what I'm working on

Here's something I didn't mention about the cruise. There are always games and activities happening on board the ship...trivia games, name-that-tune, hairy chest contest, beer pong, and sporty games like basketball and volleyball.

Then, for the real party animals like me, there are craft sessions.  They are fun. Usually only ladies. It's a nice chance to meet and chat with other cruisers while working on the project.

First, was an embroidery kit "You Anchor Me" - a nice nautical theme.  You can see that I didn't finish. I noticed I had a rogue stitch at the bottom of the anchor and I had to pause to decide if I should undo and repair or just leave it.  I will finish it though...some day.

The other project was cute...a wooden picture frame and bags of shells to glue on. I did finish it but I guess I packed too many shells in there.  The frame started pushing apart at the corners.
Now I am unhappy with it and it's heavy too.

Back at home, I finished up the flannel quilt - with borders. It is pin basted and ready to quilt.

There was quite a bit of the flannel fabric left over so I decided to see if I can make a small quilt from that before I set my machine up for quilting.

I started with these 16 patch blocks and now I am deciding how to work the other scraps in.

Since I didn't buy any souvenirs on vacation, I thought I would treat myself to a new quilt pattern book.  This one is written by a blogger I enjoy reading...Country Threads.  

Mary lives in Iowa on a mini farm with goats, chickens, geese, dogs and cats, and parakeets. She has an interesting life and is always busy with the animals, gardening and quilting, thrift store shopping and more.

I ordered this book directly from her so it is autographed. 

Many of the patterns are for small quilts but they could be made larger by making more blocks or enlarging the blocks.   I like that quilt on the cover and this one below is also one of my favorites from the book.

The authors, Mary and Connie, have included some history stories featuring women who participated in the Civil War in some way...nurses, messengers, and some who even dressed and passed as men to actually fight on the battlefield.

So history lessons and pretty quilts all in one nice package.  It will be a nice book to read at bedtime.