Some progress.

Finally finished the 36 blocks for Indigo Way. It was time to play with the blocks and do the lay out. This one was truly a mystery as I could not visualize the outcome.

These blocks had to go in a particular sequence with the star alternating direction with one light blue and then one dark blue(the original Bonnie Hunter had red where the dark blue is).

The next block group was supposed to be scrappy, discovered they were all the same.

Started to sew the rows together. Will continue with this until the top is a flimsy.

A busy week.

Funny how we had errands to run, appointments to meet and do everything else we needed to do. It still looked like very little actually got done when one looked with the naked eye, yet we know how much got done and how much our bodies remind us we did. Rhododendron Trail got washed and dried, the label still needs to have the message written on, the label made with some scraps of fabrics from the quilt.

Diane and myself managed a field trip to our favourite stitching shop, Gitta's.

The garden got it's spring tidy up, the grass was aerated and areas that needed overseeding received spa treatments. The garden is now ready for everything after the frost date, the rest will be just maintenance and weeding. Saw the first butterflies and a bumblebee, also some bunnies on one of our walks.

Ancient stars has yellow strips cut, however no neutral strips. Will be going through my scraps to find some for these blocks.

All the blocks and border pieces made so far.

Indigo blocks are being sewn together a few at a time, my shoulder is taking its sweet time to recover and accepting that it needs time to heal is the best thing to do.

Our cat loves to chase the squirrels, they come by to the bird feeders, including the chipmunks.

Cat and squirrel game.

Tame new chipmunk in the feeder, he allows one to walk right up to him...

Rhododendron Trail is a finish.

It is finished! The washing will happen at the laundromat, they have large machines to do this. Today a label will be made and added to the back of the quilt.

Magic binding include a lot of the leftover scraps from this quilt, used up as much of it as possible.

The quilt was trimmed to this point, a lesson learnt is that the extra strips could have been a bit more skinny than what was added.

The binding is sewn on the back and then flipped to the front before being sewn down again by machine.

This one will be going to its forever home soon, the last of the quilts for my seven siblings. This is not the end of family quilts, as we now have nine great nephews and nieces, A friend recently asked me why do I not keep every quilt I make? We have a few and and a couple extra quilts for guests or us. It is enough for us, giving away the quilts is so much more rewarding. Hug a person with warmth and love with each quilt we give.

Spring rain.

Rhododendron trail, 2021 November mystery Bonnie Hunter quilt was started then. It was finished as a flimsy in 2022 with the binding. It went into the rubbermaid and was waiting until late last summer early fall, when it came out to be basted and the quilting started. The journey on this one was very much a stop start kind of trip, with very many things happening along the way. The quilting was fininshed on thursday evening, or was it?

It needed something more, strips all round on the edge. This is where the binding will be attached to the top, the reason was to not chop off the flying geese points on the edge of the quilt. This part was all sewn by machine and it was perfect way to spend a rainy day. Next up the quilt will be trimmed for the binding to be added.

There is a lot of quilting on this one, this is a view of the back of the quilt.

Finding the way yellow blocks are all finished.

About 224? This pattern is a great way to use up a lot of triangle squares, the scrappier the more this pattern sparkle.

Indigo way blocks got sewn as well, another mystery quilt.

On one of our walks this week, the weather has been up and down. We had days to do gardening, go for walks, wear shorts and t-shirts. Other days it has been down right freezing, with rain and blustery wind. The weather will be a combination of this for the next while. Spring planting has started, the veggie garden beds are prepped and some seeds have been planted, including these two hydrangea plants.

Yellow.

These blocks was made last year, this year April is yellow.

Pulled the yellow blocks which has been waiting for their turn to be called.

Started to ease back into hand quilting, only one block a day. The shoulder is much better and resting it for more than a week was the right thing to do.

Background fabric and backing for the Birthday quilt for great niece Lara is here. The same backing fabric will be used for great niece Layla's quilt, waiting for the pink background fabric to come for her quilt.

At The Sewing Cafe this jacket was on display.

The back and front, it is a quilted hooded jacket.

Indigo way blocks got a little bit more work, taking it easy with the sewing.

We have had rain, snow, ice and cold weather for the past three days. Needless to say we are ready for the warmer weather to arrive, manage to get a picture of this beauty before the weather played havoc with the petals.

Easter.

It is Easter weekend, it arrived early this year. Relaxing is what is we will be doing this weekend, more of that happened this past week. Our bodies reminds us to stop when we overdo things, which last week I did. Trimming the mystery quilt blocks to their size, just a few more... a few more. Not a good idea. They got trimmed and sorted, sew a few maybe a few more... Things did not end well, my shoulder bone is not happy and neither is the muscles attached to it. So no sewing for at least a week or two.

A Parcel arrived yesterday as I was washing the floors, the house always feels so much better when it is spruced up and clean. It used different muscles, so that is a win win! ( This parcel contained the treasures I won from Kim, her blog{www.sarahlizzies.blogspot.com} is a world of its own. In a very good way, she has a way with words and her garden is an amazing place to visit for a while. It is filled with colour, adventures and tea. Need I say more...

The treasures are squares from her collection of fabrics she has collected over the years and decided to gift to one lucky reader of her blog with a draw to celebrate her blogs birthday! A few days before finding out about this win, my niece and my eldest sister both asked for quilts for two great nieces. Oh boy, with girls quilts I always struggle. Never enough pinks, girly fabrics in my stash. One wants unicorns, the other lamas, bunnies and boho chic. The latter one is into pinks, dreamcatchers.

The first one never got to use her baby quilt, it went into the container when they moved countries. The company my nephew worked for promised to ship the container, then changed their minds. Since then he has changed jobs and started over from scratch. His daughter loves purple and pink, with unicorns.

Unicorn fabric, oh dear. Kate came to the rescue, we chatted on zoom and she had a panel with unicorn squares on it, she kindly gifted it to me and it arrived in the mail earlier this week.

Yesterday, the weather was nice and three library books needed to go back to the library, so I detoured and popped into The Sewing Cafe on the way back. Linda has a grandson who is Unicorn mad, she was looking to make him something special with unicorn fabric. She had not found any yet. What a way the universe works, not only could I share some of the loot, now we sound like pirates from the olden days, except it is fabric and treasure to us.

So next week she will get the parts, which would have been waiting for a project in my sewing room. The panel had two purple and one pink square, I have removed them carefully. Now you may be asking yourself, what in the world will you be making with the collection of fabrics and treasures? A pattern found me, as Kim use Tilda fabrics and she had made a bunny for her granddaughter. That led me down the garden path to Tildas world and the free pattern tab...(I started to look for a pattern where I could incorporate all the elements) before the parcel arrived. Amazing what happens when you ask for help!

It is called the Birthday quilt, perfect for using lots of fabrics. The unicorn quilt will have a purple background and the lama with the bunnies a pink background.

My original reason for my visit to The Sewing Cafe, to find background fabric ideas. Kona pink and orchid will both be perfect!

Playing with the squares, it will be so difficult to choose all the ones that will be used.

The baby quilt that my great niece Lara lost, her mom was so upset about this.

I found a little bit of the backing fabric which will be used in the making of the new quilt!