Tiny Finishes

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Tuesday! Things are looking up here snow-wise. It's 35°F and raining! Yay! That snow can't linger much longer under those conditions. (As I'm proof-reading just prior to publishing this post, snow is falling again. Boo!)

It was an NBS day for me yesterday. After my slow stitching, I went straight to work quilting leaves. Today, I'll start the final round. Yesterday's progress might be described as the Day of Echoing Lines. I began with this spiralizer that started at the tip of the skinny leaf.

For the next one, I used the side veins as spines for ferny feathery designs.

The next was a series of arching echoing lines.

And finally, this one with echoing loops.

Next, I'll be quilting the largest and most open of the leaves. Some of them bump right against the edge of the panel, and so I'll probably fill in around the edges as I go. These larger leaves will give me more freedom of movement. Probably, I'll bag the idea of emphasizing the veins and just fill in with whatever pops into my head. (It could be dangerous, so stand back.)

I didn't get even a lick of kitty help with this. When I went downstairs, I found them lazing around next to the windows. They're itching to get outside and kill something, but the snow is keeping them housebound.

When I headed downstairs to work on the eighth tiny house, Sadie was all about it. As the tiniest cat at the Three Cats Ranch, she has a special interest in these tiny houses.

This one had more sections than the ones I've done so far, but it went together the easiest.

Here are all the tiny houses I have so far. That's 8 down, 28 to go.

From there, it seemed too late in the day to start on anything new, and so I decided to go ahead and hand-stitch the binding for the Road Apples. Smitty was my helper cat for the binding. Sadie was resting nearby, just in case Smitty needed some relief. Sometimes sewing on a binding can stretch on for miles.

It didn't take long, and I had my first finished quilt for March, small though it may be. It ended up at 11 x 14 inches.

Quilting and binding the Road Apples was my goal for March's 

so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

Today is a walking day for me. I'll be sticking with the treadmill again. There's nothing else on the agenda for the day, and so I'll get started sewing together a small quilt top for the "Sewing Day" project finished a while ago. Sadie was blocking access to the project.

It was hand-stitched several months ago.

I have some pretty fabrics to use with this one. It's been lying on my work table, and I've been circling it for a while to figure out the best way to use the fabrics. It's been hard to decide, but I'm pretty sure I know what to do now. 

When that is finished, I'll be moving to my list of WIPs. There is a new project to start at the top of the list. If memory serves (and without going downstairs to look at my whiteboard), I believe I'll be getting started on the first block for "When Quilter's Gather," from Ruth MacDowell's book:

You might recall, I had some of the patterns enlarged at Staples back in January.

Here's a picture of the first block I'll be doing.

Some of you wondered at my decision to tackle this "paper-piecing" project. It isn't exactly like paper-piecing, although the templates are made from freezer paper. This is a slightly different technique I learned from taking several classes from Ann Shaw. I'll try to remember to take pictures and explain as I go along. Let's just say it's less "iffy" than paper-piecing, and so it should make for less gnashing of teeth. 

The only other thing I need to do is to hand-stitch names for the final four quilt shops on the Shop Hop quilt. I'll be needing them soon, and so I'll make up a stitchery to take along when we go on our camping trip next week. And, it looks like we'll actually get to go this time. Hopefully, I didn't just jinx us by saying that.