PMQG Pincushion swap

This last week at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild we had a pincushion swap and I have to share the great pincushion I received.  I think her name should be Penelope.  Penelope was made by Jennifer Ball who blogs over at the quilted cat.  Jennifer is super talented and I feel so lucky to have picked Penelope to come home with me.  We just took a pincushion that we had made and put it in a brown paper bag and at break randomly chose a bag to exchange for ours.  Penelope even matches my latest block color scheme.  Thank you so much Jennifer for making such a lovely pincushion for me.  I love her!!!

 

I took Penelope to work to show my co-worker, Jean, and Jean thinks Penelope should stay at work and bring some cheer to our shelf.  While I agree she added some great color and her vibrant personality to our little corner at work,  I definitely think she likes my sewing studio better.

 

I love the ribbon wrapped spool she put Penelope on and she put the year and PMGQ pincushion swap on the bottom.  Why didn't I think of doing that on mine.  She also included her business card with the pincushion and I will have to remember to include my info with any exchange I do in the future.  It was so appreciated and I just never thought to include it with my pincushion.

 

 

Here is the pincushion I made to give away.  I briefly met the young lady who picked mine but I know I wouldn't be able to pick her out of  a crowd again.   We have 175 members in our guild and about 140 to 150 seem to be active and present at each meeting.  Here is the fellow I made.  I had some scraps of Pendleton wool I put on the bottom.  I thought it went well with my moose.  I loved his tape measure antlers.  The pattern for this moose can be found in Go Wild With Quilts by Margaret Wolfe. I just resized it so I could use it in a pincushion.

 

 I finished the Snow White block tonight.  It is a pattern in a series I bought from Kristy at Quiet Play.  I have been wanting to find time to make them.  They are all different story book characters and I love all of them.  Since I have a little time to kill until the May BOMs come out I thought I would whip a couple of these out. 

 I did flub up on this one.  It is a goof I will live with as the apple piece of the block has too many small pieces to want to do it again.  Not to mention that with paper piecing the stitches are so small that it is easier to start over and I just think I can live with the goof up.  See how it looks like she is tossing the apple in the palm of her hand?  She is suppose to be holding it.  The gray under the apple is suppose to be her fingers...oops.   What I have as her fingers is suppose to be the gray.  Since I figure it kind of looks like she is tossing it in her hand...maybe wondering if it is safe to eat...I decided I can live with it and the small people who receive this block in a future quilt will never even see my mistake...at least that is what I am telling myself.
Chin up and just keep stitchin'

Easter Blessings to you

Wishing all my peeps a very Blessed Easter full of all the love and hope

and peace offered to us from our Risen Savior 

 

Hope your Easter was full of blessings!!!

 

We spent the afternoon with the grandchildren.  Always feel so blessed and loved when they are near.

Last night while the DH was watching the Ten Commandments as is his Easter tradition , I got the PMQG medallion April addition done.  It continued to be a struggle envisioning the right placement of colors but I like the result.

The idea is to make the center look like a heart.  Next month hopefully I will find a way to make the bottom of the heart come to a point.  Can you see where I am working the pink in the center into a heart?  The only thing I wish I had done differently is to make the one light X a darker value.  It seems to be calling out to be a yellow instead of pale violet.  It was one of the earlier ones I made and thought to make more lighter ones but the darker ones really were more eye catching so I kept working with the darker values.  I should have tossed it out but with so many flubs of color and re-dos I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I should have taken a picture of it before I sewed it all together because the instant I viewed the picture I knew the light X was a total mistake...to redo it would be a huge undertaking. Yikes what to do.  At this point I am making a pincushion for the swap at the meeting on Thursday and don't really want to rip this thing apart.  Maybe it is something I will decide to do next month.

One way or the other I will just Keep Stitchin' 

Tears and therapy

The past week and a half have been a time of tears and reflection for my family.  I've mentioned before that my father's health has been declining and on April 7th, he passed peacefully in the night.
Losing a parent is never easy and although it has been hard , it also has been comforting to know it is what he would have wanted given his recent health struggles.  We had to move him into an adult foster home less than a month before his passing and in his moments of clarity, he would always ask...whose crazy idea was this?  It is comforting to know he is at rest and in a much better place.  I just never foresaw his being gone so soon...

While I have been grieving,  I found it easier to cope by staying busy, followed closely by spending money... retail therapy is so satisfying and then finally getting back to some sewing therapy.  The result of all that is a new wardrobe, the roof ripped off our deck and a gazebo from Lowes in it's place on the deck, new umbrella for the table on the deck, new cushions and pillows  and repainted chairs for the deck and some new planters with new plants for the deck.  When all is done I should have a refreshing new place in the backyard to relax and feel at peace in.  The new scheme is a peaceful blue and green instead of the rust colors I've lived with for far too long.  We also bought a fabulous new fire pit for the yard...one that has a grill like the one that we used at Mount Rainier at our favorite camping spot...Cougar Campground.  There will be a whole lot more work to do to install it which will distract me as the whole back yard is up for a remodel at the same time.  We have been so busy being involved in my dad and stepmom's lives for the past year that our place has fallen into a huge mess....maybe too much time spending quilting is the cause of some of all those weeds but it's time to put my house back into a place I can find comfort and peace...once some of the work is done that is.

Once I found time for a little sewing therapy, here is what I have accomplished.  I busted out my quilt block for the In the Garden BOM that Janeen has at Quilt Art Designs.  You can find her free pattern here this month and then it will be available for a small fee.  I LOVE how this one turned out, it seems these blocks just get better every month.  It has a ton of pieces to it but it is one of those patterns that really goes together effortlessly.

The vibrant colors of the sunflower just POP so nicely out from the low volume background.  I love how the birds are looking at the sunflowers.  You can just imagine them loving the free lunch they represent to them.  My favorite color being yellow might just add to the overall pleasure I get from looking at this beauty!

After that, I wanted to knock out the row for the Quilt Doodle Design 2014 BOM.  This month Cindy has us making a row of stars for our sky.  The row went together very fast.  It helped that I broke down and bought the 2 1/2 inch Accuquilt Go die that cuts 9, plus it can cut 4 to 6 layers of fabric at a time, which makes cutting 36 to 54 pieces at a time a snap and I figured this quilt would definitely put this die to good use.  It's not to late to join in on this one it is going to make a fantastic quilt.  You can find out more about it here along with how to get the April pattern.

Now I'm working on the medallion quilt for the PMQG quilt top.  This month has us piecing 24 ---4 inch blocks and it is taking it's toll on me.  I am really playing with the colors in the X blocks we are making for it and I have gotten the colors wrong more than once.  I hate re-doing blocks but have had no choice so it's forcing me to slow down and get it right the first time.  I have it half done but am not ready to share it yet so hopefully I will get it done before the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting this Thursday and have it ready to post about soon.

Keep Stitchin'

Time for tea

Once again I started the month out with my Sew Kitschy block from Kristy at Quiet Play.  This time I am remembering to share it early on.  Kristy's pattern this month features a teapot and I had this great fabric stashed away just waiting to be featured in this block.  I really like how it turned out.

Be sure to check her linky party out as there are already some great looking teapots showing up over there.  I adore seeing how one pattern can be so vastly different based on everyone's fabric choices.
Have a great weekend! 

Keep Stitchin'