Is it Spring yet?

Has spring sprung in your neck of the woods? It hasn't found it's way to Southern Idaho just yet. Oh, we've had a few teaser days of sunshine and warmer temps, but just when you think, "Yay, Spring is here!" BAM...below freezing temps screech back in and Jack Frost laughs his frozen little toes off. I love winter and all the fun things associated with it (Christmas, skiing, etc), but when the calendar says "spring," I get impatient for warmer weather, short sleeve shirts and flower pots!! :)


I have been doing a little sewing while buckled down inside the warm house. I finished my version of the Thimbleberries 2007 quilt. I wasn't particularly fond of some of the fabrics used in the borders of the original quilt, and I really didn't need/want to make a bed size quilt. So the solution was to just take what I had and finish it into a lapsize top! It needs quilting still, but for now, I'm happy it's finished to this point and I can add it to my stack of tops.



I did get a quilt top quilted and I'm currently sewing the binding on. This is the top before quilting. It's made from a Quilter's Cache block called "My Blue Heaven." The blocks came from a birthday swap, where all the members sent me a block during my birthday month. :) I'll post another picture as soon as the binding is finished.

My friend Robin found this cute little pattern. It's called an Abbey Bag. The three of us (Peggy, Robin, and I) are all going to make one to take to our quilting retreat that is coming up in May. I needed a gift for a friend this weekend, so I decided to test out the pattern. Isn't it cute? It was pretty simple too...just follow the directions! What a concept, huh? LOL Ironically, the fabrics are from the Thimbleberries 2007 line...but that's because I still had some of them out on my table after finishing the top I mentioned above! :)

Hope you all have a happy, quilty, springy weekend!

Some more Block of the Month progress....

I finally got around to making February's Thimbleberries Block of the Month! I haven't received March's kit in the mail yet, so I'm technically not behind. LOL

I'm not sure how I feel about this BOM yet...it's very different from the other Thimbleberries Clubs I've done. Also, this is the first year I've done it by mail and not actually gone to the club meetings at a LQS. There is something fun about getting together with other quilters and the kind of "friendly competition" that ensures you get your blocks done each month! :) The blocks aren't difficult, but they are something I might not normally try, so I kind of like that part of it.

I also finished Month 1 of the Christmas Wish BOM...okay, yes, I am behind on that one!! This one is a freebie...so go check it out Gail Pan Designs blog.

Until next time....

Happy Quilting!

A finished UFO!

The blocks from this quilt were collected over 1.5 years in a swap with an online Thimbleberries group. Each month we swapped four 6" churn dash blocks and/or four 6" log cabins, both made with only Thimbleberries fabrics. As you can see, it took quite a few months to collect enough blocks to make this large queen size quilt!


As I contemplated what to do with my two stacks of blocks, it occured to me to use them together. I played around in EQ5 and decided on this layout. I am sooo happy with this quilt...it's my new favorite! (I say that about a lot of my newly finished quilts) :) I recently received it back from my favorite long-armer and had to quickly get it bound. I decided to make the binding "scrappy," mainly because I didn't have enough of one fabric, but I also just like the effect the different fabrics make around the edge.

I immediately had to put my new quilt on our bed. As you can see, my quilt inspectors wasted no time in trying it out. What is unique about this picture though is that they are together. Whiskers (black one) does not like Smokey being near him and will move away when he gets close. I don't know who was here first, but they both had an unhappy look on their faces. :P They didn't stay very long....I walked back in a few minutes later and they were both gone.


On a final note, my thoughts and prayers go to the Winter's family and the congregation of First Baptist Church in Maryville, IL. We were members of that church for three years when we lived in IL and are just heartbroken at the loss of Pastor Fred. He was an awesome man and a wonderful Pastor. He will be greatly missed by many...but we know he is with the Lord today in Heaven.

Time flies...

It's been 11 days since my last post! I don't know how the time is flying by so fast. I have been sewing a little bit here and there, but not much to show for it. I got a quilt back from the quilter and I am in the process of putting the binding on, so I hope I'll have pictures to share soon! Let me tell you...the quilter did an awesome job! I'm so happy with it.

A couple weeks ago, Pat Sloan had a quickie giveaway on her blog and I won! She sent me some quilty notecards and a few nice pieces of her new fabric line, Arabella. It is such yummy fabric...I love orange!

I wanted to make something special from the fabric, so I decided to make one of Pink Penguin's little fabric baskets. Isn't it cute??

Happy Quilting!