Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all who celebrate this holiday!  We had brunch with my husband's family yesterday so the rest of the weekend will be quiet. My niece helped me to make a bunny charcuterie board for the brunch yesterday and I managed to get a picture before people started to nibble.  I will have to make more of these for other family gatherings. 

I only have one more quilt that needs a hanging sleeve for the quilt show. I hope to get to that this weekend. I am one of those people that likes to have things done ahead of time...I don't like the stress of trying to finish something at the last minute. A couple of quilts for the show are not in this pile, but you get the idea. The barn quilt I painted last summer is also going in the show. 

My Arizona Adventures quilt is done and ready for the quilt show.  It will hang in my front hall after the quilt show.  There is another quilt in the to be finished pile that will be hand quilted next. 

Our daughter sent me a picture of her March squares for her book blanket this week as well as a picture of the books she read.  There are not as many books being read at the moment as she is very busy at work these days. Each granny square represents one book read. 

I have this cross stitch picture on display right now for Spring.  I made this for my mother well over 25 years ago.  It was hard to get a picture without any reflections in the glass.  

I have several types of daffodils in bloom right now in my garden.  They are my favourite spring flowers. 

I don't remember planting bloodroot in my garden but they are welcome volunteers.  Such pretty little flowers!  They don't bloom for long but are such a bright spot in the garden.  

Finn was starting to look a bit shaggy and had a haircut this past week. The groomer gave him a new bandana which he proudly wore at the family brunch yesterday. 

This was before the haircut...

While Finn was at the doggy spa, my husband and I went for a hike with the hiking club.  It was cold and everyone was bundled up to stay warm.  The temperatures here continue to fluctuate--it is 20 today...

Here is a picture of my cousin's new grand-daughter with her quilt. Her big brother has been telling her what he sees in all the fabrics.  He has a flannel quilt that I made for him when he was born. 

My sewing plans for this week include finishing that last hanging sleeve and working on more of my spinning drunkard's path blocks. I have a few other volunteer commitments this week too.  Never a dull moment around here!  Have a great week!  I will link up with Kathy and Frederique. 

A Busy Two Weeks

I was away last weekend and did not have time to blog before I left so today's post is a catch up on what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks.  I am happy to report that I have finished hand quilting my Arizona quilt and I am now working on getting the binding hand stitched and adding a sleeve and label.  

The Oxford Quilter's Guild show is the coming up very soon and I have registered 12 quilts in the show.  Most of them do not have hanging sleeves yet so that will be my hand sewing project for the next little while until they are done. I have five prepped and ready to stitch and there are more quilts waiting for sleeves to be made. 

Here is the information about the show in case you are local and are interested in coming to see all the quilts!

The church sewing group finished making the hygiene kits for girls in Africa a few weeks ago, and now we are working on items for our Christmas bazaar in November.  I found some neat vintage kitchen fabric in our stash and made two lined aprons and I am in the midst of making a third apron with bees on it. I used an apron I made for myself 37 years ago for the pattern.  I still wear my apron even though it has a few stains on it.  Maybe I should make myself a new one...

I made two more spinning drunkard's path blocks last week and just have three more to put together.  They will have to wait until I am ready for the quilt show. 

The weather has been up and down here.  One day it is sunny and warm (ish) and they next day we wake up to snow on the ground!  Hopefully, Spring will come and stay soon!  There are a few flowers blooming in my garden including these primroses. 

I have two hellebores that came from my MIL's garden and they are both blooming. 

The first mini  daffodils are out too. 

I am currently reading this cozy mystery, a gift from my daughter for Christmas.  Interesting characters and plot!

I received a kit to grow micro greens and planted them on Tuesday.  By Thursday, they looked like this. 

And today, they are like this.  Growing like crazy.  We will soon be able to enjoy some on a sandwich or a salad!

Snow from earlier in the week...

Finn enjoyed a long walk at the elevated park earlier this week. 

Finn celebrated his 7th birthday last week and my daughter bought him a giant squeaky banana which has proven to be quite popular

My husband and I have been working on a Charley Harper puzzle in the evening.  This one is called "Once there was a field".  I always think elements of his pictures would make interesting quilts. 

I should get back to my hand stitching.  Take care.  I will link up with Kathy and Frederique. 

Hand Stitching

This was another week of hand stitching projects.  I finished off the outlining of the dark purple lupin and moved on to the lupin to the left.  It was partly done before and I am almost finished it.  There is more outlining to do on the leaves at the bottom of the picture. 

Finn laid beside me today while I knitted and listened to an audiobook. 

I attempted to sew another block together on my drunkard's path project but my sewing machine was not co-operating.  Usually, a good cleaning will fix the issues but not this time.  I think it will have to be taken in to the repair shop this week.  I sew at the dining room table when Finn is here as he is not allowed in my sewing room.  I pulled out an antique machine-- it took some time to get the tension set and then Finn woke up from his nap and wanted to play--that meant the end of my sewing time.  My husband was out today so he could not keep Finn occupied while I sewed.  Here are the pieces for the rest of the blocks.  The colours remind me of macarons.

Finn gave us a puzzle for Christmas and we finished putting it together this week.  It was harder than it looks!

I worked on my Arizona quilt this week too.  There are four of each block in this quilt and I quilted three square in a square blocks and three flying geese blocks this week. One more of each of these two blocks to do before I move on to the corner blocks.  I'm figuring out how to quilt each block as I go along. 

Finn is a big help while I hand quilt...

We had to run out to do an errand this week -- Finn was not thrilled with the ice pellets on his face. 

Sometimes, he takes a toy outside when he goes out to pee.  It was the chicken's turn yesterday. 

I will link up with Kathy and Frederique, as usual. 

Lots of Hand Stitching and Another Block

A few years ago, I stitched "Let it Bee".  I was cleaning up the top of my cutting table and found it in a pile, waiting to be framed.  I went to Stitch It Central this past week to buy some backing for the secret gift quilt that I have been working on and purchased a 5" hoop for my bee while I was there.  It was well overdue for being framed!  

I went to the weekly guild sewing day earlier this week and spent my time hand quilting the four HST blocks in my Arizona quilt.  The centre part of the quilt is done now and I just have the outer row of squares to do. I bought myself a q-snap frame to use to quilt the outer edge of this quilt.  It can also be used for cross stitch.  

My daughter made four more squares for her book blanket over the last couple of weeks.  She's quite busy at her job right now and doesn't have as much time to read. 

I pulled out my lupins cross stitch picture this week--it just needs some outlining done and then it will be ready to frame.  I got quite a bit done this week and hope to finish this off next week. It feels good to get these almost finished projects to the finish line!

The stems were added on the light purple lupins. 

I'm in the middle of outlining the centre lupin. 

I cut out the background fabric pieces for the remaining blocks of my current piecing project this week and put the purple block together. It takes a little longer to sew all those curved seams so each block takes a while to make.  Five more blocks to make. 

Finn's absolute favourite toy is a squeaky carrot.  His old one needed to be replaced and this new one arrived this week at our house.  He was very excited to take it out of the package and run around the house squeaking it, tail wagging the entire time!

Today is quite chilly with snowflakes in the air, but earlier in the week, when it was 20 degrees Celsius, Finn and I enjoyed some time outside on the front porch in the sunshine. 

I was at a local retirement home this past week doing some volunteering and noticed that the residents had been doing some yarn bombing!  

My friend, Pat, has some snowdrops blooming in her backyard!  So pretty!  

That's it for today.  I will link up with Kathy and Frederique as usual.