Hands2Help

Just a reminder that you have until Weds (4-13) night to sign up for Hands2Help. Click the sidebutton or e-mail Sarah (salliesue@clearwire.net) - she has had some no-reply bloggers, but non-bloggers are welcome too, just be sure she gets your information for contacting you.

So far, she has 25 people sign up to participate in the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge - awesome!!! But you know what? She really wants to bury Judi in quilts - so Sarah is going to sweeten the pot a little. Judi is offering an Origins jelly roll as a giveaway to the people who sign up to participate.

**I have a roll of this and it is beautiful**

But if we sign up 40 participants, Sarah is going to add another giveaway -

A Sherbet Pips jelly roll! I don't know about you, but I've really been wanting some of those pips! So encourage your friends to join in. Signups end on Wednesday, so pop over there now and join in the fun!! Sarah will draw two winners from the people who sign up to participate...

Lil' of This - Lil' of That

I have been project jumping again, seems I work best that way. After all, I cleaned that spot on the table! This is a Carol Doak pattern - Birthday Star for Quilters' Newsletter 2008. One of my first paper piecing projects. I can see why it sat in the box - very wonky and not fond of the fabric choice, but it is now together - we need to remember our beginnings. This will be a candle mat and reminder of those beginnings.

And some stitching. This is Kaaren's (PaintedQuilt) Raggedy Ann/Andy BOM. She released the last three blocks all at once because she was (has) moving. I don't want to get behind and it is very relaxing for me to do some handwork mixed in with the machine. I plan to add all the button eyes after the quilt/quilting is done so they don't interfere.

And the quilting is done on the Jelly Roll Race quilt. I used some of my different machine stitches every so many rows - red thread on top and black on bottom. And the inbetween I hand stitched with green 3-strand floss. I haven't found the right fabric yet for the binding.

I pieced together my 'Flirting With Flowers' (Toz) and need to add some hand work to fill in some empty spots. I didn't add all the bugs and butterflies - and used buttons in place of some of the applique bits (oh my circles are horrible). I have some beading I want to add, but after it is quilted. And some 3-D flowers for that middle strip. Still lots of play with this one.

I am slowly making this small dresden plate for my quilt guild - each member to do a block for a charity quilt. Pieces were given pre-cut, but found they aren't all the same size and not sure how many blades are suppose to be in the plate. I will have to check on this one - it is not going well. And, oh no, a circle applique center.

I pulled a lot of fabrics for the Quilters Gallery Basket Swap. I'm not sure what I want to use yet - have to leave it out to eye-ball every so often. Then I am sure it will be an afternoon project.





EVENT REMINDERS

Hands2Help - signup April 10th-13th
SantaSack - signup deadline April 30th
Season Swap - signup deadline April 15th
Zippy Purse Swap - signup deadline April 12th

MAY FOR ME

Make sure you click on the side button - some bloggers have joined in with some other tips and fun activities. I still need to find fabrics for that wallhanging I want to do.

I would like all you gals to think about some personal ME time too. How about a pretty basket filled with some soaps, lotion, shampoo, bath salts - a 'Pamper Me' basket.







I think Spring has finally arrived here. And though I have been a little under the weather, I have been strolling the grounds to see how things have survived this long winter. My daffodils are just peeking and should open with another warm day.

APRIL IS POETRY MONTH
"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

Spring Sings to Me

SWAPS

I have been dancing and singing the last couple of days. Some lovely squishies and boxes arriving. The boxes I can't share yet. This beautiful pincushion is from Dorothy is my first happy dance - Charming Girls Swap. It is large but perfect for our shop sewing groups to use in the center of the table - a nice Spring decoration. And a bundle of wool for me to play with. Thank you Dot.

And then this lovely came from 'Q' - Quanita from Austalia. I believe this is a pattern from Marcia Hohn's 'Quilter's Cache' site? She sent me a very personal letter. I just love it and it means even more to me that this is from someone learning. Remember we all started at sometime - oh I should show my first project. LOL! The colors are just what I need for a pick-me up with this slow to arrive spring here and it is a pattern I have used in the past. But I am going to use this for my Easter center piece as it is too pretty to use under a messy pan. Thank you 'Q'.

EVENT REMINDERS

Hands2Help - signup April 10th-13th
SantaSack - signup deadline April 30th
Season Swap - signup deadline April 15th
Zippy Purse Swap - signup deadline April 12th

MAY FOR ME

Are you gals thinking about projects yet? Are you putting things together?

I'll admit it - this is how I work. Not very pleasant to look at. How do I find things? Is everything there? Is this how I want to be ready for May For Me?

Now doesn't this look better? Doesn't it beckon you to dip into that basket and work on a project? I've added a vest pattern I want to make with some assemblance of fabric possibilities and a wallhanging pattern is in there - still need to pull those fabrics. Hmm, I will need to find a bigger basket and maybe put it on my little hearth side stool. Pretty is more inviting than messy.

SQUARED UP

I played with a few different alternating blocks for my other scrappy 9-patch and I just had to go with the 'light' version of the 9-patch. Besides you girls freak when I mention HST's (half square triangles) - but I do love them. That little tub holds my trimmings - yes, I trim all those bits as all those tinies together really throw your total work off kilter.

I'll skip right to the flimsy photo as there are a lot of photos on this post already. I will be adding a 3.5" muslin border and then a scrappy 9-patch border. Yes, I have that many 2" squares! My SIL asked me how many were in this so far - she had to ask. I just sew pedal to the metal - I don't count! This is a real legacy quilt as there are bits of fabric from probably every project I've done, some of my Mom's , some of our class ladies, and some from my cyber-friends. Look closely, do you see something of yours?

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

"The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.
Yet the back yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree--
I could not be so sure of Spring
Save that it sings in me."
- Sara Teasdale, April

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

April Showers

Yes, the old saying - April showers bring May flowers. We are looking forward to heavy rains (maybe more snow) and severe lightening for the next week or so. But then we change the type of bird food put out for the new birds, change out the ice crytal salt for grass seed, change out the Christmas catalogs for Seed catalogs, and change out the snow shovels and snowblower for the rakes, clippers, and lawnmower.

Hop over to Sarah's blog - Confessions of a Fabric Addict(click the button) and check out the charity quilt challenge she's got planned. Hands2Help - quilts for Romanian children and families.

MAY FOR ME - TIP

It's time to think and plan on our May time and projects. Preparation is the key. Do you have a pattern you would love to do just for you? Do you have that special fabric chosen for a project just for you? It's time to hunt them up and start planning.

Example: I really need a new bag and have fabrics and a pattern I wish to use. I want all the little extras for my bag to. So I need to start bookmarking some on-line patterns for a zip purse, coupon and card wallet, and a key fob. And I need to find a pretty basket to start stacking my goodies in to sit right in sight. Then I know that is my plan and a great HINT to the family that this is the plan.


FINISHES

I finished up my UFO for my yahoo group - 'Pigs in the Barn' wallhanging. Paper pieced piggies with 3-D tails and ears, Hole in the Barn Door mini blocks - handquilted and I added some buttons for added whimsy.

And I finish up the snowball block quilt - 'Let's Play Marbles'. I was hoping this was the end of working with GREEN, but Judy's next UFO Challenge # is .... another green quilt. I'll save it for later in the month so I can play with some other colors.






SQUARED UP

Yes, the 2" square barrel was stuffed to over flowing, so a quilt called. 9-Patch blocks are easy work, but I put them together a little differently to aid in matching up those little rascals.

I lay out my squares - two sets of 9-patch at a time so I can chain those puppies without cutting threads. I sew the first 2 squares and leave the threads, keeping them attached.

Then I sew the next row of squares, again leaving the threads attached so you have a 'web'. I just finger press the first and third row seams out and the middle row in to help match seams when I sew rows together.

Here are some of my scrappy 9-patch blocks done. Using this method, I can do up a dozen or so blocks in 15 minutes. I will show the alternate block I am using with these on the next post.







April is Poetry Month

"Come, I come! ye have called me long,
I come o'er the mountain with light and song:
Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth,
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose-stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves, opening as I pass."
- Felicia D. Hemans, Voice of Spring


Sewingly Yours,
Sharon