Back in the Saddle

I've been busy the past several days working on another item for the wool challenge for my quilt guild, which is due NEXT Thursday!!  It's still in pieces and I can't show the progress -- yet.  Look for pictures after next Thursday.

I've been playing around a bit with my new camera.  I think I'll try to take a class or two with the Digital Photo Academy, which is offering up a deal on Groupon right now.  I know I can do so much more with this camera than I currently know how to do.  Here are a couple of shots I took over the last few days.  I always like to take pictures of my roses:

And during the full moon I tried to take a shot using my tripod, a first for that:

This second image shows stars I didn't even notice when I was taking the shots.  Ok, maybe it was because I was too busy swatting mosquitoes to see anything else.

Often times I can get my crafting mojo back by picking up new yarn, fabric, books, or tools.  When I was at Joann's picking up wool batting for my niece Erica's wedding quilt, I spotted a display of Gingher Rotary Cutters.  What the heck, I thought, I'll use my 50% off coupon on them.  But wait, that still makes them about $30.  Hmmm.  While waiting in the hopelessly long cutting line, I looked them up on the web -- found them for $16 and ordered them right then and there.  That was Sunday and they arrived yesterday:

It has a nice little metal case to keep them safe and out of the hands of an inexperienced user (AKA my roommate).

I used it tonight to cut some wool and it really did cut like a hot knife through butter.

I've also been getting quilt books left and right from Amazon.  I wanted to have books from all of my speakers for next guild year's programs.  I can't sell the workshops if I don't have materials to entice members into checking them out for themselves.

In order of their appearance for the 2012-2013 guild year:  Gyleen Fitzgerald, Frieda Anderson, Kim Diehl, and Anita Grossman Solomon.  It's going to be a great year.

Now, it's time to get back to work on my wool project.....