Time Zooms By

You'd think time would drag in these "safer-at-home" conditions, but the days are rushing by. The COVID death rate is up to 175,000 in the U.S. and all of my former regular activities are either cancelled or meeting online through Zoom and YouTube. It is a confusing time. Temps have been in the 90s, so I am watering my flowerbeds every day. And now we have TWO storms (Marco and Laura) heading our way in the Gulf of Mexico. 

My hydrangeas have not had even one flower, and the zinnia seeds produced tall leafy plants with no flowers. But you can always count on coleus! I even added four more small plants last week. My red bell pepper plant has a beautiful pepper on it--hoping it will turn red.

Zinnias growing taller, but no blooms

I do not see any honey bees, and only one bumble bee, finally one butterfly, but no caterpillars making new butterflies. Hoping for better luck next summer.

I helped make more liturgical banners for my church, University Baptist Church. The six side banners are complete and ready to hang when we can be back in our sanctuary. These are green and white felt, 24" wide x 36" high, double-sided, and represent the Greek symbols Alpha and Omega and Chi Rho. 

I've made several more Color Block wall quilts. These simple but colorful pieces are fun to stitch, and making straight rows or other geometric patterns gives a satisfying feeling of being in control of at least one area of my life during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the cats are always entertaining. They have been especially affectionate after having noisy workmen in the house doing the kitchen work.

Tarbaby leaning on my neck from the back of my chair

Elizabeth enjoying a leisurely breakfast

Elizabeth enjoying a leisurely breakfast

Rahrah pretending to be the favorite kitty 

September's new Artist Altered Book pages and Celtic Banners

For Nanette S. Zeller, 8" x 8", theme See the Forest for the Trees 

I have created two more pages for my exchange in the Artist's Altered Book Project, with only one more to go for October to complete the exchange among ten artists scattered from California to Florida to New York. Here are my August and September pages for Gabriele DiTota and Nanette S. Zeller:

For Gabriele DiTota, 5-1/4" x 8-1/4", theme Fire

I received pages for my Tree themed book, pages 8" x 10" from Leni Weiner and Joani Share. I have a new computer and haven't managed to transfer and find all my pictures--maybe later!

Our Pine Belt Quilters show is fast approaching and I hope my computer work is about finished. Our dates are October 7-8-9, 2016 at Lake Terrace Convention Center. Chairing a show is daunting work, but with 15 shows behind us I counted on lots of folks knowing lots of jobs.

I helped create two large felt cut-away banners for my church's new monthly Celtic Services that began in September. The patterns are by Fashions by Sarah and are similar to the Advent banners shown here and Fall banners shown here.

Advent Banners

It was my pleasure to head up a committee to make new Advent Banners for my church, University Baptist in Hattiesburg, MS. The four banners were hung for the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, and were warmly received by the congregation. Many people wanted to know how these came about, so here is their story.

Our pastor, Rusty Edwards, brought a book home from a conference he attended last summer. The book, A Cut Above, by Sarah Brogdon, featured cut-away felt banners in many designs. I had never made anything like this but thought the project looked possible and agreed to lead it. We ordered four patterns, royal blue felt, and netting and I enlisted several people to help in the construction. Since the only sewing involved was one line of stitching at the top and bottom to create rod pockets, anyone who could cut accurately with scissors and/or a rotary cutter could help. Workers were Kat Spangler, Joy Dunbar, Connie Benedict, Nancy Ratliff, Ellen Hall, Rosanne Crockett, and Rusty Edwards. Yes, Rusty used a rotary cutter as well as a glue gun.

Ellen, Martha, Kat

This was definitely a team effort and if work can be enjoyed, this certainly was. We had four workdays with three or four people working around my large dining room table, which had been covered with a gridded cardboard pattern board and self-healing mats. We used rotary cutters for straight lines; sharp scissors were essential for tight curves. Since none of us had done this before, we frequently consulted the directions to be sure we were proceeding correctly.

The patterns were for wall hangings 24" x 36" and we enlarged them to 48" x 72" for the outside ones (angel and kings) and 48" x 96" for the center ones (shepherds and family). After cutting the felt, netting was secured to the back with hot glue guns. The netting is what holds the shape of the banner. Between workdays it was necessary to keep the work area covered with a sheet to protect from kitty paws, but Rah-Rah managed to find a finished folded up banner for a brief nap.