Grace Pattern Release

I am so very excited to announce the release of my newest pattern, Grace, which you can find in my Etsy shop, Sandra Jane Quilts.

It's rather fitting to release a heart quilt on Valentine's Day. 💖 Grace makes a good-sized throw quilt or a twin, and is great for fat eighths and/or scraps. The pattern has instructions to make either a jagged edge on the shadow half heart or a straight edge. This is the first self-published, non-magazine published quilt that I've had Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl tech edit. She is an excellent editor; her suggestions and improvements took this pattern from good to totally professional.

Harbinger of Spring & New Pattern Giveway

It isn't too often that I've had to keep a quilt secret from its fabric purchase to its flimsy completion and finally to its fledge.  I am super-excited today to finally get to show you and tell you about it, along with the fledgling pattern designers.

This is my take, which I've called "Harbinger of Spring", on the brand new, released today, first pattern "Star Blossom" of husband and wife team David (Dave the Quilt Engineer) and Tish (Tish's Adventures in Wonderland) Stemple.  I made the baby (or in my case, yoga size) quilt, which uses just one block and then borders.

I Like/Love...

This is a (mostly) photos post.  Good luck with that, Sandra, I can hear you thinking! Here are about 10 items for which I am grateful.

I've stashed some of these photos for a while..

A few weeks ago we went to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers.  It is a place I've wanted to visit for ages.  It did not disappoint.  Clockwise from top left: Mysore Fig Tree in the distance on the left and a stately row of palms leading to the Caloosahatchee River on Ford's estate.  Next is a closeup of another massive Mysore Fig in front of Edison's home. I wanted to do a headstand in front of Ford's tree. Too many people around but that would've been so cool! Mysore is the style of Ashtanga I practise, which originated in Mysore, India.  (yes I'M-sore LOL after some days of practice!)  Close-up of one of my all-time favourite Florida plants, Bougainvillea, and then a row of a few colours of these "paper flower" bushes on the estates.

I love animals.  I love my own three fur kids; they are a part of our family, each with their own wonderful personality. I love that they often gravitate to my sewing room, clearly a place of extreme happiness, completeness, and peace.  I love that Bella, like Naala, will often lie beside her cushion, and use it to rest an elbow and head on!

Clockwise from top left: turkey buzzards; Norfolk Pine and bougainvillea; Design #8 Sunset in the City; a leaf bug

We live in an area that is not built up very much, although it sure has had a housing boom over the past two winters.  As a result of the lack of houses, there is a lot of wildlife and nature.  I find turkey buzzards both hilarious and a bit creepy.  Hilarious because they are so big and perch in these dead trees, or on the neighbours' rooftop , two of them, a few days ago, much to Naala's annoyance.  She raced around the yard, deep growling in her chest and leapt into the air at them!  They, in turn, flipped her the bird, lol, by buzzing relatively low overhead, flapping (loudly! they're huge!) their wings. Nature is beautiful but also cruel: I saw a dead (looked agonizing) possum yesterday at the side of the road, mostly eaten out but head and legs and fur very much there.  Quite possibly killed or half-eaten by one of the many bobcats we see; munched on, or will be, as well by buzzards.  I love Norfolk Pine trees (not as much as those Mysore Figs) which also get humongous. I just found out they are native to Norfolk Island in the Southern Hemisphere, east of Australia, not Norfolk, VA! Orlando is their limit for how far north they can grow. Seems so odd because when I think of a pine tree, I think snow, northern climate, right?
Design #8 - Sunset on the City: I am quite amazed at how much I am enjoying fiddling around with design, especially colouring with pencil crayons! This design above, #8, was inspired by the fabric below,

which I purchased on sale from Hawthorne Threads.  May I interject that I love sale fabric as well?! I couldn't afford to quilt without finding deals. I bought it to go on the back of my House Blocks RSC2017 quilt.  I wrote a tutorial for the block in my last post, or you can download a PDF for free right here. That is an affiliate link.😉  Finally, last photo in the collage above, I am not a fan of bugs per se, but of some, yes.  No clue what this leaf bug is that MacGyver scared out of the jasmine when he was watering, but look at the size of it! At first I thought it was a Praying Mantis. I actually saw it wipe its face on the leaves of the viburnum right after I took the photo!

I love the first installment of my Christmas present from MacGyver, a fat eighth subscription to Art Gallery fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Nope, I would not have bought a lot of these...lemons anyone, for example!  But seeing and petting them, possibilities are forming.

I love hummus.  Tomatoes.  Good cheese (this is Swiss) and spinach on a wrap for lunch.

I love scraps.  I love figuring out ways to get more out of my scraps.  This Card Trick block called for cutting 3.5" squares in half twice diagonally which would leave two extra for all four colours used in this block. I used two white triangles cut from a 3.5" square as templates so I only had to cut a 1.75" rectangle to get two.  This also is a great block for another love, playing with gradation in colour.

I like Tuesdays because we get three more 6" blocks!  We are now 20% done the 150 Canadian Women Project at Next Step Quilt Designs.  Here are this week's ladies:

28 - Emily Carr, famous Canadian painter; 29 - Madeleine de Verchères, who, when her parents were away in Montreal, successfully defended her family's fort at the age of 14 against an Iroquois attack; 30 - Henrietta Laetitia Tuzo, first Canadian born woman mountaineer.  Mount Tuzo, on the BC/Alberta border, bears her name.

Here are the first 30 blocks! I will be sewing sashing and cornerstones to them, but haven't got the fabric from Sew Sisters yet because it's been delivered to my friend in Ontario!

Yep, I LOVE!

I love my country, Canada; I've made no secret of that.  It has inadvertently sneaked into this blog over the past year, unplanned, but I'm happy that it has. We celebrate 150 years as a country this July.  I feel very fortunate to be able to escape a few months of the Canadian winter and sojourn in Florida's sunshine.  I love sunshine.  I admire and deeply respect American's outgoing president and, without getting too political, because I don't have the right to express my opinion on choices for president here since I can't vote, but I do have the right to express my opinion on a fellow human being.  Let me just say this phrase: President Obama and Chelsea Manning, which makes me both smile and choke up at the same time with emotion.  So thankful.  Kudos to you, Mr. President.

I like pattern-testing.  I've learned about writing my own patterns by testing for others.  The 10" blocks I've done for Cindy over the past several months have challenged me:  to find the right fabric for the various components, to evaluate the instructions for clarity, and to apply pieces a quarter the size or less of my pinkie fingernail!  I am so thankful for Lara's Crafted Appliqué!  I've done no stitching on the four appliquéd blocks I've made and they all have held wonderfully.

Tried for a nighttime scene for the moose block. It's actually a bit darker in real life.

The Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.  I added some greenery on either side of the main building, the walk and an attempt at the Centennial Flame that burns at the approach to the walk.  Might have to add a bit there.  I also was true to the roof colour as of the present.  They are replacing the copper roof, which has a lifespan.  So the Peace Tower is still the light green that aged copper goes, while the Centre Block building has changed to chocolate brown, which I read it does shortly after being installed.  I've had that sky fabric about as long as the twinkle stars one, but this sunset piece was just an 8X10" piece I picked up on a shop hop somewhere.  Thanks for the flag Cindy! And for being patient with my slow testing.  Appliqué and I are not always the best of friends...

I love the saying on Instagram posted by Fat Quarter Shop.  This could apply to anything: yoga, your body, your parenting, or any hobby or activity.  I love Angela Walters, who said in this week's episode, "Finished is better than perfect" and notes on her blog that she purposely left mistakes in her videos to show that she herself is not perfect and she is totally okay with that.  "Fibre in my wine...hmmph!...meh, I'm okay with that, " and she takes another swig.  I LOVE her.  None of what you see in her videos is forced; she is truly that spontaneously funny in person.  Another great quilter whose YouTube channel I subscribe to, is Jamie Wallen and ...... DRUM ROLL .... I am going to be taking a couple of his classes when he is at The Quilt Bee in Ontario this May!!! EEEP!

Linking up
Whims and Fancies
You can hop over to Not Afraid of Color if you'd like to read LeeAnna's "I Like" Thursday post and find a few other bloggers who write similar ones.
and also with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts (no finish here, unless you count the finish of pattern testing Cindy's Canada blocks😉) 

Oh Canada

Seems to be a theme for the past few posts, doesn't it?  Not intentional.  Yet kinda cool, especially on today, as I think of my neighbours to the north--north of me is Detroit, Michigan, and to the south across Lake Erie--south is Sandusky, Ohio.

You are probably thinking, wait, you made an entire quilt of maple leaves floating on one giant maple leaf like, a week or so ago?  Yep.  Windfall.  That was my own design and for the Autumn Abundance blog hop.  This particular block is a test for Cindy at Stitchin At Home, who has designed a Canada quilt as a block of the month for her guild to do over this next several months, with the finish in time for Canada's 150th birthday on July 1, 2017!  I'm testing the blocks for her.  She constructed her leaf a little differently than mine.  It looks great amongst the leaves, several of which I'd picked to scatter on my quilt.

I also tested the puppy block for Joanne at Canuck Quilter.  I have very limited time for sewing and blogging over the next couple of weeks, so I couldn't do the entire baby quilt for her, but she's got several testers for the owl and ducky versions, such a cute quilt.  She writes great patterns; hope you check out some of them on her blog link, and maybe pick up a copy of this pattern once it is available!

Woof!

I was thinking Naala, aka Rottweiler when I did this one.  Pretty cute, huh?  It might end up in a cushion or something for Brady.  He loves dogs.  The mum that the puppy is resting against is one that comes back each year, such a vibrant burgundy-red! It survived a recent transplant quite nicely.  

The glorious Fall weather continues: I leave the house five times a week at 5:45 am for yoga, either doing or teaching, and I've only had to scrape the windshield once.  That was such an ever-so-light scrape, as the frost was just a touch.  All our flowers and all the flowers in town (well those who haven't been rather goofy IMHO and yanked them out) are flourishing:

 So many roses in town are still thriving, blooming.

Close-up.  Canada colours, eh?!

Back to our American neighbours on their Election Day, which will undoubtedly affect us, not to mention the rest of the planet.  We were on the north side of the Detroit River last week.  The drive along Jefferson Avenue to Dayna's never disappoints; why take the freeway when you can revel at the jaw-dropping mansions on one side of the road, and the jaw-dropping views of Lake St. Clair on the other?  And then, there's the stunning colours...

The photo does not come close to doing the colours justice, but you get the idea.  I hope all will be well with them.  Our two countries are so very similar in many ways, but so very different in others.  Yet we live side by side pretty amicably.  Would that all different cultures could do so in peace and understanding.  Variety is the spice of life, as they say; why should everyone be all virtual clones of each other, and look and act the same?  Wouldn't quilts be pretty boring if all the millions of them on this planet were one colour and all the same shades or tones of that colour?

Tolerance, cooperation, and we, like the fabrics in our quilts, can all play nicely together on the quilting frame.  That is my own humble opinion and hope for our world.

:-)

Linking up with

Free Motion by the River

Sew Fresh Quilts

Sunday Stretch for Sewists #11...Something's Fishy

...because it is not Sunday today! I totally forgot to do the last Sunday of the month stretch post, and well, we were gone all day Sunday anyhow.

I volunteered to test one of Lorna's patterns, and picked Kissy Fishy, thinking most people would go for the animals...bzzzt! Lorna said this was the most popular pattern! It was fun.

In the pattern, her orange fish is the thinner one, and her blue fish the chunkier one; I reversed it (setting myself up for a 'leedle' confusion in this already fog-brain of mine? Sigh...) It all worked out.  Rather splendidly, IMHO.  I wanted to do scrappy fish: hot pink and orange and turquoise and green.  All fabrics are scraps, outside of the clamshell Michael Miller print that was in a fat quarter bundle I bought from Craftsy.  The results were very pleasing. An unplanned pleasant surprise was the polka dot lower fin picking up on some dots in that coral print I used for the face. I did hope the orange Kaffe fabric left over from my Three Quarter Patch Tote would have a good eye effect, and it did.  Not sure, but think I may make these into a cushion cover, or two wallhangings, maybe for Florida.

Blue Skies & Sunny Days Pattern Release & A Giveaway

I am doing a happy dance extraordinaire in my corner of QBL:  today is the release of my first 'for sale' pattern!

Available for purchase on Craftsy

The Quilts

You may recall Blue Skies...

which was made from strips cut from a 10-yard fabric bundle of Michael Miller fabrics from Craftsy which I bought back in December.  Blue is my favourite colour, so the turquoises and royal blues in the bundle really attracted me.  As did the price, not gonna lie.  By now, you know how much I love good deals!  Don't we all?

In February I made the flimsy for the Craftsy Sweetens Up My Quilting Life blog hop, as I wanted to showcase the bundles available; prior to this purchase, I had had no idea you could get yardage, and fantastic deals on said yardage.  I finished it in April.  It is the first quilt for sale in my Etsy shop.

Then I made Sunny Days.

I wanted to add a row to have a rectangular quilt, and I knew I could eliminate some of the seams.  I love saving thread, fabric and time as much as I love deals, LOL.  I also loved the pink and yellow combination in another Michael Miller bundle from Craftsy, this one a fat quarter bundle, from which I made a second rendition of their Three Quarter Patch Tote.

Sunny Days is also for sale in my Etsy shop.

I seem to have developed a thing for quilts in trees...

The Pattern Tester

I was blown away the weekend that I posted the Sunny Days finish:  Tish of Tish's Adventures in Wonderland, was dead serious when she sent me a message saying that her husband, David, wanted to make my pattern.  I had, at first, thought she was joking.  Nope.  She had shown him a photo of the quilts and he really liked the design.  Thought he could maybe make it.  And wow, did he!!

David's "Hawaiian Stepping Stones" in a tree just for me!

You can read about David's first quilt, his FIRST QUILT, right here.  There is no stopping this man; before he had even got to the flimsy stage, he was planning another quilt, thinking in colours on the way to work...Tish and I are just so proud of what he has done, our little, er large, manly protégé quilt-builder!  I am pleased that my pattern is beginner-friendly!

I am just so very thankful and grateful and truly amazed at all the help Tish has given me this past month. She it is who did the block and layout diagrams in EQ7 for me from my drawings.  She even redid the layout for the background cutting in Sunny Days, not once but oh three times!!! Never one "Nope, can't do it right now, sorry," always a "Let me know if there is anything else you need."  Hugs big ones, and a 'mwah!' to you my darling friend.

This week I asked Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs if she'd be able to give the pattern the once-over with her expert eye.  I am so very very grateful for all the improvements that resulted from her wise suggestions!  It means so much that a designer at her level would do this for little ol' me and do it pronto!  Thank you Cheryl!

The backs

The Pattern

And now, to make the circle complete, you can purchase your own copy of the pattern in my Craftsy pattern store!  For the first week, that is until June 10, it will be on sale for $5.  After that it will be $7.  I've included instructions to make both sizes of quilts, as well as two methods of construction for the quilts, one with jelly roll strips and the other with strips and yardage.  But wait, there is a giveaway....

The Henry Glass Fabrics Desire to Inspire Challenge

Well I must say June 2 has been one Red Letter Day, the day that I made the final tweaks to my pattern, ready for release, and then... received an email in the later afternoon telling me that they, the Henry Glass Fabrics peeps, had chosen me, moi! to be the designer for the month of June!!  I am hap-hap-hap-HAPPY DANCING indeedy-do I AM!!!  When I saw the lake-themed fabric, I was like, PUH-LEEZE pick me, pick me, pick me...I live on Lake Erie; I see her every day....and well, they did pick me!  I hope to make them proud.  Want to throw your hat into the ring for a challenge?  Follow their blog and watch for the announcement for the July challenge, usually on the blog the 1st of the month.
Here is their announcement Friday morning about moi.

Giveaway

And now to celebrate the pattern release, I am going to give away 3 (my favourite number) prizes: 2 copies of the pattern, and a 13-strip set of 2.5" fabrics that I used in Blue Skies.  Sadly, due to the cost of postage, I will only be able to mail the strips within Canada and the US, but the pattern giveaway is open internationally.  Just leave me a comment that says in what colour or colour combination you'd make my quilt!  Followers can have a second entry, just tell me how you follow me.  New followers are always welcome!

**Please check if you are a no-reply blogger (Look below the comments! There's a great, simple fix right there.) and leave your email address in your comment so I can find you.  If you don't, I will have to draw another winner.

I will draw on Sunday evening and winners will be notified by email and on my post, Monday, June 6.  I hope you understand that due to the volume of comments I won't be responding to them on this post.  I faithfully do otherwise, as that is the way I have met such wonderful souls in QBL.  :-)

Winners have no been chosen and notified by email. Thanks so much for the lovely comments everyone!  :-)
 
Linking up with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF this week at Devoted Quilter

Mystery Quilt Progress

I had these done (finally) mid-week last week, but just never got up a post.  Here are my geese for Step 1 of Cheryl's Mystery Quilt-along at Meadow Mist Designs:

I  played a little after trimming them all up:

 I was rather amazed at the designs one can make just with a flying geese unit!

All I did was add 4 more units to the corners of the star block

There is a name for the block that is formed in the centre here...I think...

I like the squares that you get when you fill in the side gaps with another unit.

If you rotate those units from the previous photo, this is what you get!

As a kid, I LOVED my wooden mosaics; I've been a quilter longer than even I know...

In the end, yesterday I decided to lay them out all nicely for a proper shot. I got half of them all laid out, and then Bella got involved and mussed a bunch up.  I shooed her away, fixed them back up, decided that half of them laid out, all pretty, was good enough, and got a quick photo.

I'm looking forward to the next step!

Sunday night I tested a block for the Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop we are in for my dear friend, Julie, at Pink Doxies.  It is a great one!

Head on over to her blog to get the instructions (no special rulers required, yeah!).  I even did it without a compass...think I may have got rid of my ancient um, 40-year-old math set.  Love this block.  Then again I do love the sun! My version is with my own stash fabrics, and of course, for a little more shine, Sulky Holoshimmer for the top-stitching. ;-)

Check out Cheryl's post today at Meadow Mist Designs for about 15 more brand spanking new blocks complete with tutorials.  If you want to get in on the Mystery Quilt you will find the tab for that there too!
If you missed yesterday's line-up for the New Block Block Hop, check out Yvonne's post.  My block is here! There's a fabulous giveaway on each host's post for oh, 3 yards of fabric...
For another 30 or so blocks, and more giveaways (Fabri-Quilt has been so generous!) on
Wednesday you can visit Stephanie at Late Night Quilter.
Thursday you can visit Terri at Childlike Fascination.

Grande Scrappy Tiles Pattern Testing & A Giveaway!

You've seen this before in fabric selection process and in flimsy form.

And here she is toute finie!  I named her Summer Scents Mosaic, a nod to the floral fabrics that are so summery, and the name of the pattern of Cheryl's, Grande Scrappy Tiles, on sale for the next 2 weeks only, for only $6!  This is a pattern I tested for Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.  It is a terrific pattern, a very ingenious layout to get the overall scrappy look, with clear and concise directions.  The official launch is today, so if you'd like to see some other variations, click here.

 Detroit skyline as the backdrop in early morning sunlight

Lots of us agree that quilts 'talk' to us, and this one was no exception.  When I laid her down to piece the backing and the batting (more on that experiment in a minute), she just didn't seem quite together.

I wondered...what if I put a border on? Would it pull it all together?  I still had enough fabric (I might still have some left over...Cynthia!!!)

And yes, ahhh, she was complete.

So the batting experiment.  I want this quilt lightweight, as a summer quilt.  I'd used flannelette in runners with great success, so I thought, let's give it a try.  I'd hoped to pick up flannel, however, for just that bit of extra fluff...big sigh.  Even in Fabricland, not a quilt shop, basically the Canadian equivalent of JoAnn Fabrics, flannel was too expensive.  I checked out flannelette.  Diaper flannelette is what I'd used in runners, but it is a mere 27" wide, so I investigated some soft prints that were 42-43".  I found one that was a pale gold, so I thought it wouldn't interfere with the (then planned) backing.  Yay, it was on sale for $4.50/metre.  Stay tuned for another post on price comparisons in the not-too-distant future.  And, by the way, this has a great weight, I'm actually surprised it's as heavy as it is...but then again it is pretty large!

Was hoping for more flowers for the Summer Scents Mosaic theme

With the addition of borders the quilt was 80.5" so I pieced the flannelette (after washing and drying it) and then looked at the backing I'd planned...and couldn't do it!  This is a very pretty Robyn Pandolph cream with pale pink roses on, bought on sale (as I buy all my backings) at Fat Quarter Shop...and I just thought...nope, this needs to be on the front of a quilt, a low volume quilt.  I looked in the stash of greens, and found this backing that I'd bought for Savannah, 

and then somehow, before or after, acquired the same brown floral I used on the front of that quilt for the backing.  In all likelihood I could have bought the brown and forgotten I did that.  Who knows...anyhow I had enough for the backing of this baby! This came from Alma Sue's in Sarasota.

It quilted up quite nicely!  This is prior to washing.

I used Christina Cameli's "Fervent" motif as the all-over meander.  I loved this motif!

I did Angela Walters' no marking dot to dot wedge design in the borders.  Great ruler work practice for me.  This picture shows about an 8" piece of fabric I needed to piece in for the binding!  Yep, I used every last scrap of the green.  Both of these greens are in the quilt.

Tried to capture one of the many seagulls flitting around and I know there was one in this photo, but it must have blended into the background.

Quilt Stats
Pattern: Grande Scrappy Tiles by Meadow Mist Designs
Size:  80.5"X80.5"
Fabric: from my stash and from my scraps
Backing: ?? a wider backing that I think has been cut in half lengthwise to equal about 54" width
Batting: flannelette
Quilted: on my Avanté
Threads: Isacord pink #2560 in the top with So Fine in the bottom for 1 bobbin and The Bottom Line (prefer this, as does Avril) for 1.5 bobbins. Approximately 500 yards all told.

What was I doing in downtown Windsor at 8 am? I'd just finished my 6:30 am Ashtanga Mysore yoga class!  I go 3 times a week.  Here is the quilt on the bench right outside the studio!

 If you're still with me, here is the giveaway!  Cheryl has kindly offered up a copy of her pattern to one of my readers.  All you have to do to enter is tell me the name of the river in these photos, AND what direction (north, south, east, west) I am facing in the first photo.  You might learn a very interesting geographical fact about this part of Canada!  (wait, whut? as the younger ones say...you're in Canada and that's Detroit across the river?....exactly.)  For a second entry just leave me a second comment telling me how you follow me, and if you aren't yet a follower, perhaps you'd care to join?!  :-)

I will draw a winner on Sunday night about 10 pm EST and announce it on Monday.  Be sure to leave me your email address in the comments if you are a no-reply blogger; otherwise I will have to draw again.  ephdra (at) gmail (dot) com is a good format.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday, TGIFF and Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? These link buttons are on my Links tab up top!

84!

Huh? You are probably thinking.  84... uh, pieces you've cut for the next quilt!  wait... the number of FMQ designs you have tried? no... if you think like my sister, Linda, you'll be dying to say, "years old?!" bahaha.  Wrong on all. (hmm, maybe not on the FMQ designs, ha)

Two things.

84 km I walked in the month of May.  That's 52.2 miles!  (I have a great app, May My Walk, that I use for walking, and my husband uses it for biking.  Free.)  That is a few kilometres short, because I did not record a couple of walks, like when my mum was here visiting.  I'm pretty impressed that I regularly walk 20 km or more per week with Rocco.

I think, but I'm not sure, that this is a black walnut tree, massive in any case!

84 followers on Bloglovin'.  Um, wow.  There has been a big jump lately due to the New Quilt Bloggers group I'm in, (see the sidebar button) as we follow each other, critique each other, learn, and improve our blogs.  You might start to see some changes as a result of being in this group! (It's taken another little jump since I started writing this post on the weekend!)

What am I working on right now?

Two things. (Okay, three if you count the handquilting I am plugging away at a bit each day, on that Christmas runner which is on my list for the Q2 FAL at On the Windy Side)

One is the next quilt pattern of Cheryl's I'm testing.  I couldn't decide which one, so I said, meh, I can do both...probably.  Out the window with my Q2 FAL list for Adrianne at On the Windy Side...

Here is the progress so far on Sea Star.  Fabric:

A 16-pack of pink fat quarters from Art Gallery fabric bought from Fat Quarter Shop this winter

This, however, is more like, OMG I-So-Love-Pink Star!  And well, I do!  Which takes me back to 1984-ish, and the dusky pink I had in our living room for the ensuing several years and through two houses...but we won't go there. Where we will go is my niece.  This quilt is going to her.

Progress on sewing the multitude of HSTs:

not a lot; it's been a run of rather non-sewing days, more yoga than sewing, which I'm okay with; more computer than sewing, which I'm not okay with

The other current project on the design wall is this blue quilt. This is on my list for Q2 FAL.  I had a brainwave to try my Stars quilt I designed and made for H2H with the blues!  Brilliant, n'est-ce pas?  I had planned on doing a different star quilt in one of Pam and Nicky Lintott's books, but then I came up with this plan with a few small changes.  First change is the blocks are 16" finished!  Bigger than the charity quilt.

Another little difference is the strip set centres (try saying 5 times in a row) compared to the first version as well.  Third difference: I'm turning the strip set blocks 90° as was suggested by a couple of people, to see if I get a woven effect.

You know there is something to be said about accumulating a rather large stash; it gives me some freedom to try something like this, to see, "what if I did this...", you know? That and keeping the walls insulated is my reasoning!  It was great fun to pull a ton of blue pieces out, some left over from previous projects, others destined for future projects (ahhh, when I was working full-time, and had the freedom to buy fabric just because I loved it and could visualize it growing up into a quilt...)

Eileen at Eileen Stitches and I had a conversation just yesterday about the similarities in our two cats.  OMG check out her current kittens quilt! Just saw it when I went for the link to her blog.  She said how her girl now loves to be on the cutting table, and I'd already taken this photo of Bella doing just that!  We both agree that fabric is like an aphrodisiac to our cats, and I would add that it sure is to us, too!  ;-)

Bella got as excited as I did at unfolding some not-looked-at-for-a-long-time fabrics!

If something doesn't quite work out in the "what if" department, I can always set it aside and use it in a seniors-in-wheelchairs charity quilt (I seem to have started something there).  That, or let Bella get all ecstatic and loll about on it, pose on it, crunch it up for an elbow rest...

You really didn't have to fan this out just for moi, but gee, thanks, mmrrrooowww!

Look at this beauty I snagged a photo of on Friday:  I just learned, from Wikipedia, and this Ontario site, that it is the symbol of Kentucky, and is a member of the magnolia family.  It also grows in only three places in Ontario:  the southern shore of Lake Huron, the northern shore of Lake Erie, where I am, and in the Niagara Peninsula.  There are many here in Kingsville.  This one, a massive tree, is just down the street from me!

Tulip tree, aka Liriodendron tulipifera

Speaking of down the street, that's where I'm heading right now, put some more kilometres on that app!

I'm linking up the blue stars quilt project with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew and Sow. The background of the pink stars quilt fits the scraps category too come to think of it!

And also with Patchwork Times' Design Wall this week!