Angels in my Garden

I promised more on Aster Blast, but I don’t have much to say at the moment. I confess that I am a very slow quilter … it takes me forever to do anything. Since I mentioned it the other day, I have started basting the flowers to appliqué them and cut the background pieces for the appliqué. These flowers will sit between the points of the star. I promise I will show more when I have something worth showing.

I do want to tell you about the block of the month I’m working on. This is a class I’m taking at Pickering Farm Quilt Shop in Richmond, NH. The quilt was designed by the owner Diana Gallagher (we will visit Diana at her shop sometime very soon). We started this project nearly a year ago and this is where we are today.
One of the wonderful things about meeting as a class is seeing the differences in each person’s work. Each person has picked such different colors and fabrics … they are all beautiful! I will do my best to convince the members of the class to allow me to take pictures of their work next month.

This is the first time I’ve done a lot of detailed appliqué. In the past, I limited myself to big pieces and was scared of the little stuff. However, I’m loving working on this quilt and have looked forward to each step along the way. And, my appliqué skills have improved terrifically during the process.

Not only is there lots of appliqué, but there is piecing as well. I have paper foundation pieced most of these parts and have really started to enjoy this method of piecing. Some of those pieces are teeny-tiny, so they are tough to hand piece.

I am trying to pick a favorite block and am struggling with this. They each have their own character and their little individual things that I love about them … like … the stars …

the watering cans …

the carrots …

the flag …

the bird house …

all the little birds (aka chickens) …

the stenciled words ...

and each angel has such a sweet little face ...

Okay, so I guess I have no favorite and I like every little piece of it ... although I have to say the fingers on those gloves were pure evil to appliqué.

The next step is to add the border. This has more appliqué and piecing so you’re going to have to wait to see the progress. We met last week to get the instruction for how to do these … they are now underway.

I love this quilt so much that I keep it hanging on the wall in my sewing room … it adds a lot of life and fun to the room! I can’t wait to have some progress on the borders to share with you!

In honor of National Quilt Day, March 15th, I'll be taking a trip to Pickering Farm and you're coming with me! Stay tuned ...

Check out NQA's site by clicking the logo:

Daylight Savings Time

No quilting news today ... I'm working on Aster Blast and have many other projects to talk about, so look for those soon.

Today, it's all about DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!! WOOHOO!!

How can I tell you how happy I am that daylight savings time is here and that Spring will soon be here? I could tell you how desparate I am to not have the wear boots and coat, to not have to shovel snow, or chop ice or drive to work horrible weather or ...

Maybe it's better to focus on the positive ... I long for the smell of freshly mown grass, daffodils and tulips and crocuses, the warmth of the sun on my face ... Aahhhh ... I can feel it now.

In the meantime, it's late Winter here in New Hampshire a pretty dismal time of the year ... time for dirty snow banks (a view down our road):

Mountainous snow piles (the pile at the end of our driveway):

But, our little garden sculptures are starting to emerge, the angel was covered with snow not that long ago! And now she sits surrounded by bare ground! Did I say I was happy to see daylight savings time? A squirrel and yet another little dog ... completely encased in snow, but he'll break free soon!

Here's our greyhound, Jolene. She's longing for Spring too! Jo is our retiree that spends 95% of her time sleeping either on a pillow or in her crate, 3% of her time eating or chewing rawhides and then the balance of the time on personal hygiene. She is has the sweetest and most serene temperment of any dog I've ever known ... and above all, she puts up with the three little barky dogs. She also loves to lay in the grass in the back yard and soak up some rays ...

Last, but certainly not least ... here is our little "queen bee" Shatzie ... the doxie that started it all. As you can see, she is also a frequent visitor to the sewing room:

Well, enough longing for today ... back to Aster Blast ...