Here Comes the Sun

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. Rats! I was planning to spend the day outdoors with my flowers. Never mind. Instead I will sew the binding on our Metro Mod group quilt. Just looking at this sunny quilt makes my day!

Smile, Cindy!

Cindy does the fabulous website for Empire Quilt Guild. We members are all making blocks for a special thank you quilt. She is most talented and generous and supportive and..... I could go on all day about her. She has the prettiest smile, too!

Florals

My Weeping Cherry and Forsythia are lighting up my backyard today. I will be getting out my old push mower and will enjoy the scent of new mown grass later today. I even like the wild onion fragrance that comes every spring. After the brutal winter we had, this year I am extra grateful for these gifts of Nature.

Also grateful to my friend Sherry, who shared these photos of her floral appliqued quilts. She does exquisite work and wins many prizes. She also takes the prize for being the Life-of-the Party. I have a photo of her wearing a lobster hat in Lancaster to prove it!

Spring Blooms

Linda's quilt

Linda sewed her label on yesterday and couldn't be happier. She made this for her son and future daughter-in-law. They are one lucky couple! She'll be moving to the west coast soon, and we will miss her at our quilt gatherings. Our loss...Seattle's gain. Know that we will stay connected online, however, and she may even send us a block or two when she's settled.

Happy quilting, dear friends, wherever you are!

Signature quilt

Today I am making a signature block for Victoria. Am reminded of my quilt group in Florida, but I also have a quilt to help me remember those good old quilt friends. We each made 2 blocks for each other in the design of our choice. I chose a favorite of mine, stamp basket, and asked each one to do it in their favorite colors and sign them. I have a lovely queen size quilt to keep as an autograph album. The quilt is over 20 years old, and I expect most of those friends are gone by now. But I can keep a part of them forever. I get so sentimental over quilts sometimes!

May I Have Your Autograph?

My Way

What I love about quilting most is the individual expression. Even identical twins have their own creations. Roberta Horton and Mary Mashuta are a perfect example. They brought their class act and some of their quilts to the Empire Guild today. They share a house, but not their workrooms. They work on the same themes, but the results are entirely different. Below are just a few examples of their work. One of their quotes..."It's not what you look at, it's what you see"

I would like to live in their house, wouldn't you?

And speaking of houses, I was the lucky winner of the Block-of-the-Month raffle. Each house was individually designed and executed. Here is one of the houses made by Maxine Townsend-Broderick. That cute little dormer won my heart.

Quilting is a large world with many paths .

Black & White & Red

I went to my Quilting-in-the-Park group yesterday and caught up on the latest. Some folks have been making controlled crazy quilts. Isn't that an oxymoron? Well, I was admiring Dorothy's achromatic version with the red border. She said it was supposed to be easy, but she admitted to getting a little confused with the shuffling of the stacks. So that sounds like a new challenge to me. Dare I start another new quilt this week? If I could find that fabric she used on the back, I just might. Looks like it's pieced, doesn't it? Hmmmm... a cheater back.

Spring!

Today I put the snow shovel away. My daffodils are blooming and my door is wearing the colors of spring. Made these posies using Victoria's paper-piecing method. (She is making red and green Christmas flowers for another King-size quilt and needs to start early on that)

Heard that Yo-yos are "in" now. Never made one before, so I had to try them. They make a perfect center for my flowers....covering the center where a zillion seams come together.

Hope it's spring wherever you are.....in the Northern Hemisphere, of course. Aussies are having autumn now....which has more of my favorite colors.

April Fool

I feel like such a fool today. Was so muddled by the details of the contest, that I decided to withdraw. But Quilting Gallery did not give up on me, so......V-String is back in the race ! ! ! You can vote and have a chance at winning some fabric at quiltinggallery.com ......no fooling.