Hello April!

 

I’m a few days late in welcoming the month, but you know me - I'll always eventually get around to it!

We are home from Florida! And we no sooner unloaded the car but got back into it and went straight to Columbus to see our kiddos and our sweet baby Cate! Who's happier in this picture - Cate or Pappaw? It was pure delight getting in on those precious hugs and kisses.

We drove home on Saturday and Sunday, arriving here around noon on Easter, for perhaps the strangest way I have ever spent Easter morning. We played old-fashioned hymns on You-Tube in lieu of church. 

I did make a March collage. The highlights contain only one sewing/quilting photo. Most revolve around our Florida fun.

TOP ROW: The first picture is dinner with a big group of 11 at a yummy seafood place called Dan's Crab Shack. Outdoor dining, sunshine, and shrimp - what's not to love about that? Next is from the Floral City Strawberry Festival. Much like what I know as a county fair atmosphere, we walked around collecting freebies, listening to live music, and taking in the gorgeous sunny day. The final picture is from an antique car show held in Inverness. We really enjoyed walking around the historic downtown area and looking at the cars. They have car shows often, we discovered; this one featured Corvettes and Camaros.

MIDDLE ROW: We joined friends on the pontoon for a beautiful afternoon on the lake. We stopped at an outdoor establishment, Sleepy Hollow, where we enjoyed live bluegrass music and icy cold beverages. The center photo is a screenshot of Cate while we were in a FaceTime session. She is so dag-gone adorable! Being in Florida for 3 months gave us several opportunities to visit Kevin's brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Lisa. We posed for a photo-op with their dogs, Baxter and Blazer.

BOTTOM ROW: My one sewing picture shows a portion of the 600+ 4-patch blocks I made using 2.5-inch squares. Believe it or not, even with all those, I still have not used all the 2.5-inch scraps. The middle picture on the bottom is of the full moon over Tsala Apopka Lake. Our resort is called Moonrise, and I definitely wanted to experience the full moon rising over the lake. Mother Nature cooperated, and gave us clear skies. Finally, our last ride on the bikes and the Withlacoochee Trail afforded us a chance to see this big turtle sunning himself trail-side. We'd observed the hill and hole several times, but never the turtle. On our last ride, we got lucky and saw this big guy.

One more highlight from our final few days included my learning that two of the ladies I'd been playing shuffleboard with are quilters! I hadn't been able to find anyone who quilted, yet on the last shuffleboarding day, I learned there were two in our midst all along. Wow. You can bet that I will be reconnecting with them next January for some sewing time!

The shuffleboard crowd is a fun group, yet the topic of quilting had never come up. Most of the time, if we aren't talking about our game, we talk about where we are from and what we did before retiring. Strange that I'd find quilters at the very end of our stay.

Well, back here at home, I have most everything put away. I've spent a bit of time perusing the sewing room and revisiting projects that I plan to start. Coming up soon is a 4-day retreat and I need to pull together all the necessities for that. 

More to come!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

March Wrap-up

It has become my norm to take a post early each month and review the previous month's accomplishments and highlights. I found an easy app to allow me to create a 9-picture collage, and I limit myself to filling just those 9 spaces. Let's have a look at the highlights for March.

TOP ROW: The first of the Great Granny Squares that I began just this past weekend. Picture taken at the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game we attended on Tuesday night with our daughters. The CBJs lost 4-3 to the New York Islanders in quite a thrilling 3rd period of frantic action. The first 4 blocks of the scrappy trip around the world rounds out the top row.

MIDDLE ROW: The sneak peak picture of a baby quilt made for a grand nephew coming in August. The middle picture is Ocean Ripples, a Kaffe Fassett pattern made with KF blues, greens and purples. Finishing the middle row, I quilted a panel quilt for my Frankfort Girls friend Helen. The long-arming this month was my best month yet!

BOTTOM ROW:  I finally got new glasses, so I thought I'd include a pic of me in my pink specs. An early accomplishment for the month was making from start to finish Cottage Green. And rounding out the month, the baby quilt gifted to my friend Dee for her new granddaughter, Emery.  

The new month will include a fun week at Pines and Needles in Nelsonville with the Frankfort Girls. I hope to get lots accomplished there, but I currently don't have a firm plan. That's a priority. 

Of course, Easter will be celebrated, and I am fairly certain there'll be a few here for Easter dinner.

I need to quilt at least 2 quilts to stay on track with that goal, and I have every intention of finishing the Great Granny Squared quilt and the Trip Around the World quilt. More on those tomorrow.

Have a great Saturday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Goodbye March

What a whirlwind (emphasis on 'wind') month this has been! The Spring Dreams Sew Along has been my main focus both here on the blog and in the sewing room. What fun it has been and - a bonus! - productive, too!

Besides the Sew Along, I have been occupied with fixing minor issues with the long arm, then quilting a gift, and finally, finishing the gift. The collage for this month shows the highlights.

Top Row: The original Spring Dreams quilt; I just adore how it turned out. It truly is a dreamy quilt, and very indicative of spring with its soft green sashing and flower-like pops of color. The middle picture is my scrappy version of Spring Dreams, and it is just table-topper size, or wall hanging. The final picture shows my continued work on the appliqued panels for Lake Effect. 

Middle Row: The Lulu Lane Spring Dreams quilt; my impromptu quilt came together super-fast, and I (almost) love it as much as the original! The next two pictures are from the wedding for our neighbors' daughter; you see the happy couple as they exit the altar, and then the group of dear friends with whom I play cards (Dorothy, mother of the bride, me, Cheryl, Rhonda, Mindy). We did have masks on! We removed them for the photo! 

Bottom Row: And the latest of the Spring Dreams quilts - Patriotic Dreams. I used mostly fabric from my mom and grandma. The size is suitable for a patio table, which is how I hope to use this. The final two pictures show my work on Meadow Lily, the gift for the bride and groom (collage center). I will be so incredibly happy if I ever get to the point where I am proficient on this long arm! At present, it still intimidates me, frustrates me, and unnerves me. I need to buck up, take charge, and master this thing! I did finish it, but not without some aggravations.

What a fun month March has been, even with the long arm headaches. And I have a lot to look forward to in April. The Frankfort girls will spend a week away at a quilt retreat over near Nelsonville, OH. Gosh, I can hardly wait. After having last year's retreat cancelled, this is a much-anticipated event! My intent, too, is to make significant progress on the long arm machine. I have a commission to finish and a couple of others that I want to do - for me!

I hope March has been a good month for you, dear readers! We now can anticipate April, warmer weather, sunnier days, and the rebirth of flora and fauna! Hallelujah!

Happy Quilting, Friends!