No Sew Weekend . . .

No sewing for me this weekend.  For the first time this year we had a full weekend with no rain.  I spent the majority of my weekend doing a spring's worth of lawn work.  Here's one of my azalea bushes, they're finally blooming.

I also swapped out a few quilts.   Bounce is back in the house.

And A la Mode is back on my bed.  I just love having these summery feeling quilts back out.

Have you been following the latest trends coming out of Spring Market in Portland, Oregon?  I mainly followed through Instagram, but Kimberly from the Fat Quarter Shop has the best pictures I found online.  (click here to read all about it)  From the outside looking in, it looks like Market is one big party with everyone having nothing but fun.   

One thing from Market that caught my eye was this is Fig Tree pattern, Sweet Caroline.  I'm moving it to the top of  my basket To Do list.  I'm not sure what fabric I'll use for my version, I know I won't be using Fig Tree fabric since that's what I used for A la Mode, the basket quilt currently on my bed.   

Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop shared this photo of Joanna unveiling the quilt at Schoolhouse.

Unlike most things at Market that aren't available for months, this pattern is available now, click here.

I'm hoping to get back in my sewing room today, the rain is back.  Rainy Mondays never get me down!

Back in love . .

I'm getting used to that sashing now and I have to agree with all the comments you left on Wednesday, the sashing really makes those lilies pop.  I'm very happy with how this top is looking, and in the back of my mind, I sort of figured that's the way things would go.

Another plus, the assembly is coming together perfectly.  I just love it when that happens, no fudging, no stretching, no missing points. 

I've gotten a few questions about my 6 inch pineapple blocks.  

First off, I'm going with creams and whites for my lights. 

Regarding the foundation paper patterns - I printed off my original block using that EQ7 software.  I don't know much about that software, but there is a library of blocks one can access so I just selected  my pineapple block and my size then printed the block using the foundation printing option.

For some reason the sewing lines did not extend past the 6 inch block line on the block, so I extended the lines using a ruler and a black marker.  I have no idea if I did something wrong when selecting my print options or if this is just how the software works, I just knew that I needed to extend those sections of the block so I would have enough fabric to square up the block and also have a 1/4 seam allowance.

I also circled all the section numbers with a red marker where I was to use red fabric.  I confuse easily, anything to keep me on track is usually time well spent.

Once I was done adjusting my master foundation block I just ran copies using Carol Doak's Foundation Paper.  It's a wonderful product and available in most quilt shops. The Fat Quarter Shop also carries it.  (click here)

I've not touched those pineapple blocks since I got home from Paducah, I hope to get back to them soon.

I'm sticking with it

Finally, some real progress to report! One of my favorite quilting quotes is, "Quilts take a long time, when you don't work on them".  And some quilts take a long time when you do work on them.  I don't get hours of uninterrupted sewing time very often, but I'm making the most of the time I have this week.

My sashing was a breeze to piece.  Even with making sure all my grapes were hanging down.
(see that sunshine in this picture, the sun is back, for two straight days now!)

Ok, so I'm still feeling a little uncomfortable with all that sashing action surrounding those serene lily blocks, but it's not unusual for me to take awhile to warm up to things so I'm sticking with it.

It's also not unusual for me to fall in and out of love with a project as I progress, so I'm sticking with it.

It did just occur to me that my browns are darker than the browns on the pattern cover, maybe that's another reason they look so busy to me, but I'm sticking with it!

I got a couple of notes from folks about an antique Carolina Lily quilt Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville saw in an antique shop in  Maine.  It's a wonderful quilt and the green stem and leaf fabric has faded to an interesting shade of gray while the yellow and red pieces look as good as ever.  I'm attaching a link for you to check it out but I'm warning you, this is one of those blogs with commercials and advertisements everywhere, it takes forever to load a page. click here  I can't decided if I care if some of my quilts end up in a flea market or antique shop, better than the landfill I suppose, it sometimes makes me a little sad that these wonderful old quilts are not being enjoyed by the family they belong to.  Every quilt deserves a good home, I feel the same way about dogs, it's a wonder my house isn't full of antique quilts and puppies.

Blooming . . . .

25 flower blocks, all done, that's all I need for Carolina.  Sometimes, on past patterns where the entire quilt was made up of one block, I would get bored with the piecing.  I enjoyed making each one of these blocks, even though they were identical.  Maybe because they were the only thing blooming around here. I'm still not missing those handles on the sides of the baskets.

Now it's on to the sashing.  After looking at these flower blocks for weeks, I have to admit I'm not so sure about that checkered sashing.  But I like to think I learn from past mistakes, and remember how I didn't like the looks of the sashing on 3 Barns, and sewed all the blocks together without it, then un-sewed the blocks and added the sashing!  I like the looks of the blocks with the sashing on the Carolina pattern cover so it's full steam ahead on making the sashing and using it.

How was your Mothers Day?  Mine was very nice, although this year, for the fist time in ages, I wasn't with my daughter on Mothers Day.  But she did send me these beautiful roses.

AND A RED TOASTER!

You may not remember, but a few months ago for a giveaway, I asked folks to leave a comment telling me about their favorite red thing.  Someone mentioned how they got their day off to a happy start by making breakfast using their red toaster.  It had never even occurred to me to have a red toaster.  I gave no thought to my old stainless steel toaster, I used it then put it away, but I liked the idea of a red toaster, and now I have one.

This is my kitchen, I don't like things out on the counter, I prefer to store items, like my can opener,  mixer, and paper towels in the cabinets.  I use them then put them up.  I only have the necessities out on my counter, the banana basket, we always have bananas, the coffee maker, the canisters that hold the coffee, and now my red toaster.

It's just too darn cute to put in the cabinet.

I'm not wantint to jinx myself, but right now I have a pretty free week ahead of me, I'm hoping for a very productive week in my sewing room, it's been ages since I've spent some real time up there, I've just been squeezing in a hour every now and then for weeks, I'm ready to finish up Carolina and move on to something new.


On a very sad note, Paula Barnes, the designer of my Carolina pattern and half of the team for Bonnie Blue/Red Crinoline Quilts lost her husband unexpectedly this month.  I took a class with Paula at the the Buggy Barn last fall, she shared some wonderfully funny stories about her family and her husband.   That family has been in my thoughts this week as I work on Paula's pattern, will you send some kind thoughts their way this week as well?  I'm sure the family would appreciate it.

Paducah, Paducah, Paducah . . .

Are you getting tired of reading about my trip to Paducah, where I attended the AQS Show?  This is my last post on this subject,

 until next year.

One of my favorite things when I leave Illinois and cross into Kentucky is this bridge over the Ohio River.  It's the only bridge I've ever seen made of flying geese units.  It's like it's welcoming me to the quilt show.

All the traveling I do during the course of a year is by air, except for this trip.  When I fly I have to really limit what I can and do take with me.  When I drive, look out, I load my car down and hit the road.  This year I brought my sewing machine and my Sew Ezi travel sewing table so I could sew in the mornings and evenings in my hotel room.

I took my pineapple block project that I had cut then put in a project box.  It was a great project to work on with its easy and repetitive stitching.

Good thing I didn't have a roommate, I pretty much took over this sitting area.

Here's my little pressing and trimming area.

My goal was to piece 10 pineapple blocks per day. I don't know where I came up with that number, but it took a lot longer to make each block than I expected, but I did manage to finish 30 blocks.  And here they are.

My blocks are 6 inches and I'm paper piecing them instead of using a special pineapple ruler.  Originally my goal was to make 100, I'm not done yet, but I am rethinking that 100 block idea.