I sewed a lot of triangle units the last couple days and finally got them all up on the design wall. I need to choose fabrics at the bottom and top before I can go much farther. I think I'm going to move the red top edge blocks.
It got pretty hot yesterday and I wanted to mow the grass but it was wet until almost noon. I finally went out around 4 and did it. I noticed some more blooming while I was out there. The Lily of the Valley has totally invaded one section of my shade garden and they are just starting to bloom. Also a little Creeping Charlie is in there.
Some of the Jack in the Pulpit are blooming, others are just peeking out of the ground. This is the darker version.
The top of this one is green. There is another big patch of the ones like this.
The earliest Cranesbill is full of blooms now. I also have white ones and fuchsia ones that are just setting buds.
Kevin the Quilter was in my area yesterday morning and he took time out of his drive home to stop and meet me. He had his famous quilt "Radar" with him so I got to see it. I have to say that it is SO MUCH more beautiful in person than in a photo. The color are rich and intense and he did a beautiful job of piecing it. His friend Ann did a spectacular job quilting it. What a treat it was to meet Kevin and "Radar".
Would you believe this is my first selfie? Luckily Kevin has long arms. I don't think I could hold the phone far enough away.
Behind us is one of my shelf units of fabric. I had fun giving him the grand tour through my 2 studio areas.
A couple months ago I chose this backing (on the left) for the stars and 16 patch quilt. It is an old Philip Jacobs fabric. Now it is time to quilt this one and the last flannel quilt top finished about a month ago. I'm hoping for at least 4 finishes in May.
Added at 8 a.m.: As mentioned in a couple comments this morning, my blog is up for the best all around quilting blog in the National Quilter's Circle Awards. If you want to vote for my blog, go here.
I tried for a better photo of the snowball quilt top after it had the borders sewn on. The reds look a little too bright on my monitor. As usual, it is prettier in person than in a photo. I cut the borders on the lengthwise grain and have matching borders on opposing sides. In 2 yards of fabric there were only 2 repeats across the fabric so all 4 borders couldn't be the same. I have 2 narrow strips and one wider strip leftover that I can cut up for other projects.
The cookies are baked and the art quilters are coming today.
Most of the progress on this quilt has been the decisions of which fabric will appear next and in what order. I think I have only sewn a few triangles since I showed it last time. There will be one more row of squares beyond that yellow/orange print. This photo will be my blueprint for putting it back up on the wall. It needs to come down while the art quilters are here tomorrow.
Yesterday was an outdoors day for me. The temperature was just perfect for digging and mowing grass. I hadn't mowed the backyard yet because it is mostly in the shade and the grass doesn't grow very fast. Now the whole yard is mowed. The violets are growing all over the back garden and in the grass.
The Jack-in-the-Pulpit has started poking out of the ground. This is one of the tallest ones.
Here is another whole batch of Jacks. This area was still under leaves so I partially cleared it. The Jacks usually grow in the forest and are used to poking through leaves and other vegetation.
I was sharing some Hostas with a friend so I have been digging up the ones that needed to be moved or divided. The babies along the edge of the roots are pulled off and planted separately.
There were several that were just too large to stay where they were. I gave my friend the large part of this plant and kept the 3 baby sections.
This the first Cranesbill that is blooming. It has lots of buds. The flowers are a very pale pink.
And speaking of pink, my nine redbud trees are in full bloom now.
Last night I started cleaning the basement for the art quilters who are coming Monday. I put away several stacks of fabric and started vacuuming.
I will start with the finished quilts, one 40" wallhanging and a big quilt around 78" x 98". I haven't measured it since I quilted it.
I finished two quilt tops and sold the one on the left. I'll take another photo of the snowball quilt top in a few days on the wall that has better lighting.
I knitted 3 dishcloths. Also I did a stack of preemie layette pieces for my church sewing circle project.
The bonus this month is the clean house, thanks to doing a little each day for a week before I hosted a bridal shower here. It was a good month.
