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