Odds and Ends

I feel as if I accomplished a lot today, even if the things I accomplished were small things.  I put the border on my "Secret Garden" quilt.

This quilt began as a challenge quilt for a guild I was attending a while back.  The challenge was to do a technique that was new to us, and to tie the theme with a children's book.  The plan was to donate the quilts and the books to the CARES NW program, which is a medically-based child abuse assessment program in Portland.  Then, I stopped attending the guild, and so the challenge never went anywhere.  Nevertheless, I had already decided that my new technique would be to make this mystery quilt that was running in American Quilter magazine at the time.  I'd never done a mystery quilt before.  Since my focus blocks were floral, I was going to pair it up with:

That's how my quilt got its name.  So . . . that was supposed to have happened two months ago, but since I stopped going to the guild, I didn't participate in the challenge.  That doesn't mean I can't still donate the book and the quilt to CARES.  I think I probably will.  But first, I need to make a back for it.  That will mean purchasing some fabric, since I don't have anything large enough in my stash.  And it still needs quilting and binding, but this one is going to my long arm quilter.  I don't think I can stand any more free motion quilting right at the moment.

Then, I put a label on my "Spring!" quilt.

This one has been finished for a while, but I'm only just now getting around to putting a label on it.

George was very helpful through that process.

Then I started on something I've been wanting to do for a while.  This is my "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" quilt.  I haven't taken any pictures of it since it's been quilted.  I still need to do the hand-sewing on the binding, and so I'll post those later.  For now, I'll just show you the quilt top.

This quilt will go on our guestroom bed when it's all finished, and I wanted to make matching pillowcases for it.  I was all set with a pattern, and then I found this one on the Fabshophop website.  It's called Tulip Fields Forever (that link will take you to the PDF if you like the pattern).  It looks like this:

but I'm doing mine in black instead of white, and I'm making the paper-pieced tulips in the colors of the tulips in my quilt:  yellow, blue, pink, and purple.  Here's the first of 18 that I need to make (9 for each pillowcase).

Finally, I selected and washed the fabric for a baby quilt I want to make for the woman who does my facials (a little treat I give myself a couple of times a year).  The last time I saw her, I learned she was expecting her first child--a baby girl.  I'm going to use the same pattern I've used for Downy quilts in the past since it goes together fast, and the quilting is simple.  These are the fabrics I'm going to use (all from my stash):

I asked her if she was decorating her baby's room in pink for her little girl.  She said she was using pink, mauve, and gray, and I had just the right colors in my stash.  I'm kind of excited about this one.  She will be completely surprised.

So that's about it for me today.  Oh yes, I went to the grocery store too--one of my most hated tasks.  But with all that fun, I figured I should accomplish something house-holdy too.  Now we have food for the next week, which is always a good feeling.