April Monthly Mini

 

Once again, my fellow quilters, Cynthia (Wabi-Sabi Quilts) and Barb (Fun with Barb) have a part in this mini quilt. Cynthia shared this fabulous Japanese “bear with umbrella” fabric with Barb. When I saw Barb’s January mini (here), I raved about how cute that little bear was, so she sent me one (once again, quilters are the best!). 

 We are starting to get busy in the boatyard, so my Spring minis are often very simple. I just Log Cabined around the sweet little bear. I hand quilted around him and then machine quilted in the ditch around the logs. 

I used a cheater log cabin print on the back. 

 I had a difficult time naming this one. My initial thought was, “April Showers” for obvious reasons. Then, realizing that it is still “mud season” in Maine, “Mud in the Cabin” was considered. But, in the end the Covid quarantine won and I decided on “Cabin Fever”. 

I would like to share a link to my friend Shirley Farnsworth's Facebook page. She doesn't have a blog, but she has been posting some wonderful mini quilts of hers and I think you would all enjoy the show (here). 

And, in other "tiny" news; You need to see what Pam Buda has just come up with (here). These are the cutest tiny baskets ever!! Her pattern is now available so you can make your own micro mini any time. So cute!

Now, let's see what our fellow mini makers came up with this month. Kyle (Timeless Traditions) was almost apologetic that she didn't make a mini this month. Make sure to visit her to see why. Amazing!! If I've missed anyone or if you want to jump in, let me know!

 Quilting Babcia (Amity Quilter)

Randy (Barrister’s Block)

Cathy (Big Lake Quilter)

Cyndi (Busy Thimble) 

Grace (City Mouse Quilter) 

Barb (Fun with Barb)

Gladi (Gladi’s Quilts)

Shasta (High Road Quilter)

Julie (Julie K Quilts)

Kathy (Kathy’s Quilts)

Katy (Katy Quilts)

Sandy (My Material Creations)

Angie (Quilting on the Crescent)

Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Janet (Rogue Quilts)

Kyle (Timeless Reflections)

Cynthia (Wabi-Sabi Quilts)

Another Filler Project???

 

If you read my blog regularly you know that I do a lot of hand work. I simply cannot sit and watch TV or listen to radio or even most conversations without a needle in my hand. I usually have 2 or 3 large projects going at one time, but when there is a “gap” between them or I am simply too tired to reach for something big, I pick up one of my “filler projects”.

 These poor things can sit languishing in boxes and tins for ages waiting their turn. I currently have 3 “grab and go” containers. The oldest (started in 2015) is this little potholder quilt with 4” 9-patches and appliqued circles. All the blocks and bindings are done so I am in the assembly process which may take another 6 years! 

 The second box holds the yo-yo’s for this fun little feedsack project. 

No hurry – yo’yo’s don’t expire. 

 Number 3 on the list are my little hexies. These are really long term on going things to pick up when I have no brain function at all. In fact, I keep a tin of them in my car for taking into doctor visits or other appointments or if I am waiting at a long traffic light (just kidding, we only have 2 in our town!). 

 So… with 3 already in the works, why would anyone start a 4^th?? I had amassed quite a collection of Betsy Chutchian fabrics and charm squares and decided it was time to do something with them. There will eventually be 238 four inch blocks with an appliqued circle in the center. Since I am using no repeats, that means there will be at least 476 different fabrics, possibly more if I choose to make borders. 

I am cutting out the centers of the background fabric for - yup, yet a 5th filler project! 

I'd like to know what you do for "filler projects". Hand or machine, I know you have them!

Since it is Monday, I am linking up with Judy's Monday linky party. Do click on (Small Quilts and Doll Quilts) with a morning beverage and enjoy. 

Never Enough Time!

 

I may just be the world’s worst self promoter! Twenty one of my quilts have been hanging at the New England Quilt Museum for nearly a month and I still haven’t been to see them. Nancy (Joy For Grace) kindly e-mailed me that a fellow blogger, Barbara Poole (Life From the Roots) had been to the museum and posted about her visit (here). 

 There is so much going on there this month. Please visit NEQM (here) to see what is in store for you when you arrive. 

 I would love to know if any of you have had a chance to visit. I promise to post photos as soon as I can get down there! 

Jelly Rolling with Ladies Legacy

 

After seeing the pattern that Barbara Brackman posted (here) for her Ladies Legacy line, I quickly ordered a jelly roll. I commented on her site that I had never used a jelly roll before, but was looking forward to making this one. The fabric isn’t due to arrive in stores for a few more weeks (she joked that the entire shipment was stuck aboard the “Evergreen” in the Suez Canal). So, knowing what an impatient person I am, she sent me one! It arrived last week and I spent the weekend playing.

 First up were the blocks from Barbara’s pattern. These 12” blocks made up very quickly. I thought about waiting for my preordered roll to come and making this larger but, at this stage, it was the perfect dimension for a quilt for the infusion center (36” x 48”) so I’m calling this top finished. 

 There was so much fabric left over, I chopped up some 2 ½” squares and made this pile of 4-patches. 

I used all the red and brown squares for this little top. 

 And, the pink and blue 4-patches made their way into this one. I adore this border fabric. It is an older Jo Morton from Andover which was inspired by a quilt from the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE. 

 Apparently, you can squeeze a lot of jelly out of one little roll. After 3 quilt tops there were still leftovers!

Hmm…

A Timely Gift

 

My local group, “Kaleidoscope Quilters” had a wonderful outdoor distance meeting on Saturday. The weather was perfect! We are a very charitable group and the bins of donation quilts fill up fast. I try to make at least one quilt a month for one organization or another. This month I had 2, one for Ronald McDonald House and one for the local infusion center. As I was popping them into my bag, I had second thoughts.

 Our quilting angel, Sharon, is always there to take whatever hot mess of a top I give her to whip into submission with her fabulous quilting. She is cheerful to a fault and you would never know that she has a chronic illness which brings her to the infusion center every week.

 The quilt I had slated for the infusion center was one that Randy (Barrister’s Block) and Barb (Fun with Barb) and I had done as a round robin a while ago. After my other quilting angel, “Kathy” did her longarm magic, I didn’t think I could part with it. I picked it up and realized it really needed to go to the special person who makes all these donations possible. So, although it seemed a bit like “taking coals to Newcastle”, I boxed it up with a ribbon and placed it in Sharon’s lap at the meeting. 

 After the meeting, Sharon came over to me a little weepy with her phone in hand. She said, I don’t know how you knew it, but this has been an extra rough week. Her son had just had open heart surgery at the Lahey Clinic in Boston. She showed me a photo of her son walking in the hospital after the miraculous surgery. As quilters, we just never know how we can touch someone’s heart at the right time.

 And, this is the little quilt that went to the Ronald McDonald House. Last May when I put out the request for orphan blocks for the “Community Supper” quilt, many of your sent more than one. The center of this is a crazy block that Claire (Cspoon Quilts) sent at that time. I finally used it Claire!  

I adore this little duck fabric. Wish I had bought the whole bolt. You know what they say, “hind sight is 20/20 yards”! I think we are all just glad that 2020 is hind sight!

 Happy Quilting!