Since spring has forgotten us, we’re returning the favor and skipping it– we’re going straight to summer! Today is in the eighties with sunny skies– I am ready to dive in.

But wait! Unfortunately, every minute of this week is heavily scheduled with indoor jobs– don’t you hate that! I am slaving away at the Year of Sugar Meadow block– the Junco and the Daffodils. April was a rough month, but it will be out before May, knock on wood! I hope to start getting them done sooner each month as the meadow is about to explode with inspiration.

My own daffodils are making a quick appearance, but I’m sure the heat will do them in very shortly Thanks a lot, spring! My chickens have ended up being good little gardeners– just look how nice they have this area. All the leaves have been meticulously raked out with little feet. They also distribute little fertilizer packs as they go along. 🙂

Meanwhile, in the studio, it’s fall– I am obsessed with the longarm lately. I’m working through 25 autumn leaves with straight line, geometric quilting. The background will be windy swirls, of course. That straight line, swirl combination is a combination everyone loves.

I’m drawing leaves each night on my iPad in my favorite ProCreate app, drawing right over the quilt– then you can choose layers to hide or show, which is how I took this screen shot.

Here are some of my finished leaves.

Some of the little patches look like modern paintings, if you use your imagination.

It’s hard to see the quilting, but don’t worry. The dark thread on the yellow backing fabric I picked promises to show every mistake! This is my first show quilt since 2020 and the first one that doesn’t use machine embroidery quilting. I have a lot to learn in terms of making thread and fabric choices, obviously. I picked this yellow back because I loved it and that’s not a great motive in the show world.

I already entered this in the Maine Quilt Show– having a photo of it wasn’t a requirement! I guess they see what they get, then they separate them into Judged and Display division. This isn’t a ribbon contender by a long shot, so I’m going to consider it a win if I can make it into the judged division. If it doesn’t make it, I’m going to consider it a win that it will be finished! My goal this year was to just have a piece in the show. I made it from a Sew Sampler box jelly roll last year, and it’s based on a memory in my head of walking down an autumn sidewalk in Brooklyn years ago– see the bricks? So it’s a bit of a sentimental piece for me.

I even marked off a little schedule on my ProCreate sketch– two or three leaves per day for a couple of weeks and then seven days for the background. The red lines are each going to have a different type of filler swirl in them. So far, I’m keeping up! I really need this finished to get Moonbeams on the longarm– Moonbeams is for a wedding at the end of June– that would be disappointing to me when it was pieced way ahead of time, but then I still couldn’t finish it. But why make these pretend deadlines and stress myself out– I’m sure the couple will love this just as much if it arrives at the end of the summer, right?

I’m losing Thursday-Sunday this week– it’s Grand Baby Shower time and I’m traveling down to my old haunts, five hours away. To help with the decorations, I did finish the banner, which came out really cute– have you ever made one?

After the shower, I’m going to add the baby’s name to the little panels for the nursery so I cracked out my best Fig Tree and Brenda Riddle fabrics for the occasion. Then these are little centerpieces for the tables. I fully intend to get these back and re-cut them for quilts– they make such great patterns and colors for a little girl.

Of course, the Bobbins and Blooms quilt is ready to be gifted! I pre-washed it– a baby quilt has to be washable right? It went all crinkly on me. My wonderful rose and leaf quilting is completely lost. But at least it’s not like a piece of cardboard anymore. Yup, I’m a starcher. Some people love the crinkly look– do you wash your quilts?

I also have a bunch of ideas for embroidered baby gifts for which I have made purchases and for which I better get busy in the next two days. This tiny jean jacket is going to have my son’s company name emblazoned on the back! He will be thrilled. Baby clothes are so cute!

No progress on BRIO this week– all I have to do is get borders on. Sometimes it’s not just the hard parts that stop progress– it can be the easy stuff, too, right?

And last topic– my nightly hand stitching. You won’t be further appalled by the appalling cross stitch until the fall now. I’m putting it away. I’m short the two last blocks– and I won’t lie– I’m making it a longer project by adding in a little line or decoration between the blocks. The quilter in me needs sashing, I guess, even on a cross stitch project. Maybe it will have time to flatten out a bit!

Not to be left with nothing to stitch at night, the Holly Horse stocking has commenced! Thanks for your confidence in me on the last post, but I’m not sure it will be done by Christmas although I can envision myself sewing on the hanging loop on Christmas Eve. This is altogether a different animal than the appalling cross stitch– pun intended. It has large areas of meandering stitches which are hard to count, ton of colors, and even some metallic threads–some of them are mixed together! Also, it has a full back stitch. I don’t mind backstitching– I love it and it’s sad to me that it has fallen out of favor with today’s cross stitchers. You rarely see an Algerian Eye or even a French Knot in these new things.

So we’ll see what happens with that over the course of the next few months. My enthusiasm seems to have warmed again with the thermometer. Time to put my pen down and get busy!

xox
Carol