Sun Break!

Oh yes, we have a window of sun this morning! Too much rain makes me grumpy so a bit of blue sky and sun is definitely a cause for rejoicing here.

I got so much done yesterday - finished quilting the rest of the dolls and houses, the last two borders and pinned the circles on - I think there were 42 of them. I even got about half of them sewn down with buttons!  I will need to clip all the edges, but decided that would be easier to do all at once.  I think I'll be adding a bit more stitching, some of the houses will get paths and some of the circles will get tree trunks.

I even cleaned up my sewing room a bit, cleaned off the bar in the kitchen and put up my Easter tree (which delighted a certain 12th grade girl).

Today I need to take the valentine quilt down and replace it with the Irish Chain, a bit late but I do like to give all the seasonal quilts a turn.  The bunny quilt will go up right away because my sister is going to come for a visit with her daughter and grandson!  What fun that will be, I'm sure we'll have a grand time and maybe even sneak in some quilting?  I guess we'll have to see, at least we can talk about it if nothing else.  It feels lovely to be getting some things done, both as far as finishing projects, and in getting my house in shape.  It's been a long winter, and I'm looking forward to spring! 

Hope my pictures look all right - just took them right off my iphone - pretty handy to run off a quick blog post.  

Enjoy!

Pamela

Doll House Quilt

***Please excuse the bad photographs.  We have been getting an average of 1 inch of rain a day for the past several days and there is no good light for picture taking.  I do my best to edit them, but I know it's not the same!  Hopefully by the time I finish this quilt we'll have enough of a sun break to take some better pictures!***

 I've been hard at work trying to finish this project up this week.  The top was made by a lady from my quilt guild (Carla).  It is from the book Material Obsession.  Carla told her daughter it was the most fun quilt she has ever made, and I believe it!  You can see the joy in the fun fabrics and bits and pieces she added.  The pinks are so joyful, and it's surprising that even though the quilt has a lot of brown and tan that it has such a happy feeling to it.

 I am using chocolate brown perle cotton as the the instructions call for to outline all the dolls and houses.  It is my first quilt done with this technique and I really like it!  It's a bit hard to pull the needle through the layers sometimes, but because the stitches are big it goes really fast!  I've enjoyed watching Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons while I stitch (so glad for Hallmark Channel!).

 Please excuse the shy lady with her apron covering her face.  I'm not too sure why she is so embarrassed, after all she is cute as can be!  I think I will have to be nice and stitch it down for her so it doesn't cover her head anymore.

 I nick-named this quilt "Little Pink Houses" because most quilts end up being associated with songs in my head.  A fun song for a fun quilt! 
Only 5 more blocks to go and the main part of the quilting will be done!  Still have to add some pathways around the houses and some circle flowers to the border.  I ended up deciding to use pink cotton for the border as it is a dark color and the brown thread doesn't show on it.  I figure if I'm going to do the stitching I want it to pop!

The really sad thing is that I am trying to finish this quilt for this weekend so that it can be a part of a memorial service for Carla.  Unfortunately, she lost a long battle with cancer, and one of her last requests was for me to finish this quilt for her.  It brought her comfort at the end of her life to know that this project was to be finished and enjoyed by her family.  I was glad to be able to do that for her.  I know that each one of her four daughters will love seeing this quilt finished and hope it will make them smile knowing how much she enjoyed working on this project.  We will all miss Carla, she was a sweet lady, a very talented toll painter, and had a great love of quilting. 

Little Pink Houses

Hand stitching with perle cotton!