Friday, April 5, 2024

Much to Share From March

Couldn't believe when March came to an end and I hadn't found time to post. I had been stitching more than I have for a while, but never wrote about it, so I will dump it all here.

Rocky Mountain Christmas was finally bound and sent to its new home.


I had hubby hold it in front of the snow covered mountains for this photo to match the Christmas theme. Made from Men's thrift store shirts, this is based on Bonnie Hunter's free Smokey Mountain Stars pattern. Being a very overcast day, the colors are darker than in real life.

The picture below, taken in my living room, gives you a better idea of the true colors.
I tucked my little Christmas gnome into the quilt to give this a holiday touch. :)

I also FINALLY got the borders on my Churn Dash quilt. This was sewn along with Chooky last year. I had the blocks finished and arranged by the deadline, but hadn't finished sewing it all together and adding borders. I so often stall on borders, even when just doing these long, straight borders with no piecing.

I just draped this over my living room sofa. I don't have floor space anywhere right now to lay out a king size quilt, and it is currently wet in the great outdoors, so this will have to do. I have always loved the churn dash block, and these scrappy ones were a delight to stitch up.  Even the challenge of putting a 1" churn dash inside the triple churn dash blocks was fun to attempt. As soon as I get a back pieced, this will be off to my longarm quilter.

In March I also made another batch of the tiny blocks for my guild class. Only one more month of these and we will have been through both sets of blocks Lynn Hopkins has designed so far. These will finish at 2" square. The rotary cutter gives you a little perspective on the size.
Also for guild I got another 5 placemats made up for our service project for Meals on Wheels. In February the gal in charge of this service project sent me home with a large bag of strips she had leftover from the placemats she had made. 
She told me to make what I wanted from them--she didn't want to see them again. I had fun digging through the strips to find things to coordinate for each placemat. The two on the left are definitely out of my usual comfort zone.

With the talk of the upcoming eclipse (which I am sad that I will be missing), I was recalling our experience in 2017 when we car camped to see the total eclipse a few hours from our home. You can read that post here. Canuck Quilter has a great eclipse pattern out that you may have seen Pat Sloan making. What a fun way to commemorate this event.

This is more than I have usually accomplish lately in a month, and it felt good to make progress on some things. Time with family and friends, time in the sewing room, time with books or violin, and time outdoors walking all fill my bucket when stress presses in. What, besides quilting, brings you joy and peace when you need it most? Please share with me in a comment.

Until next time,
be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

Yesterday morning I saw a glorious sunrise. But to make it even better, when I hurried outside to catch photos, I could hear the Sandhill Cranes trumpeting to welcome in the day. Do you have 20 seconds to see (and hear) how my day began? Make sure your sound is turned up.

22 comments:

  1. Oh, your Vedic clip is wonderful. Beautiful and peaceful…..thank you!

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  2. Your stars are lovely, I made a similar quilt out of thrifted shirts many years ago. It's such an effective design. Your churn dash is also looking splendid. Why do we procrastinate over the silliest of things?

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  3. (Little Penpen) the video clip is amazing!! I’ve never heard those cranes before. As always, your work is beautiful and I look forward to your updates!

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  4. What an incredible sunrise! It's so beautiful! I love the quilts too! The churn dash in a churn dash blocks really add something lovely. I'm still not quilting anything here but I'm learning to grow vegies :-) and having fun. Hugs!

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  5. The sunrise is breathtaking. The warbling of the cranes was delightful to hear. Ahh, a Christmas finish, I'm still working on mine. The churn dash looks terrific and it's so big! It reminded me that I have a small stack of churn dash blocks from an exchange that I need to put together into something. There's always something waiting in line to be sewn.

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  6. Apart from patchwork, singing in the choir I belong to brings me lots of joy and peace. Our recent Easter services were magnificent with full pipe organ, brass quintet and choir of about 30 singers. Amazing!

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  7. What an amazing way to start the day Janet!!! I adore the photo of hubby holding the quilt with the snowy mountains in the background - how perfect it is. So do the placemats go out to the recipients of the Meals on Wheels?? What a fabulous idea & how special for them to receive one. Mum used to get Meals on Wheels & I can imagine how something like this would've really brightened her day. Just wonderful Janet xx

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  8. Your Rocky Mountain Stars is a gorgeous quilt! Isn't it interesting to see how different lighting affects the mood of the quilt. The churn dash top will be a delight to sleep under, with all the lovely prints. One of my favorite parts is sewing on the outer borders - it means the top is nearly finished and by the time that happens I'm usually more than ready for a finish! You are blessed with such an abundance of beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Perfect for long walks morning and evening. I'd never heard sandhill cranes before, thanks for including that little video.

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  9. What a stunning sunrise! You have the most amazing out look. Your Smokey Mountain Stars is beautiful, there is something awesome about an quilt made from men's shirts. Your churndash quilt is fabulous too. Do you choose the quilting design when you send it to your long arm quilter, or the quilter?

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  10. such beauty in nature every day....lovely finishes, esp rocky mountain christmas...

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  11. 3 things - 1) so happy to sell all your lovely projects, images, photos, etc. 2) consider making a quilt using the colors in your header photo, and 3) I see YOUTUBE or blogger or ??? somehow replaced or used your video space for their ad for AGT, or some dorky "Karen" video, kinda like a pop-up ad. Grrrrrr, ruins the entire experience of enjoying your wonderful post! No one else mentions it so perhaps the issue is only on my screen???? It also occurred today on Bonnie Hunter's post today.

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  12. I checked out your Orca bay done with purples and oranges! What a pleasure to the eye - very nice quilt, with those lovely colorsl.

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  13. Wow!! That sunrise is truly awe-inspiring!! Heavenly Father at His best!! Your two huge quilts are fabulous!! I think I got 3 of Chooky's churndash blocks done before I went down another rabbit hole!! And those teeny tiny blocks just always amaze me!!
    So glad you are in your happy place. Not sure what me me happy right now but I have crowned myself Queen Putter-Offer!! We are having great spring weather and that makes me smile!!

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  14. Oh my, you have been busy! I adore them all, but the Churn Dash is simply amazing! Thanks so much for sharing that special video of the sunrise and Sandhill cranes. Spectacular!

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  15. You've had a productive month, Janet! Such lovely finishes! What could be better than a spectacular sunrise and Sandhill Cranes :)

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  16. I love the use of plaids in reds and greens (I think they are greens? Or maybe greys?) for your star quilt, Janet.
    Good finish on your Churn Dash, Janet. I like the red setting triangles.
    And your tiny blocks! They always amaze me.
    So glad to get to spend time with your violin.
    I love the video at the end. The cranes have such a haunting call.

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  17. Your churn dash looks great..... So pleased you have the top finished.....I love it. Sad things now is it won't be hanging on the wall behind you in zoom......

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  18. It's great to see a post from you! First of all, wow, you just live in the most beautiful place! You have been really busy - terrific quilts! (I stall on borders too, or just don't do them, lol). What a nice idea, the placemats for Meals on Wheels.

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  19. What a beautiful video. Majestic actually- thanks for sharing.
    I was so happy to catch up with all quilty projects and see a post. I love those stars and the sew along churn dashes are so great. Happy Spring Janet!

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  20. You have been busy. I love the Smoky Mountain quilt colours. What a wonderful transformation from charity store shirts. I’m glad the churn dash is moving ever closer to the finish line. It is beautiful. I love your sunrise.

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  21. You are busy, as always! I love the idea of placemats accompanying a Meals on Wheels delivery. What brings me peace and joy, other than sewing, is spending time with family, Augie snuggling in my lap, walking and reading~ oh how I do love a good page-turner!

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  22. I love your quilts! I have made some quilts with mens shirts and still have a bin full of more shirts that I should use. I am planing to make some Christmas quilts for family members and hope I can get a couple made this year. BTW, I love to make puzzles in the winter too. Last year I bought a puzzle from Connecting Threads the designs of which are actually from Kaffe Fassett's fabrics. It was so difficult and I had started it before Christmas and had to put it away so I could get the living room ready for Christmas. Maybe I'll try it again this year - or maybe in January of 2025. Your mini quilt are amazing. Thanks for visiting my blog! Ruth

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