Random Is

It's been a few weeks since I've done a Random Thursday post, so of course the randomness has been piling up, as it tends to do!

I was chatting with my friend Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty at our last SMQG meeting about the low volume, bright contrast postage stamp quilt block she was doing with her do.Good Stitches circle, and I was so intrigued. I've seen this block around, and even heard about the unusual method, but thanks to Louise, I now also have a great tutorial. One of these days . . .

And speaking of the SMQG, there's a Pacific Northwest Meet-up next month in Portland, and our guild is one of 9 participating. Sounds like good fun!

Another opportunity via the guild was Yeechi's recent find of a great sale on Aurifil. Several of us chipped in and bought a box-full! Only 6 of those are mine, but I'm still pretty much in awe of them.

photos by Yeechi

Speaking of friends (see how randomly topics are related?!), Debbie/Blue.Ridge.Girl started blogging! We usually chat via flickr and email, but it'll be fun to hear more from her via Shadows of the Blue Ridge.

The 100 Quilts for Kids: Charity Quilt Drive started on July 1. Sponsored by Katie of SwimBikeQuilt, it's a great way to share your gift of quilting with children in your very own community. Basically make a quilt and donate it locally between now and September 30. There's a flickr group, plus link up here. I've participated the last two summers, and have shared quilts with Project Linus.

And as if I didn't already have enough going on, I started a new flickr group, Falling for Modern Maples.

I have 19 Modern Maple blocks from That Stash Bee, and just thought it would be nice to have some company as I work towards my goal of having the quilt done by this fall. I originally found the block pattern here, though modern handcraft has posted a similar tutorial full of great photos that I'd highly recommend. If you're interested in a Modern Maples project, feel free to join in! It's very casual and at your own speed. I probably won't get moving forward on mine till mid-August.

Lastly, I've been plugging along on grandgirl's flower girl dress, and it's crunch time! I have the skirt and silk sash completely done, buttons covered (and finally for the prototype too), and after {hopefully} a bodice fitting with grandgirl tonight, I can finish the dress up. The count-down is ON.

Guess that'll do for now. Hope you're reveling in some randomness too.

Linking up with Live a Colorful Life's Really Random Thursday.