Snow on the River

 A new quilt will soon be going on our bed as the season changes to winter.  My version of Barbara Brackman's "Snow on the River Wandle" was finished late this summer and has been waiting for a snowy day to make it's debut.  It's impossible to see in a photo, but the white-on-white background fabric has a winter trees and snowflakes on it. Here is the link to Barbara's free pattern:  Snow on the River Wandle.

This is the quilt that our little Woodchuck, who accidentally became locked in the garage for a week, tried to have for a snack.  I'm so thankful the damage was completely repairable.

I did finish one more quilt this fall, but still have a bit more quilting to do before I can share. 

Happy New Year to all.  May you be blessed with Health, Happiness and plenty of time to quilt awhile in 2021.

Shoo Fly Shoo finally gets her binding on

 On a sleepless night, what better thing to do than some hand sewing?  Instead of tossing and turning in bed I got up and finished the binding on this cute little quilt.  Relaxing, nearly mindless, and just the right recipe to calm my busy mind.  A bright and sunny morning was just right for her glamour shot!

Shoo Fly Shoo 34 x 40 inches

Moda Love finish

It is just a week short of a year since "Moda LOVE" quilt top was completed.  

Moda LOVE 90 inches square

This weekend the binding went on and it's DONE!  The hardest part was deciding how to quilt the last border.  I mulled that over for a couple weeks, marked and re-marked.  Finally my sister helped me get it all worked out, pinning and drawing lines to get things to line up correctly.  

The maple leaves in the red border give it an autumn look, but the free motion flowers in the floral border don't show up at all.  Well, at least no mistakes will be visible there!  

Woodchuck Alert!

How much batting will a woodchuck chew, if a woodchuck would chew batting?

All pinned and ready to quilt, my Snow on the River quilt found out the answer to that question this past week.  

Chewed batting

A week ago, my nephew and a friend spent the weekend working on a project in our garage.  Both garage doors (front and back) were open most of the time because it was a very hot weekend.  When we returned the following weekend, we discovered quite a mess in the garage!  Things tipped over and knocked down. A little woodchuck had somehow been trapped in the building all week.  And boy, was it hungry!

My quilting area is upstairs in the garage, and little woodchuck had a good chew on my quilt batting.  Fortunately, it decided that batting doesn't taste too good before it started to chew on the fabric, so not much harm was done.  What a relief!

Our hungry little captive.

We didn't know what kind of animal had been in there.  I left the service door open, and a short while later it peeked it's nose out, then made a bee-line for the nearby flowerbed and started eating.  It didn't even seem to care that people were around.  We finally hurried it along it's way.  I'm so glad it was just a baby, and not the full grown woodchuck we had in the neighborhood a few years ago.  That one would have done a LOT more damage!

Cheddar back finish

What better way to celebrate Independence Day, and the final submission of a huge grant project I've been writing this past month, than to post a quilt finish?

Cheddarback, an antique reproduction sew-along shared by Gay at Sentimental Stitches, is finished!  Gay stayed true to the original, so some of those blocks were pretty nasty to put together.  I suspect that in the original, some of the blocks were a different size and cut down to fit.

Of course, I had to put my own spin on it.  The center top block was an orphan made by my friend's late mother, Shirley Larson, many years ago.  Toward the end of the sew-along I ran into a time crunch, and a few other blocks also came out of my orphan block box.  But, I stayed with the overall theme and I love it!

This is one of those quilts that looks much better in the picture than up close.  The overall pattern emerges.  It's quilted in diagonal rows, and the cheddar backing has adorable sunflowers in the print.

A special trip was made to Hobby Lobby for red binding fabric.  Haven't been in there more that a couple times since the COVID-19 pandemic.  It made me sad, and long for happier days.  We have lost two acquaintances to this illness, and are doing our best to stay safe and healthy.  Please do your best to stay well too.

Shoo Fly Shoo

Shoo Fly Shoo 34.5 x 39 inches

Last summer's Leader-Ender project suggested by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville was to make Shoo Fly blocks.  I did quite a few using some bonus half-square triangle blocks that I already had done. 

It was fun to match them up with colorful center blocks.  But, I ran out fairly quickly of groups of four matching HSTs so it sat idle for months.  Time to call it done!

The center blocks are mostly tone-on-tone, but there is a cute pumpkin in one block and a snowman in another.  I guess I don't use conversation prints very often!

My Shoo Fly Shoo is only baby quilt size, but I'm happy with it.  One more top into the pile for quilting!

Snow in April

April is a fickle month.  Easter Saturday was warm and sunny.  Easter morning we woke to a heavy April snowstorm.  Snow fell all day, and by evening 6 to 8 inches had fallen.  When the skies cleared on Monday the brilliant whites and blues were nearly blinding. 

That day became the inspiration for the title of this little 12-inch square quilt.  The stars are made from the cut-off ends as I squared up Frolic!  The four corners are some spare 4-patch blocks.  And so, without further ado, we present... "Snow in April."

Snow in April 12-inches square

The last day of April I finished hand stitching the binding.  By then the tulips were ready to bloom.  Here's a glamour shot to give some perspective on how small this quilt really is.