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!

Random acts of kindness.

Recently a husband contacted Karen and a few other bloggers to let them know about his wife who was going through a very tough time with cancer. We all decided to send cards and good wishes, to help her with this difficult time in her life. Prayers and Love we sent, as fellow women, mothers, sisters, wives and daugthers. Together we are so much stronger, especially when we use our human voices for the good. Many a time people only use their voices for the negative things in life and then they wonder why things go haywire? So Samamtha wrote back to let me know how much these cards sent by fellow quilters, prayers and love have touched her heart! Sending you white light and Love Samantha.

Indigo way is growing.

All the blocks got trimmed to size last week, it was time to sort all the parts for each block group.

With these pieces sorted and prepped for sewing, they were placed on the painted canvas that is in my sewing room. It keeps the pieces in order and neatly together, it makes it easy to transport from the cutting table to the sewing machine.

Four border strips are pieced, this one seem to be worked from the outside to the center.

Next up was the four corner pieces.

After that it was the triangle set in pieces, the quilt is set on point. These blocks need to be trimmed to triangles still, it will only get done once all the block sets are made. The block at the top is one of the two sets of blocks that make up the overall quilt. It needs to be finished and then the last block set needs to be assembled and sewn into blocks.

We had a snow storm on friday, so this past weekend was a cold one. My go to with dealing with the cold weather is to go into my sewing room and escape into a world of colour, fabric and texture. A few more blocks got quilted on the quilt in the hoop.

Pumpkin house.

This one was finished this past week, then the thought moved on to how it will be finished...

It can be done as a pillow, except it is not practical. An ornament? also not working for me, this morning an idea came to me.

Stitched as a sampler it would look like this, on 28 count it would be very large and very busy looking. Those extra borders is fun and they gave me an idea. So more stitching will need to be done on the left side of the finished piece. So for slow sunday stitching it will be worked on.

March purple blocks.

The purple blocks for the month of March.

Applique block with purple.

Ancient stars got some more purple blocks.

All the completed blocks for this quilt so far.

Snowing here.

The pumpkin house is almost finished, above was where it is now with leaves, acorns and flowers. Below is where it was yesterday afternoon.

Trimming continues on Indigo Way blocks, still a lot more to go. Normally the blocks get trimmed as they are made in each Part1, Part2... This did not happen at the time.

All the piles on the left is trimmed, the ones on the right still needs doing.

Counted last night how many blocks still needed to be quilted on this quilt, twenty eight. On average I quilt two a night, so if I continue at that pace the quilting will be done in two weeks time. The binding was made when the top was finished.

Our cat has decided the warmest spot according to her is on top of the heat register! She is not impressed with the snow and cold weather as last week we had such warm weather for a few days and she really thought the snow and cold was done until next winter.

Bread.

Freshly baked bread is something which do not last very long in our house, getting a picture of said bread is even more difficult. Today I manage to get a photo just before the loaf of bread had cooled down enough before anyone got a chance to cut a slice of bread.

Pieces pinned and ready for sewing for the star blocks.

Oops, one hourglass block is the wrong direction. Time to start seam ripping.

Indigo way, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt is back on the cutting table. All the blocks needs to be trimmed and squared up before the blocks can be sewn together.

Baking bread.

The weather has turned cold again and the snow flakes are flying again after a very mild snap for a couple of days. Has been in the kitchen and whipped up the dough for the bread first thing this morning, it is rising at the moment.

Will continue to hand quilt the quilt in the hoop. Did the flying geese and around all the blocks, the borders last year. Quilting the blocks in the ditch is what is being worked on at the moment, there is a lot still to do. The cat has a plan, she stares at the fireplace it is code for she is cold and can we please turn it on. She then lies down in front of said fireplace to get as toasty as she can before crawling away to cool down, before she repeats this process all over again. How much quilting will happen is anyone's guess, as kitty will also want to come and cuddle on my lap...

Purple blocks.

Purple blocks for Finding the way.

Afternoon Delight has another applique block finished.

Finished the Soedidee Advent stitch along from 2023. Found a tea tin, just the right size. Wanted the stitching to be removable, it can slide off the tin. Also wanted it to be a useful item, so this tin can be used for storage at the same time as being decorative.

Ancient Star blocks got a bit more work.

All the pieces have been cut, sewing has been started on the triangle squares and hour glass blocks.

Will trim the blocks and then the star blocks can be assembled. This colour challenge project is now back on track for this year.

A stitching finish.

Advent Soedidee stitch along is a finished object.

Made a lining which was pinned to the stitch piece and then sewn together.

Creating a tube to slip over the tin. It is now a practical item, both decorative and providing storage.