of the weight circuit instead of two) after mass, and I did get the cards completed for my One World, One Heart winner (copies of some of the cards I made in December). And I did obtain a new laptop. As I've complained here before (or complained somewhere before), my six-year-old computer has not been very cooperative with the drills I've been putting it through in the last several months--blogging, photo editing, Facebook, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't finished the laundry, but there's always tomorrow night.

I was posting some photos on Facebook today and ran across some photos of my work. So I thought I'd post them here in coming days when I don't actually have any current creative work to show.

So this is a quilt I created for Gabby, a wonderful little girl who is a blessing to a Florida friend of mine. You can't really tell, but the border and the squares on the inside of the stars is a beautiful pansy print filled with colors. The stars are two shades of yellow and two shades of pink. The inner border and binding are dark green to match the leaves of the pansies--it was this quilt that I was attaching the binding to on a flight. The white fabric is actually white with little blue flowers, again, the blue being pulled from the print. That's my normal MO when I design a quilt--I pick the print and then pull colors from it. I learned in a Jinny Beyer segment on TV once that the way your fabric assortment work best is to make sure you choose at least one of the darkest colors in the print (sometimes, it's the outline of the print), one of the lightest hues, and then different values in the print. If you pick all "mediums," the whole thing doesn't really sing. Also, you're supposed to vary the size of the prints, though in this one, the pinks and yellows are all pretty much batiks, mottled, and tone-on-tone prints and the background is a pretty small print, as is the pansy print. Maybe I should have varied the print sizes, but I didn't want them to interfere with the pansies.

That being said, I've seen a lot of quilts that are made with all mediums or all busy prints. They're not my favorites, since there's no contrast in values or patterns, but I know a lot of people that love them and I've seen some that are beautiful, but not my style. That's why everyone's quilt is different, special, and, dare I say, unique. We all like different things, and that's the beauty of every hobby!

Wow, it's just one electronic mountain being conquered after another. The blog is working, and now, after several invitation from friends, I've joined Facebook. So if you're on there, you can friend me.

Meanwhile, in the health department, I finally went to the Dr. and got something for this cough. Hoping it kicks in fast, because I'm on a plane to the CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Show less than a week from now. I can't wait; I get to see everything new and fabulous in the craft industry and all of the wonderful people that also work in the creative industry. And after the show, I get to spend a few days with my friend Vicki in Long Beach and my sister Alice in Phoenix. So I want to be healthy for all of that.

But before I go, I have to get my project done for the Ornament Thursday group. As I look at the stack of cardmaking supplies across the room, I think it might have to be a card.

Meanwhile, there's beef stew underway in the crock pot, so I better go check that.