Under the Needle: March

These monthly stitching posts seem to come around awfully fast! They kind of keep me accountable because some months it's a struggle to get into my sewing room and I don't want to show up here at the end of the month with nothing to share. I also need to sew in order to justify all this fabric lying around!

I put the last stitches on the binding of this little baby quilt at the beginning of the month:

                                    

And I made and stitched the binding onto Bonnie Hunter's Ringo Lake Mystery Quilt:

I'll post about it as soon as I can finagle a few quilt holders to assist in that...it may require cookie bribery. I also made the binding for this scrap quilt and got it stitched and gifted:

                              

That makes 3 finishes this month. I'm pretty sure that's a first for me. I managed to turn my Farmer's Market blocks into a top:

And in an effort to use up the rest of those FQ, I cut everything that remained into 5" squares and began making a few blocks for another quilt. I am using these as leader-enders:

I think I may be heading in this direction:

I am also itching to dig into this FQ bundle that I snagged for a good price a few weeks ago. I'm on a mission to find the perfect vintage inspired pattern for them, but they have yet to find their way under the needle:

And what kind of quilter would I be if I wasn't always starting something new?

Gone to Texas

Last week I made a trip to spend some time with my mom. It was a good week and I enjoyed our time together. I tended to her taxes and helped her with things like cleaning out her greenhouse

and attic, and scrubbing the furniture and tile on the deck. I also worked on a wreath for her:

And it turned out even better than I thought it would:

She loves it too, which is all that really matters:

My mom lives over 500 miles from us and I sure do wish she lived closer, but I'm grateful it's not farther. It sure was green in Texas!

And the wildflowers

and Bluebonnets were at their peek!

I had forgotten that it was Bluebonnet season and I was delighted to be greeted by hills of blue:

Mom's neighbor has cultivated a beautiful garden that includes 4 different varieties of the beloved state flower:

It made me want to stop and inquire at every For Sale sign along the road as I drove through the hill country, but when I got back, I was glad to be back where the air was crisp and the sky was so blue it hurt your eyes and I reminded myself that the hill country in August was miserable unless you enjoyed living in a sauna.  Now if only we could add a bit of green to this arid desert, but I sure did miss DH and the ranch and it's good to be home:

Rocking Horse Baby Quilt

After I made this baby quilt:

I knew I'd be making more using the pattern:

                                             

So I pulled another fabric I have been hoarding for probably at least 6-8 years:

                         
I didn't have much of it, but this pattern allowed me to make good use of what I DID have

                               
And I turned it into this little quilt:

                                    

I love the way a favorite print is featured using this pattern. One of these days I'll make the pattern the way it is written, but it's such fun playing around with a design, letting the ideas, and fabric simmer together to create something new.

                                                        

Jackie quilted these fun stars and horseshoes across it

                                   

and I backed it with this brown Minkee and bound it with the gingham:

                                                
It finishes at 45x45 and I've stashed it in my quilt armoir because I'm keeping it. 😁


                                        

Cathy's Quilt

Yesterday I put the finishing stitches onto this scrap quilt:

This is the quilt I made for the wife at North Camp that is battling cancer:

This is the second quilt I made like this - the first being an experiment. When she saw it on one of my quilt ladders, she fell in love with it so I began sorting through my scraps:

As I began making blocks, I asked her if she had any shirts from her Daddy and son - both whom she lost - and I incorporated the pieces she shared with me in the blocks as I stitched in prayers:

                                                      

It's hard for her to keep warm so I bought this thick, warm fleece to use as the backing and had Jackie quilt a quick stipple across it:

                                 

I bound it with this rustic print that I thought coordinated well with both the background and the scraps:

                                                   

I took the top to Jackie on Monday and she had it ready for me to pick up the following Monday. I am a slow binder, and I really save any binding or hand stitching for the evenings, but I worked on this one during the last few days and finished it as quickly as possible:

After a run through the washer and dryer, it is 57 x 77