It has been another week of appointments and meetings, with little to show. Last night it was raining and this morning was foggy when I awoke. The clouds are supposed to lift later and warm up a bit. It was a dreary dawn, but I do love the layers that appear when the fog settles in the valleys.
Last night, I had some fun presenting my Scrap Dancing program to the Shelby Foothills Quilt Guild. They are a small but mighty group, and such fun to be with. It is nice to have a live audience again, that interactive feedback is wonderful. I didn’t take any pictures, but I did show a few of my scrappy projects like my Scrappy Improv Bag.
I took a variety of projects for the trunk show including quilts and bags. One quilt that I showed briefly and then forgot to go back to was my picnic quilt. I wanted to say that the pumpkin block started the quilt, then paper pieced vegetables got me going further. After that the pinwheels and fill in fabrics finished the quilt. The whole story of how it came together is on my post Picnic Quilt. This quilt hit three challenges in one year – one to make a picnic quilt, one to make a quilt with apples, and one for a guild challenge called It’s All About Food. I entered the quilt in all three shows, and it didn’t place in any of them. But no matter, I love the quilt and take it with me often on car club picnics.
Oliver came by yesterday for a sandwich.
In the garden, the daffodils are about ready to bloom.
Today is the beginning of the Backyard Bird Count, and I’ll be doing some birdwatchng today. I hope this woodpecker stops by, and the bluebirds too. We’ll see!
Today, I plan to get started on a quilt repair and it is going to be a long one. I have to reconstruct two borders, then repair some holes and make new binding. I hope the client gave me enough fabric! More on that later.
So, not much to show for this week. What are you working on?
From My Carolina Home 
Your daffodils give me hope for Spring. We had a rain/sleet/ice/snow storm yesterday. Apparently the fronts keep lining up perfectly to dump on us. Last week we got 8″ of snow, this week we got the dangerous stuff, and they’re already preparing us for next week but not sure what or how much we’ll get. Ugh!
I love your Picnic Quilt too. It’s so bright & cheerful. Good to hear that you got to meet face-to-face with the guild. I’m sure they were excited to actually see you too. The interaction is so much better in person!
Finished the Mondo bag that I started during our zoom sewing day. That is a one & done project. I’ve been SORTING all of those donated sewing supplies from my dearly departed friend, and using her drawer units and consolidating the stuff I want to keep with my things in a more orderly fashion. Nice to have more drawers and to have labels on them too.
I keep hoping my neighborhood squirrels will eat the little sandwiches I am leaving for them. They are not yet interested. Your fog is gorgeous! Your quilt is beautiful, too. You get a virtual blue ribbon from me. Thank you for your blogging!
Always love seeing your creations. I’ve not done much (for me), but have been in my sewing room all week testing 2 new patterns (with “real” fabric). The book of 8 patterns will come out in the Spring and I’m the last step in “proofing” the pattern — does it work with fabric! Love them both & they will look wonderful when finished, but I’ve been texting/phoning back & forth with the shop/designer with notes/corrections/observations.
I love your picnic quilt! I loved those food fabrics and made several quilts using them too. My grandson even wanted his own version, so he and I went to the fabric store so he could pick out “donuts, candy bars, cookies, bacon” . Who knew there were so many choices! After a 3 1/2 month break from sewing, I finally got back in the groove and finished a 4th of July table topper and started another. Thanks for your encouragement and always giving us something to look forward to.
Having accomplished 3 challenges in one fell swoop, you earned the Oscar of quilting! Thanks for sharing the fog photo, it’s so peaceful looking. The ‘January thaw’ here that arrived a month late this week diminished the snow pack somewhat, but the base layer of ice wasn’t yielding. Yesterday’s rain was minimal, flash freezing late night before getting covered by a beautiful fresh snowfall. Sneaky Mother Nature, if you’re not careful out there, you’ll take a tumble.
I love your picnic quilt, Carole! Such fun fabric! Look at those daffodils, too – my favorite flower, but we don’t even have little green shoots here yet in our part of the country. Enjoy the bird count this weekend!
I’m an avid reader and had to check out your suggestion of “Winter Solstice”. What a wonderful book! Thank you so much for the suggestion! I really enjoy your blog, pictures and Oliver!
Working on my spiderweb quilt and a scrappy 6″ block that will be turned into a quilt once I buy a new printer and find a pattern i like.
Made a small baby quilt and when I went to pack it up noticed a pink dot of ink? or something, took that block out and replaced it, then really looked again and decided the quilting just wasn’t my best effort and took every last stitch out. You gave me the strength and lessons to repair it. Will use a walking foot this time as there are long lines of stitching. It’s okay – we have 5 new inches of snow on the ground! Gotta love Chicago. The picnic quilt is so lively
I’m working on a couple of Bonnie Hunter projects: Cherry Crunch, one of her newer scrappy patterns; and Ruby Jubilee, a BOM issued in Quiltmaker Magazine which is a compilation of her past patterns.
Love your scrappy bag. I have one that I bought at a quilt show years ago, and I love it.
The picnic quilt is so much fun! I love to see your daffs starting — definitely spring is on the way in your world!
That picnic quilt is fun! Perfect for a picnic!
I am pleased you are able to get back to presenting talks and trunk shows again. It is all part of the process of getting back to normal.
Lovely to see the daffodils getting ready.