Second finish in March 2021.............

 I got the hand stitching on the binding done on the batik Bear Paw quilt.  It finished at 54" x 67.5".  The big squares in the paws were leftover from double 4 patch cutting many years ago.  The sashing strips were 1.5" strips cut at least 10 years ago. The claw triangles were all from the scrap bin.  The only yardage cut was the borders, one of my favorite old batiks.

The backing is also a batik.  I used Hobbs heirloom 80/20 batting.

I also worked on the backing for another quilt but I don't know if it will get quilted this month or be my first finish of April.  I have 2 tops that need their borders to be counted as finishes for the month too.

Making progress............

 I finally convinced myself to turn on the longarm and get this Bear Paw quilt done.  You can see here I chose the zebra or tiger print batik for the back.  I can never decide if it is zebra in non traditional colors or tiger stripes.  What I do know is that it is a neutral and plays well with the front of the quilt.

I did loop-de-loop on this one with So Fine thread in a medium gold.  What I like about So Fine is that it hardly shows at all and in fact it was hard to tell where I had already quilted in a few places.

Picking the binding was a little harder project.  I wanted it to look good with the blue print border and the brown print back.  This fabric has brown and purple as the darkest colors with dots of almost every color.

I got the hand stitching done on one long side and 1/3 of a short side.  This quilt is about 54" x 68".  I'll measure it with an accurate number after the binding is done.

My medium pink Columbine in the back garden is starting to grow again.  I think it likes its nice shady spot.

Signs of spring...........

My Forsythia bush has been chopped back so many times it is pretty scraggly but it is flowering nicely for me this year.

I had to dig out and cut back the Black Raspberry canes last year so my painters could get up to the windows and window wells to do their work.  I left 4 tall ones and they are sprouting so I know they are alive.

Several of the peonies have started to grow.  This is the earliest plant and has deep burgundy blooms.

It looks like I might get some Daffodil blooms after all.  The bulbs are over crowded and usually I just get leaves and once in a while a flower.  I see several buds this year.

The Bleeding Heart has barely broken ground so we are really still in the very early stages of spring here in northern IL. 

Mindless sewing...........

 I got a lot done yesterday but only took a photo of my mindless TV sewing.  This will be the next pink quilt that I have been cutting the last few days, using up the leftovers from the X and O pink quilt cutting. 

I got the backing cut for the Bear Paw quilt, sewed the long seam and loaded it on the longarm.

It's still a little chilly out for me to spend a lot of time outside.  Today will be warmer but possible rain.  I need to go out and trim back the Annabelle Hydrangeas before they start growing.

Backing indecision............

I did more sorting and cutting in the basement yesterday and then I started looking for backing for the batik Bear Paw quilt.  I have enough of both of these but indecision kept me from cutting and sewing it.

I filled the bird feeder and then grabbed my camera for some of the earliest signs of spring here.  All of my Sedum plants have begun to grow.  I think they look like little green roses at this stage.

I have 2 Coral Bell plants that I dug up 2 years ago and they have wintered over fine in pots ever since.  I need to trim all of the dead leaves off this one.

Some of the Pulmonaria/Lungwort plants stay green all winter and others die away.  This is the first plant with buds and a bloom.

If you look really carefully you can see the tips of a Hosta peeking through the dirt.  This is the only one of the 30 or so of my Hostas that I have seen any sign of so far.  It looks like a tiny Pulmonaria plant with buds in this photo too.
 

Cleaning, sorting, cutting.............

I spent most of the day working in the basement trying to get 2 tables cleaned off.  One is almost done, the other about half done and that is the one I cut my batting on.

I took my empty spinach containers down there to put scraps in.  I divide by type and the bottom right container is one with pieces big enough to cut triangles or squares at least 2.5".

I did do some triangle cutting as I worked and marked the bags with the sizes.

I took the larger pink leftovers and cut 4" finished triangles.  Then I rounded up the light fabrics I will use with them.  I need to keep at the cleaning because I need to cut batting for the next quilt I want to finish.  About another hour and that table will be cleaned off.
 

ZAP!...........

I finished sewing the ZAP top together last night.  I'll look for light print strips that might become the 2" border all around.  I haven't decided if it will be several fabrics or just one fabric.  Meanwhile I'll take it off the design wall and work on the pink baby quilt.  

It's also time to spend about 4 hours cleaning up the mess from cutting for 3 quilts.