a find!

had to visit a small quilt shop downtown to pick up a gift certificate donated to our guild.  it's a lovely little shop with a very old stone fireplace smack dab in the main room.  i was hoping to find something to redeem a birthday gift sent to me.  lots of pretty things and plenty of jo morton fabrics too!  i found this FQ of a print i had never seen; must have been before my day as a jo morton devotee...a gorgeous paisley that i certainly would have bought more of had i seen it...

have no idea what line it's from but isn't it gorgeous?  i've got plans already of course....and it's cooled down here but still not cold enough for christmas.  even so, santa made an early stop and this was in my mailbox from a maine quilty pal.  she obviously reads my blog...a very sincere friend with a full plate but her glass always seems half full if not overflowing with inner joy.  already i've been trolling the internet for some background fabrics and making plans for some of my next paycheck...isn't that how it goes anyway?  really excited about this project, which is helping me get thru the senior center's quilt that is almost done.  this week will see it outta here finally and me free to go on to another quilting project, hoping for at least one UFO finish before january. 

i am so humbled by this gift which was totally unnecessary but delightful regardless.  this person's friendship is more than enough gift for me anytime....

book reviews

one of my job perks is first look at new things...saturday these were on my cart but never made it to the shelf...first up, a nice scrappy book by the author of "sunday morning quilts"...i loved that book but felt all the projects were too time consuming.

this book, however, has projects that incorporate small and larger pieces.   lovely full-color photos, sections for each shape--square, triangle, rectangle, strips, snippets--that jump started my quilty muse.  if you need inspiration or are over-run with a particular size, you'll get great ideas here.  the next new book is tula pink's...

this book, too, has luscious color photos, some rudimentary information, detailed construction info plus innovative patterns--no surprise there--plus some really detailed machine quilting ideas.  about the same number of patterns as the first book (i didn't count) but more involved for somebody looking to venture outside of a wide comfort zone.  i offer these reviews simply as my observations, without author obligation and no remuneration whatsoever except that of inspiring and informing fellow sewists...caveat:  not a repro print in sight either!