Feeling overwhelmed...

Things have been crazy around here recently, to say the least.  My great aunt, Aunt Joyce, passed away 2 weeks ago.  This is a picture of her opening up the quilt I gave her this past Christmas.

Her favorite color was blue and she liked peacocks, so I thought this would be perfect for her.

She was always so quick-witted and funny, warm and generous.  She will be missed.  

Also, my husband and I have been faced with some pretty monumental challenges recently and we are in the midst of trying to figure out what we should do.  If you could send up a quick prayer on our behalf, it would be sincerely appreciated.

The good news is that I have been able to do a little sewing.  I finally finished up a quilt that my sister asked me to make for a co-worker.  

I used several fabrics from Sarah Jane's Children at Play line and some coordinating prints and solids from my stash.  For the back, I used the rest of the border print from the same line that I had, sandwiching it in between another pretty girly floral.  

I also sent off my Triple-Zip pouch for the Flickr swap.  My partner kind of let me have free reign, but did indicate that her favorite color is purple, so this is what I came up with.  

I love those little dolls!  I forgot to take a picture of the goodies I sent along with it, but I added some purple fabric scraps, some candies, a postcard and I think a little notebook.  I hope that she likes it.

I also received my Triple-Zip pouch from Becky and she did an amazing job.  I asked for something that would go with my messenger bag, which I use almost exclusively (I hate changing bags).  

I think the colors look great together and this is becoming my new wallet.  She also sent loads of goodies...

What a funny coincidence that she sent Matryoshka doll fabric since that is what I used to make the pouch for my partner.  Look at that cute needle book.  It is even patchwork pieced on the backside!

I am so excited to be participating in the Scrap-bee-licious bee with 12 other bloggers that I met through the 2013 New Blogger Blog Hop.  The first Queen Bee is cutie pie Ashley from Wasn't Quilt in a Day, who asked for converging corners blocks in rich, jewel tones, so this is what I will be mailing off to her.

I recently made an effort to represent my blog in fabric form and came up with this block.

Throughout my life, when people hear my name, it often conjures up the literary work of Lewis Carroll for obvious reasons.  When I think of Alice in Wonderland, I think of her blue dress and blond hair, the black and red of the playing cards and the larger than life mushrooms.  This block is called Card Trick, so I felt the combination of fabrics and block design suited my blog well.  

This week, I hope to finish up the quilting and then bind my oldest son's quilt and maybe do another selfish sewing project.