Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

I thought after working outdoors almost all day yesterday that my yard work was finished for this season. Nope. When I opened the shades this morning, more leaves have appeared. While most of the trees in the neighborhood are bare, apparently a few are still holding on. I knew about the willow in the yard behind me which holds its leaves through the winter even. But where did these maple leaves come from? Maybe the winds today and tonight will take them away for me. I can only hope.

If you’ve been a quilter for awhile, you’ll remember the nickel quilt rage. Before Moda grabbed the concept and started putting out precut charm packs, we used to cut our own 5 inch squares. (Five inch : 5 cents, hence nickel… for the newbies) Pat Speth put out several books that were ever so popular around this concept of using 5 inch squares. I own 2 of them I think. Our Linda Hunter did classes on ideas for 5 inch squares. Once the pre-cuts became available the idea became a mainstream thing. Pat Speth is back, quilters. She is now blogging and giving some new ideas for using your 5 inch squares. I love this idea of “Deli Geese”. Watch this video (click here) for an introduction. I’m going to subscribe to her blog so I can see her 365 block ideas that she refer to in this clip. Love to see an oldie but goodies idea get freshened up. I think this is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas.