20 down, 4 to go

I worked with the kids at Molly's school today to make their nine patch blocks. I swear, the pattern for this quilt has changed a dozen times since its inception. Anyway, a lot of parents came in to help the kids with the project. I was able to sew the blocks right there. It was very cute how interested in the sewing machine some of the kids were!
I had them stick the 2.5 inch squares to a paper with the block drawn on it, using double stick tape. Now to really figure out what this quilt is going to look like! Must. Make. Decision.

Auction quilt, 2010, and a project from the retreat.

Way back at the quilting retreat I went to in November, it was raining when I unpacked and I had no cover for my sewing machine. So, I bought a half yard of the cutest polka dot oilcloth from the shop and made myself a cover. It's not fancy, but I'm proud that I didn't have a pattern or anything.
My big upcoming project is this year's auction quilt for Molly's school. I'm starting much later than I did last year, and with the radiation treatments coming up, things might get tricky. Last year at this time I had already finished quilting the top and was beginning the beading. Yikes. But this year, I don't plan to do much, if any, embellishing. So, things should go more quickly. All I have to show you today are some pretty little squares. But tomorrow I'm going to the school and I'll be sewing nine patch blocks with the kids. Parents are coming in to help, so I think things should go smoothly.

Haiti help

An online friend of mine is auctioning off some of her beautiful quilts to support the relief efforts in Haiti. She's also going to match whatever the highest bids are from her own funds. Her quilts are really beautiful and she's provided me with lots of inspiration. Please check her site out!

Trip and row and guitar case

It may be difficult to believe, but I do intend to update this blog more than once a month. It's just been a very busy December. I know, excuses, excuses. But we did spend several days on a trip to Wisconsin. We took Amtrak and got a sleeper car. It was great! No complaints, except that our room was hot, especially on the way out. I'm not a good sleeper, so this mostly affected me. Molly was fine, though. When you get a sleeper car, you're considered first class, which means you get free meals and you get to hang out in the first class lounge for layovers.
I also did a little (very little) sewing. Last Christmas, after a scare, RT bought a Wii. This fall, after I found out about the breast cancer, RT went out and bought Beatles Rock Band. I wonder what I need to do to get a new sewing machine. Anyway, Molly especially loves it and she has become quite the Beatles aficionado. Since we had practically unlimited baggage restrictions on Amtrak (another plus), we decided to bring it. We wanted to transport the guitars carefully, so we went to GameStop and bought a case for RockBand guitars. Unfortunately, our guitars were too big. So, at 5:00 the evening before we were to leave, I decided to make a quilted guitar case.
This baby holds two RockBand guitars, separated by a quilted panel. It's not quite done; I want to add a zipper to the top. For the trip, I had to saftey-pin the case together. It just made it look more badass if you ask me.

Yes, those are little batik rainbow skull and crossbones, thanks for asking!
I also finished my row for my round robin, only a month late. Oh well, as people keep telling me, I have a good excuse.
In health news, I will probably start radiation next week. This is sooner than expected. I'll find out more at my simulation appointment tomorrow.