Somewhat recovered from Christmas and the heart stuff so it's back to the sewing machine.

This is my version of "Indiana Puzzle" (not exactly as found in Quilter's Cache but close enough) and the colors are not true in this photo. The colors should be more beige-y to reflect the creamy crochet thread that my DM used to create a bedspread she worked on during the years my DF served in the US Navy during World War II.

My uncles (Dick, Verle and Harry) were all in the US Army and my DF opted to enlist in the Navy because he figured he would have a clean place to sleep at night. (No one warned him about supply ships being sunk and food shortages on the ship.) 

Anyhow, while he was cruising the coast of Japan in the 1940s my DM and I went to live with her parents in Bluffton Indiana for two years and that's where she worked in a Magnavox factory making radios for bombers and I was underfoot with my grandma all day long while my grandpa was at work. DM would come back to her parents' house exhausted and not really in the mood to fuss over me; she crocheted with a vengeance as everyone sat around the radio listening to news broadcasts and music. I was not allowed to touch her crocheting bag.

By the time DF got home from the war DM had made enough hexagons to make a king-size bedspread but in 1946 there were no king-size beds. She put the bedspread (which looked kind of like this one on eBay) away until sometime in the 1980s or 1990s when they finally bought a large enough bed for it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234192618499?hash=item3686f7c403:g:DYoAAOSw34RhQlAH

(By the way, if you go browsing for vintage crocheted bedspreads on eBay there are a jillion of them! Must have been a lot of nervous women during the years of World War II whiling away the hours waiting for their soldiers and sailors to come home.)

Another great story behind the block. 

I got the binding finished on Denise's quilt for her granddaughter. There was not much left to do but I wanted it finished and decided not to make it a project for the car ride back, rather just have it packed and do something else.

Early January I am planning on pulling out every single quilt project I can and taking a photo and then making  a list and continuing to work on my UFO pile. I did really well last year and finished 10 of my quilting projects.........not too bad. Two of them were not UFO's but started last year as well so 8 UFO's completed and only 3 generated. One of my real focuses will be on the bin of parts and bits and trying to get more of these things to the flimsey stage rather than just parts or blocks. I think it is also time to move along things I will never finish and maybe give them to someone that makes charity projects to put together and donate somewhere.........at least that is a plan. 

Ami_Quilts (sewingupasto) said:

I did really well last year and finished 10 of my quilting projects.........not too bad. Two of them were not UFO's but started last year as well ......

Wow, Ami, that's really terrific!!  Not too bad, indeed!  That's almost one a month, a heroic accomplishment when you sit there and think about it.

Also, your idea of "moving along things" that you know you have totally lost interest in is excellent.

I call it "having an honest conversation" with yourself where you say "Self, why are you keeping this large bag of blue and green HSTs that you've had since 2003?" and Self answers back "Because I worked so hard to make them" and you answer back "Shut up, Self" and put that batch of blocks in the donation bag.

IMHO these are times when it is perfectly OK to talk to yourself.

Holding myself up as a shining example of organization , I have taken the pages I've printed out from Marcia's Quilter's Cache and slipped them into page organizers and those organizers are on a long clipboard on my sewing table.  Don't want to have them get lost on the sewing table so they stay clipped on that clipboard until I'm ready for the next one. 

I'm not working on these blocks in any particular order ... just as the fancy strikes me. The whole idea behind this weird quilt is that it is a fun project, not drudgery.

I have a special fabric on the way from Etsy. Not sure how I am going to use it but it represents a part time job I had for many years while I was a stay-at-home-mom, a job that helped me keep my sanity.

Monday and yesterday I was at two huge big quilt shops the first one was in Fayetteville Arkansas I was at Marshalls dry good and it was in a huge Warehouse I have not seen so much material in one place as I did that day then yesterday I'm in Columbia Missouri we went up to Hamilton Missouri where Missouri Star Quilt is I think she has like six or seven stores you just go in and out together in and out together and why don't the stores has also a second floor and it covers the two stores down I don't know where Gina gets all her ideas but it's very neat and clever the way she has everything all set up each store has their own music that they is recorded to their own radio station it is so neat the way everything is all set up I was so tired last night I went to bed at 8 I could not stand it no more I walked so much I had a great time today I'm going to meet some bunch of ladies for lunch that I used to have lunch with every Wednesday when I lived here in Columbia and then I'm just going to drive around and see what Columbia has built since I've left it will be 18 years January from Columbia to Tucson Arizona I cannot believe I've been gone that much anyways everybody have a blessed day and love you all

I want to go to Missouri Star quilts someday. Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. 

We are heading back to Colorado tomorrow. The Rockies got dumped with snow the past few days and we are going to take advantage of it and go skiing.

You and your hubby have fun skiing

Love your stories and your blocks.  

Because I had to take time from sewing with my shoulder surgery, I plan to keep the ox in front of my machine even if it isn't the year of the ox so I can get more of these projects completed.  I have several now that just need me to finish the hand sewing part of the binding as I have had them quilted by Carrie.  She has 2 more to do at her leisure.  They have been hanging in my closet for years.  I also have a bin of UFOs to finish or move on. 

Sounds like a good plan.

Were you so overwhelmed with all the fabric that you did not buy any or did you find some treasures?  I've only been to Missouri Star for a short visit.  Bob was with me and we were on a long road trip.  I'd love to go back w/o him so I feel I can really explore.

I really didn't need any material but I did buy a few pieces that were on sale she calls it a sales rack which was $6 in the yard but when you just leave the day before that Eddie huge Warehouse fabric store it was not a sale but anyways I did buy some odds and ends of other things that I need it so I enjoyed it my friend Julie had been there before years ago and she said everything has really been changed to the better so I hope you get to get go back in and check it out it's really nice