Tetris in the Mail!

Quilters really know how to spoil other quilters.  P. from The Way I Sew It, has been blogging about her rash of mug rug making.  I've not been shy in expressing my delight with each one.  So you can imagine my glee when I found this is my mailbox:

Tetris!  What a beauty, eh?  The design brings back a lot of memories.  Tetris was one of the first computer games that I played.  I downloaded a free version on to my Windows 98, and moved the game onto each new computer and accompanying Windows version ~ through Me and XP.  Unfortunately, when I upgraded to Windows 7, it could not run my ancient version of Tetris.

So now, the mug rug sits beside my Juki and holds the cup of tea I often have while I'm quilting.  Thanks P!  You made my day!

Maple Leaf Table Topper

The quilting Gods decided to play a dirty trick on me.  I was making stupendous progress on the Pansy Sampler Quilt, finished all of the quilting except those on the borders, could see a finish near at hand, when muscle spasms in my left shoulder and neck made pushing and pulling that heavy quilt through the Juki an exercise in pain.

I finally made myself set the quilt aside.

I'd been toying with the idea of making a fall table topper or table runner for some time (as soon as I finished the Pansy Sampler quilt).  There was no time like the present.  I knew the small project would cause me no harm.

Voila! My cousin chose the color of the maple leaves.  It measures approximately 16" square and now resides on a table in the living room.  Lori has the house beautifully decorated with a combination of a Halloween ~ Autumn theme.  (She has our grandmother's talent for such things.) The table topper is my small contribution to the effort.  It went together really quickly, and I'm yearning to make others.

The thing that took me the longest was deciding how to quilt it. The center space between the maple leaves is pebbled.  I was puzzled about quilting the leaves themselves and hoped the design I chose would be somewhat reminiscent of wind.

Please forgive the rather poor pictures.  I do not have Eric's talent for photography.  Normally, I would have had him take them, but he has been working 16 hour days.  Ack!