Le Printemps

I loved taking French in high school.

Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is one of my favorite pieces of classical music.

So, it only seemed appropriate

A bursting forth of glorious colors as the sun rose this morning.

Bleeding Hearts tucking their shy blossoms under leafy green foliage.



Rabbits darting swiftly back and forth across the lawn.

Robins joining the chorus of avian choirs.

Can I just say I love this quilt?

When we were first offered the opportunity to receive free charm packs from Robert Kaufman for a Modern Quilt Guild challenge, I jumped.

Free fabric.

Such beautiful colors.

This quilt measures the size of a generous crib quilt.  Just perfect for tucking your feet up under on a still chilly Spring evening while snuggling on the couch.

Thank you, IMQG for the opportunity to create a new favorite!

I'm linking up with Amy at Sew & Tell.  Make sure you visit!

Sunshine

It's been so wet that Noah came here for breakfast and then went to a friend's house in NJ to have lunch.

Sheesh.

So we were glad to wake up to this

this morning!  Glorious sunshine and a blooming Crabapple tree.

On the news, they're telling us not to look at the big, orange ball in the sky too long.  LOL

On a more serious note, prayers to the families and communites hit hard by the severe weather this weekend and more coming this week.

Well, I finished two projects this week.

The first is a mini quilt for a PIF I'm waaaay overdue on.  Sincerest apologies,  but so many times the projects I started making for this sweet sister, ended up extremely flawed!  Seams way off, extra fabric quilted onto the back. 

So, along with some goodies, she'll be getting two mini quilts to make up for so much time having passed.

This is a mini I made when playing with the blocks for the Jack's Chain WIP.

I read in a magazine that it took a quilter three years to complete hers, so I don't feel so bad!  lol

I'm working on the Persian Garden quilt back.  I had random blocks lying around and while cleaning my sewing area, rediscovered them and decided they needed to be used.

Some diamonds and strings making their way in.

A New York Beauty coming out to play.

Oh, here's another one and



a star and a churn dash that were practice blocks for a bee.

Put them all together and you get

a fair beginning for the back of this.

Persian Garden

I got the idea to stack blocks from a quilt on Flickr, which now, for the life of me...I can't find.  Ratz!

I also finished up the Grandma's Dresden Garden table runner.  I decided to bind it in the black I used for the center of the flowers.

It's on the coffe tabe in our den for now.  I want to make a table quilt for another PIF I owe to a special friend and sweet sister.

So, let's see.

2 Finishes for the week = Yippee!

I have a 12" x  12" area on the Robert Kaufman quilt and I'm done quilting!  Then I need to put the binding on and hopefully be done in time for the April 30th deadline the IMQG set.

Still working on:

Quilts for Comfort

Jack's Chain

Stars Over Indiana

and other various and sundry flimsies packed away

Fabric bought this week was a 1/4 yd of the new Denyse Schmidt in the blue/green colorway.  This is playing next to the Buttercup fabric in a basket waiting for some more finishes before I start looking for inspiration.

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesdays.  You should see the shower curtain she made!  Wow! 

Wishing I had time to do this!  It's awesome.  Stop over and see what other cool, creative and crafty things are going one!

My Cup Runneth Over

and yet I still whine.

LOL

About Life in general.  The state of the Union.  The state of the economy.  Long hair on a kid.  Short hair on a kid.  Kids who eat a ton.  Kids who take two showers a day.  Kids who can't seem to find the trash can.  Living a girl's life in a world full of men.

Are you ever like this?
----------

Knowing that this morning, your children and husband woke up in the same house with you.  All of them healthy.  All of them drug free.  Alcohol free.  Still waiting for the right one to marry and let the birds and the bees go a-chirpin' and a-buzzin'.

That your husband has a job.

That your college son has a job.

That your high school son pooled his savings and earnings from last year to get a better job at the pool this year.

That your elementary age son is honored for his writing accomplishments.

Your co-op is involved in a once in a lifetime opportunity.

And I still whine.

Sigh.

But I am blessed.  Oh so blessed.

I have running water.

Electricity.

Indoor plumbing.

Shelter.

Heat.

AC.

Reliable transportation.

Three meals a day.

Snacks.

A hospital within a five minute drive.
"Brick and mortar" friends and bloggy friends who share their lives with me.

My family is all healthy and safe.

Not everyone is the world today can say that.

So, I am thankful.  And trying very hard to stop whining.  And to count my blessings when I am tempted to mutter and grumble.

Thanks for listening.

In case you thought there might not be quiltey stuff in here, are you tired of these yet?

Over the weekend, I was able to sew three together to see if I liked them that way.  Got to thinking another quilt right now is insane.  Maybe in the future.  Maybe with Moda's Sunkissed line?  I picked up a charm pack a couple of weeks ago.  I decided I like them in smaller sized cuts than yardage.

Sew, I made a quilt sandwich with these three, some batting and the leftover Maize Kona from the Robert Kaufman challege quilt.  It is now a table runner.  LOL  You know a girl can change her mind.  And then change it again!

The Kaufman quilt was in various stages of destruction. LOL I started straight line quilting and got through several lines before I discovered my thread hadn't stayed threaded properly in the bobbin case. Out came the seam ripper. Our deadline is April 30th. Argh!  I'm pleased to say I took some time off from my daily routine to do a little free motion quilting and I'm liking the way it's turning out.

The front of the quilt and...

the back.

Projects started = 0 (dying to start something new to be creative and and avoid drudgery, but trying to finish up some things first!)

Projects finished = 0

New Fabric purchased = 0

(not for lack of trying to get ahold of the new Denise Schmidt line at Joann's)

WIP's include:

the Quilts for Comfort quilt

the Grandma's Dresden Garden table runner

Robert Kaufman challenge quilt

Value quilt

Stars Over Indiana quilt

a PIF mini quilt

bee blocks for the IMQG

Persian Garden quilt

and those are just the ones I have in their little storage boxes on the floor next to the ironing board.

Here's a shot of the table runner a little later in the day.

I straight line quilted 1/4" on the inside of the block and stippled the border.  I haven't hand quilted in about 15 years friends.  But I got a hankering to try colored embroidery floss around the petals to make the ones that aren't stitched down stand out more.  I then quilted 1/4" around the black hexagon center on the petals.  I'm really liking the way this turned out.  Just need to sew the binding on it, wash it and put it on the table!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.  I have had so much inspiration from the other ladies who link up.  The SuperNova quilts are so beautiful.  It's hard to choose a favorite color or fabric pattern!  And so many incredibly creative projects that make me jealous and want to start something new.

Go check 'em out and be inspired!

I'd like to thank Stephanie and Jenny for their sweet comments and awards.  I'm going to get a post ready to share with you other bloggy friends and their works that encourage and inspire me to make the world a more beautiful place.

How do I love thee?

Love=strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything

I love surfing the internet for inspiration and encouragement in the pursuit of quiltiness.  And I am always amazed at how many women (and men) quilt and how beautiful their creations are.

They make me smile.

They make me sigh.

They make me want to run to my stash.

They make me want to compose a symphony in fabric.

They make me want to finish what I've already started.

Loving these lil' Peeps bunnies.

Loving the fruity luciousness of these stars.



Loving the richness of these colors and the way they make me smile.

Loving snuggling up under this one.

Loving the stained glass look of this.

...and I love my kids.  Every year there is an essay contest on integrity for the school children in our county.  Three essays are picked from each school level (elementary, jr high, high school) with monetary awards and bragging rights (these are more for the mommies-lol).  Bean won from the elementary level.  We're not sure where he placed (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), but will find out Monday night at the award ceremony.  This year's guest speaker is John Rosemund.  We are so proud of Bean and his hard work!

Middleman's homeschool co-op will be flying an experiment on the last Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, Atlantis.  We are collaborating with a private, Islamic elementary school.  Our two schools have formed what is called a "community" in the competition.  We are the only community from Indiana participating.  We are the only community with a homeschool group.  We are the only homeschool group in the program, ever.

We are pumped.

We are excited.

We are a wee bit intimidated.

We are so proud of all the kids!

Javi is finishing up his freshman year and moving on to prepare to take a leadership position in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA campus ministry at BSU.  It does a mama's heart good to see her child pursue God with a passion.  It has always been my prayer for each of the boys.

Thanks for sharing a slice of my life this morning.  May yours be blessed! 

Basted Away Again in Quilteritaville...

It's her fault!  KT always comes up with an oldie but a goodie for her posts and I sure could use a little Jimmy Buffet right about now!

It's been five days without any sewing.  LOL

The machine is out and ready to go...

My walking foot is out, cleaned and ready to go...

Look at all these pins!

This week I was able to go and buy the 2yrds of Kona Maize I needed to finish piecing the back.

About two years I strarted a quilt called Sweet Pea.  It was my first paper piecing project and I had no clue what I was doing.

Google truly is your best friend for tutorials.

I made four blocks and then set them aside to make my mom's cancer quilt.

I thought of them when I went to make the back of the Robert Kaufman challenge quilt.

Our theme was Spring and these colors remind me of all the beautiful blossoms right now.  Magnolias, tulips, vinca, crocuses, muscari and daffodils.

Here's the inspiration (sorry for the flash spot).

The sashing is really a teal color.

This is a simple quilt, but I really like the way the colors play against each other.  It cheers me up when I see it.

I think I'll just straight line quilt it.  It's a "modern" quilt and I think any frufrura quilting will only muddy the waters?  I don't know.

What do you think?

Bunny hopping on over to Freshly Pieced to get my inspiration on.

Stop on by and be amazed and encouraged by what these ladies are working on!

Decided it would be good to shame myself into a finish.

Projects started this week--0

Projects finished this week--0

Working on--

Cancer Patient Quilt Donation

Persian Garden quilt

Grandma's Dresden Garden mini quilt & table runner

Value quilt

Stars Over Indiana quilt

Jack's Chain quilt

So glad to be able to say the cabinet where I do my "paperwork" for the "farm" is cleaned out and organized.  The younger boys' room got spring cleaned this week as well.

Planted some of our seeds early indoors for planting after Mother's Day.

What have you been up to?



Bee Blocks

Sue from the IMQG sent me a lovely note with the two blocks she made for me.  Isn't it amazing what a small world we live in and what things we have in common.  I think Sue is a very brave woman!

Thank you Sue!

I also made blocks for the bee.  These were finished back in February and piled on by fabric.  When I was cleaning out the other day, I found them and they will get in the mail Monday.

These were quick and fun to make!

On the spaceflight experiment front, yesterday, each team submitted at least two hypotheses for consideration.  Our group's were about the effect of microgravity on plant roots (how will they know which way to grow?) and on food preservatives (on a molecular level, they use osmosis and diffusion-does this work the same in space as it does here on earth?).

I'm so proud of these kids!

1. Aloha finished!, 2. Three "Arms" done, 3. Front or back?, 4. Breakfast at Tiffany's and Fresh Cotton, 5. PIF, 6. September Snail's Trail, 7. IMQG Block, 8. Gull Fussy Cut, 9. Wonky Log Cabin

Taking a look back at some of my projects from 2010.
(thanks to Rene' for alerting me to my mistake! lol)

Needing to finish up the Robert Kaufman challenge!

Happy weekend!

WIP Wednesday!

A few weeks ago, our homeschooling co-op was asked to partner with two other schools (a private Islamic school and an Indianapolis public school) to compete to win the chance to send a science experiment into space on the last Atlantis shuttle mission. 

How cool is that!

We've been divided into teams and Middleman was (ahem) volunteered (ahem) to be team researcher.  LOL

Ideas have been bursting over heads like little lightbulbs going off.

Food preservatives?

E-coli?

Seedlings in space?

So many possibilities.

Only, nothing flammable.

Gee.  Wonder why?

Through the last week, I decided to add a string border to the Grandma's Dresden Garden block.  I used this tutorial I found while looking at this flickr photostream.

I've decided to sash them with a solid called Lemon Yellow from Joann's and make it a quilt.  It's just not working as a table topper.  I have several more Dresdens made and am working on more string borders for them.

On a medical side note, thanks to all who ask how my mom is doing.  Sunday night she was taken to the ER by my dad.  Two days later, she's home with a stint for a kidney stone.  Evidently these are side effects of the chemo she's on.  Please keep her in your prayers! 

I'm linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday.  I love looking through other ladies' blogs and seeing all the happy, beautiful projects they're working on.  They really inspire me to get out to the den and sew even on dreary, rainy days.