Spring Break, Really It Is!

Above is a picture of my poor lilac bushes in my backyard this morning. Below is a picture of my crocuses that were actually blooming earlier in the week. I thought I would be getting my flower bed prettied up during spring break! I think not.

I started off the break by being sick. I came down with a nasty cold virus but I can't complain. I have had a fairly healthy winter and I work at a school! When a kindergartner coughed on me I jerked back and scared the poor kid!
Over the past week I have been working on this quilt top. My friend Cheryl passed away in December and last Friday at my guild National Quilting Day activities her sister Carol showed up and asked me to go to her storage to get "some fabric". She had donated "a truckload" to the Lewiston guild of which Cheryl had been a member and had three boxes left and a bunch of books and magazines. This quilt had six blocks pieced and most of the rest of the pieces cut. I got the urge to go ahead and finish up the quilt and will offer it back to the family. Cheryl didn't finish very many larger projects.

Mini Row Robin progress

I finished my row for Nansi's row robin. She wanted a red, green and white theme for Christmas. Nansi's row is on top, then Candy's and then mine. All the row's measure 2" finished and 10" finished wide. There are five of us in this mini row robin.I didn't get a picture of the last set of rows I had here, but Virginia posted them. My piggies didn't quite show up as I anticipated after they were pieced. I hope you can get the Three Little Pigs idea from them! Diane has also posted some photos. Congratulations to her for having a quilt in the Paducah show!

Pulling off a Surprise

I am terrible at keeping secrets, just ask my kids! I could hardly keep from telling them what their presents were. However, I pulled one off. A couple weeks ago my sister in Scottsdale mentioned coming up here this week. Her boys were on spring break and it would be a good time for her to get away by herself. We decided to not let my parents know she was coming! My other sister was involved and I told my SIL and some friends and even an interent group, but didn't tell my parents!

I didn't lie, but did say I was coming by Sunday afternoon. I picked up my sister at the airport and we came up with a plan, although my dad was napping and mom was on the computer when we got there so it changed a tiny bit. Lori was able to sneak into the house and was sitting in a chair in the family room and mom walked by her and back and forth around and didn't notice her. In the meantime I was totally hysterical and mom thought I was losing my mind! When mom finally noticed her she about went into shock. She was crying and laughing and I was worried about giving her a heart attack. Dad came out of the bedroom and stood there shaking cobwebs out of his head and finally said "What are you doing here?" He wasn't as shocked as mom!

Lori has been doing some work around the house and helping out and my daughter Lisa went down yesterday to help do some deep cleaning. I showed up after work and played cards!

Since I like to have pictures with my posts, here is a picture of my house last week after another snow storm. Come on spring!!!

Some finished projects

This is a "summer stashbuster" quilt from a swap on one of my small yahoo groups last summer. I spent my retreat at Dee's in Leavenworth last June piecing scrappy courthouse steps blocks. They were swapped out and I set it together with a bolt of cobalt blue I have and last Wed. I decided to try to machine quilt it. I had it done and bound (by machine) by the next night and at my guild meeting donated it to the "quilts for chemo patients" project one of our guild members started. Below is a closeup of some of the quilting.

I quilted this log cabin quilt for my friend Jo. I went back and forth on the quilting and finished it awhile ago finally and there is also a picture of the quilting. Jo received it today.
I did the quilting on this baby quilt in between the other two above. I went to a neighbor's who has a Viking Mega Quilter and frame setup and had fun playing with it. I must say I think I prefer my "stuff and fluff" method of machine quilting, but I got a project done! I bound it and have it ready to donate to someone as soon as I figure out who gets it!

My New Quilt Project

I have been doing some machine quilting and miscellaneous blocks. I decided yesterday to start a new project for me just because I wanted to! Yes, I have a large amount of unfinished projects, but they aren't going anywhere. I have several quilts to machine quilt for others (on my Janome 6500) but I needed a me break.

A few months ago I bought the Prickly Pear kit from Bold Over Batiks. I couldn't figure out the directions at first, but finally read them again and it made sense. The designer is Karen Stone and I love her paper pieced patterns but hadn't made any of her applique patterns. I took a before and after picture of one of the blocks and it's amazing the difference the stitching makes.

I am using decorative stitches on my Pfaff 2040 with Madeira Polyneon and Superior Rainbow threads with Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. It's working wonderfully. Maybe by the time I am done with all 12 blocks I will be able to figure out out to turn corners easier and at the right time!