In Other News

 David may have to start posting again on the blog, or it's going to become entirely a crafty quilty blog.  Occasionally, I do leave my sewing room to engage in other activities, such as

Hanging out with dogs at the lake (no, we didn't get a third.  The dog on the right is Max, Todd's dog and Annie and Fletcher's buddy)

Laughing at dogs.  Something is quite wrong with this one.

And sitting with the dogs on the swing.  Oddly enough, the require no prompting to get in the swing with me, although Fletcher did learn the hard way that the swing is much more difficult to manage if someone isn't already sitting it in.

Also, meeting Christina for a little flea marketing at lunch

And spring flowers.  This is quite the fancy daffodil at the lake!  If you have a window box, it really should have pansies in it in the spring.

And most of all, my favorite hobby which is eating good food.  We stopped at Double E in Highlandville, and were well into our burgers before we considered taking a picture.  Delicious! 

Quilt Projects

For now, the last installment in my quilting class adventure is Quilting 102.  102 was designed to teach triangles - half square, quarter square, and flying geese.  The project is a 3 block table runner, which seemed easy-peasy after a couple of larger pieces.

It was not easy!  For some reason, the triangles really stumped me during the class.  I began to think I should have gone with a fall fabric instead of spring, as it looked like it would take me that long to get it done.  I went home with a bunch of tiny pieces shown in the picture above.  I knew if I didn't get right to work, I wouldn't remember what I learned in class, so I finished that square and did one more that night.  The second was easier and by the third, I was making fewer mistakes.

I am so glad I stuck with it and finished it, because I like the way it turned out.  It's full of mistakes and mess ups, but I don't think it will be noticeable to anyone but me.  These darker colors are my version of spring pastels.  Who knows...I might even try another star from the book.

At one point, I realized I had five unfinished projects going.  Two were just waiting on a special order presser foot to finished the binding.  One of those two was Mom's birthday gift, which I finished just in time to give her when they came for dinner.  Like every quilt project so far, it's imperfect, but I still love it.  Here it is laid out on the bed just after washing and drying.  I used a "layer cake" package of fabrics, but took some out (blues and purples) and filled in with colors she likes.  I opted to have this one quilted using a long arm machine by the teacher of the quilting class and am so glad I did.  She picked a vine/leaf looking pattern which went nicely.  The first part of the binding looks like a drunk did it while walking in Grandfather's mansion, but I eventually got the hang of it.

Here it is hanging in it's new home.  I'm not sure whether I like working with the larger pieces of fabric, but I do like the bold graphic quality that it gives the finished product.

I also finished the binding on the quilt for the 101 class, so now I'm down to two unfinished projects.  Bernie (my inherited sewing machine) needs to go in for routine maintenance, but when she comes back, we'll get those two knocked out.