Sow along blocks and Happy Easter

Happy Easter! The kids are working on finding some Easter Eggs that were hidden around the house so I decided to get a post set today.
Excuse the extra blush on one side of the bunny's face.. Em was 'helping' Mommy!



I was able to do the first 3 sow along blocks from Randy over at Barristersblock blog last night while waiting for G to get home from work.

Basket Weave, Contrary Wife and Big Dipper. These went together really quickly. I decided to swap out the light fabric I was originally thinking of using with a light cream print. We'll see if I can continue using just the three fabrics... I may have to get a little creative with some of the blocks.

First Neutral Saturday and a Birthday!

My baby girl turns 3 Today! Happy Birthday Emily.

I had to think a bit this month for what to work on. First... I decided to finish the two red birds in the air since they have neutrals in them.

Now I have 12 each in red, green and pink. I am undecided if I will try and do 12 in the neutral shades or not but I have a couple of weeks to decide.

I also promised AT that I would work on 'his' quilt after I finished the graduation quilt for Mindy. Well, her top is finished so I pulled out the 12 inch holder where I have the blocks stored. This was a picture from last year when I was working on it.

The white and blue HST's were left over from making the Lady in the Lake pattern for my parents anniversary a couple of years ago. I laid it out the other day and determined the amount of friendship stars and 9 patch blocks that I need to make to have enough to make a good sized top. I originally was thinking of putting the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song around the border on this one.... but I think he is getting a little too old for it. I will put his name at the bottom like I did with his sisters crumb quilt.

This month over at the quilt square along at Jo's country junction we have our choice to make one of the three patterns left on the pattern we were working from the first four months of the year. I think I am going to try and make one of each, which will become a quilt as you go project of each of the 12 inch blocks. I have 2 prepped from February and March that are all set for hand quilting.

I am thinking I will do one each week for the Saturday neutral quilt along so that I can get them done. I am going to try a quilt as you go for these blocks and decided to do checks on the back. I have a few in various colors in my stash and think it will make a neat looking scrappy backing for this quilt.



I'll also plan to make something for the Birds in the air and Pinwheel blocks but have not decided what yet. I'm going to not do any of the 2 inch squares this month since I think I want the background fabric to be consistent for next year's little project and I'm not sure what that background fabric will be yet. So all of the above and getting a quilt or two quilted will be the 'goals' for this month. Oh... I also am starting the Sow along over at Randy's blog and have those fabrics washed and ironed and ready to go. I think I have the first 13 to make.
It will be a very busy month. Go on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what everyone else has planned for the neutral month of April.

What I'm working on...

I got a few minutes in the sewing room Wednesday and put together a butterfly block that I'll show next Tuesday for the Midget progress.
Then.....while the munchkins were napping I decided to piece the pink 2.5 inch strips together to make the binding for the pink scrappy quilt. That is all measured, ironed and rolled so it will be ready to sew on once that one gets quilted. I did three strips how I normally do them... just match seams and sew along the line... and then had a thought. With all the scrappy pieces I'd better try the triangle method so the bulk is spread across the length rather than my 'normal' way. I hope that it will make the hand sewing less bulky on this one. Time will tell. The backing is pressed and cut but just needs to be sewn together. I hope to do that Friday so that when I pin the graduation quilt so I can pin this one too.

I also got a few minutes yesterday and was able to wash, press and sew the backing fabric for the graduation quilt. I picked a bright dot print on a black background. The top and bottom are rolled onto the boards so that I can pin the Starburst quilt once I cut the batting and get about 30 minutes of free time. I hope to get this one pinned and quilted this weekend.

I also cut some extra batting and just need to piece it together so that I can prep the two little squares for hand quilting. These are February and March from the Quilt Square Quilt along.

What are you working on?

March Quilt Square Along

Jo over at Jo's Country Junction is having a sew along and this month was the stars little quilt from Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #1.

I pulled out the fabrics and cut things out on Thursday night. Sewed it up on Monday and this is what it turned into. I will hand quilt this one in the evenings this week when I get a chance.



Go on over to see what everyone else came up with for this months blocks.

#34 Rocky Glen redo

Well, after I made Rocky Glen last week and took the picture, I realized that I put it together wrong. For some reason this one bugged me so I recut the pieces and sewed it up on Friday morning. Here is the correct Rocky Glen. I cut all the little 14 squares into triangles this time and it went together much better than when I did the sew on each side of the line.



Here is a picture of the 34 blocks that are completed so far. Yes, there are 35 blocks here since I had to redo #1 since it came out a wee bit too small.

Last Saturday in Pink

This is the last scrappy Saturday in Pink and I wanted to do a recap. Thanks Soscrappy for hosting this challenge. I am having fun playing with colors each month.

This month I have finished the top of the pink x string quilt from last year. The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter but I put a sashing on the side last year and realized when I was done that the blocks would not make an X anymore. Oops.


Three more of the scrappy pinwheel blocks. The pattern is from Kim Brackett's book Scrap Basket Surprise. This is a picture of all of them so far.
Some are from the blocks I won a couple years ago from my guild BOM that didn't make it into the quilt I made from them. It can be found here.

Twelve more of the Birds in the Air blocks...I really need to make two more of the red ones so I'll have 12 of each.

This pattern is from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini.

I could not sleep Thursday night so instead of tossing and turning, I got up and cut some fabrics. I cut the strips of pinks into 2 inch squares and some into 2.5 strips for a scrappy binding for the pink quilt above.


Then I had to make a couple of birthday cards to send up to Vermont. My niece and SIL have birthdays right around Em's... one is the 4th - when my niece turns 17 and the other is the 9th. Emily will turn 3 years old the 7th... she didn't want to share her birthday I guess!
These are in the mail and hopefully will arrive in time.


Go on over to SoScrappy and see what others are doing on this pink challenge

Late night cutting fabrics

I was unable to sleep for a bit last night so I got up and decided to cut some things out.
I had done the Rocky Glen block yesterday but the paws were not going the same way as in the picture. I started to rip it out last night... and decided I'd just redo it. I cut the itty bitty squares (14 each at 1.3/8) so that I can redo this block. If it still doesn't come out correct.... I'm going to leave it as is.


Then I pulled fabrics for the next 3 Midget blocks so I'll be set for the next few weeks before printing out some more.





I also grabbed the pink strips I had cut when finishing the borders of the pink quilt and cut them into 2.5 inch strips and 2 inch strips. One set is put together in a pile to be sewn into the binding for the quilt and the other was cut up into 2 inch squares for the basket of colorful squares for next years L&E quilt.


Then.... I remembered it is getting to the end of the month and I have not done the quilt square along block from Jo's Country Junction. We have an extension this month as she is away at a retreat this weekend. The reveal will be April 4.. my niece's 17th birthday. I really need to make her card today and get that in the mail. These are the squares needed to make the pattern for this month - Small Quilt #4 from Lori Smith - Quilt Squares #1 pattern.


How much do you think the kids will let me sew today? I got the two Midget blocks done yesterday and got the final bit of the 5 yards of garden dirt placed into the new garden beds - two 8x8 beds for the veggie garden and then some dirt on the side of the shed for the herb garden and then the remainder of the pile placed by the fence in the back yard so the kids and I can plant some sunflowers and maybe some cutting flowers. Now we need to adjust to gardening in the south... lots different from gardening in the north! Oh, the kids loved to play in the dirt over the last few days..... why we have so many toys when a pile of dirt kept them entertained for hours over the span of this week..... Think I can convince them to rake the remaining soil into the bare spots on the lawn so I can put some grass seed down? It would be fun... really!