When the Sun Comes Out...

 

On Saturday my local “Kaleidoscope” group met on the sidewalk by the town gazebo. We all brought the community quilts we had been working on over the past few months. We filled many bins with quilts and pillowcases for many of our local charities. Of course. I did not take any photos. I know, I keep saying I will get better but…

 So, I pulled these wonderful photos off the group e-mail that our Co President Ann sent out. Thanks Ann!

 These are all form my “Seven Sistahs” group (unfortunately 2 of us were missing). Christina (Tina to me), made this sweet one in just my colors!

Not to be outdone, Charlotte used every color of the rainbow for this gem. 

Kathy made several for one charity or another.

This was my favorite of Kathy's.

And Karen went over the top with her version of Covid 19. Just when you thought there was nothing to smile about in 2020, she came up with this. Love it. 

 You can see what the temperature was by our attire. This is me handing over fabric for more pillow cases.

Needless to say, we didn’t hang out long. The 5 of us headed over to Panera for lunch. Even though we kept our distance, it was strange to be in a restaurant again. I felt like I had landed here from another planet.

 We got our first vaccine today and I am in hopes that things will be better by Fall. In the meantime, I’ll do what I can for the safety of the world by staying in my sewing room!!

Sarah's Wedding Quilt

 

My daughter’s sweet friend Sarah got married on Saturday. They did a “live stream” of the wedding and I wish I could show you the photos that my daughter showed me on her phone. Sarah wore her grandmother’s wedding dress and vintage stole and her husband wore a top hat and tails. So elegant!

 Anyway… I finished their wedding quilt yesterday. Simple yet functional. My daughter said – make it long (they are both tall) and use lots of green and turquoise. 

 Well, as you can see, I was able to fill the “green” part, but as I dug through my substantial stash, I realized I had very little turquoise or teal. I had to improvise and throw what I did have in with other blues. I used a warm wool batting (for cold Maine nights) and just quilted straight-ish vertical lines. All that really matters is that it makes a nice snuggle quilt.

 Hope you get some fun stitching in today!

Lucky me!

 I was so surprised when Kyle (Timeless Reflections) e-mailed me to say that I had won one of her fantastic “project bags”. It is absolutely beautiful! Now I will have no trouble “remembering” which project is in the bag! And, she snuck in a sweet star quilt pattern as well. Thanks Kyle! 

 I was also lucky to find this lost block this weekend.

I use a very complicated pressing system when trying to flatten a block with tiny pieces. 

Yes, these oversize quilt books serve more than one purpose in my sewing room. Anyway, I was looking something up on Saturday and lo and behold this block popped out from underneath the book. It was for this quilt back in December. You can read about it (here). 

 Funny, I remember thinking that I had just miscounted when I ended up needing to make one more block. So… the pressing system only works if you remember where you put it.

 They say the wind chill factor is 25 below zero this morning. At 5 degrees with gusts of 50 mph, I am inclined to agree with them. Hope you are warm and cozy where you are. Have fun today.

February Monthly mini

 

Fabric printer sheets are expensive! When I printed out the center message for January’s mini, I needed another quote at the bottom of the page so as not to waste the whole sheet. That led to this month’s message. 

 I believe the events of 2020 helped me to remember to be a little more patient, and kind when under stress.

 This little mini also stands as a reminder to be kind to bees. We owe a lot to our winged friends and they need to be supported. There has been a rapid decline in honeybee population due to the overuse of forever chemicals. Without these pollinators, there would be no food, so perhaps this year we could give them a helping hand. One of the easiest things we can do is to leave our dandelions on the lawn until they go by. These yellow beauties are often their earliest source of food in the Spring.

 Hope you all get some stitching time in this month and most of all, “Bee Happy!”

 I set this post on automatic pilot to post on Sunday. Since I'm going to be unplugged that day, I've rounded up all the usual suspects and linked to their home page, so you may have to scroll (and have a bit of fun) to find the mini. I'm happy to say there are a few new mini makers this month. What fun!

 I'll be back online on Monday so jump in if you like and be sure to let me know so I can link it into our mini post at the end of each month.

Quilting Babcia (Amity Quilter)

Frederique (Applique Patchwork Quilting)

Randy (Barrister’s Block)

Cathy (BigLake Quilter)

Cyndi (Busy Thimble)

Grace (City Mouse Quilter)

Barb (Funwith Barb)

Gladi (Gladi’s Quilts)

Shasta (High Road Quilter)

Julie (JulieK Quilts)

Kathy (Kathy’sQuilts)

Katy (KatyQuilts)

Sandy (MyMaterial Creations)

Angie (Quilting on the Crescent)

Barbara (Quilts,Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Janet (RogueQuilts)

Kyle (TimelessReflections)

Cynthia (Wabi-SabiQuilts)

 

New England Quilt Museum

 

I am so honored to be sharing the walls (different galleries) of the New England Quilt Museum with the fabulous “Yellow and Orange” quilts from the Pilgrim Roy collection. Both exhibits will be up from March 3 through May 22 along with a few yellow and orange quilts from the museum's permanent collection. 

 When Pam (Pamela Weeks, Curator, NEQM) asked me to choose 20 quilts, I had no idea whose quilts would be gracing the other galleries. It seems fitting that these glorious antiques will be up at the same time as mine since yellow is my favorite color. 

 If you live in (or near) New England I hope you will be able to view these gems in person. NEQM has somewhat reduced hours and they are adhering to the CDC guidelines, so you may want to check their website (here) or call before venturing out. There is so much to see, you will be rewarded for your effort.

I’m hoping to get down on the first warm (o.k. relatively warm) Saturday to be able to meet for an outside lunch with a few friends.

Cassandra's Circle Final block

 Block number 13 in Barbara Brackman’s “Cassandra’s Circle” sew-a-long is now complete. This one is called "Dixie Rose". As with some of the other blocks, I took a few liberties, but I am very happy with the outcome. Now on to assembly! 

Back 

 Seems like the whole country is in some sort of winter weather turmoil. Winter is my favorite season, but I think we will all be looking forward to Spring this year. I miss our outdoor “stitching sisters” gatherings.

 Happy stitching to you all!

Full Circle Borders

 As it turns out, I’m adding quite a few little “bobbles” to my curvy vine. It makes me smile, and we all need a little “brightness” in the winter. 

 The inspiration for this quilt was this photo of a c1890 quilt top.

My friend Lynne Bassett is making a “life size” version and it is thus far sensational.

I’ll settle for my half pint for now. 

These circles and colors keep beckoning me back to the scrap baskets. I now know why artists often work in a series. I see many more circle quilts in my future.

 Visit Cecile and Corinne’s FB page (here) to get the latest updates. 

Enjoy your day!