Quilt Retreat, Sunday 2

I had taken along my Block Lotto winnings, thinking I would make a stab at putting them all together into a top.



So I laid them all out on my large table.  Then I  made a paper-pieced Amish house, also from the Block Lotto site, and snuck that into the forest.

Hmm, I realized that I had gotten lost in the paper-piecing process and made the roof purple instead of black.

So I fixed that and made another one of red against black.  I thought the paper-piecing was too FUTSY, and I made another with out the paper -- just liberated style with an idea and some sewing.  That's the green one.

I spent some more time moving blocks here and there, and there and here,  and I got tired of the whole thing.  So I packed it up and put it away.

Maybe I'll make TWO quilts, one with black backgrounds, and one with black foregrounds.

Maybe I'll make more trees.  I don't have many 12" ones.  And/or I'll add trees between the trees in the seam like 3 dimensional flying geese [you know that method?].

Maybe I'll put spacers between all o r some blocks. . . . it was too much to think about after a long retreat!

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Yesterday I quilted the wonky Disappearing 4-Patch by sewing on both sides of the block joining seams.  I then stitched in the ditch around the center 4-patch of each block.

Today I bound, labelled, washed and dried it.

This will go in the Guild collection for the neo-natal unit.  Will any parent want this for their child?  I like it, but will young, stressed parents?  Oh, well, they'll have plenty of choices among quilts.

This is my Finish #3 for 2011, and I also have participated in three exchanges of blocks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sunshine on the snow
Raisin/bran muffin for breakfast
Got Valentines in the mail!

More trees arrived

More Block Lotto trees came today.  They are 6 inches wide and various heights.  These are from Cathy in Australia, Beth in California and Mary Jane in Georgia.  That about covers the map!

Still slogging away at the blocks for Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.

Box of "parts" and three finished blocks. I think I have 18 of the 30 I need.  I could make a smaller quilt, but all the parts are made.  Then what would I do with them?  So I slog onwards. Seems to take about 20 minutes to construct one block out of the parts.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good stretching at exercise class
Leftover spaghetti for lunch
15 minutes of clean-up in sewing room made a visible difference

Block Lotto winner!

My name was drawn as a winner in the December Block Lotto.  Everyone made a pair or more of these fun trees in black and jewel tones.  This past week I received these seven sets, and I'm to receive a total of 23 PAIRS.  WOWSER!  That's 46 in all!  These were from Andi, Deana, Ginny, Laura, and Wendy Lee.  Thanks so much ladies!   I'm trying to imagine how to set these together.

The sun this morning was another inspiration:

The temperature was down to 6 degrees F, so the frost was heavy, and then we have been having "lake effect" snow for the past  several days, making everything fresh and pure white.

Indoors I've had another delight:

Peter gave me this orchid plant last Mother's Day, and now it is blooming again.  That's not a whole year of waiting, but this second blooming is a great gift in the midst of January in Michigan.  We have it on the kitchen eating counter so we enjoy it many times a day.

Still slogging away at the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll piecing of blocks and trying to make them come out the right size.  About 20 blocks to go.

Sara

Gratitudes:

The Block Lotto!
The Sun!
The orchid blooming!