March Minis

I recently participated in a couple of mini quilt swaps and I received two of the minis this month.

The first one was from the ALQS8.  It is called Mason’s Whirl and was made by Marie (no blog) in NH and I really love her design and use of colors.  As I have said before, this is a fabulous swap each year.




My second mini quilt came from Sharon as she was my partner this round in our Sewing with Friends swap.  Her work on this is perfect and I love how this little quilt says “spring” through and through.



This past year I have been a member of a Japanese X&+ block swap.  Our group sadly fell apart along the way and we were only left with a few members.  I hated to see the blocks that I had received not be put to good use so I have slowly added more blocks over the year as I made exchange blocks for others.  I think I now have enough to make a top with them.  After looking at the photo of the blocks, I see a few that need to be changed, but this will be my goal for April’s ALYoF.





One last March project that was finished was a feedsack challenge.  Emily provided us with a vintage feedsack to repurpose and this is what I decided to do with mine.




I cut up some old denim jeans, used an orphan quilt block and used the feedsack to create a pillow for the sofa.  It has a nifty pocket on the back to store the ever lost remote control!  Thanks, Em, for the chance to play with the feedsack.

One last note - Jacquelynne Steve's new Art of Home spring e-magazine is coming out this week.  You can go here to sign up for your free copy which is going to be filled with wonderful projects, patterns, recipes and ideas for spring.

 





Now.......onwards to April!

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.

Making Aqua Headway

I’m really enjoying working on my New York Beauty blocks.  This was a QAL from several years ago and although I printed off all of my blocks, I did not get all ten sets finished.  The color aqua must be on my mind since that is the RSC14 color this month.




The aqua continued with the arrival of my swap quilt from the ALQS8.  This piece was made by Mary Jackson and came from the U.K.  I really love the wonderful scrappiness of this quilt and the workmanship is excellent.  The colors are fabulous too.




Switching gears a bit…. I completed a table runner for an auction that is coming up later this month.  I did one last year for the same auction and it went over really well.




The detail of the machine embroidery is a little hard to see in the photo above, but it was completed using various colors of Floriani threads.  These threads are really lovely for machine embroidery.  They have such a beautiful sheen to them. 



We’ll have little ones for the weekend so there won’t be any sewing being done around here. 

Teal and a Winner

After four name draws of “no reply” bloggers, congratulations go to Ida, the winner of my Uncommonly Corduroy Book Tour Blog Hop.  Ida does such beautiful work and I know that she is going to be thrilled with all of the fun projects in this great book.

The new color for March in the RSC14 is teal.  I LOVE the color and was really excited about sewing this month’s block. 




Now there are three………

In contemplating my goals for my March sewing, I am trying to be realistic.  We will be busy entertaining out of town company so I have decided to add at least four more blocks to my N.Y. Beauty project.  I first had to fix the first four blocks because I did not have my printer set to scale when I made them.  Now they are the same size as my others.

In Like a Lion……

Isn’t it March where the old saying of In like a lion…out like a lamb applies?  Well…..if the last day of February is any indication of what tomorrow will be like, we should have gorgeous weather to start April.



Our rains have finally arrived in So. California.  We had an inch and a half overnight and 3/4 of an inch the night before.  It is suppose to get quite wild later on with 60 mph winds and power outages so will try to finish this post off now.  We just got our power back after being without for over an hour.




With it being the last day of February, I need to get my finish in for ALYOF.  This month I completed a Schnibble that I made way back – during the Year of Schnibbles.  I can’t even remember the year or the name of the pattern, but I LOVED this fabric.  It might be one of my all time favorite lines – Boutique by Chez Moi . 









It was my mom’s birthday this week so all of my siblings and some of their spouses took her to lunch.  We had a great time and  a fun visit with my sister who is visiting from Alaska. 







This was the birthday card that I made her.  The fabric reflects her career as a teacher.

Uncommonly Corduroy Blog Book Tour

I have had the pleasure of being one of Stephanie Dumphy’s (of Loft Creations fame) “Supremes” for awhile now.  It is such a thrill to be a pattern tester for someone as talented as she is.  She has just had her first book released and it is filled with fabulous ideas.  The projects range from beginner through intermediate skills and you will find more than enough to get your sewing drive in gear.



Images from Uncommonly Corduroy by Stephanie Dunphy, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photo by Brent Kane. All rights reserved.

The photography in the book is gorgeous and you can browse through it HERE.  This is the pattern that I tested for the book. 



This great pattern made a small quilt and I initially did it in cottons with a variety of fat quarters - scraps from the stash.



The really exciting thing about the book is that she uses corduroy in ways that I would have never imagined doing myself. Have you seen or sewn with the new SOFT corduroy? It is heavenly!!!

It was an easy pattern that went up quickly so I made a second one using the same pattern but used corduroy in it.  The texture is amazing and would be wonderful for a baby quilt.  The new corduroy is SEW easy to sew.  I thought it would create quite a bit of bulk, but it really isn't much different from the nice weight cottons that we quilters use.




As well, the book is loaded with fabulous tote projects which I think I will try next.  The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. 

You can win an electronic version of Uncommonly Corduroy by simply leaving a comment below.  I will draw a winner on March 1st after the Book Tour is finished.

Stephanie's book is available from Martingale or Amazon.  If you would like a personalized copy you can order it directly from Stephanie HERE.  The link is on her sidebar.

Below is the schedule for all the blogs participating in the Book Tour.  Each participant is giving away a free e-copy of the book as well as showing us their fabulous projects.  Be sure to check out each one and enter to win an e-copy of the book at each stop.

February 19 -- Stephanie at Loft Creations
February 20 -- Martingale at Stitch This
February 21 -- Candace at Squash House Quilts
February 22 -- Carrie at A Passion for Applique
February 23 -- Mary at Mary on Lake Pulaski
February 24 -- Char at Cloth Stitched
February 25 -- Mary at Needled Mom
February 26 -- Linda at The Quilted Pineapple
February 27 -- Margaret at A Sampler of Stitches
February 28 -- Ulla at Kotkarankki

In the Pink

Pink is generally a color that I do not use much.  Perhaps it is because my mother always told me that I should not wear pink with my red hair.  Then again, it could be because I had four sons first and the house was anything but pink for many years.  Whatever the reason, this month has seen me noticing a lot of pink. 
The sunrises have been beautiful this week with the pink color lighting up the entire sky.



This month’s RSC14 color is also pink.  Scrounging through my pink scraps, I was able to come up with this block.



One of the plants blooming in the yard now has such a great color combination of orange and pink.  I think these colors would make a fabulous quilt.



Several years ago I made my mom a brushed satin nightshirt that she has loved.  It is showing its wear so this week I made her a new one to replace it…..in PINK.

Okay….I think I am finished with my pinks.  I wonder what color will strike my fancy next.