Lot's of Catching Up to Do

     I always think I don't have enough new material for a blog post... and then it seems I have too much!

     Stitching is first up on my list of what I'd like to share with you. You may have noticed I have a 'thing' for rabbits. I couldn't resist La-D-Da's new design. I made a couple of changes. CC Bramble Bush was used instead of GAST Sable and I preferred a rice stitch border to the two single stitch rows for a border. My rabbit was stitched on 40 ct. Lakeside Vintage Navy Bean.

Spring Hare - La-D-Da

Elizabeth Sarah Oliver 1842 - Plum Street Antiques

      Paulette hit another home run with her Elizabeth Sarah Oliver sampler reproduction.  I'm stitching my Sarah with the Gentle Arts threads as charted on 40 ct. Lakeside Vintage Cedar Plank.

     

A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion - Scarlet Letter

      I'm getting close to finishing the stitching of the top portion of my casket. Those big blossoms take a life time to stitch!

      Lot's of time was spent in the sewing room too!

Piecing these Swoon blocks are a lot of fun and I really enjoy working with the Downton Abbey fabric collection.

      Working with the brighter, modern fabrics is fun too! Here's another Fresh Mini Quilt Club mini quilt. It's the final pattern of Club 2... but the good news is that another Fresh Mini Quilt Club will begin on May 1st.

Fresh Mini Quilt Club - 6

And  more Hampton Ridge blocks were created.

Switching between projects keeps quilt piecing fun and interesting.

      I was the lucky winner of a giveaway from Kimber Mitchell from Heirlooms by Ashton House. It's a wonderful new quilt book by Tara Lynn Darr. I have my eye on making  the Oh , Miss Scarlet mini quilt.

    
       Spring has finally arrived and looks like it plans to stick around and not let Winter sneak back in. Owen and I have been enjoying our morning walk/runs in the prairie.

Stacks, Stacks Everywhere and a Giveaway

     Once again too much time has passed since my last blog post. I've worked on many projects and have lots of photos to share with you.

      I've started two new stitching projects. The first is The Attic's 2014 Stitch Along sampler Por Luciana Delgado, I'm stitching my Luciana on Lakeside Legacy V. Lt. Examplar with Tudor Silks. We were instructed by our SAL leader to start our samplers with the last page of the chart. What you are seeing is the lower right hand corner of Luciana's sampler.

Luciana Delgado - Needle Work Press

I'm hoping to be able to keep up with the SAL schedule and have Luciana completed by the end of 2014.

      I'm taking another on-line class with Thistle Threads, Abbey A. Couzzens 1836: A Family Register Sampler.  What drew me to this class was the following sentence in the course description:
"The students will be taught the secrets of crinkle silk and how to make crinkle silk for there own sampler stitching!"

     I'm currently finishing up the counted thread portion of the piece so that I will be able to draw the surface embroidery design that comes with the next lesson.

Abby Couzzens - Thistle Threads

This is a photo from the Thistle Threads website of the completed sampler.

      I continue to work on  A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion. The portion of the design I'm currently stitching will be used on the top panel of my Flat Topped Casket.

A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion - Scarlet Letter

      I can't tell you how pleased I was with myself for not only doing the stitching, but also the finishing on Brenda Gervais' Snow bird. It's a wonderful addition to my Winter decorations.

Snow Bird - With thy Needle & Thread

      The only way I knew how to deal with the bitterly cold, snowy Winter was to spend time in my sewing room making quilt blocks. I managed to get quite a bit accomplished which will tell you just how many of our days have been spent in the house due to the harshness of the weather.

      First up are the next eight blocks for the Hampton Ridge BOM. I love the fabrics we've been given for our blocks. They are a joy to piece.

           I was looking for a project that would showcase my Bonnie & Camille fabrics. Open Gate Quilts was doing another Blogger Girls BOM and I decided that would be the perfect project. I'll be making two sets of each month's blocks because I don't plan on using the setting blocks for my quilt. Here are the first month's blocks.

      I fell in love with the Park Bench quilt and knew I had to make one for myself. I'm using fabrics from the Botanics collection by Carolyn Friedlander. Here's a photo of the quilt from Jaybird Quilts' website.

Block 1

Block 1

Block 4

     The blocks are a lot of fun to construct. There are two specialty rulers, Hex N More and Sidekick, that are used to cut the pieces. There are no Y seams... just straight seams and the large blocks go together quickly.

      I picked up some quilts from my long-arm quilter and was very pleased with how she chose to quilt my French General quilt.

     I spent most of the weekend stitching the bindings onto several quilts of various sizes. I thought it would be the perfect mindless sewing project to work on while watching the Olympics. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's anxiously awaiting the start of  the Games.

     This is one of the Stacks I was referring to in the post title.  I have numerous other stacks of partially completed quilt tops and blocks along with stacks of various stitching projects. I'm hoping by the time Spring arrives my stacks will have dwindled.

     As for the Giveaway that is also part of the title... I have a medium priority flat rate shipping box filled to the top with leftover scraps from my various quilting projects. I also have a small bag with small quilt blocks and HSTs that are leftover from another project. If you would like to have your name included in the draw for this box of scraps please leave a comment on this blog post. I'm sorry, but due to the weight of the fabric and the high cost of international postage, I will have to restrict this Giveaway to US residents only.

      Owen and I have already received a lovely Valentine's Day present. Thank you very much Oliver and Whitney.

      Wishing you all a very sweet Valentine's Day!

Finally... the Promised Quilt Post

      In no particular order I present you with my current quilts in progress and my finished quilt tops. I took a three year hiatus from quilt making. In March 2013 I went to a Tula Pink presentation at Olive Juice Quilt Shop in Onalaska, WI. That was the jumpstart I needed to dust off the Bernina and get back to piecing those quilt blocks.

      The first quilt top to be completed was Tula Pink's Field Study.

Field Study - Tula Pink

Next up... my French General BOM that still needs the narrow and wider border applied.

French General BOM

Love - Tula Pink

I picked up these lovely Civil War Repro pre-cut 2" tumblers at the Quilt Expo in Madison, WI. It's going to make a lovely tablerunner.

Civil War Repro Tumbler Tablerunner

I splurged on some quilt classes on Craftsy. I took the Wheels pattern from the Simple Fresh Quilts - Fig Tree class and started my FaLaLa Quilt with fabrics from Kate Spain's collections.

FaLaLa - Fig Tree

Who doesn't love a good Block of the Month??? If you don't already know about Homestead Hearth's Special Programs.... clink on the link at your own risk. Their BOMs are addictive.

Recently I received the first packet of patterns and fabrics for Hampton Ridge. We're using the Single Star papers for the HSTs. Perfect HSTs every time!

Hampton Ridge BOM - Homestead Hearth

      It's been a lot of fun selecting and piecing the blocks for the City Sampler quilt from Tula Pink's book. Here's a selection of blocks completed. I'm half way through the project. Just 50 more blocks to piece!

City Sampler - Tula Pink

      A young woman who grew up in the area, worked at the local quilt shop since her teens and is now the Manager of Pine Needles Quilt Shop in Rochester, MN, has also started designing modern quilts.
Megan, of Canoe Ridge Creations, started the Fresh Mini  Quilt Club last year. I learned about her Club recently and was in time to join the Fresh Mini Quilt Club Two. Here's my first mini quilt.

Fresh Mini Quilt Club - Canoe Ridge Creations

     I'm sure I'm missing a quilt project or two. But we'll get you all caught up eventually. Owen's ready for me to take him for a walk!