I know this is an early Easter greeting, but I expect the next couple of days will be a bit busy and I may forget to post, so here it is.
In looking at images for Easter, there were so many of daffodils, tulips, bunnies and chicks. Seeing these things made me long for spring here in Northern Wisconsin. Yesterday, I woke to about 6" of fresh snow on the ground! What's with that, I asked! This is the view from my door this morning--almost all melted and with luck, and a cooperative Mother Nature, all will be gone by nightfall.
Even without the snow, spring is still a bit of a way off in my neighborhood. The only sign of new life is about 3" of new growth on the iris plants, and a swelling of the leaf buds on the maple trees. Still, hope springs eternal that one day--soon!--spring will arrive and I'll be basking in warmth, sunshine and gentle breezes.
But, until that happens, I'll be working on my hundreds of quilting projects that cry out for attention in my sewing room. Here's an update of what's been accomplished in the past few days.
I knitted a cardigan sweater for an 18" doll. This will be put up for sale in November when the guild has its shop as part of the Quilt Tour that we participate in. I used a variegated or ombre colored yarn and I like how it turned out. I may have enough left to knit a beret or stocking cap for the doll and make it a set.
Below is Felicity wearing the sweater over her Colonial dress! Somehow I don't this they wore sweaters in Colonial Williamsburg, but she agreed to model for me anyway. Ha!
I also finished the throw quilt that daughter Jo asked me to make for her friends' wedding next month. It's a throw-sized one in cream with scrappy brown four-patch diamonds, and a piano key border made out of the brown fabrics I used in the diamonds.
This closeup shows the freehand spirals I stitched in each cream diamond, and you can just make out the floral design I put in the brown diamonds.
Here on the dark side of the pieced backing, you can make out the overall design of the quilting. I just stitched a circle pattern between the center and the border of the quilt and straight lines along the piano keys of the border.
Here's the pieced back and below, the machine lettered label I attached to the quilt. It says,
"For a Lifetime of Snuggling
A wedding quilt for
Alissa and Clayton
May 21, 2016
Barbara Hauck Menomonie WI"
Hope the new couple likes it! I liked working on this one especially since I didn't have to purchase anything to make it up. I had all the fabric I needed including the backing, the batting and the perfect threads for the quilting. And now my stash is just a little bit leaner than before! Love it!
I also managed to assemble the rows of blocks for the Civil War Jubilee quilt that I'm doing for the guild. The last day of the guild quilt along is this Tuesday so I'd like to have the top finished by then. The border is a pieced one that shouldn't take too long to assemble and attach, but I've learned the hard way that those can be famous last words, if you know what I mean!
Before I work on that border, I want to take out this quilt top and begin the quilting on it. If it's finished in time, I want to enter it in a local quilt show coming up in a couple of weeks. I doubt that it'll take any prizes but I want to know what the judges have to say about it. I feel as though I'm sticking my neck out and it might get chopped off, but then I remember that the judges are quilters and quilters are nice so there will be nice comments. Criticisms will be put in the nicest terms, don't you think? I'm hoping that entering my quilts in shows will help me improve my quilting skills.
The last thing I want to include in this rather lengthy post is the Craftsy sale that began today!
All their classes ar $19.99! I think that's a great deal so I went over there immediately and ordered a couple of classes on machine quilting that I think I'll learn a lot from.
And now, it's time to get on with the day since I see that it's half over already! Happy Spring and Happy Easter!
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