Quilt-a-thon!

Our local group holds a quilt-a-thon 4 times a year. We meet at the West Bath Fire Station and have the hall for the entire day. Everyone brings a dish to share and works on whatever they fancy. Although I get much more done when sewing alone at home, stitching and laughing (not to mention eating) with friends is so much more fun. It always reminds me of the song in the Music Man (with the words changed to suit the task!), “Stitch a little, talk a little, stitch a little, talk a little, eat, eat, eat, stitch a lot talk a little more”! Saturday’s group was very productive.

Megan was working on her Flying Geese blocks. Megan always amazes me! She is the Farm Manager and Educator at the Chewonki Foundation. So, after a long day of tending livestock, gardens and children she plays with fabrics! She hand dyed all of these vintage feedsacks with natural dyes from the farm. I am sorry to say that my photos do not do them justice.

The colors are absolutely gorgeous and so soft to the touch. Dying is such a trial and error process, especially with natural dyes and mordants. I didn't see any "errors" in this batch! 

This corner (Jackie, Jerry, Sandy and others) was busy making "kennel pads" for local animal shelters. I forgot to ask how many they have made already, but I know it is "a lot"! 

More worker bees!

I finished a veteran’s top and gave it to Kathy the quilting angel. Of course I forgot to get a photo but I will post it when it comes back and I have put the binding on.

I hope you all get a chance to stitch with a friend this week!

The cat is out of the bag!

I have been keeping a wonderful secret for months! On January 14 we were blessed with the birth of this little guy – “Sonny”. My daughter did not want photos on any social media so I kept my delight to myself. Now that he is 4 months old they don’t mind if I tell all my blogging friends of our great joy. And, I wanted you all to know why my quilt production has slowed down a bit since January! 

 I can now show the quilt I made for him back in November. As you can see by the nursery, my daughter is a big fan of Roy G Biv (rainbow colors). Let’s hope he finds a pot of gold at the end someday! 

I can’t wait for grandson #1

to meet grandson #2 when they come for a visit in a few weeks. I am the luckiest Nana ever!

A Special Gift

 A few weeks ago, I received a wonderful squishy package in the mail! Doreen (Aunt Reen’s Place) sent me these gorgeous Dutch fabrics. Petra Prins and Judith Ebbelaar from the Netherlands were in the states this spring. Doreen and her group were fortunate enough to have them give a workshop in Virginia (read about it here). And I am fortunate enough to have Doreen as a Blogging friend and share in the wealth! Aren’t these beautiful? 

I normally hoard cherish special fabrics for a long time before using them, but I knew I had to do something with at least one of these right away.

I had been pondering a mini quilt with this little chart panel for some time and Doreen provided the perfect blue for the border and binding. These little chart panels are printed in Maine and this one is of one of my favorite areas. 

 

I used one of my many toiles for the back.

 

Thanks Doreen for the perfect blue!

It is a bit early to reveal my May mini quilt, but I am working on two secret sewing projects right now and I wanted to get this posted before I ran out of month!

I will post a follow up at the end of the month for those of you who are following along. Have fun!

Here is my latest Noah and Matilda block – 6D

Janet (Rogue Quilter) said I should stop saying “cheat” when it comes to my quilt-a-long endeavors. She is of course correct as there is no real cheating if we are having fun. So… I “modified” this block a bit by eliminating one bunch of grapes and adding a leaf instead. 

 Although the grapes are pretty small (see the dime??) they were fun to make. And, of course they vary slightly in size and shape in order to appear more realistic. The substitution of the leaf was simply because I needed to balance the colors. I didn’t have enough neon in this block so it had to come in the form of two leaves.

Both the background and the backing fabrics are antiques and they needled beautifully! 

Happy May Day!

It seems that so many traditions have fallen by the wayside. I used to love making these little paper May Baskets as a child. I’m doing my best to keep some of these happy memories alive. This one is for a 94 year old friend. Hope she doesn’t suspect it was me!

May you all enjoy a bit of spring today.