This is going to be a long post. I have a lot to show you.

First of all, let me welcome you to SkyWatch Friday. I took this photo yesterday. It was 17C and the sun was shining - heavenly weather for the middle of March!

This is the elm tree in my neighbour's yard. It is growing almost right on the property line, so I consider it mine too. I don't know if you can see her, but there is a squirrel sunning herself on the horizontal branch in the middle of the photo. This is my favourite little squirrel. She has no tail (I have no idea how she lost it) and the reason I am assuming that it is a female is because I saw some of their love-making action over the past few days. She is also padding the nest with bits of paper, leaves and anything else she can find that is soft and warm.

I know there is not a heck of a lot of sky in my photo, but blue sky is nice too! Especially at this time of year. If you want to see more SkyWatch photos, go here.

*************************************************************************

Now onto some quilty news. I have made a few blocks. This first one is part of the Jelly Roll quilt-along. I wasn't going to take part in this semi-weekly block quilt-along, but I just couldn't help myself. I really liked this one. It was quick and easy. I used some duck fabric in the centre. This fabric always makes me smile. It did not make the cut for the Rubber Duckie, so I thought I would use it in this block.

I also finished the block for this week's Friday Block Party. It is called 'Cain and Abel'. I love this block! I can see myself making more of these. It is a 10in. block. I used batiks. It went together quick and easy! The next block is also from the Friday Block Party. It was the block for week 10. It's called 'Eight Hands Round' and is supposed to be a 12in. block. I didn't like this block from the start. I made the middle part, which as far as I'm concerned, is a block in itself. It is supposed to have more HST around the outside, but after I had cut and sewn them, I realized they would not finish at the right size. So I have left it as a UFO. I might use the HST sometime in the future, but this block is going to remain a 6in. block forever! You can see both of these blocks if you go to the Friday Block Party icon on my sidebar.

Perhaps this is not a good block to show you when I want to inspire others to join our Friday Block Party. This Party was started over a year ago. Many people have made blocks over that time. Now it seems that we need some more members. Let me know if you want to join. You are under no obligation to make any block - just the ones you want to. I will send you an invitation to join our group so that you can post your finished blocks. All I need is your email address. Come join our Party. It is fun and inspirational to see what others do with each week's block.

**************************************************************

And now something that I should have done a long time ago. This cute little tea towel was sent to me by Barb of Bejeweled Quilts. I got it a few weeks ago, when my computer was giving me problems. It turned out it was the cable company that supplies my internet that caused the trouble and not my computer. Whew! I have had enough computer problems for a long time! Thank you so much Barb! I love it.

Barb also sent me two fat quarters of a wonderful red Samoan fabric. It even has Samoa printed on it! I am going to save this for the Dresden Plate quilt that I am planning to make sometime in the future. Thank you Barb. I apologize for not having said that sooner.