Keith worked today so I did a bit of walking and a little shopping!

We’ve visited several times before but this was the first time I actually rode a cable car. I was smart and walked DOWN to the water and took the cable car back UP.

I wandered around the piers, did a tour of an old WWII submarine.

And believe it or not when I saw the little cable car charm I started a new bracelet. These aren’t Pandora but they are sterling silver. The brand is Chamilia which is surprisingly a Minneapolis company!

Judy pulled #1 for February’s UFO challenge – that’s my Pineapple quilt. Started in March 2007, the top was finished in April 2007 … That’s FIVE years ago!

I had plans to make another Pineapple quilt for myself this year … Or at least piece the top. No border…just blocks but we’ll have to see how much I like this one when it’s done. If I love it I might keep this one for me.

But I’m sitting here with a glass of wine, a cheese plate, and my book so I don’t mind waiting.

I arrived in San Francisco this afternoon and with just a few hours before Keith would be meeting me back at the hotel I decided to stay nearby. Luckily Grace Cathedral is just a few blocks from the hotel. A visit to light candles and say a few prayers, walking the outside labyrinth, and a peaceful stroll along some side streets and I’m ready to meet up with Keith for drinks and dinner.

I think these are cherry blossom trees surrounding the cathedral. How odd to see them blooming in February.

Herringbone – a favorite stitch of mine although I didn’t do anything very exciting with it.

On my Dresden Plate

And a look at the block so far – I still haven’t made any decisions about whether to continue on with more blocks or not. I’m debating how practical this quilt would be especially since its not in colors that I would keep for myself.

And since it took no time at all to stitch the seam I made another postcard.

Usually we have a couple projects during the year in addition to working on our standard blue and red centered blocks but this year rather than choosing just one color combination we’re going to run a 6 month project and let people chose their own combinations — the catch is they need to make a full set of blocks (24 for a child, 48 for an adult). The blocks can be assembled and sent in as a top to be finished, the block sets can be sent in, or participants can finish their own quilts and donate them locally.

So while the start date isn’t until Feb 1st, I got an early start. I’m starting with my Strips and Strings Log Cabin blocks rather than our standard HeartStrings since I’m going to make my quilt from start to finish.

Do you save crumbs? I don’t make crumb quilts but they make the perfect starters for my Log Cabin blocks so I keep a bin under my sewing machine table and toss small scraps there rather than the trash. All my blocks will have a red center so I separated the reds out first.

And in a few hours … I have 20 blocks (I need 48 for a quilt) done and my string/strip bins all ready to make more blocks next Monday.

The number of half square triangle blocks are growing.

I was lightening up the above photo in a photo app when I noticed the pencil drawing of it. Kind of cool.

All 9 HeartStrings tops that were here on January 1st have now been quilt ( or tied ) I love it when I meet one of my goals.

I thought this one was pieced by Sue or her Mom from group blocks but the blocks are oversized at almost 15 inches so I need to go back through my email to see if it came from someone else.

I was in a meandering kind of mood but never do just plain meandering so I quilted some loopy leaves.

These leaves aren’t just pretty, they’re easy to quilt too.

Another close up.

I’ve got 7 of the 9 left to bind so that’s what I’ll be doing in February.

Keith ran off and left me again this morning so I’m in my sewing room and the first thing I did was put my new ironing board cover on.

Here’s the old scorched one in the trash — when was the last time you changed yours?