Mom came visiting for the weekend, and came bearing presents!   She brought me a crochet set that she picked at Walmart.  Wow!  This goes from size 00 down to size 14 in the steel hooks, and from size D to K in the others.

She originally came for an Eastern Star meeting, but we were all dressed up and ready to go, but no one was at the Grange Hall when I thought they were meeting.  I've sent in a request to Grand Chapter to see if they've changed their times (that's what you get for not going regularly!)  Since she was here, we've been busy this weekend anyway! 

We did our normal grocery shopping Saturday morning, and then ran into Joann's to look for a jelly roll in baby pink colors.  A friend from work announced last week they are adopting a baby girl in a month, so I thought I'd surprise her with a baby quilt.  This will be the first quilt that I put together by myself (with lots of help from Mom).  The others have been kits, where someone else picked out the colors and pattern.  I thought I could cheat a bit by picking up a jelly roll that would have at least coordinating fabric for me, but....no such luck.  We had to pick out the colors ourselves (which became a real challenge with Allison with us - she was ready to go long before we were.)

I've been admiring the look of the log cabin quilts - the way a look is obtained by changing how the blocks are arranged is very intriguing, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I have an old quilting book that has the basics in it (and I do mean the basics!).  I didn't pay enough attention when I was looking at it, or I might have found another source for my pattern.  This only tells me the width of the strips to cut.  I had to make a block and measure how long to cut each strip myself.  I think I got it, and here's the first block:

 Now to make 11 more, and get it turned into a quilt in less than a month!