Greetings from the land of the sick.  After two weeks of E suffering from allergies, last week I managed to get an ugly, ugly cold – the likes of which one usually sees in February, not late August.  I finally started feeling human today, but of course now E is sick with it.  And because E was fabulous to me, making me soup and fetching medicine while I was coughing and sneezing and retching up phlegm (ugh), now I’m (trying) to return the favor.

In between my sickbed duties I’ve been up in the sewing room working on a couple of quilts.  One of my favorite baby quilt patterns is Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs, which I love because it takes just six fat quarters of fabric to make (plus borders and backing).  Here’s the one I made for my cousin’s baby earlier this year, using some “beachy” fabrics (because the baby’s late grandmother loved the ocean):

I’ve mentioned before that my hobbies are seasonal, and the hint of fall in the air was just enough to make me break out the sewing machine.  Last weekend, in a raging fit of start-itis* and while watching Witches of East End on Netflix (it’s so terrible, but I kept watching it…and then watched new ones On Demand…), I cut up blocks for two new quilts using the same pattern.  Today I finished sewing the blocks together.  Continuing the nautical theme, there’s a lobster quilt in the works:

And there’s also a batik elephant quilt in the works:

There are three sets of blocks that get made for this quilt, and part of the fun is arranging the blocks to balance the fabric placement.  

Of course I had the usual extra help with this task:

*Startitis:  a condition in the crafting world where one is compelled to make All The Things, right now, resulting in numerous projects being started before anything is actually finished.