Another Finish...

Well, another block is finished.  (almost!).
I'm enjoying sewing on "the Wedding Quilt".  I love the brightness of the colours, the PINK of the background.
I'm afraid I'm a bit stuck on neutrals for backgrounds generally, but I'm so glad that I ventured outside my little square and used the pink.

I do need to add a little embroidery stitching and applique a ring around the centre of the block, but for the moment I'm calling it done.
I do need to get some Aurifil thread - the 12 wt- for the embroidery, and I just can't decide yet on the colour of the centre ring.
In the meantime, on to Block 3.

Looking like Little Women around here...

My sewing room is looking a lot like the living room from Little Women at the moment.  Remember the scene- the mother has gone to Washington to be with her husband and the girls must finish getting the donated clothes sorted out ready for donation to the soldiers of the Civil War.  In other words- I've got stuff EVERYWHERE!
It's one of those times- I've emptied out tubs of fabrics and am sorting through before I decide what to donate and what to keep.
In the sorting I found this:

Oh my, 1998.  Cotton has great keeping qualities doesn't it?
I also found a piece of fabric from my first little quilt.  That would have been late 80's.  The colours are very "what was I thinking?".
I'm so glad we have such wonderful fabrics available now.
I've been stitching more on the second block of my Wedding Quilt and have nearly finished the pieces that I glued on.

It doesn't look much different  to the last picture, but it is!

And to round off, I received some lovely fabrics during the week from Carolyn Konig in Wodonga.  I received her fabric club fabrics and a lovely newsletter, so, after looking at colour pics online I found that these pieces just needed to come to me!

A FINISH!!!!!

WooHoooooo, I'm feeling especially good about now!!!!
I finished the first part of my new Block of the Month- "Robin's Nest",  before I've received the next part of the pattern.
This has NEVER happened to me before.
I have the biggest smile.

I'm hanging this little treasure on my design wall for a few days now.  Nothing more to do.

On to some more stitching on my other Block of the Month -" The Marriage Quilt", reproduced from an 18th century quilt thought to be African American.  I love sewing on reproduction quilts.  I especially love the ones that are really faithful to the original.  This quilt is very close to the original quilt.

I've just glued the yellow and blue parts on.  Oh, and the red circles, too.
I'm not near so virtuous with this quilt as "Robin's Nest".  This is the second block I'm working on.  I have the first three blocks, and the forth isn't that far away.  Oh well, more stitching time needed!  Thank goodness for big pieces!
Now if I could just stop reading books I'd be much further along.

Time has got away from me once again.  A lot of time spent perusing fabric, and little time spent actually sewing.  I finally chose some fabric to make a start on the second block of the African American quilt.

There's a lot more to go around these pieces once they're stitched down.

I've also been working on this new Block of the Month- "Robyn's Nest" designed by Karin at Somerset Patchwork.
I just need to applique a little shape in the centre and that's the first month done.  Might even have it done before the next pattern turns up.  Although this centre isn't that big, it's taken me ages to piece and then stitch together.

Still no closer on the colour of the next border on this little quilt, a medium dark blue, a darkish green?
Possibly a deepish red?
Decisions, decisions.  Pleasant decisions though.

I received a most wonderful book in the mail today.
"Baltimore Garden Quilt" by Barbara Burnham.  Published by AQS.
Barbara has published the patterns for an 1848 red and green applique quilt in the Baltimore style.  Her eye for detail in reproducing this quilt is remarkable.

The actual patterns are on a CD that comes with the book, all ready to print out at correct size.  Nice and easy.
There are pictures of each block from the original quilt and its reproduction.

What really makes me happy though, is that this is one of the best "technical" books on general quilting instructions and  applique that I've seen.  Very easy to understand, and clearly written.  From the small section on fabric choices and the very comprehensive cutting lists to various applique techniques, I LOVE this book.
Sometimes I feel like some books are thrown together just to "get them out".  However, I'm very happy to see that sometimes a gem comes along.
I'm very pleased to say that now I own a real GEM.

Well, after feeling so proud of myself for posting my finished little quilt for April ahead of time, I can't believe that it's been 3 weeks since then.  Where did the time go?
I must admit I've been dilly dallying about finishing off a block for a BOM that I'm doing with Karen Cunningham .  The quilt is a reproduction of one that is thought to be African American from the 1860's.

There is another circular vine to go around in the middle of the leaves yet.  I've been having trouble working out which colour to use.  Stuck with a capital S! 
Now I've decided to just leave it for a while, and go onto Block 2.  As always I'm a little behind- well I have 3 blocks to do so far.  Luckily, Karen is in Paducah at the moment and we're skipping a month, so no pattern for a while.  I'm trying to catch up!
Many of the pieces are quite large, but I'm having trouble with the colours.  The original worked in some very bright, clear colours- very folk arty, and I don't have that many in my cupboard.  Hmmm, should I go shopping?
I've also been working on my May small quilt.  It's a work in progress.

I just need to add 2 small borders.  I'm thinking a medium blue or a nice cheddary colour and then a deepish red.  Maybe!

Nearly up to date with the Just Takes 2  free mystery quilt.  Presently I'm only 2 weeks behind, not too bad at all.

I need to get all the pieces sewn together from the last 3 months, we've sewn 1/4 of the quilt already.  Looking at the pieces, this quilt is really going to be beautiful.  I'm so glad that I decided to join in, I've always wanted to stitch a red and white quilt.
Not such a bad month stitching after all!

Feeling pretty good about myself about now!  It's not the end of the month, and I've finished April's small quilt from Kathy  of  A Sentimental Quilter's Quiltalong.

I may even get this little top quilted by the end of the month.