Sister Quilting Time

My sister has been down visiting family this week from Alaska.  We always manage to spend a couple of days quilting and visiting fabric stores.  This time she brought along two quilts to quilt.  The first one was a quilt top she made to place over her couch for the dog.  I just loved her colors she used - so calming.   It's a gorgeous "dog quilt". 

The next one was a quilt top that her sister in law made.  She is a new quilter - taught by my sister - and I think she had a great teacher.  The quilt seams matched perfectly and quilted up beautifully.

The Bloom SAL continues and this is the newest block.  I think I need to start doing them at the rate of once a week instead of once every two weeks.  You can see others HERE.

The weather has been so chilly and we've have so many frosty nights this year.  So many plants are showing signs of frostbite.  Fortunately, it has not affected the citrus.  The trees are all packed with fruits and it would be such a shame to loose it.  We have three more cold nights forecast for this week.

Tangerines

Naval oranges

Tangelos

We have grandchildren and a grand dog staying with us for a few days.  We've had so little sunshine lately, but the dog has managed to find the little sunshine that there is.

Amazing how well he matches the color of the carpet. 

Good Fortune Finish

Today starts the final link up party for our Good Fortune mystery quilt.  You can see all the wonderful finishes at the Quiltville blog HERE.

I managed to finish mine up over the weekend and took a couple of photos of it today.  It has been such a rainy season here so I haven't had a chance to get an outdoor shot until today.

After adding an additional 6 inch strip border, the quilt finished at 84" square.  The quilting is fairly dense since that last border has a lot of bias edged strips when sewn together.

I love seeing all the texture after quilting.

 

The backing had the perfect colors.

Blue seemed like the best option when it came to binding.

It was a great pattern this year.  I can hardly wait for the next clue in about nine months.

It has been really cold here lately.  We've had very rare freeze warnings.  I'm finding myself covering my tender plants each night.  Where is spring?   This morning we awoke to another day of frosty lawns and ice in the rain puddles from yesterday.  Those poinsettias are frost damaged today and will be gone tomorrow.

Hello February

Hello February.  Seriously?  I'm sure there are more than a few of you eager to get this winter behind us.  It has been chilly (for us) and rainy this year. I know that I am ready for some sunshine myself.  Everything is beyond saturated - including myself!

Rainy outside means more sewing time inside.  The Scrappy Mountain Majesties blocks have gone from a UFO to a completion.  I ended up finding the perfect border fabric in my stash.  I loved all the colors that were brought out in the quilt when I added the borders.  Final size of the quilt is 72" x 82" and it will go to a grandson who requested a quilt for his college apartment.

Today is the day to share our second block of the Bloom SAL, hosted by Cheryll.  I have so many vintage 30s fabrics as well as some of the reproductions so thought this would be a good time to use them. I am mixing older and newer together and hoping to make a dent in that bin.

 
Our Queen Bee in our Gridster Bee for February is Elizabeth.  She is doing such sweet little houses.  I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

We finally had a sunny day last week and I was able to get out in the garden and finish pruning my roses.  These poor little buds were still barely hanging on, but it was nice to have a small bouquet to bring in the house in February.

One advantage of all the rain is the lush green that is now our world.  The hills have gone from the dead brown to the living green again.

One of our granddaughters is studying abroad in Florence.  She texted me a picture of this wine bottle that she said reminded her of me.  I wonder why.   I think I need one to use as a vase in my sewing room.

I loved this cute cartoon that was on our guild's FB page.  I have no idea who the author is, but it spoke to me when I saw it.  lol