Easter Monday

When your children are no longer in school you forget about holiday schedules. These are the Easter flowers that were on my table this weekend when the whole gang was here for dinner. I even managed to keep the shamrocks (oxalis) alive since St Patrick's day. I think it is a nice combination.

Last week Barb Vedder of  Fun With Barb came and stayed with me to do a workshop and lectures with our local guilds. These are the thoughtful hostess gifts she brought me. The bird even matches my plant pot!

Barb taught an English Paper Piecing class. Everyone loved it!

I will admit I am mostly self taught when it comes to EPP. Barb had such good tips that made it much more enjoyable and my stitches no longer show on the top (well almost), yay! I feel like this person is saying, "I can't find my hand"!

Every class member agreed the handwork was very soothing AND we didn't have to carry our sewing machines!

I was very inspired by her log cabin quilt and am going to make it in my colors. Those logs finish at 1/2".
Thanks Barb for the inspiration and good company, I am so happy you got to see Longwood Gardens! If you are looking for a speaker and a good workshop, send her an email.

I am also working on an applique quilt. I am not sure if I will follow the pattern and I am not sure how big it will be......

It does include some embroidery but I am not 100% sold yet.

I am delivering another recipe kitchen towel this week as a birthday present. So far I have given 2 away and been told this is the coolest present they ever received!

For all the local readers, the Penn Oaks Quilt Guild is having a quilt show, Friday and Saturday the 5th and 6th of  May. You can get all the information here Penn Oaks Quilt Show 2017.
These are a sampling of the mini raffle quilts you can bid on. Please come and support our guild!

Kelly

April Showers Kind of Day

 

It is a glorious rainy day here. I feel all snug and warm in my sewing room.
This is one of my most favorite ways to work. Take some leftover blocks and turn them into a small wallhanging. I only made one tree and was very frustrated with the instruction. I will at some point sit down and write them out so I can understand them.  I stared at the completed quilt at my friend Cindy's yesterday and I really love it. It's a quilt for another day.The flying geese were some that I was just making here and there. I think it will be a mini raffle quilt for our upcoming Quilt Show, For The Love of Quilting in May.

On another note........there is a huge controversy going on about Tula Pink's upcoming collection called "Animal Spirit" that has caused her to pull the main print fabric from the collection. I feel like the wheels are coming off the universe. No one is safe from it and everyone is a target. I would be curious to know your thoughts. Go to her Facebook post, it will tell you all about it. I am sure by now you can just google it too if you don't want to go to FB.

Hey this is 2 posts in a row, I am on a roll!

Kelly

Kerchief Girl Wednesday

I am so happy that this fabric has been brought back to life and they even added some new colors. I have been pining away for years waiting to see if they would reissue it. I just find it so charming and quaint. It's called Kerchief Girls. It will be popping up in some of my upcoming projects.

As you can see I cut into the pink Kerchief Girls right away......These are cut 1 1/2".

I received a belated birthday present from my friend Leslie. We both fell in love with this quilt a couple of years ago and now it is a pattern! It will be a good handwork project for an upcoming trip and on my bee days.

Leslie also gave me this new to me product calle Ruler Magic. You put a little bit on the back of your ruler, let it dry and it keeps it from slipping. Have you tried it? Any tips as to putting it on?

I bought these shamrocks (oxalis) last month. They are just so happy in my bright kitchen. The little white flowers against the green are so fresh and feel like spring. I feel like I can safely say, winter is gone and spring is right around the corner!

Kelly

Spring?

My sewing has been on the back burner lately. Yesterday we finally had a glorious spring day so my husband and I took full advantage and spent 8 hours raking leaves at our rental property and picking up trash. The fact that is was a nice day and we spent a productive day together made it not so bad.
I made this pouch from a free tutorial from Noodlehead. I had a metal zipper and it worked so nice and I like the feel when you zip it. I may have to invest in some more of these. It is not a hard pattern but read the directions!

Here is the inside. I like this pattern and will make it again.

The Lancaster Modern Quilt Guild is doing a charity project making placemats for Meals on Wheels. We used a product I think called Kraft Tex? I threw out the packaging so I am not sure. It was pretty easy to use and made a nice smooth surface. If you are looking to do something like this I do recommend it.

I got a subscription to this magazine called Uppercase. I do like it but it is expensive, I am not sure if I will renew it. You get 4 copies a year.

One more pincushion that I think was a good use of a fussy cut fabric. Wouldn't you like to live in this neighborhood?

I did not go to the Lancaster show last week but I did buy some cool vintage spiderweb blocks. Not one of the lays flat which is probably why they weren't put into a quilt. A nice hot iron and some starch may flatten them into submission!
Speaking of the show, did you go? I heard a lot of people decide not to go this year. One person told me the vendors were not good at all, the quilts sparse but nice. Are shows on the decline? I heard other say Quilt Con was amazing and chock full of people. I hope to get there someday.

This is our book club read this month. I am half way through it, so far it is good and I recommend it.

Kelly