Homework is Done!

January is a slow time for my quilting and sewing.  It must be the let down after all the holiday work and events.  It also a time to catch up and start new projects as the pressure is less.  For about the fourth consecutive year I'm doing two blocks of the month (BOM).  Below is my March block for Amy Gibson's Sugar Block Club.  Part of quilting and piecing blocks is the anticipation of the quilt top.  Enduring the half-square tries and those darn geese in the air often lead to beautiful and quilt innovative squares/tops.  Never can I remember having a block that was actually FUN!  While Amy offers a machine appliqué tutorial, I hand appliquéd the petals.  It was so fun to make and EASY!   

Stitchery Dickory Dock is the blog and please visit it and see the quilt layout using only this block, but in various color schemes - it's adorable!  It is also ideal for those of you who are scrappy quilters.    With baseball season starting, I was able to hand sew the petals during a Tiger spring training game with three innings left!

Pat Sloan offers many block of the month clubs each year.  Below is the March block for The Secret Garden.  Pat sure does love those HST's and FG's!

Below is the last block that the Modern Bee hosted by Stitched Studio.  We were instructed to make a block for Lisa's 16 year old daughter who likes blues and purples.  Those of us who have done this bee are anxious to learn of the new group!

As for homework, today was the monthly meeting for the Vintage Farm Girl quilt group hosted by The Attic Window.  I already have the two  6" blocks made for next month----yeah!  For the Easter season we made the chicken and Easter basket.  The picture shows the blocks made by our instructors: Marilyn and Sue.

Top of the Mornin'

Thinking that I still had several St. Patrick's Day cards, I didn't take time to purchase any for my friends with whom  I exchange each year.  So, two days before the big day for some of us, no cards to mail and have arrive on March 17th!  Egads, what to do?!

Never dreaming I'd ever take time to make a fabric post card let alone a greeting card, I found myself using scraps of shamrock material and scrapbooking card stock leftover from Girl Scout leading days to make cards at 4 p.m. to make the mailbox pickup downtown by 6 p.m.!  Yep, I made it, hope the cards did.  It was really quite easy, of course, for some reason the shamrock template I made several years ago popped out at in my appliqué pattern drawer.  One card was wasted as the rainbow I designed with markers didn't show at all!  Maybe next year I'll plan more ahead as I have a good collection of dull needles for such a project.  

If you are a fan of Celtic designs Quilt Inspiration has several beautiful quilts and wall hangings.  I'm not into fairy items but as you scroll down the blog the quilt with the Celtic Crosses is beautiful, worth the electronic trip without all the expense of a trans-Atlantic trip!

Erin Go Bragh!

Slainte!

Cleaning scraps....

The January Mighty Lucky Quilting Club lesson taught us about making and using bias tape.  We were to make several arches and corners with bias tape we make.  While fun and interesting I did one of those "oh well" that's interesting.  On one of the vacation recovery days I felt like doing something not requiring too much thought.  Since the Mod Squad at The Attic Window disbanded the travel box needed cleaning.  Throwing scraps out can be a relief and/or a guilt trip.  I focused on throwing out itty bitty pieces.  Also buried in the mess was strips.  

January's bias tape project.

Guilt in dissing perfectly good strips prevailed.  The bias tape makers were still on my work table (I'm not real strict on putting things away).  Without cutting to correct size I just started feeding strips into the BT makers.  Some tapes were two toned and some really wrinkled....must be good for some decoration....This mindless activity was perfect while dealing with the cloudy cold days following  five days in the Bahamas. 

I've hung the several strips on my lamp as reminders to include in future projects.  The scrap box really can be a source of inspiration!  Please remember, though, some scraps can be trashed without guilt!  Go for it!