3/21/12

Last Block

This morning I awakened to a light dusting of snow.  Snow has been falling all day, and we now have several inches on the ground.  This is very late in the year, even at our elevation, for there to be this much white stuff.  It is still falling as I write this, and more is expected over night.  From what I understand, there is snow clear to the valley floor.


It always strikes me as funny to see our hot tub covered with snow; however, there is something magical about sitting in the hot tub while the snow is falling.



It would be nice to get things growing in the greenhouse, but clearly, it is not a good time for that.  The greenhouse isn't heated, and the temperatures are expected to fall to a low of 19°F. tonight.  Geez.

So I tackled Mt. Laundry today and spent the day sewing.  I'm working on my newest embroidery project, the Vintage Sewing Machines, and I'm doing the hand sewing for the binding on my swap quilt.  And then I started doing the top-stitching for this, the very last block on the Home is Where the Heart is BOM.  I am so excited to be finishing this one up after working on it for over two years!

When I do the top-stitching on these, I work with one thread color at a time.  Today, I did all the white applique pieces:  the snow on the chimney, the snow on the roof, Santa's beard, Santa's sleeve cuff and the top of his hat


And I machine embroidered the frosting and faces onto the gingerbread men.  They each will have two tiny white buttons sewn to their tummies when everything is said and done.

Originally, I had intended to hand-embroider these details, but it's pretty hard on my arthritic hands to pull the needle through those stiff applique pieces.  I decided I could do as well on the machine with a lot less gritting of my teeth.

As I've been considering how to spend the rest of the month of March, I had forgotten how close I am to finishing this quilt.  I think once I finish the top-stitching, I just might go to work on sewing the blocks together, adding the borders and finishing this project up once and for all.  Wouldn't that be something?  One of the borders is a log cabin border, and so I anticipate that will take some time.  Nevertheless, it will lend itself well to chain piecing, and so once the cutting is done, it might not take as long as I think it will.

Time will tell.  It's always exciting to get so near to the end of a long-term project.  I'm hoping to free motion quilt this one myself.  It's a rather large quilt, and so that might be biting off more than I want to chew.  I haven't ruled it out.

How did you spend this first official day of spring?  Somehow I'm betting you weren't out sledding.

8 comments:

WoolenSails said...

I won't tell you that we are going into the 80's tomorrow, lol. It is not our normal weather and it will go back to normal next week, but I am enjoying some warm sun while I can.

Your new pieces is really wonderful and fun.

Debbie

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Yes, I won't tell you that either, although we're going to have lots of rain. Love the gingerbread guys!

Denise :) said...

Barbara, that's so crazy! We've had record high temperatures -- in the upper 80's -- for the past three days! Your block is just darling and quite appropriate given the view out your window!! :)

aksherry said...

I could have. We got about 3 inches of fresh snow for the first day of spring. And then this morning it was 10 below. Wah.
Love your BOM quilt. It is super cute!

Diane Wild said...

I'm not saying we were in the 80s but we were in the 60s with some drizzle and some sun. I finished FMQing a quilt and just finished the binding tonight. A good day. Your santa and gingerbread guys are cute. A fitting project for your day.

Teresa in Music City said...

Oh Yay!!! You're getting there quickly! Those gingerbread men look downright edible - and cute too!!!

Nope - not out sledding! It was about 80 degrees and absolutely lovely here in Nashville! But I have to say I just love your snow too :*)

Sandra said...

What a cute pattern? Where did you get it?

Teresa said...

No sledding here. We are in our third day of rain with temps in the 50's. I've been working on a baby quilt.