April First, This Is Not a Joke!

Welcome April, our trees are just about to burst forth into full bloom and the daffodils are out!

 Some of my March completed goals include all four House Revival blocks getting some detail embellishment stitching done.  Got my next two steps along with what stitches to put where so I can carry on with this project.

 Made my bonus project of a 1 hour basket.

 This week I decided to finally make some choices for my Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM 2017. Live Each Season can be found by clicking here. The third block is still available as a free download the other two can be purchased as kits. First off the bunny pulling the cart has all the wool pieces whipped stitched down and now to add some embellishing stitches and details such as eyes, legs, carrot tops.  Not sure if I'll add the butterfly yet.

Here is Stacy's version of the Bunny Block.

 Block two has several of the same wool along with a few others to tie the blocks together.

Block two by Stacy.

 Block three is where I started.  I love the turquoise stripe wool I used for the cart, upside down plant pot and planter in this block.  The greens are all the same two fabrics along with the paler turquoise for the eggs.  The darker yellow showed up in the daffodils and the chick's wings.  I still need to stitch the pussy willow branch so I can add the pussy willows.  Hmm, I just noticed that she didn't reverse the pattern for this design, oh well.

Block three of Stacy's design.

 Here is an Instagram collage of the above blocks.  I think I'm going to put them together as a mini quilt rather than a row for all four seasons.

 I got all my stems, flowers and centres added to my Down the Rabbit Hole.  51 leaves is this months goal along with the first border.

 I made three blocks for my friend Brenda who is moving away for a friendship quilt. I also got one of my backgrounds sewn for Sunflower Gathering and have labelled all the pieces so I can get the Mika background sewn.  Tried figuring it out without labels and failed.  No sewing so that was okay.

 Here is an example of micro climate.  Notice the trees across the road have no buds on them but this one is in full Magnolia blossom bloom along with one to the left out of the picture.  Why?  To my right is a brick building and to the left are low buildings and the street heads down the hill to the south.  So the sun warms the bricks up and these two trees get a jump on all the rest of them along the block!

 Thursday we had a break in the rain. I went out and saw that the peonies are coming up along with some mini iris.

 Love the pale lavender strip on this crocus.

 Some newly opened mini daffodils.

 This one reminds me of the Flying Nun.

 Just starting to pop open beside the winter pansies.

 Such a delicate blue bulb.

 One of Rita's tulips.

 More Daffodils.

 The sun came out after our coffee and here are those same tulips.

 Pretty blues.

 Big daffodils enjoying the sun.

 Most of the larger shade trees have yet to bud their leaves.  Folks of all ages out for a walk along the quay.

 These rhododendrons bloom twice a year.

 That striped crocus in the sunshine.

 Grape hyacinths enjoying the Spring sunshine.

Here is hoping that the March showers don't fall as heavily in April!

First Day of Spring! Happy Birthday Dad.

Happy First Day of Spring and my Dad's birthday.  Glad we didn't have any snow as we did several years ago.  In fact our Cherry Blossoms are quite behind with all the snow we had this year. We do have crocuses and snowdrops popping up along with the occasional Daffodil.

 I made this collage of my House Party Revival for Instagram the other day.  Have started some of the detail stitching for the blocks.

 First was the drizzle stitch and outline around the trees. This picture washed out the green and I used two different threads on the trees.  The red one has a darker variegated thread than the yellow ones.

 Next was an open Trellis stitch around the window and then I did a Palestrina knot instead of back stitch for the four quadrants of the window.

I also did the Palestrina knot around the edge of the roof.  I think I'll stitch around the chimney and will think if I'll add anything else to the block later.

 I also made a one hour basket to hold my stash of 2016 Row By Row fabrics out of the border print.

 Rather than using a fusible I outline machine quilted some of the details.  I used a King Tut Blue around the shape of the houses.

 Another King Tut Green for the grass and a Red for that narrow strip of red along the top.

Kelby Sews has a great tutorial and the basket pattern is a free one on Craftsy. Here is a link to the tutorial.

House Party Revival staying focused.

I've started some of the embellishment stitching on window 1. Doing some outlining and Drizzle stitches on the trees to begin with.

 Have some stitching done on the roof lines of window 2 but need to add the chimneys that I've mislaid. Have some bullion stitches outlining the roofs.

 Window 3 is ready for stitching also. Love how the bias tree turned out.

 Just finished adding the wool pieces to Window 4 last night.  Let the fun embellishing begin.

Here is a picture of the finished piece designed by Tonye Belinda Phillips. Here is a link to her website.  I got my kit from the Stitchin' Post in Sisters Oregon. She is currently teaching it as a 3 month BOM.

Signs of Spring, Staying Focused on Quilting.

Came home this afternoon to this view of the courtyard.  It's hard to see but the weeping cherry tree buds are starting to swell, often by this time it is in bloom but due to a very cold and snowy February they haven't burst forth yet.

 Did you notice the ducks resting by the edge of the pond. here is a closer peek.  We've had nesting ducks at our pool since at least 2000.  Maybe we will see some this year.  Several years ago they cleared a lot of the undergrowth from the edge of the pool and they stopped.

I started doing some of the embellishment stitching on Wednesday at my wool group on block 1 of House Party Revival.

House 2 has the stitching along the roof edge but still needs the chimney and other touches.

Last night I started this block and today at my Friday group I got almost all the bias stitched down.  Then I'll add the rest of the wool applique and start on House 4.

How is your focus doing for the month?

Review of February Focus and Goals

Saturday I spent the day at a friend's sewing half square triangles together into blocks and then into pairs.  At home I sat down and ironed the pairs to prep the 26 star centres and corner blocks and went OPPS!  I had forgotten I made the half square triangles oversized so I could trim them down.  By the time I realized this error I realized I needed daylight to trim them and put them away for the evening.

 I did get them all trimmed and paired up to be resewed on Monday.

 Yesterday I got the information for the next month of sewing for March.  We will add flower circles with centres for the 26 stems and add a bias edge to the circle.

 I got my first cotton and wool pieces down for my House Party Revival window 1 I'm about halfway down window two.  My plan is to do all the wool and cotton applique and then have fun with the embellishing stitches.

 Yesterday we had an unexpected snowfall.  This was my place about ten o'clock.

 It did come down heavier for awhile before stopping.

 And by one o'clock it was all gone.  Farther east they got quite a lot.  My cousin is in Palm Desert and says the desert is greener than she has ever seen it before.  She also mentioned that Chicago has set a record for snow free days this winter!  We have an aunt who lives there.

 Other February unexpected goals were designing and finishing my challenge quilt in four days.  No prizes but I was told it was Lorna's husband's favourite.  Prize enough for me.  There was a tie for second and third prize and my friend Mary was one of the tied people.

 Got the borders on my Valentine's quilt.

 Friday I went for a walk and found these crocuses and snowdrops outside the condo door.

 Witch hazel is in full display but the yellow one has almost none on display.

 This Hellebore reminded me of a dogwood bloom.

 And a pink version.

 Love the dark contrast on this yellow crocus.

 These were more of a daffodil yellow.

 The early rhododendron is out in bloom already.

 One of the crows needed a closer read of the information signs along the boardwalk.

 Love these purple crocuses that look so delicate.

 This year is Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation on July 1st and all National Parks are free for entry.  I decided to get one of the passes.

 Time to write down my finishes and maybe get a couple of February goals that I missed started on.  I didn't get my Mika or Sunflower Gathering backgrounds stitched so maybe that will be my final February Focus goals for today.  Then to list the March ones.