Progress on some projects.

The red and white quilt got the last vase and stems one.

Next the leaves, flowers and berries will get done.

After quilting in the ditch on the spring quilt, the machine part of quilting has now started. Decided to do a combination of quilting on this quilt.

Piano quilting on the borders, so the binding can be sewn on to the top. (a treasure hunt for the binding will commence later today, lots of mess making and then tidy up) All in the quest to find the binding.

A bit of stitching.

Spring has officially arrived, in celebration the month of March for the 2018 Tiny Modernist stitch-a-long finally got worked on.

This is where it was stopped when my shoulder was frozen last year.

When Pandorra's box got opened it was in said box, so work was done on it. The golden rule is, if the box gets opened up: do some work on these projects, a little bit here and there and they will become works in progress no more.

Spring time is when the baby lambs are born, new life and the promise of warmer weather.

Opening Pandora’s box…

This past weekend saw a few boxes moved and opened. It was a stay indoors weekend, with blowing snow and freezing weather outside.

This was the calm before the storm.

Rainbow nation scraps too precious to throw away, got used for foundation piecing.

Sewing on the lines, fabric at the back of the paper.

Sew through the paper, then flip the fabric open to cover the next section until all the rows have been sewn and the paper is covered completely with fabric.

Next was practice sewing quarter inch seams on strips and triangle squares. All scraps for scrappy patterns. Discovered the seam is a scant quarter inch seam, which is a very pleasant surprise,thank you Husqvarna!

Some more hand quilting in the ditch happened on the spring quilt.

The monthly cross-stitch got some more stitches. This is for the month of March, it still needs backstitching. In the same box was this cardinal, will be giving it some more love soon.

The secret project had an oops in it, so some serious unpicking will happen this week to correct it. This weekend was an escape from all the crazy in the world, Pandora's box opened and in I leaped. Emerging this morning calm and ready for the week ahead.

Blue and yellow.

Started these a few years back and looked at where they got to, before I stopped working on them.

Will carry on with them and finish them to create the decorative pincushions.

Played with the quarter inch stitch on the new machine, it sews a scant quarter inch seam.

Next it was trying out the embroidery part of the machine, put an embroidery needle in the machine and soon realized it was the wrong size, the packet had mixed sizes of embroidery needles in it!

Once this was corrected, the design was stitch out again, this is a velvet flower.

It is a very dense flower, the blue is stitched first, then the yellow on top of the blue.

The yellow top thread gets sliced to reveal the blue under the yellow, creating the velvet effect.

This is the first time trying a velvet flower, it is super soft. Baby steps learning this machine, steep learning curve with some interesting experiences so far...

Gold and yellow.

March is gold and yellow, warm and sunny colours. They are cheerful and happy, just what we all need in the world right now. The past two years has been tough and we are all craving peace, calm and relaxing.

Fourteen more blocks got finished this past week, it was difficult to focus with the current crazy in the world just before easter and spring.

The cat has taken a liking to cuddling on flannel shirts, cannot say I blame her as it has been cold and more cold heading our way for the next couple of weeks before we can welcome warmer weather.

February and March has seen me working with one inch squares for a special gift.

The shoo-fly blocks before sewing and after they had been trimmed.

The total so far for the year is forty eight blocks.

The stitching project from early 2000 got some more work.

The spring quilt is now close to the border where the quilt in the ditch continue, a little bit every day. The rest of the time has been spent learning how to use my new machine, a surprise gift and very unexpected.

Canada in bloom.

This kit is now a prepped applique top, all fused ready for machine applique and quilting. Each territory and provincal flower is represented. The center and border is all maple leaves. The finished size will be 30"x30".

The maple leaves was fused first.

Flowers was added next.

Last the details for the flowers was drawn on the piece, these lines will be embroidered to add finer details. If anyone wants the pattern, please let me know. I can pop it in the mail and another person can get to create this beautiful pattern.

Aqua blocks done.

The RSC22 aqua blocks are finished for February.

Also managed to make all the four patch blocks for all the shoo-fly blocks. This was on the list to do in December last year, before the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt took over.

Playing with the layout before sewing the blocks together.

Now the pile has grown, 34 blocks are done of the total of 111 shoo-fly blocks. Will continue to work on these blocks each month.

Next is a new project from a kit a that Kate, a friend up north sent to me.

It came with a background of black fabric, the orginal photo of the kit show a cream background/backing?

Decided to change the background to show to applique of all the leaves and flowers, to a soft mint green. Traced the applique on the background, it will be easier to do the layout, everthing will be fused in place, machine appliqued with a blanket stitch.