Wait, where did the months go?

Seriously, what?

 It's still January, right? I totally didn't just turn 24, right?

Bother. I guess I did.

I really am sorry for disappearing; the most that I have to say in my defense is that well, sometimes I don't get to quilt. I don't have time, or rather didn't make the time, or just plain don't feel like quilting. It happens to the best of us, and for the past few months I've been in a bit of a funk quilting wise.

The good news is that despite losing an hour to work today thanks to DST, I sat my butt down and got to sewing! Faith-Ann was very happy to get a good dose of oil and lubricant, and purred away as I worked on the Just Takes 2 Quilt.

The center of the ominous applique.

This block has been a stumbling block (hah, I'm so clever) in my progress for months now. But after being told many times by Ann and Beppy to just use some fusible (NOT Steam-A-Seam!), I finally decided to give it my best shot.

Slow and steady.

It was very very easy--I might try my hand at this pattern my Neenie bought for me a while ago for a kitty wallhanging now that I have this under my belt!

Tah dah!

How neat is that? Barely any fuss or oopsies, the worst that happened was when the paper backing wouldn't come off as cleanly as I'd like, and that the flower bits are a teensy bit unaligned. Not too worried though, I'm going to stitch it all down tonight or later this week and wash my hands of it.

But wait, what's that mysterious brown background that keeps showing up?

A design wall!

That's right! A little bit of felt (okay, 2.5 yards of it), $5 worth of PVC pipes from Home Depot, and some hot glue from Ann's glue gun, and I have a lovely design wall! Taking photographs has never been easier, since I can actually light things properly. I just have to get Photoshop back on my computer so they don't look like absolute crap, but I couldn't wait to show this off.

So where does this leave me with the JT2 quilt?

Right about here.

Some of my flying geese have gone walkabout, I'll have to track them down later this week, but overall I am almost done with Section A! I also need to add in the little leafy thingies on the square within a square. It was a pretty huge ego boost to be able to see everything on the wall and to know that I'd made every single little stitch. Not to mention, I'm about a quarter of the way done!

What's this?

I also received a thank you card from the folks at Desert Bus this week! I honestly wasn't expecting anything, but the lovely folks at Loading Ready Run sent one anyways!

I'm going to have to sit down and sew that patch onto my backpack to establish myself at nerdy gatherings! Maybe I'll do it tonight when I mend some of Glenn's pants. 

I'm happy to be back in the quilting state of mind--I hope to see you next week, after I scamper through the Lancaster Quilt Show!