Spring Flowers

Spring is trying to arrive in the Midwest. It has been gray and rainy this week. And we all know what April showers bring. 

These flowers will be blooming in a quilt by next month. I'll be sewing some leaves today. This quilt will be a graduation gift for a sweet young lady. 

Happy sewing!

Sewing with some sanity

Over the past few months, I have been sewing some strips on to rectangles to make simple blocks.  I had a pretty pile of fabrics that I wanted to use up.  Also, I was working on curvy seams and often needed to do some simple sewing to either warm up or settle down.

I used this pattern http://www.maryquilts.com/new-forest-bricks/ from one of my favorite "go to" sites.  Mollie's use of stash has been an inspiration to me (I am sure my husband appreciates her philosophy too!)

Lots of 2" x 6.5" blue pieces sewn to 3.5" x 6.5" bricks.

I'll bind with the same blue.  I'm sure if I dig in to the closet, I can find a few pieces to use for a backing.

Now to start another project.  Next on my list is Round & Round.  I plan to use sea glass batiks.  I can't wait to start cutting.

I'm doing a happy dance!

I finally assembled my Winding Ways quilt.  I'd like to thank my husband, my sewing friends and also my blogging friends for their encouragement.

Now for a little easy piecing.  I'm going to play with squares and rectangles for a week or so.  Then I think I'll do a Mariner's Compass. Or a Drunkard's Path. Oh, my mind swirls with possibilities!!

Finally!

Sixty-six blocks with blue backgrounds and sixty-six with white backgrounds.

I whined so much as I began these blocks. I'm so thankful that I have had so much encouragement to keep sewing!  I made peace with curved piecing. I caught myself wondering if the next one will be red and white or black and scrappy. Yes, I said it. The next one. Of course I want to make another!

Awesome quilting!

I was looking at a blog I like to read and found some familiar quilts - mine!!  Check out Abby's blog post here and see her beautiful work.

This weekend will be all about my winding ways blocks.  I have several in process.  And House of Cards Season 2 is available on Netflix.

I hope you are going to have a great quilty weekend too.

Still trying!

I'm going to get this monster done in 2014. I can hear my friend Heather's voice in my head, "finish the project!"

I'm a starter. It's good to have finishers around me for support. 

Quilting with friends

I have a couple of friends who are new to quilting.  Today we worked together so that each of them could learn to pin baste and then machine quilt their first quilts.  I was so excited to be part of their projects!  I'm so impressed by their eagerness to learn - and to complete a quilt.  I also benefitted from their encouragement.  I WILL FINISH my Winding Ways quilt this year, no excuses.