More Crocus

Last week the crocus opened up more and there were a lot of bees eating their nectar. Hopefully that will mean the end of snow.






About a month ago, I was showing Linda how to do the Grandmother's Garden pattern. I've finally finished a couple of coasters I started then.

The backs are a little plain but look like flowers.

Finally Back Online

For the past week, our Internet has been hit or miss. Mostly missing. Our provider has one excuse after another, hopefully everything is now fixed. It is hard to believe how dependant we have become on the Internet. Jenny was nice enough to post our winner on Saturday, thanks Jenny & congrats to John.

Jeff, our son, came home to visit on Sunday. He works on GM's Volt. Jeff was able to drive a test mule of the Volt home. He had his computer hooked up to the car so he could take readings, etc. Jeff said since he had the car out in the public, I could put a picture on my blog.

Because Jeff was home for Sunday dinner, I decided to make a nicer dessert. I made a blueberry cheese cake. The cost of the ingredients surprised me...over $10 for a 9 inch square dessert. The blueberry pie filling was $4.59! At least the cheese cake was very tasty and there was enough to send home a few pieces with Jeff. ( Always want to encourage him to keep visiting.)

We have a winner!

The Random Number Generator was employed to decide the winner of the Spiderweb quilt giveaway, and...




The winner is...John at Quilt Dad!

Congratulations!

Happy St. Patick's Day

Even though I'm Polish through and through, I have a soft spot for the Irish. I went to St. James High School and our mascot or logo was "The Irish". The best part was that we always had a free day on the Monday after the big St. Pat's parade in Bay City. As a student and maybe even more as a teacher, I've enjoyed a day off from school that wasn't associated with a regular holiday.

A group of us got together at Linda's home to try making jewelery yesterday. I took a cake for dessert, testing a new recipe. I tried Jenny's recipe for almond cake.

I think I over baked it, but it was still tasty. The Solo filling really gave the cake good flavor. There were little bits of almond throughout the cake. Next time I make the cake, I plan to make it a tunnel cake and fill the tunnel with a pistachio filling.

First Flowers

Last week I notice that the crocuses were popping up in the snow.



Within a few days they were blooming beautifully. Even though the temps were low, the flowers gave hope that spring is on the way.

Spiderweb quilt giveaway

Jenny has offered to sponsor a contest on my blog, donating a spiderweb mini quilt that she made to give away to a lucky blog reader.

The color scheme is tan with muted bright colors.


A close-up view:


A detail, that shows the Heather Ross pony fabric on the back as well as a detail of the quilting.


You could use it as a baby quilt, or as a wallhanging, or to throw over the back of a chair or sofa.


And it could be yours!

To enter, leave a comment on this post.

To win a second entry, post a link to the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment here with the link to your blog.

The contest will end next Friday, March 20!

Bunny Wall Hanging

I finished my wall hanging in time to take it to the Millington Quilt Club meeting yesterday. It's always nice to have something for show and tell.


I used some crystal beads to represent water dripping from the watering can and some seed beads on the spout. The flowers were yoyos with buttons centers.


I made some 3D grass and added a couple of lady bug buttons. You will notice my quilting is not very good. I bought a Bernina 440 a few years ago, but this was the first time I used the stitch regulator on a project. I do a better with just the walking foot. I couldn't seem to regulate the speed. If I move the fabric too slowly, I would seem to stall out and stop. When I was moving at a good pace the machine would take off racing. I guess I need a lot more practice.


The bunny is also 3D, his arms are free to hold a flower and his feet stand out from his body.


As you can see, my finished wall quilt looks a little different than the one in Quilter's World.

Bunnies

A few years ago while going through my folk's estate, I came across a number of cross stitched pictures that my mom had completed and just left in a box. They were just my style..critters and bunnies. I had the bunny one framed and it's perfect to have out this time of year. It also reminds me of my crafty mom.








I have been working on a bunny wall hanging. The inspiration was in Quilter's World magazine a few years ago. I like the idea, but as you will see in a few days, I changed it quite a bit.

Jelly Roll

Even though I have been sewing for years, until last spring I had never seen a jelly roll of fabric. I think jelly rolls could be very useful in a number of quilting projects involving strips. I just purchased a jelly roll containing 1930's fabric in 2.5 inch strips. The roll contained 35 different prints.

I plan to use them in a Grandmother's Garden quilt. I use 1 inch teflon hexagons and the 2.5 strip will be perfect for cutting the fabric. I will probably cut 2.5 inch squares and trim them to fit the hexagon. I plan to make the centers of the flowers yellow, the ring around the center will be a solid from my last post. The final ring will be the reproduction 30's fabric. I will probably applique the flowers on white fabric. I believe this will be a very long term project since most of the work has to be done by hand.

Fabric for the Stash

Last week at quilt club, I showed Linda how to do Grandmother's Garden. Unfortunately neither of us has finished the small project we worked on, so no photos yet. I like Grandmother's Garden but see it as a very long term project. I have ordered some 1930's reproduction fabric in a jelly roll which should be perfect for making the flowers. On Etsy I found the following solids to match reproduction prints. Jenny pointed out over Christmas, that I didn't have solids in my stash. This should help solve that problem.

Angie painted the following watercolor for her grandmother years ago and it eventually returned home. I was looking at it the other day and realized if I put it in a white frame it would look great in my sewing room.