Rainy Day Sewing

Unlike many of you on the "other" coast with all of your snow, we are enjoying some rainy days here.  It has been sorely lacking this year so it makes for pleasant days of settling in for some fun sewing.

While my sister was visiting she convinced me that I should join her in sewing a Postcards From Sweden quilt.  I'm so glad that she did as it is such a happy, colorful quilt.  I'm not sure how I will quilt it yet, but I really love it.  My sister (IG@alaskanquilter) has already started hers so I am excited to see how she likes it.

It's hard to get it all in one pictures, but you can see the gorgeous colors.

While stitching the rows together I had it hanging in front of a window and enjoyed the leaded glass look of it.

This is the background that I have chosen for it....wild and crazy colors too.

Also while she was down, we played a bit with my years old UFO of New York Beauty blocks.  I don't know why I hadn't sewn these together yet because they are some of my favorite sewn blocks.  Instead of the little bits for leaders and enders that I normally sew, I used these blocks.  The result is finally seeing them together.

I think I may do a Bordeaux narrow strip followed by a Flying Geese border to finish it off.

Marsha (IG@quilterinmotion) is our queen bee this month in our Gridster Bee.  This was her choice of blocks for us.  I love the crispness or a red, white and blue color combination.   I did two blocks, but forgot to photograph the other one.  ;-(

I watched a couple of the little ones this week.  Toby loves it when the kids are here because it is attention overload for him.

Life is good!

Linking up with Quilt Fabrication Midweek Makers, and Freemotion by the River,

Happy Spring

Isn't it a great time of the year?  I love spring with its promise of longer and warmer days ahead.  As well, the flowers are stunning this year with all of the rains we have enjoyed.  The clivia are blooming in the yard and the hills are filled with wild mustard. 

My mom's hummingbird nest from last year is back and filled again.  The first little one hatched today.  It's hard to see with that feathery nest the mother has created. 

This week has been about sewing curves.  I finished the last of the NY Beauty blocks and now it is a matter of arranging them into a quilt top. 

After all of that curve work I ventured into even more curves with the Sew All Around QAL hosted by Gosia at Quilts My Way.  She has an excellent tutorial of quilting curves.  Like Gosia, I have always been a heavy pinner when sewing curves.  However, after all of the curve sewing I have been doing lately I managed to sew these curves with only two pins each. 

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day celebration over the weekend.  Our daughter made the children such cute cupcakes complete with rainbows and pots of gold.

My Blogger problems persist.  Is anyone else experiencing the same problem of not being able to access their reading list?  Every once in awhile it will work, but for the most part I am unable to scroll down.  Bloglovin has been my go to for reading blogs, but I know that my full list is not on Bloglovin.  It is very frustrating.  If I have not been commenting on your blog, please understand why. 

Happy Spring to all.

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!  Are you going to be making a pie today?  Possibly stitching circles?  Eating a pizza?  Have fun with anything circular.

To acknowledge Pi day I am posting all of my completed circles in my NY Beauty project. 

These are the new pieces added this week.  Slowly, but surely, I am getting this UFO finished.  Why did I wait so long?  Once I finish all of the blocks I will arrange a layout.

My sister from Alaska (IG alaskanquilter) has been in town this week and we have shared some fabulous quilting hours together.  She brought some of her completed tops down to quilt.  First up was a top that her daughter made.  She is a brand new quilter and this is her first quilt top made in a class she took.  Isn't it lovely?

We then moved on to a dog quilt for one of my sister's furry friends.

Lastly, she brought along her En Provence mystery quilt.  It was fun to compare hers with mine before she got it quilted.  This turned out beautifully.  I need to get mine quilted next.

We celebrated her birthday with a trip to one of our favorite quilt shops.  She was able to take advantage of their 30% off birthday discount so significant stash building was accomplished. 

This was the birthday postcard that I made for her this year.  The cactus are in bloom in the desert so thought this fit the season. 

Our days have been glorious with temps in the 80s for the last week.  It has felt fabulous - especially with the longer daylight hours.  Spring is definitely here with the migrating birds back and the tortoises out of hibernation.  I'm ready for it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.  Corned beef with cabbage?????

Linking up this week with Val's Quilting, Freemotion By The River,  Midweek Makers and Quilts My Way.

Marching into March

Another month down in 2017 and now we march into March.  Spring is definitely in the air.  Although I have not spotted one yet, I have heard the orioles in the yard.  I love it when they return.  Their sunny yellow color brings back the memories of long summer days.  As well, the clock turns back next weekend....my favorite time of the year.

Blogger has been frustrating me lately by not allowing me to access my reading list.  If I have not been visiting, please understand the reason.  I have been using Bloglovin, but my reading list is not complete and it will occasionally not allow me to comment.  Blogging is a love/hate relationship for me. 

.....BUT......I've had such fun stitching lately.  Several years ago I started making the NY Beauty blocks for the QAL.  Instead of doing one of each, I decided to do four of each!  I believe there were a total of twelve different patterns.  I just finished my 9th block of four.  Three more to go.

 

My bee blocks this month for our fabulous Gridster Bee were cute little piglets.  Elizabeth shared a fun pattern with us and I LOVED these little guys.  I really need to do some for myself.  Hmmmm.....I have wanted to make a quilt from each block I have made so far.  Do you think I might have a problem?????

The background for this little piggy is medical supplies chosen because Elizabeth is recovering from shoulder surgery.

My Temperature Quilt is growing too.  February saw some really warm as well as some quite chilly temperatures.  I am still hoping to have more oranges soon.  I am doing this quilt along with my little sister (IG alaskanquilter) who lives in Alaska.  Needless to say, her temperatures and colors are quite different from mine.

Is it possible to do some Christmas stitching in February?  Absolutely!!!  The kindergarten class was in need of a stitcher for their blocks they created.  This will be auctioned off at their annual school fundraiser on March 18th.  The little ones did such a good job on their Christmas trees.  I hope it brings in a lot of money for the school.  I'll update you later.

My youngest sister ( the quilter) is coming into town this week.  We both enter a new decade this year and she has been celebrating hers in Hawaii this week.  I am looking forward to some fabulous days of stitching together while she is here.  Life is good!!!! 

Farewell to March

Whew!  This has been a quick month.  As we approach the final week in March, I have to say that ours has been fantastic.

We have been fortunate to have two sets of houseguests staying with us this month.  Needless to say, the computer was cast to the back burner.

Our first guests were neighbors of our who moved to Colorado about eight years ago.  We so miss them.  Leslie and I could always get into so much creative trouble.  While they were here Leslie and I played around with a little eco dyeing.  Collecting flowers and tidbits from the yard, we wrapped, packed and cooked our fabrics in jars.  The colors are not great in the photo, but they came out so well.
The first jar contained eucalyptus leaves, geranium petals, blueberries and brown onion skins. 



The second one was eucalyptus bark, pepper berries, citrus and oak leaves. 





For a first attempt at it, I was quite pleased and am eager to try more of the technique.  My inspiration for this came from Nat Palaskas who blogs HERE.



Following their visit we were blessed to have my mother’s two “baby” brothers and my cousin’s wife come to stay with us.  This was a huge trip for them as both of my uncles are in their late 80s.  They had not seen my mom in about 12 years so the visit was incredible and I hated to see them leave on Sunday.  We played cards by the hours and laughed until our sides hurt!  Coming from Iowa they so enjoyed our warm sunshine after the winter they have experienced.

Three siblings

Although my blog and sewing machine have been silent, I did manage to complete my goal of four NYBeauty blocks for this month's ALYoF.  I actually finished six of them.





This is my collection to date - spread out on my design floor!!!





I have some mail that I have received ans will share, but I will wait for my next post so this one isn't too long to read.

Sew and Such

Although the temperatures are not reflecting the event, spring has arrived.  Both the male and female orioles have returned - the earliest we have ever recorded them doing so.  We had a winter storm blow through over the weekend and I am certain that they must be reconsidering their decision.  We are, however, thrilled to see the bright yellow flashes at the feeders.  I've also noticed a great increase in the number of hummingbirds.  Summer must follow soon.

After the challenges that I encountered with my Feathered Star block last week, I decided to tackle the Mariner's Compass a little differently.  I sewed this one by hand.  I have also hated the hand applique since I never felt that I was any good at it.  I am learning new skills and it is definitely improving the applique look on my blocks. 

I've been a slacker in starting my NY Beauty blocks so I decided to dive into them.  I have chosen batiks for this project since I have quite a few of them.    I still have four more blocks to do before the next set comes out, but I think I can make it. 

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our next grandbaby who is due in about a week and a half.  She has gone early with the other two, but this one seems to want to stay put for awhile.  Meanwhile we enjoy  our littlest guy.  He is growing so quickly and is the BEST baby. 

Since it sounds like most places are enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures, I hope you can all get out and enjoy them this week.