Does January seem like the longest month of the year to you?  It sure does to me - because after all of the Christmas hoopla is over and done, the only exciting thing on my calendar for the entire month of January was my quilt group meeting at the end of the month.  It gave me something to look forward to - a bright spot in the Winter doldrums!   Our meeting was just what I needed to clear out the cobwebs and give me some much needed inspiration!!

Our year long group project is almost over and this month it was Lori's turn to receive blocks - only one more month to go!!  Lori asked us to make her a scrappy 9-patch block using Aunt Gracie fabrics - and she asked us not to iron her blocks...finally a voice of reason!!  Apparently she is going to cut them up and resew them into something wonderful...will be fun to see what she creates!

 Marsha brought in her WIP - this adorable red and white quilt.  Her blocks are from a panel, but they really look like red-work, no?  She had us fooled!  I used to call this kind of quilt a cheater...but now that I'm old and tired, I have new respect and love for cheaters!

Marsha brought this "vintage" hexagon piece (circa 1999??) to show us - with the papers still in the back.  I don't think the owner of this knows what to do with it...probably best that she just gives it to me...I know what to do with it!!!  A little felt on the back and a nice dark tea-dye will make this vintage piece look like a true antique...I'm just sayin'...

This is the last from Marsha's bag of tricks - her friend Karen let her bring in this old hand-pieced double wedding ring quilt.  It's pretty wavy and stretched out in places but it will be beautiful once it's quilted!  I do hope it gets quilted...or maybe, just maybe, Karen will see the light and give this to me, too! 

Jenny was asked to make a quilt for the school auction - the 4th graders did the artwork and she pieced it together.  It's SO cute!!  All of the blocks are book titles - unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the full quilt - I think my camera cut off about three rows!  It's wonderful and Jenny pieced those "x's" in the sashing herself!  Way to go Jen!!

Jenny was on a roll this past month - along with the school quilt she made the quilt above for a baby gift and then she sewed up either a dozen or a hundred, can't remember how many, of those cute little bags to give to her son's Boy Scouts Leaders!!  What a great gift!  Now, look behind the bag and notice the felt piece on Helen's table...Terry made that for one of our Christmas gift exchanges...it's enough to make one want to steal!

This adorable July 4th banner was made by Jenny - the centers are made from paper that Jenny fussy-cut and glued on - very, very cute!

Janet made this cute quilt for a baby gift for her pastor, who happens to be the pastor of the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church.  It's perfect for a boy or a girl baaaaaa-by!

Helen gave Denise some orphan Christmas circle blocks and Denise turned them into a runner.  It's always nice when someone's trash becomes a treasure!!  Not that these were trash - oh, you know what I mean!

Helen's daughter Michelle made this quilt for Helen for Christmas - what an awesome gift!  I think you can see the apple didn't fall far from the fabric stash - Michelle's quilt is very much like a "Helen Quilt" - and this is one of Helen's favorite kind of quilt - bright, happy and scrappy!  (Note to the girl:  This IS an excellent gift!)

Helen is still working on this one - it's quite wonderful!!  And those bottom blocks are not lamps but trees, just in case you were wondering!  Helen has such a way with fabrics, color and crazy!

Another Helen creation in the works...I missed part of the conversation about this quilt - not sure what everyone was discussing, maybe something about the borders?  In any case, I have no doubt this will be my new favorite, as every one of Helen's quilts is. 

I had two tops finished this month...yes, two!  I'm going to show them to you in another post...don't want to over load you with greatness!!  Hope you are finding time to do whatever it is that makes you happy...especially if it's quilting!