Rainbow Birds

Well, March has certainly flown by!

I've (almost) managed to get my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge completed just in time.

The colour for the month was light greens. Here are my three little birds for the month...

....and here is a group shot of my flock of birds...

The block of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is this one...

It's quite a pretty block and my goal is to do three of the monthly block, but I just have this one. I hope to rectify that and have three by the end of the weekend.

The colour for April is yellow and gold...that should make for some pretty little birds!

I had a nice sewing afternoon yesterday. I haven't sewn garments in many years and I have never even touched a serger in my life! Three of us were making the same tunic but in three different fabrics. 

Here is mine...

Hmmm, not a great picture, but you can see how pretty the top is. It's a bit "gappy" at the back of the neck, not sure why but maybe a good pressing will help. I just have to hem one sleeve and do the bottom hem....so hopefully a half an hour today will take care of that.

I must say, trying to sew with a 5/8" seam allowance when you haven't done it in years is a bit difficult! That seam allowance seemed positively huge!!!

I am linking up with So Scrappy today so we can have a peek at what others have accomplished this month on their RSC18.

Happy Easter!

Part 1

Lately I have been saying goodbye to UFO's that have been hanging around way too long.

I've asked myself, "will I ever get back to that one....really??". I try to be honest with myself and if the answer is "no", then out it goes.

It actually feels pretty good, like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

One of these was a beginning to a Gypsy Wife quilt. I hadn't got much done, only a portion of the quilt measuring about 19x27.

It has hung on the design wall for at least two years. Why?....because I realised I had made a big design flaw and didn't know how to go about carrying on. I'd still like to do the quilt, but I'd rather start over at some point.

Part 2

At our upcoming quilt show there will be a "penny sale" and the guild would like members to donate small quilted items. 

I had planned on making up one of my UFO's and donating it. Here are the wee blocks...so sweet....

Well, wouldn't you know, I can't find them anywhere!!

Fast forward to this week....

I decided to take the partial Gypsy Wife off the wall and admit that I wasn't going to finish this one. As I was taking it down, I realised that it was just a good size donate to the Penny Sale.

I also thought it would be a good opportunity to use a new-to-me quilting design. When I got this one in the mail I was disappointed. It seemed such a dense design that I thought no one would ever want this on their quilt.

Here's the finished piece....

I kinda like it....a lot!...and I really like the quilting design and it was a fun one to do. Go figure!!

I left it on the table this morning because it looked nice and I had someone dropping by to bring me her quilt top.

Well, didn't she exclaim about the little quilt....and she picked that quilting design to be quilted onto her quilt! Ha!

Both my husband and I like the quilt. So do I keep it....or donate it and buy a bunch of tickets on it and try to win it back??? I have to have a think on it.



Happy Easter, everyone!....and who remembers dressing up for Easter like this.....

I am linking up with Confessions of A Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

One Monthly Goal, among other things

It feels like I haven't done much in the way of posting on my blog lately....the days just seem to fly by sometimes.

I'm still plugging away on my Down the Rabbit Hole during my morning coffee-time. I've been determined that it will be done in time for our quilt show at the beginning of May. Yesterday I almost put it aside...but soon realised that I've finished maybe 85-90%, so I should keep at it!

I have completed my One Monthly Goal for March. My goal was to finish the quilt that I started at a workshop in February.

I did like the pattern we learned about in this workshop, was just not thrilled with my fabric choices. You can read a bit about it HERE. 

I was actually going to ditch the project into the garbage (that's how much I didn't like it!) when my husband remarked on the blocks that were on the design wall. I ended up making this quilt my monthly goal as there wasn't going to be too much work involved and figured, in the end, it could at least be used as a picnic quilt or something to that effect.

A couple of blocks...

Almost done...

Top finished, and made the decision that this would be it, no borders...

I chose some fun modern quilting...

The binding is done, now it just needs the handsewing...

In the end, I've warmed up to it a bit, lol! I think I'll try selling it in the boutique at our Quilt Show to make a bit of spending money for when I go to the East Coast this Summer.

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I took part in a Fabric Postcard exchange lately. Now that the recipient has received her postcard I can share the details.

The exchange was arranged by Elm Street Quilts. The postcard I made was destined for a quilter in Texas....her desired theme was "bright".

I've never made a fabric postcard and was a bit nervous but the process was fun and quick. There are plenty of tutorials out there on You Tube.

The theme for the postcard I received was "houses" and came from a quilter in Texas....

I love it and love all the detail she put into this postcard. I still have it on display!

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I've finished this month's step in the BOM from the PEI Modern Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt...

These blocks are pretty sweet and I can't wait to see how this all goes together in the end!

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I'll finish up with two things I've learned lately....one good and one bad.

I've recently worked on clients' quilts that have a wonderful 1/4" inner border. What a great way to add interest without doing a "flange"...

There is a trick to this and I will be doing this on one of my own quilts this Summer. 

The "bad" is when I used a Chaco-liner to mark a bit of quilting lines on my Down the Rabbit Hole this month and the marks are not disappearing. 

I'm pretty bummed about it. The fortunate thing is that I didn't use this marking chalk elsewhere on the quilt.

One more picture....of me at the end of the 5k portion of the Around the Bay Road Race this past weekend in Hamilton....

It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again next year as a 3-man relay for the 30k. 

The funny thing is that at the beginning of the race it was like it is every time. My legs are tight and I wonder what the heck I think I'm doing....me? a runner?....then around the 2k mark things seem a bit better and I'm in the groove.

In April, our running club in Port Dover starts the new season of Learn to Run. I encourage anyone to give this a try....you just might surprise yourself....I know I did!!!.....and you'll make some new friends as a bonus.

Well, this has certainly turned out to be a lengthy post! Hope you've lasted this long to see that I'm linking up with .....

Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal Finish linky,

PEI MQG clue 7,

Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers, and

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

I don't be-leaf it....more leaves.....

I've been stitching away at my Down the Rabbit Hole most mornings. I'm still hoping it will be completed in time for our quilt show at the beginning of May.

There have been leaves....this one made me smile at the bunnies sunning themselves on a leaf...

 ....leaves....

 ....leaves.....

 .....leaves...

 ....leaves....

 ....leaves, with spiders...just to change things up....

I went on to quilt other things....

I am not enjoying the quilting of the houses, they are a bit difficult. I keep leaving them and coming back to do a bit, then leaving them again.

I finally figured out what to quilt inside the large rabbits. One done, three to go....

....I like it!!!

Yesterday, I lay the quilt out on the bed to get an idea of how I am doing after 38 days of quilting. Then I see it....

....a 24" section of leaf border not quilted! My promise to myself today is to finish these leaves off, once and for all!

I went for a wonderful run on Saturday morning. It was chilly, no wind and the sun was brilliant. 

It didn't really feel cold. Then my friend turned to me and started to laugh....she said, "You literally have icicles hanging from your hair!". 

Yes, I did....

Well, off to watch my grandson's early morning hockey game, then back to finish the leaf section of my quilt.

Have a great "last weekend of Winter" and hopefully take a few minutes to check in with Kathy to see what others are slow-stitching today for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Rabbits and Spiderwebs

I've had good progress on Down the Rabbit Hole this week. Some other projects are being put on the back-burner nowadays so I can focus on my hand-quilting. 

I know....lots of pictures. I've been taking a daily picture and "journal-ing" my progress on Instagram. I'm doing this as a tool to stay motivated and on-track. So, I apologize to my friends on Instagram for DTRH overload but I think it's helping me to achieve my goal!

Yesterday I searched through my old stencils hoping to find an idea of what to quilt inside the rabbits. They are quite large and need some quilting, for sure. 

I didn't find what I wanted but I did come across a spiderweb stencil. There are four blank 4" blocks on the quilt that have had me stumped and I thought I'd see how this stencil would work.

This was part of this morning's stitching...

....love it!!!

The picture is of the back of the quilt since my air-erasable marker hasn't disappeared yet on the front of the quilt and I thought this would show the effect in a nicer way.

Well, gotta run....literally! Have a lovely day!

I am linking up with Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Have a look and see what others are slowly stitching today :)

One Monthly Goal- Sow's Ear / Silk Purse?

It's that time again....time to figure out what my monthly goal shall be.

I had a couple in mind but have decided on an unlikely one.

Last week I attended a workshop and was not happy with my fabric choices. The quilt pattern was interesting, I just didn't think my choices were working. You can read about it HERE.

I had pretty well decided to chalk this one up to experience, but not finish the quilt.

Then, a few days ago I thought to at least hang the two blocks I had completed up on the design wall and live with them for a bit.

They started looking not-so-bad, but I still wasn't convinced.

On Wednesday my husband was in the sewing room and said, "ooh, I like the blocks on the design wall!"....go figure!!! lol

So, my goal is to finish the top by the end of March. I  am just doing the lap size, a total of twelve blocks, so not a lot of work to do on this one. 


I've been quilting away during my morning coffee-time every morning, still hoping to have Down the Rabbit Hole completed in time for our upcoming quilt show. 

I was about to say I'm not sure that I'll be successful....but, no, this will be done!!! (I hope)

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilt for One Monthly Goal, Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, and with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.