Monday at Sharon's

What began as "Tuesdays With Sharon" has, out of necessity, been moved to Mondays for the summer. Sharon's daughter will be taking classes through the summer, and grandson Reilly needs a place to hang out. Sewing is a very boring thing for an 8-year-old, you know.

That said, even with the change of days, Reilly joined us for a bit yesterday as we sewed at Sharon's house. He came through the sewing area at one point with a penknife - he was going out to find a stick and do some whittling! When writing stories, riding a bike, doing summer enrichment papers (pints and quarts - ugh!), watching cartoons, reading and playing on the computer just won't fill an afternoon, a resourceful boy turns to whittling, of course.

Whittling is best done with good whistling, so I've heard, and Reilly put the technique to good use as he worked. I couldn't discern the actual tune, but there was definitely whistling as the wood chips flew.

About a half an hour after beginning, he pronounced his effort completed! Behold! I give you a light saber!

While Reilly went off to attack myriad bad guys with his light saber, Sharon and I worked on our projects. She is making yet another quilt with her Aviary fabrics. They are just so luscious; I can definitely see why she can't get enough of them.

These blocks are so simple, yet so gorgeous - rail fence. They go together effortlessly. I believe Sharon got about 4 rows completely done; with very little effort, this top will be in the finished stack. What satisfaction!!

Faithful followers here will recall that a few months back I was working on a quilt called Long Road Home. (Click here to see Sheryll's finished top.) Well, it got put aside in order to make the prom dress, then the porch accessories, then the Bento Box. Finally, I've come back to  Long Road Home.

I had gotten this far: 120 blocks.

 I needed to make the next step:

And I did, but I didn't make enough. Oh well, I wanted to make some blocks, so I went with what was done and got about 20 completed. A quilter has to see results sometimes, right?

Okay. I love intricate quilts. I love scrappy quilts. And I will really love having this quilt completed. But, what I have here are blocks that measure roughly 4" square, and there are 17 pieces of fabric in there!!  Agh! This is a lot of work to get a 4"square!

So go ahead, quilty friends, and tell me that the fun is in the process. Tell me that I love these fabrics, and tell me that this quilt will be SO worth it!

I'm telling myself that, too, but it's easy to get bogged down with the enormity of the project's involved nature. I shall persevere!! Bit by bit, I will get it done, and I will be glad I did.

Right???