I am anxious to start on my Pear Tree Applique. I need to make two of these. One for myself and one for a friend.



First to look for the larger pieces of fabric needed.

Backing



Main Piece




Top half square triangles




Tree



Pears




All together now.




Then to dump The Bag to look for pieces for the smaller ones.



small pieces



This is going to be so much fun. I just might put it on the top of the list.

I really must clear off the cutting table. It is getting layered with projects and needs a good clear off.




I am tracing the stitchery from Kaaren at the Painted Quilt. There is another one coming out soon and I could possibly get this one done before it does.



I have finished the March Stitchery and need to get it made into a pillow.




I am cutting the pieces to applique the July Jan Patek 2008 block and block eight of Country Cousins is here somewhere waiting for the flimsy to be traced, the fabric to be selected and the pieces to be cut.





and block eight of Country Cousins is here somewhere waiting for the flimsy to be traced, the fabric to be selected and the pieces to be cut.



By getting these things prepped and ready to stitch I can sit downstairs in the evenings with Lem and Wade Hamilton and sew. I liked to have several things ready so if I run out of thread or have a problem with one I can just pick up another one and keep right on stitching.

Last night I took the final stitch in the binding on my Nine Patch Quilt. It is 70x70 but because of the size of the pieces it is a heavy quilt. It now needs to be washed since it has been in progress for such a long time. I am delighted to be done. This was a leader/ender quilt and it has been on my list for many years.

After taking the last stitch I picked up my March FFF from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt. While working on the Nine Patch I realized that the fabric I had purchased for the binding would be lovely with my stitchery. I plan to make a pillow with mine instead of framing it. After all, the piping is already made since it is left over form the quilt. I will have to piece the back but the fabric I purchased to finish the Nine Patch will be all used up. Oh how nice that is.

Finally the piping is all sewn on.



I was so glad that I had purchased a piping ruler several years ago.




It certainly makes trimming the piping so much easier.


Then to cut the binding and add that to the quilt.





At last the binding is complete and I can call this a finish at last. Of course I want to get it washed next.




As you can see all the nine patches are 1 1/2 inch blocks.

I really must do something about the lighting upstairs. It seems that all of my pictures are so dark. I will take another picture this afternoon to replace this one. I promise. I just didn't want to miss the Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times. It is good to see what others have going on.

Here is the June 2008 block for the Jan Patek BOM of that year. At least some progress is being made on something.


I took this picture out of the window upstairs in the studio on April 20th. It seemed to be the first sign of spring and I did not want to miss it.


Same tree six days later. If we get a few more warm days it could be even fuller.

Pickle met on Tuesday. Peg gives me the quilting magazines that she is no longer interested in. Isn't she such a good friend. I can always find things I want to make in them. The ones I do not want I pass on the the library here in Orleans.

There were several quilts that caught my eye so I marked the magazine with a post-it note. I can write on the top of the note just what I am interested in for a second look later.
magazine cover


This year I have been trying to clear up some major projects I began in years past. I am soon going to finish two quilts, that is if I can get about three good sewing days instead of having to do the ubiquitous house blessing.

I have the GFG to the point of needing to be quilted. I plan to postpone that till the fall. Then I can order the backing and enjoy the winter quilting it.

While waiting to get to the interfacing I picked up the Jan Patek 2008 blocks and I will get another one of those done this week.




After work today I will shop for interfacing to finish the last 4 blocks on Country Cousins.

Two embroidery patterns from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt need to be stitched .........

BUT.........................

There were two small pieces in the December 2009 American Patchwork Quilting Magazine that peaked my interest. They are the perfect thing for our new home and they are small pieces. I have the materials to actually complete these projects on hand. I think I will put all else aside and try to get one finished. Another finish this year would be good.

Here it is............. Block eight................ I am amazed that I have 2/3 of the center of this quilt complete. I need more interfacing before I finish the last four blocks so I am putting this aside until I go shopping again.





Here are eight of them together. I am really liking this quilt.





I like to get up on a weekend morning and go upstairs and sew and sew and sew. Lately I have not been able to do that as much as I would like but I do have a few hours each evening to do some hand work.

Since I am putting the Country Cousins quilt on hold for a bit I looked around for something else to stitch in the evenings. No, there is no shortage of projects but I did want something that had already been started and was easy to get to and left little mess in the studio when block prepping was required. Of course, my Jan Patek BOM from 2008............ I have some of those blocks done so why not do a few more. I got one prepped and ready to start on tonight. One good thing about Jan Patek. Her designs are more unstructured so being a bit off adds to the design.

Block seven is now complete. At last I am past the half way point. Tonight I will work on block eight................

Not much of a showing for the weekend. I did get the kitchen chores done and the house blessing complete and all the laundry finished.

I even managed to find time for a wee bit of stitching.

The Thangles were the chosen to work on first. On the left is the February block that I completed last month. The middle blocks are the March blocks. One in the Thirties fabric from the BOM and one in the blue and white that I had at home. It is just as easy to make two as it is to make one. The third block is the Thirties BOM. I never got the second blue and white block made. Maybe that can get done during the week.

The Thangles BOM from Emily's Quilt Cupboard came in this week so I have these blocks to make.


I finished the hand quilting on the nine patch and purchased the cording and fabric for the piping and the binding.


I got the flowers on Block 7 of Country Cousins.

I still need to add the hanging sleeve to the Quilt I finished for Rebekah..... I wonder if I will have time this weekend to do any of these things.

I managed to finish the first green top.................



Now to begin work on the second one. It is obvious the difference in the greens. Only 10 more blocks and this one will be done. If I could do one block a day I could finish this in two weeks but I seriously doubt I can do that. My sewing time gets interrupted with other responsibilities.


This weekend I put the final stitches in the Nine Patch quilt. It is in the car now and after work I will take it to Murray's to select the piping and binding fabric. I just might get a quilt finished this year.

I also took the time to stitch the stem in place on block seven of Country Cousins. It is a beginning.

Lem and Wade Hamilton had a tiring day yesterday. I will confess that I sat holding the needle more than I stitched with it. At least we had a start on being ready for a showing this morning.
I even had a few minutes to go upstairs and trace the design onto interfacing for the next block. I have my fabric selected and if all goes well I can get the pieces cut out tomorrow. I might even get four of five rows together on the first green quilt.

No pictures today. I really need to work harder on getting pictures taken.

I have been spending my time in the evenings working on the Nine Patch Quilt. All the center part is quilted. Now I am doing the edges. I have two sides done and have just started side three. As soon as the quilting is complete I can add the piping and the binding. It will be good to have a finish this year. I might even get this one completed this month. Time will tell.

I have about 4 hours of work left on adding the border to the GFG. That will be ready to baste and then to hand quilt. It is a BIG quilt and will take a long time to hand quilt. At least for me. I would really like to finish it this year.

I am also casting about for something to do when I need a handwork project for a break while quilting the GFG.

I want to finish my March embroidery from Kaaren at The Painted Quilt. Tomorrow will bring another gift from her and I will want to get it ready to embroider.

This morning our realtor hosted an open house for other MLS realtors. We had to have the house ready and be gone by 9:00 AM. I went upstairs to put away the ironing board and pick up my blocks off my design floor. Since I had a few extra minutes I taped together the pattern for the next block of Country Cousins. Perhaps this weekend I can get it traced onto interfacing and get it ready to applique. That would give me three projects to chose from when stitching at night. I know I cannot sit at the quilting frame for several hours at a time.

This morning while reading a few blogs I saw the Buzz Saw Quilt on Kathy's Quilts. She gave the link to the instructions. How did I miss that delightful quilt. It looks like a good Leader/Ender quilt to me. I have been wondering what to do with my green fabric from Peg and this just might work. I am still sewing together the half square triangles from my last two quilts and I am rather tired of that. This seems like a welcome change.

Break time is over so it is back to work.

Some progress is being made. I am starting to assemble the rows to make it easier to pick up off the design floor if someone wants to look at the house.

As I mentioned earlier, I started this quilt some years ago. My skill has improved more than I had imagined. Still I will not redo the blocks that could be better. After all this quilt is supposed to be a warm quilt, not a perfect quilt. I am not sure how I will finish the quilt. I had envisioned a couple of borders but now I find that I might not have enough of the background material. I will have to finish the second green quilt before that decision is made. What was I thinking.

The realtor we are using now gives us feedback. I like that much better. There are 13 villages on Cape Cod. They each have their own personality. Why in the world you would show a house in Orleans to someone that wanted to live in Chatham or Dennis is beyond me. Chatham is a "Lovely drinking village with a fishing problem (or so the bumper stickers say). Dennis has more traffic and is more of a tourist trap. Orleans has more retired individuals. We have a large grocery store and several pharmacies but you do have to go at least 15 miles for the hospital. Orleans is quieter. Perhaps that is why we like it best. Our house was built in 1954. No it is not a new house. So Saturday we got all ready to show the house and they were only there for 15 minutes. Why? Well, they were interested in something newer. The age of the house in on the sheet of information. Why bother to show a house built in 1954 to someone looking for new construction. I am annoyed that our time was wasted on someone not even at all interested.

I haven't had much time to sew lately. I have taken this up twice so we could show the house and it is no longer on my design floor but should I ever finish another block I can put it down again. I am thinking about adding the sashing so it would be easier to put down each time. As you can see I only have four block left to make. I have three other task that need to be completed before I get back to this one. Maybe one day soon.


Now this is actually on my design wall. The design wall is only 4 feet by 4 feet so it will not hold an entire quilt. This works well for small blocks.

This is block six of twelve of Country Cousins. I did enlarge the pattern and my blocks are 24 inches............ And I plan to hand quilt this one too.


The weekend was spent getting the house ready to show and doing errands while it was being shown. The bread is made, the dog food is made and the house is clean. I am still appliqueing the border on the GFG and quilting the Nine Patch.

On Monday Wade Hamilton went for his day of beauty. I needed him to look his best for the Pickle meeting on Tuesday. We opted for his summer trim. Of course he is still wearing his coat since all of his hair is gone but that won't last long. He sure does look like a different dog.


Sunday I went to Vickie's to get help in adding the borders to my GFG. On her design wall is her current project. All of the circles on the quilt have embroidery. She is amazing.

This is a closeup of the quilt.


Vickie is working on a hexagon quilt also. Sort of an 'add as you go' quilt.




Scrappy quilts are my favorite. If I ever finish the hexagon quilts I have started I might even do one of these. It is fun to look at her quilt and see some of my fabrics in there.

We got my quilt all spread out and cut the strips for the borders.


Then we pinned the borders in place. Now every night I am appliqueing them to the quilt. I have one side done and the second side almost done. Still many nights of stitching ahead.