Frigid Friday

We had a dusting of snow on the ground this morning when we woke up, and it was quite cold all day, although we didn't get any more accumulation of snow.  I did see a few snow showers throughout the day.  (And there is one going on as I write this!)  Nevertheless, the trees don't seem to mind because they are bursting into bloom all over town.  I walked with my friend Sue this morning, and we passed these beautiful flowering plums along the way.

The flowering plums have long been among my favorite blooming trees.  We have them lining our driveway, although they have not done very well at our elevation.  We keep cheering them on anyway.  Several of them died, and we kept replacing them.  Now we don't bother because as soon as we replace one, another dies.  The ones we have left seem to be doing okay, however.  It will be about a month before ours bloom.  We are always about a month behind the relatively warmer (ha!) climes of the valley.

Yesterday I finished the binding on the Perfect Harmony quilt.  I still want to add a center tab to the back of the quilt to use for hanging.  I've suspected that it might sag in the middle, and my good friend Dana has confirmed this for me.  (Thanks, Dana!)  Also, I've created a couple of draft labels.  I'm going to let Mike look at them this evening and tell me which one he likes best.  You'll have to wait to see the finished product.

(Edited to say that you can see the label right here.)

And since this was the quilt I committed to finishing for

I'm linking up to the linky party at Fiber of All Sorts.

Also, I think it's safe to reveal the doll quilt I made for my partner in Sweden.  She and I have communicated, and I know the quilt has arrived in her country, so here you go.  The theme for this month's swap was "Animals," and I call this quilt--get ready for it--"Cat Patches."  The quilt is 28 x 27 inches.  I considered doing something other than a cat for this theme, but as I said on my Facebook page, I was afraid doing so might cause a disruption in the space-time continuum.

There are paw prints quilted in the borders, and I quilted the center panel with a sort of meandering heart motif.

This afternoon, I started working on my Laundry Room quilt.  I want to choose a different name for this quilt since I never like to use the pattern names.  I'm thinking "Wash Day" or "It's a Wash" or something like that.  Any ideas?

This pattern is a little different from my usual applique in that the quilt top is built on top of the batting without applying the backing until all the pieces are in place and top-stitched.  This is also the way I did the Wonky Schoolhouse quilt by the same designer.

When it's all finished, the applique pieces have a little bit of "puff" to them, but leaving off the back means that they don't detract from the quilting.  

So I started out by using some scraps of batting and sewing them together using the method I saw recently on a blog that is new to me called Made by ChrissieD.  (Click on the link for her tutorial.)  I've always used a zigzag stitch to do this, but she suggested using a double overlock stitch.  On my Bernina 440QE it is stitch #8, but on my Bernina 750QE it is stitch #10 (for those of you who care).  Anyway...I kind of like this method.  It gives a smoother and stronger seam.  I'll do it this way from now on.

I needed a piece of batting 25 x 39 inches.  Once that was done, I cut out the background pieces and laid them on top of the batting.

Then I created the applique pieces for the sun.

These haven't been ironed down yet.  I want to make all the pieces before I do that, and I was needing to stop for the day.  Incidentally, I use my largest ruler like a paper weight to keep unattached quilt pieces in their place.  You just never know when--oh, I don't know--maybe a cat will decide to "rearrange" things.

Don't let that angelic sleeping face fool you.  He's just dreaming of the mischief he's going to get into when he wakes up.

That's it from me today.  How did your day go?