A Little Stitching Time

Good morning, my friends! And Happy Easter! This will be my last post for a few days. Thanks to all who have already responded to my giveaway post. If you missed yesterday's announcement, you should head over here to read all about it. 

As for yesterday's comings and goings, the day kind of got away from me, and so I wasn't able to accomplish as much as I wanted to. Oh well. Today will be mostly packing and getting ready to go, so it's the last sewing I'll do (aside from hand-sewing) until we get back.

The kitties got outside for a short adventure yesterday. Here, they're being stealth, stalking something. They didn't catch anything, and so I think they'll need to work on their disguises. On the other hand, they're in one of the better patches of grass. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I wandered around looking at flowers. The star magnolia is covered in half-opened buds. It's going to be beautiful when it blooms. We're expecting a couple of days of sunshine coming up, and so I believe its glory days are coming soon.

Finally, a couple of daffodils opened up.

They hang their heads, and so it's hard to get a very good picture of them. There are lots more coming.

Back in the sewing room, I'd left the Best Friends quilt on my worktable. I've been thinking about their hair. It's three dimensional and made with embroidery floss and some embellishments. The binding still needs hand-sewing, which means the quilt will be top-down in my lap. I worry about messing up the hair.

It seemed a good idea to pin some fabric over the top, and I think that will protect it while I'm doing the hand-sewing. I'll just be extra careful about sliding it around.

Smitty joined me then to finish off the small quilt top for this year's "Stitched Inchies." He certainly can take up his share of space on my table.

I had a few fabrics pulled, and this is how it ended up. It's 15 x 14 inches. The floral border is from some fabric I picked up somewhere in our travels.

The lavender stop border is one of the fabrics Matthew's friend Lyndsay brought me from Bali. It was used when I made the Sonora Sparkle quilt.

For the back, I'm using this sewing fabric given to me by a friend. She picked it up at a second-hand shop somewhere. It was a large piece left over from someone's sewing project. I found myself wondering what the other person had done with it. It'll make a good back for my "Time to Stitch" project.

There was time left, and so I went ahead and sandwiched it for quilting. Also, I found a scrap binding strip to use when I get that far with it. For now, it'll go in the "small quilts for quilting pile," and I'll quilt it in the next month or two.

That brings me to my list of WIPs. First up is the second block for the "When Quilters Gather" quilt...this one from the book:

I notice the name "Karen" in the upper right corner of the page. Now I'm going to need to look at the book again. It makes me wonder if these blocks represent people known to Ruth McDowell. And it was too late in the day to think about starting this. It'll have to wait until we get back from the beach.

So today will be spent packing and getting organized. We'll take off in the morning. We're expecting a lot of rain tomorrow, but then there's sunshine in the forecast for the next two days. Sunshine on the Oregon coast in April would be a gift, and so we're keeping our fingers crossed. Some sunshine to go with our change of scenery would be very nice. I'll probably be back here no later than next Friday, but it might be Saturday. If you haven't heard from me by Sunday, please send out the posse. Until then, sew on. And don't eat too many Easter eggs.