Do You Like Purple?

Yes I AM still here... just very busy! I do have a "finish" to share with you though - finally have Gemini all done - even the temporary hanging sleeve on the back, so it's all ready for our April Show! As I mentioned in an earlier post, this design is by Janine Burke of Blue Underground Studios Inc. It was a quick and easy quilt to do, (especially with a Bali Pop - precut strips all ready to sew) and to speed up the process, I had it long arm quilted by Gwenda and Eugene Mattinson. Gwenda is really a speedy Gonzales! She is a very fast hand quilter - we learned that when we had the quilt in the frame a few weeks ago - and she 's pretty fast with her quilting business as well. I took it out to them on Monday afternoon last week, and had it back on Tuesday morning- all quilted. You couldn't ask for better than that! This was my first experience working with a Bali Pop and I really enjoyed it. The cutting is all done for you, and the fabrics are color co-ordinated: perfect for a quick project. I did find a slight variance in the width of the strips; because they are hand cut in Bali, I guess you have to expect that. After my strips were all sewn, I did find this great hint online from Brenda Henning of Bear Paw Productions to aid in dealing with this variance.

February is flying by. We've taken in a few great movies in the last few weeks (always nice to have seen a few of the new hits when Academy Awards Night rolls around). The King's Speech is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. We both thoroughly enjoyed it, in particular Colin Firth's performance. If he doesn't get the Best Actor award, something is wrong! Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue the Speech Therapist also give stellar performances. Trust me, you do not want to miss this movie.
127 Hours is the other movie we saw recently. It is based on the true story of Aron Ralston, a young climber who must resort to extreme measures to free himself after becoming trapped in a canyon in Utah. I was quite interested to see this story as my cousin Ron actually knows Aron, having worked with him for three years at Intel in Chandler AZ. It is an incredible story of courage, inner strength and perseverance - what an amazing young man he is.
I've also finished a few books recently - The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The first two were light easy reading; the latter is a story of the Biafran War. I enjoyed them all but cannot say I'd put any of them in my Top 10 All Time Favourites.
Come back tomorrow to see what other sewing projects I've been working on...

Piece,
Linda

"One's purpose is not to see what lies dimly in the distance but to do what lies clearly at hand."
~ Carlyle