Under the Needle Lately

 I was on the go for much of April - apparently too much because when I went to work on Monday, I left the truck door open when I ran out to the barn to kiss DH and this is what I found when I trotted back to my rig

That look says, "Don't even THINK about going without me this time." 😂

And with Branding and a Wedding in May, I don't foresee a lot of sewing, but  DH helped neighbors brand two days last week and he is helping two days this week and  I always seem to find myself in my sewing room on those days. He generally leaves the house by 3 and I get up with him, fix coffee, and spend a few minutes with him before he heads out to the barn to catch and saddle his horse. Yes, I could go back to sleep, but I never do. It feels like I have free time and I often choose to write a blog post or two or sew.

I picked up one last quilt from Jackie last week and got the binding sewn on on Tuesday and I'm stitching it down in the evenings

This is the first time in 15 years that Jackie doesn't have a quilt of mine, but I have 3 tops that have been hanging around for a while so I'll drop those off in a week or two. 

After sewing on binding, I pulled out my Scrap Basket blocks I started last year and pieced those into a top. That took a while as there are 110 blocks, but gosh these were fun to piece

Then on Thursday, I dug out a stack of fabrics I had cut quite some time ago and pieced a simple Gingham quilt

I love the timeless, simplicity of Gingham and the quilts come together quickly. I also cut these for another Gingham quilt

I love that little floral print and I had enough for another quilt so I made a few pinwheels, but I'm not sure I like where this is going so I think I'll sleep on it. Maybe hourglass blocks would be better? Then again, these seems sweet and whimsical.

I also pulled out my bin of Americana fabrics and spent time with my rotary cutter

A few years ago I made this quilt for friends

And I've wanted to make one for us ever since. Jo from Jo's Country Junction made an hourglass quilt (you can see it HERE) a while ago and I loved the border treatment she designed for it so I plan to incorporate her idea for this quilt. Clever, Jo! So we'll see how far I get, but in the meantime, I'm just chain sewing up a storm.