Friday Night With Friends

 

I worked on some birch tree blocks.  I have seen these quilts for many years and always loved them.  I actually started a coin quilt with my scrap strings (I have 2 bins!) and realized that if I make them wider than intended for that purpose, I could make both quilts at the same time.  Of course these blocks are moving faster than the others...I have seen a tutorial of this over at Samelia's Mum.  I can't remember if that is where I saw the red version that was my favorite.  However, green goes better with my decor and my daughter also loves it so the quilt will definitely have a good home after.  I cut my blocks at 13 inches and they have trimmed down nicely to 11.5.  (Creating more strings for the bins!  They fill up faster than I can use them!)

This is my project for Friday Night with Friends from https://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com/.  However, I still have a lot of sewing to do.  

In this picture, you can see my 5 X 10 inch coin blocks for my coin quilt.  They will eventually be in long columns.  And of course, you get a good view of the mess...

And, I always have multiple quilts on the go.  Those birds/flowers are for a "seed packet" quilt I have seen lately. (Exuberant Color)  I have seen it credited to multiple people but the most known is Kaffe Fossett.  My version is not Kaffe fabrics as I have none...however, I do have a ton of flower and garden themed fabrics that have sat way too long so my version will be my own unique collection and probably more fall colors with, again, lots of green.  

The blue and aqua are for a quilt I showed recently.  These are all pinned and ready to be fed quickly through the machine the next chance I get.  Which might be awhile...

Today, after a women's gathering at church, we pick up this pretty baby who has been away at boarding school for two weeks.  I have only seen him for 3 short visits during that time.  I miss him so much!  He has made such amazing progress and is definitely a different dog than the one we dropped off.  He has worked so hard and can do amazing doggy things, but all I really want to do is cuddle him!

Our sweet kitty has definitely been enjoying his time away, allowing her free range of the house.  She is much too skittish to get close to him.  I hope that will change now that he knows how to sit and stay around other animals.  She loved watching the snow storm and trying to catch the flakes by pouncing on the glass.  She also loved it last night when I cleaned the table just before dinner and placed a mat just for her- so she thought.  

I was really excited to see this visitor to my back yard a few days ago, even though he left a terrible mess.  Our entire neighborhood is overcome with pigeons and their mess is ruining my roof and patio.  I may be an evil person but I was hoping this guy would move in for good.  He stayed there and allowed me to take 4 pictures of him but when my sweet, small kitty jumped up into the window, he took off, showing an amazing and beautiful expanse of wings and taking his dinner with him.  

Sewing until 3 am

This is a quilt that I started a few years ago when I realized I had A LOT of green and browns left over from other projects.  

It is from this book and uses my most very favorite- four patches.  I just think they look so perfectly quilty!

I chose to change the sizes of the blocks used to accommodate my 2.5 inch strips so my blocks come out a bit bigger than in the original pattern and I am using a total of 88 blocks instead of 80 so the quilt will be a big one.

After napping in the chair while my husband played Tomb Raider- exhaustion from the stress of the accident and aftermath finally catching up to me- I, of course, couldn't sleep when I went to bed.  So, I headed to the sewing room and stayed there until 3 am.  I had not even accomplished half the blocks so I had a lot of cutting and digging through my stash for more fabrics.

I am completely out of neutral backgrounds at this point and will have to replenish soon.  Not even sure I ended up with enough to finish these blocks.

Now, I should be going to the gym, but I have a headache and I am feeling very stingy with my time since I go back to work on Monday, so, I think I am heading back to the sewing room, in my pajamas, to spend the day.

My husband and son are off to the climbing gym, the accident hasn't slowed my son down much at all.

I also need to get the borders onto this scrappy quilt.  They are cut and ready to go...

I noticed, when sewing this together, that I got one block oriented the wrong way.  I had no desire to go back and redo so I just left it.  Can you find it?