Progress on two............

The Hunter Star quilt top is finally sewn together.  I put the last 4 blocks up on the wall and then spent a half hour moving blocks around until they were pleasing to my eye.  It ended up 47" x 71".

When 4 blocks come together it makes multicolor stars.

This also shows the true colors in the quilt better than the whole quilt photo.

Our twice monthly sewing group met yesterday and I paper pieced flannel arcs to use in the next flannel quilt.

I had only printed 6 arcs so I need to decide how I am going to place them so I know how many more I need.  I was thinking of maybe a half circle on both sides and a full one in the center.  Then it will be filled in with more squares around these blocks and maybe 3 more rows of squares at the top.  Right now it is 56" wide and I want the length to be at least 72".

This and that.........

The crunchy ice melted off the driveway by 10:30 yesterday morning.  I figured it was better to be safe than sorry and reschedule the class.   
I rearranged the blocks on the Hunter Star and thought it might be the final layout.  Then I got an email that I had won a giveaway and I'm wondering if some of those fabrics might look good with this so I'll wait until I get them before I sew it together.

I made new curtains for my 1953 pink bathroom.  It is a flesh pink so the curtain leans toward pale coral.  2 1/2 years procrastination, 55 minutes pressing, cutting and sewing them.

Two of last year's Amaryllis bulbs have buds on them.  I didn't even put them outside last summer.  They were in the garage the whole time.  I brought them in and started watering them about 6 weeks ago.  I have 3 others from last year or previous years and they are just leaves so far.

I didn't have anything ready to sew last night so I tore papers out of these pieces.  I know you are supposed to sew the pieces together first and then tear the paper out but I have success this way.  Here is a photo of all of the blocks.  I was happy to see I had taken a picture of the whole layout since I didn't know how any of these pieces go back up on the wall.


 

Another quilt almost done......

One more flannel quilt quilted this winter....yes it is still winter here, snow predicted tomorrow night.  Now we are into the damp cold time period which feels colder than it did earlier this winter.

If you remember when I was making this last year, it is a Karen Stone paper piecing pattern named Rattlesnake.  I have renamed mine Bear Trap.  It was a bear to quilt too.  I knew those intersections were bulky when I made it.  I got it trimmed and will choose the binding today and hopefully get it completed.

While I was in the basement I cut 2 more pairs of fabric for the wedges in Vintage Spin.   Below is one last photo of the Philip Jacobs fabrics before I put them away.  They are in order by number now but that won't last long.

A super sweet day.......

Two friends came over to play yesterday and one brought rhubarb crisp which we ate for brunch.  The other has a broken oven so she brought a strawberry rhubarb pie to bake in my oven which we had as a mid afternoon snack, both with ice cream of course.  Oh, and we ordered pizza for lunch.  In case you are wondering, we did find time to sew too.

 

 

 I made one more star block, 3 to go to finish the quilt top.  I also picked out a square with a hole in it in my Boston Commons top and replaced with a good square.  Then I continued tearing papers out of the stepping stones blocks.  I have all of the first column done and half of the second column.  It was a lot more fun to tear out with company to talk to.

I had baked a double batch of shortbread cookies the night before so I sent a bunch home with them.  Now I have 3 desserts to choose from today.....yum!

Sashing progress.........

The progress is slow on this quilt.  I have been tearing out some of the paper after I get sections sewn together.  I need to get the pieced border started but I haven't even chosen the fabrics yet.  The art quilters group is coming next week so I will start cleaning the basement too.  This quilt needs to be off the wall by then so I'll have to do a few blocks a day.

Sashing fabric, hand dyed fabric giveaway............

The sashing fabric for my Stepping Stones quilt is a custom hand dyed fabric by Vicki Welsh.  I have her gray to black gradation and described the area that I thought would work and it came out perfect.  Grouting in stepping stones wouldn't be jet black, it would be softer like a charcoal so that is what I wanted.  I hope you can see the mottled look.  It really is hard to photograph it. 

I got a few strips sewn in last night and it is perfect.  The top right block has both strips sewn in.  In this quilt I used batiks, Kaffe Fassett prints and hand dyed fabric.  They all work well together.

My other project with the triangles has hand dyes left over from the Streak of Lightning zig zag quilt that I made last year along with Kaffe fabric, and maybe I'll add the black and white prints.

I might do alternate blocks.  This is a Brandon Mably fabric. 

Maybe I'll use the umbrella fabric.  I like busy quilts........the hand dyes look great with the Kaffe prints.  They are from Vicki's Stash Packs where you get a great variety.

Now for the giveaway: I don't like long drawn out productions so the drawing will be closed 10 p.m. Central Standard time on Friday May 10 so I can announce the winner Saturday morning May 11.  If you are a no reply commenter include your email in your comment using the word 'at' instead of the symbol and the word 'dot' instead of a period for safety reasons.  I probably won't reply to any comments.  The giveaway...

 

Vicki has generously offered a Stash Pack AND a 2.5 yard pack of black Mistyfuse to one of my readers.  You need to visit her shop and tell me which stash pack you would like to win.  Good luck!  I will use the Random Number Generator to pick the winner.Giveaway closed!!

 

If you decide to purchase some fabric while you are there she is offering free shipping on domestic US orders over $40 and the coupon code is WANDAFUL. International customers can add the code to the comments and she will refund $5 to their order. It expires on the 18th of May.

All 36...........done..........

The last three blocks are finished.  I enjoyed making these but I am glad to have them done to this point.  I still have to add the dark strip to the top left block and to the other 11 already on the design wall.  The photo below shows all 36 on the design wall.  The paper is curling so they don't hang straight.  I see one I might move to another place but generally I think I'm happy with the layout.  I will start the border on Monday while I wait for the sashing fabric.

 

I saw 3 Indigo Buntings yesterday.  I thought maybe a whole flock would come but no such luck.  You can spot that bright blue wherever he goes.  The redbuds are finally turning pink but it will be awhile before we have full blooming.

He landed on a peony stalk and waited for Mrs. Cardinal to finish eating.

Here is the other blue in the garden.  There were 5 blue jays altogether but every time I got near the window with my camera they flew away.  I felt lucky to get this shot.

The tulips must have liked our winter weather (or the drought last year) because I have more blooms this year than ever before.

Bird sighting............

At noon I saw a flash of blue in the back yard and ran for my camera.  I hoped he wouldn't leave before I got back.  Later in the afternoon I saw a pair of the indigo buntings.

He didn't mind sharing the bird seed with his friends.

 

Yesterday afternoon I played with 4 options for triangles to use with the leftovers from the dotty zig zag.  The choices are top left-hand dyed fabrics, top right-tone on tone type fabrics already cut, bottom left-black and whites, and bottom right-Roberta Horton plaids from the 1990s.

 

Last night I got two and a half blocks pieced for Stepping Stones.  I hope I can finish them up tonight.  Then there is the pieced border to work on.

Fabrics chosen..........

I hope the fabrics I have chosen for the last 6 blocks work out OK since there aren't any extra papers to piece on in this package.

The Lungwort has exploded to cover a large area since the last photo I posted of 3 plants.  In the background are the Lily of the Valley which I totally dug out and put 8" of dirt on top of. The remaining roots powered their way through the dirt and the area is just filled with it again.  Lesson learned, don't plant it where you don't want it to take over.

The cactus bud which is at an interior joint is just about ready to bloom.  This is the last bud out of all of my cacti.

It was a beautiful day......

We finally got the warm weather that everyone else has been talking about.  It was in the 80s.  I was going to quilt a quilt but instead I mowed the grass.  I did the front in the morning and the back in the afternoon and no hip pain!  I got some new running shoes.  I don't run but running shoes are comfy and they propel you forward so they were perfect for walking on the bumpy ground behind the mower.

I made 3 pretty wild blocks last night.  They won't be next to each other in the quilt.

 

I added the 3 blocks from last night and the 3 from the night before and rearranged a little.  Just 6 more blocks to go.  I think I need more red, orange and yellow.....or maybe they need to just be the jewels among all of the blues, greens, and violets.

I was putting some things away in the basement and noticed one box I haven't gone through yet.  In it was my 5 year diary given to me by my 6th grade teacher.  There were a lot of receipts tucked into the pages and also there were these 3 tickets.  They are from one of the years between 1952 and 1956.  That was the good old days when you got into a state park for 10 cents each.  A leather purse was $1.98.