March Forward

It's the first of March, and we can officially say that Mike retires in less than two months. It's making me hungry for traveling, and so it was a bit of a tease when our free pass to Canada's national parks arrived in yesterday's mail. Thanks, Canada! And Happy Sesquicentennial!

It was a pretty decent day weather-wise. There was quite a bit of sunshine, and the snow has all melted. Let's just hope that's the last of it, shall we? The bird feeders needed filling, and while I was out, I noticed the daffodils were heading up. I'll be posting pictures of Every Blooming Thing in no time, right? Right.

Looking ahead, March is going to be kind of a busy month for me. Next week, I'm heading back to Vancouver, Washington, to take another class from Ann Shaw on the technique of Ruth McDowell. You might recall the "Seating for Two" quilt that came out of that class when I took it last year.

During last year's class, Ann Shaw showed us a quilt she'd made from a picture of her husband when he was a child. If you're familiar with Ruth McDowell's technique, then you know she doesn't add details to the faces of her subjects.

When Ann showed us her quilt, I got an idea to make a quilt from this picture of my brother when he was about five (and before I was born). 

So that's the picture I'm going to use, and I'm going to take the class again (beginning next week) in an attempt to solidify this rather complicated technique into my feeble brain. You might recall the class was difficult for me last year until I had an Ah-ha! moment of clarity. From there it sunk in a little better. It's a great technique for making quilts from photographs, and I'd like to be able to accomplish it on my own. If you missed those posts from last year, they start here. Just scroll down and keep hitting "Newer Post" to get to the next one.

Also, we have another camping trip planned mid month. It was supposed to be our maiden voyage in the new camper. Then we got impatient and took our maiden voyage last month. Think of this next trip as the Maiden Voyage 2.0. We'll be heading up to Cape Disappointment on the Washington side, 

where there is a wonderful lighthouse and a very nice state park.

And all of that to say that I've been enjoying my goal-less 2017, which has allowed me to participate in a lot of challenges. Nevertheless, I have been setting a goal each month for 

Usually I try to finish off one flimsy and quilt one flimsy during a month, but I'm fresh out of quilt sandwiches, and I have just one more flimsy to finish. Instead, I'm going to focus on my WIP's for the month, starting with the next section of And On that Farm. This section is called "EI-EI-OH!"

As for the challenges, I'm in the middle of this one on Quiltshopgal's blog:

There are five mini quilt blocks posted as free downloads from Craftsy. You can make one or all of them. Mine are in process, and yesterday I made three of them. Each one of these finishes at two inches square. This one is called Autumn Tints:

Don't think they go together quickly just because they're small. They take at least as long to make as their full-sized brethren. This one is called Rainbow Flowers:

This one was the hardest one of the bunch. It's the Rolling Stone. Mine ended up a little distorted, but not bad for a first try.

The corners are one inch square, but to make them requires working with a one-inch squares of white and four 3/4-inch squares of the yellow. Oy.

There are two more to make, and I'll work on those today, along with the latest of the Solstice Challenge blocks. Also, I'm going to get started on Millicent for my next bag lady. Usually, I work these from head to foot, but because I'm feeling a little wild and crazy today, I think I'll start with her feet.

If you're stitching along with us, please feel free to choose whichever bag lady you want to work on. There's no requirement that you work on Millicent, although, I can't imagine how you can resist the cat in her pocket. Also, don't forget to link up with your February bag lady right here. Show us your progress. No finishes required.

That's pretty much the rundown for the day. Early this morning I started another loaf of bread for Matthew. I'm having breakfast with him in tomorrow morning. I figure if I get the bread ready for baking today, I can bake it in the morning and take him a nice fresh loaf. What's on your agenda for the day?