Beautiful Purple Flowers

I decided I must take a picture of these beautiful purple flowers that are on our front lawn. They are the only pretty flowers that bloom in our front yard. The other blooms we have are the weeds that are in the back yard. I thought you might not want to see those! LOL!

I have also included two pictures of exchange blocks I am working on. Each block has 61 pieces! There is a lot of cutting, and a lot of sewing. I cannot decide which one I like best. I purchased some darker purple fabric for the inner star points which I have not yet used. I have been sewing the block unit that has the three colored squares/patches in each corner. I thought that if I got those units done (and I need 40 more), then I would only have the triangle units left. This is a quirky unit in its construction. I tried to figure out another way to put them together, and it just has not popped into my brain yet. After I have all the blocks done, I will probably figure it out. That is usually the way of things for me.

I did find the same pattern in a quilt book that I have. The blocks in the book have the same color of squares in each corner (purple), so that makes the construction somewhat easier. The quilter made a four patch with white and purple (you know of course that I would notice the quilt with the purple in it), then there was one other unit with a purple square and a white rectangle to piece. Then the triangles were pieced and sewn together.

I am trying to get these blocks done in a timely manner and not wait until the last minute. Since there is a lot of pieces/sewing in each block, I did not want to be stressed and worry that I would not get them done in time.

We had the first exchange of rows last week for the row quilt exchange of which I am a participant. It was lots of fun to see everyone's row of blocks. I forgot to take a picture of the row of blocks that I sewed and exchanged. I will try to remember to get a picture of this next one so you can see what I am doing. I am doing a lot of sewing, but I am not finishing anything lately. Its all parts and pieces.

I am so anxious to get sewing some more scraps into crumb blocks, and strips into strip pieced blocks. I received another bag of scraps and strips at our last retreat. I have played with the scraps, but have not sewn any together yet. I know that if I start playing with those scraps, I will not get the sewing done that I have obligated myself to do right now. Next week is the baby shower for two pregnant ladies, and I have not even started their quilts yet. I think I will give them a card with an "IOU a baby quilt" ticket! At least that will take some of the pressure off me to get them done in a week! I have the fabrics, but I have not cut any of it up to sew yet.

I stopped at a quilt shop this afternoon and found some background fabric with tiny dots. One of the dots is a lime green one. I have signed up to do a quilt class with our quilt guild next month. I thought sure I would do a purple quilt, but when I saw this background with the lime green, I decided that green would be my focus. The lady in the shop was amazed that I wasn't buying purple! I did find another purple 30s print and bought one yard. She was satisfied when she saw that purple fabric. I told her that they did not have much purple fabric in the shop right now. She admitted that purple fabrics were scarce in the shop, but that they had some purple coming in soon. I have talked to a few shop owners lately, and they say the same thing about a scarcity of purple fabrics. Is purple not a popular color any more? BUMMER! I am glad I have a good stash of purple fabrics that may last me for a while. But what about when that stash is gone? BUMMER! BUMMER! BUMMER!

While I ponder that terrible thought, I will sign off.

Happy Purple Quilting

Quilt Retreat Show and Tell

These pictures are from the quilt retreat I attended this weekend. Actually, it started on Friday, and ends today. I only attended Friday and Saturday this time. I sewed and finished a complete row of blocks for a row quilt exchange I am participating in. I colored the last three Periwinkle Lane blocks that now need to be embroidered, and I sewed three or four blocks on the Mary Engelbreit BOM I bought last year (I think it was last year, or maybe the year before). A lot of laughter and socializing went on all weekend as well. Quilt retreats are so much fun. I love seeing what everyone else is working on.

The picture of the red, white and blue quilt is Janene's. She also had another Asian style fabric quilt of which I failed to get a picture for some odd reason. I did not have my camera with me on Friday, but I remembered to take it on Saturday.

The blue turtle quilt is Patti's baby quilt. She is making two of these baby quilts. She was also working on her 30s style quilt.

Roberta made the two darling bags from a line of some of the latest designer fabrics. Jeanne made the pink/peachy colored strippy quilt. Shari finished the quilt top with the blurry picture. I apologize. I was in such a hurry to get a picture of her quilt that I did not focus it properly I guess. She also added borders to this top after I took the blurry picture. The white and black fabric that frames each novelty print she calls her "dead fly" fabric. It was a cute joke we referred to all weekend. I passed on to her two quilt tops that she is going to quilt for me. One top was my Scrap Bag Beige quilt that I sewed over 10 years ago in a class with Alex Anderson. It has been setting in its project box all this time waiting to be ushered to the next level (the actual quilting part). The other top was my Carolina Christmas quilt top.

There is also a picture of Kate's quilt that she is making for her mother to gift to a young girl. It always amazes me how well Kate sews since she is legally blind. She does a lot of sewing and gets much more done than most of the rest of us. She also does a lot of hand embroidery and huck embroidery (I am not sure that is the actual name of this craft) with the aid of an enlarging machine.

A few quilters were working on their blocks for our next friendship block exchange. Monica has finished all 12 of her blocks already. I am so envious. I have one block completed with pieces cut out for another block. It was "necessary" that I go shopping for some 30s repro fabrics for this block exchange. I am now the proud owner of several more pieces of 30s fabrics, much more than I will need for this exchange! That seems to be my MO when purchasing fabric. I always buy extra just in case I screw up on something, then I will have some additional fabric to "save the day".

My other friendship blocks are calling my name as they wait for me in my sewing room, so I will sign off for now.

Happy Quilting and on the 17th, Happy St. Patrick's Day