A Pretty Collage

Finishes for April.  I made a few of these in March, but only just got the sleeve or label on them. so I am counting them as an April finish.   Now that my machine is working properly I should have many more finishes in the future.

Finished!

Just a quick post to show my finished scrappy quilt.  A friend at our Tuesday morning group held it up for me so that I could take a picture.  I pieced a scrappy binding for it.

I am not sure how many finishes I had this month, but it was more than I have had in previous months.  Tomorrow I hope to do a collage of all of this month's finishes.

Still busy today.  Have to go to the library to return an overdue book, to the bank to cash a cheque and then to the grocery store to buy some marshmallows and Rice Krispie cereal.  I offered to make Rice Krispie squares for my DD's bake sale.  When will I ever learn?

Finishing Up

Went to the bridal shower yesterday.  Had a good time.  Met someone who looked familiar.  She sat down at our table.  It turned out that she is a member of the same quilt guild I belong to.  Small world.  My placemats were well received, by the way.

I posted those placemats on Saturday and linked them to Crazy Mom's Friday finish.  A lot of folks came by to look at them.  And I thank everyone who came, even though not many left a comment.  A special thank you to those who did.  I had 400 visitors since Saturday.  Incredible!

So what's on my design floor today?  Nothing!  Absolutely nothing!  Only a day away from the end of the month and I am trying to finish another quilt.  This one is scrappy, so I made the binding scrappy too.

I still have a bit more to quilt.  And then add the binding.

 But don't think that that is all I have to do today.  I will be busy.  It is my turn to bring a treat to our Tuesday morning quilt group.  I think I will bake a banana bread.

And tonight is the executive meeting of our guild.  We have already started to receive next year's membership applications, so I have been busy with that.

I also need to water my plants, since I haven't done that for a while.  I think that is all I have to do.  Gosh, it really doesn't sound like much when you write it all down.  I can do this!  I know I can.
Hope to be able to show you another finished quilt tomorrow.

Placemats

After finishing the placemats for Meals on Wheels last week, I was inspired to make a few more.  These are for a  wedding shower gift.  I used a Trip Around the World pattern for the front, 

and made them reversible with a cherry print on the back.  

I hope the future bride likes them.

I have linked up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish it up Friday.

Wednesday's Flowers on Thursday

I haven't posted my hexies for a long time.  Yesterday would have been the day to do it, but it was dark and rainy and I couldn't get a good photo.  But today it is bright and sunny.   So here is my latest corner of my flower basket quilt.

All of the flowers and leaves are done for this section.  Now I just have to work on the 50+ white hexies that surround everything.  Blah!

And something new and different that I would like to do on my blog.  A Wednesday Wild Flower post.  As I ride around on my scooter, I notice all the wild flowers that are growing along the road, in the park and in other waste spaces.  Here is the first flower.

It is called "Coltsfoot".  They grow along the path in the ravine and in other waste spaces.  This plant is one of the first to flower in spring, even before dandelions flower.  Although they resemble a dandelion, they are very different.  Coltsfoot has reddish-brown scales on the stems.  And no leaves when the plant is in bloom.  Later on, after the flowers are gone, the leaves will grow.  The leaves are very large and roundish, nothing like a dandelion leaf at all.

You can see the scales better in this photo.  There is also a large wasp on one of the flowers.  I saw this type of wasp on many for them when I was out on Tuesday.  I have no idea what kind of wasp it is.  I think it is just a kind that is out early in spring and Coltsfoot are the only flowers in bloom.  Coltsfoot is in the Asteraceae Family.  It's botanical name is Tussilago farfara.

I love seeing early spring blooms and I also love to look at my Mimi, soundly sleeping in her cat bed.
She is doing very well, still on steroids for her auto-immune condition, but she seems to be pain free, which makes her happy, and me as well.

A Couple of Placemats for Earth Day

The weather has been cold and sunny, so I have been busy in my garden.  Sewing has taken second place to the outside work.  There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do.  But I did get a couple of placemats done for Meals on Wheels.  These are given to new clients when they start having meals delivered.  Many of them have let us know that they really appreciate a wonderful placemat with their first meal.  And anything that puts a smile on a shut-in's face is okay with me.  Tonight is our guild meeting and I am happy that I got them done in time for that

.I have one more that will have to wait until next month.

 

 

I know it is already late in the afternoon,

but I also want to wish everyone a 

Happy Earth Day!

Happy quilting.....

My Whimsical Garden #2

Just finished my second block for my Whimsical Garden quilt.  

My real garden is starting to look kind of whimsical too.  My late Crocuses are blooming.  The early yellow ones are already finished.  The Daffodils and Scilla Siberica are just starting to show some much appreciated colour.  I have been working in the garden as much as possible lately, moving things around a bit to make room for some more perennials.  But more time spent in the garden means less time to sew.  Sigh.

One More Block

Today is Sunday and I just realized that I haven't put up a new post for a week.  We have had a very busy time.  The weather didn't cooperate either.  We had a severe storm from Wednesday evening through Saturday morning.  We had rain, ice pellets, freezing rain and snow.  It was also extremely windy.  On Friday I had to go out and retrieve our garbage can three times.

I did a lot of mending last week.  Sewed a new zipper into one of my husbands jackets.  Also finished a quilt for a friend.  She wanted to make her quilt bigger, but she did not know how to add a piece using the quilt-as-you-go method.  I tried to teach her, but I guess I was not making myself clear.  So I offered to do it for her.  I have had a couple of months to do that, and now she is coming back from Florida.  I thought I should have it ready for her.

I also worked on a few ongoing quilt tops.  And, of course, Eleanor Burns' Applique in a Day blocks.  This one is called, 'Grape Wreath'.

Ongoing Wiggly Whimsy and a Finish of Sorts

Here is my progress on the Wiggly Whimsy quilt-along I am following on Terry's blog.  I did two more rows and have another one started.   This quilt is really fun to make.

I love Terry's blog.  I find her so inspirational.  She makes lots of pincushions too.  Since I cleaned up and threw out several threadbare ones, I really needed a new one.  So I decided to use the scrappy hexagon that I made last summer for a lavender potpourri.  Unfortunately my lavender didn't dry too well.  I think it was too hot and humid in my shed last summer.  So, what to do with the hexagon?  Why, make a pincushion of course.  Cute, eh?

My Whimsical Garden

In the springtime my thoughts turn to the flowers in my garden.  Since spring is taking its time getting here, I am dreaming of all the beautiful plants I will have this year.  So I decided to start on 'My Whimsical Garden' by Piece O' Cake designs.  I picked the pattern up last Saturday and couldn't wait to start it.  This is not the easiest applique block I have ever made.  There were lots of tiny pieces.  But I love it.  Hope you will too.

The block is 10 1/2 inches square.  There are 20 blocks in all.  I am doing this block for the yahoo group, Applique Your Way.  That means I am supposed to do one block per month.  This quilt would not be finished for almost two years.  Yipes!  Too long for me.  I doubt if I can stay interested for that long.  New things are bound to come along and I will take detours.  I know myself, so I will just keep working on this until I have had enough.  I might have to make a wall hanging. LOL