Arch & ATC

I don't usually blog in the middle of the day, but there's no reason not to, just that I'm usually busy doing other stuff. Today, I finished working on a couple of pieces and decided not to start something else as I only had half an hour or so - I need to run past the library and post office before getting the kids from school. So I came down to check my email and decided to go ahead and blog...

Anyway, after finishing up the JQ and ATCs from yesterday, I decided to work on the March Arch for the Arch swap - this month I had to make an arch for Gillian, who likes leaves, seahorses and anything Egyptian. Frankly, getting all three of those things into one card seemed a little awkward, so I didn't even try - I went for seahorses, with a few leaves thrown in for good measure. I found a lovely piece of hand-dyed fabric in my stash from a swap - it looks like a flour-type resist, so I'm guessing it was a resist swap of some sort - anyway, it was green with a fabulously textured background, so I know it would work for this. I then layered on some skeleton leaves in cream and green, some seahorses I cut out of fabric (with fusible on the back) (I just printed out some pics off the internet and cut around them - I certainly can't draw a seahorse myself) and then started adding fibres. I decided at the end it needed some beads. I'm pleased with how it came out - I hope Gillian will like it too. The photo on the right is better in terms of colour...



And here's what else I have to show today - a postcard from Jovita in Lithuania - O is for Oak. I'd had to do an alphabet series in a foreign language - it's bad enough trying to thing of things that start with O when your sure about the translation! And the ATC (which stands for Artist Trading Card for those not familiar with the term)on the right is the one that's going to Anna. I decided it showed the use of the washer better than the other two, and as that was part of the challenge...

Did you guess?

Well, here are two of the little ATCs from yesteray, finished up with a backing and edging. The third one will soon be on its way to Anna, but if you are interested in owning one of these little guys, here's your chance - just leave a comment on this post before Sunday and I will draw two winners, each of whom will receive one of the ATCs. Next week, it will be back to project leftovers & abandonments, but I thought a little something different would be fun...

Journal Quilt Week 18: Washers and buttons

Today's goal was to do an ATC for Anna's challenge (she sent buttons and/or washers to people (free) with a challenge to use them in their work and send her an ATC using the items by the end of March). So I decided to do some ATCs and my journal quilt for the week (not leaving it until Saturday for a change!) with the items in question. I started with a piece of discharged fabric, added some small squares of hand-dyes and then free motion quilted over it - in many places, following the shape of the discharge, in other places, just making it up as I went along. I then added lace, washers, angelina, buttons, jewels, watch gears and little faces (the washers are under the watch gears). And I used some Treasure Gold in various colours over the lace. Technically, neither the ATC nor the Journal Quilt Piece is finished yet as they aren't backed or edged, so I won't cross them off the goals list, but I should think I'll finish them tomorrow, even if I only get a little sewing time.

One of the ATCs on the right will go to Anna (not sure which one yet) but the other two will go elsewhere - if you read my blog regularly you will probably be able to guess what I have in mind :) Watch (as they say) this space.

Then, this afternoon, while supervising homework projects, I made myself a bunch of new faces and words as I am running low on them - or at least, on my favourites. This should hold me for a while, I think...

Hawaiian block winner

Just done the draw for the leftover Hawaiian blocks, and I'm pleased to announce that the winner is... no 5! Otherwise known as Stephanie P - so send me your address, Stephanie, and I'll put the blocks in the post to you. It was nice to see Stephanie's name come up as she's enterred before and I don't think won before... Of course, I'm happy to see whatever name comes up, really, but it's nice to get a mix of winners, isn't it!

Tomorrow's draw will be for something actually made by me (well, ok, some of the blocks and stuff I give away are made by me, but in this instance, I mean a finished article rather than a leftover) for a change. And I moved a new set of drawers into my sewing room today to replace a wobbly stack of baskets and in the process, found two more half-made projects to add to the giveaway pile - every time I think it might be getting a little thin on the ground, more stuff magically appears. I bet I can keep this up for a year - and then maybe we'll move to a monthly giveaway... Anyway, be sure to tune in tomorrow to see what's up for grabs. And thanks for playing!

Journal Quilt Project - Week 17

Once again, I found myself doing my journal quilt on a Saturday morning - that's not really a problem, as Saturday is still within my JQ week, just probably best not to be a recurring trend (ok, I know, all trends recur by definition, but you know what I mean!). Anyway, this week I knew what I wanted to do - something which reflected the Spring Fling Round Robin work I did yesterday - hence, more cuurved flying geese. This time, with a blue background, as I used all the purple on yesterday's work. Then I quilted in parallel (more or less) lines with various stitches in orange variegated thread. The back, which is paper, is a paper with butterflies on it, which I chose in honour of the centre of the SFRR centre, which was a butterfly.

Once that was done, I decided I had time to do my next block for my swap of Dear Jane blocks with Cathi - I knew this one wouldn't take long, but I am still one behind, so I wanted a quick one. Also, I wanted to have this done in time to send it to Cathi with a birthday card as her birthday is coming up very soon (25th of March - go wish her happy birthday on her blog!) . I did actually give her an early birthday present when she was here visiting, but I'll send a card in the post anyway, so she gets it nearer the day.

I decided not to do any sewing this afternoon, but instead to sit down (after we went to a local jumble sale) and (ready for this?) read a book. Amazingly enough, I managed to do this for two hours or so, mostly uninterrupted. That was probably helped by Alex being at a birthday party, I admit.

Goals revisited

Here we are at the end of week two of my experiment of sharing my goals with the world - and it seems to be working. I think I am one of those people who has a lot of motivation to get things done as long as I have deadlines and people expecting me to do things (even if those are self-imposed deadlines and expectations) - in other word, I just need a little kick in the behind!

Anyway, here were last week's goals

• make at least one block for the March birthdays in the birthday block swap (deadline - 31/3) (I made the two remaining March blocks and posted them off this morning
• Journal Quilt for the week (deadline 15/3) (just! did it this morning - more later)
• make at least one pencil roll for one of Alex's many upcoming parties (deadline 15/3) and this time remember to take step-by-step photos so I can publish a tutorial (done, and even got the tutorial written and posted)
• make at least one panel (6" square) for my dyehard/surfacing 2008 quilt project (made two - one for the dyehard aspect, one for the surfacing aspect)
• pin together for quilting at least one of the Hawaiian shirt quilt tops
• make a set of "starts with O" postcards (deadline 15/3)
• make one dear Jane block (or rather, a pair) for my private swap with Cathi (done this morning - will post on that later)

And also accomplished, but not on the list:

• added the second round to the centre for the Spring Fling Round Robin
• wrote and posted the pencil roll tutorial

So again, a good week. What's up for next week, you wonder?

• make an ATC for Anna's challenge with washers and buttons (deadline 31/3)
• weekly Journal Quilt (yes, this one is going to be on the list every week!) (deadline 22/3)
• join blocks together for Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt
• begin quilting the Hawaiian quilt which is pinned
• start working on the white quilties for the Creative Swaps swap (deadline 26/4)
• work on March arch for the Arch Swap (deadline 31/3)

Ideally, I will make substantial progress on both the Hawaiian quilt and the white quilties, but I don't HAVE to, so there's room to be distracted either by other projects or life in general. There's no school on Friday (Good Friday bank holiday) so I may lose a little working time...

Spring Fling

Well, I started the day with very good intentions, I had planned to work on my journal quilt and to do a block for my Dear Jane block swap with Cathi, and even got so far as to print out the block I am going to do for that swap, but when I got up to my sewing room, the butterfly centre for the Spring Fling Round Robin just kept calling my name. And who am I to argue with fabric when it tells me stuff? Remember, that's my watchword for the year (and beyond) - "listen".

Anyway, for the last few days, the butterfly has been telling me it wanted flying geese, so today I decided to do some free form, curvy geese in strips and apply them. I decided that 2.5" wasn't really a wide enough border to do anything much with, so I have set the centre block off-centre. The fabric which looks blue in the photo is actually quite purple, but the photo doesn't really show it well - I find it's hard to photograph purple things. Anyway, after some thought and a bit of discussion with the butterfly, this is where we stand. I think it works fairly well, though goodness knows how the next person will cope with it! The orange fabric is what was passed to me, and I have used quite a lot of it - I will send the rest on, along with the teal blue fabric. I've used virtually every scrap of the purple I own, so I can't send that (it's the same fabric as the inside of the pencil roll, actually - I think the colour is better in that photo). And perhaps there's enough purple there anyway.



As for the journal quilt, I will do it tomorrow morning. The Dear Jane block can either get done tomorrow or move to next week - luckily, it doesn't have a firm deadline... And as I was going to put the Spring Fling Round Robin on next week's list, I kind of feel like I'm ahead of myself. (Yeah, right!)

Pencil roll tutorial

How to make your own pencil/or pen roll (finally) - makes a great birthday present (along with the pens &/or pencils and a nice pad of paper) for all those kids' parties...

materials:


* 2 pieces of fabric approximately 14x26" each (size is very adjustable - see no 1 below to determine precisely). The fabric chosen for the "inside" of the pencil roll will only show about 3-4" of fabric and will sit behind the tops of the pencils, so I like to use something quite plain so it's easy to see the colour of the pencils. I like to use a more dynamic feature fabric for the "outside" though I try to avoid directional prints as they will end up partly upside down.

* 1 length of ribbon, lace, etc approximately 30" long

* thread in a colour which matches (or not) your "outer" fabric

1. First, determine the size fabric you want for your pencil roll - I have given an approximate, but it's best to check your particular pens or pencils, in case they are unusually long (or short). To determine the height, lay a pencil on the fabric as shown in the photo, with the fabric folded up about 2/3 of the way along the height of the pencil. Leaving a gap of 1-2 inches at the top, measure the height of the fabric. As you can see in the photo, the pencil will require approx 8.5" height, plus about 5" for the folded part, so I decided to cut my fabric at 14" high. The width will depend on how many pens or pencils you want to include. Each pencil takes approximately 3/4" of fabric (though it's wise to check on a scrap first before you sew - more on that below), so you can base your calculations on that. If you want to use fat quarters of fabric, that's fine - you can count on getting enough space for about two dozen pens or pencils from a fat quarter's width, though of course it depends on the FQ. In this instance, I had a dozen each pencils and pens, plus a few extras and I like to make a larger space at the end for a small ruler or a pencil sharpener, so I cut my fabric about 26" long.





2. Lay the rectangle of inside fabric face up and the outside fabric face down on top of it (landscape orientation) on the table and pin a gap of 3-4 inches at the top left edge, 2-3 inches down from the top of the fabric (left above). Starting at one pin, stitch the two pieces of fabric together all the way around like a pillowcase or envelope, finishing at the other pin (right above). Backstitch a few stitches at both start and finish to secure the threads. The gap will serve to turn the envelope, and also as a place to put fasten the tying ribbon. Turn the fabric right sides out through the opening.




3. Once you have your fabric right side out, give it a good press, especially along the edges, to flatten the seams (left above).


4. Now lay the envelope with the outside fabric face down on the table, and fold the bottom up to form the pocket - use the tallest pen or pencil to gauge the required height (right above). I have found that plain pencils are taller than coloured pencils so if you plan to use both be sure to check heights so they don't stick out the top! Make sure that the gap you used to turn the envelope is at the top left.



5. Fold the ribbon, lace etc in half and insert the folded centre into the gap as shown; pin the left edge together and top stitch to close the gap and secure the ribbon. Fold, pin and topstitch the right edge as well. This gives you a single, very long and not very useful pocket. Don't forget that at this stage and later, when stitching the individual slots, the bobbin thread will show as well as the top thread, so pick something you like. Now all that remains is to make the individual pencil compartments.



6. Along the bottom edge of the pouch, mark intervals of approximately 3/4" (you may wish to make a test pocket on scrap fabric to ensure that your chosen pens or pencils fit in a 3/4" slot - if you are making a roll to hold artist's pencils or something, they may be thicker or wider...). I do this with pins; you could mark with a marking pen or pencil, etc. I tend to do about half a dozen or so at a time, but you can mark them all at once, if you like (left below).



7. Beginning at the top right as shown (which is actually the bottom left of the finished pencil roll), stitch a series of parallel lines spaced apart the width of your markers. Backstitch a few stitches at the start of your line, and sew up to just beyond where the top of the folded pocket is - and backstitch a few more times for security at that point. I then simply lift the needle and presser foot and move to the starting point of the next line; you could trim the loose threads at the end of each line if you like, but I have found it simpler to do this at the end of entire process. Once you have stitched all your lines and trimmed your threads, that's it - you are finished - ta da!




As you can see from the photo above, I like to put a few larger pockets at one end of the roll, for a small ruler or pencil sharpener, erasers and so on. Add pens, pencils, etc and roll up - and that's really all there is to it.

Drum roll, please...

Or rather, pencil roll! As it happens, it was a lovely sew-y day today - this morning I went to my little quilt group (and the weather was nice enough to go by bike, which is extra nice) and this afternoon, I managed to make two things, despite having the man come to do the annual service on the boiler and having my shopping delivered. My exciting life!

The first thing I did was another pencil roll, and yes, I DID remember to take step-by-step photos, so look for a tutorial soon, probably next week. It's not hard, but pictures do help.

The second thing was another star for the birthday block swap, this time for Bonnie, who wanted bright bright stars on a black background, with enough black to make them appear to float. Can't believe there are only two more months of this swap - and finally, finally, it's going to be my turn - I am no 11 (i.e. April) in one group and no 12 (May) in the other two. So, less work and more post, yippee (though I have signed up to make a couple of extra blocks to replace early dropouts, so I still have a few to do in my months).



Also got a couple of purples in the post - the one on the left from Barb, the one on the right from Annette. Annette's doesn't photograph very well, due to the angelina flowers, but it's a fun card nonetheless.

Lots o' things

So, today I have finally had a day where I did some work - for one thing, I had a nice, long, uninterrupted length of time to do stuff; for another, I just felt more in the mood. So I started with a birthday block for the block swap - or rather, 16 of them. Becca had asked for stars in 3, 6, 9 or 12 inch blocks with cream backgrounds and the star fabrics in chocolate covered cherry colours - any combo of chocolate brown, burgundy and pink. I decided to go for a slightly different take on this one than my usual 12" block (or the occasional 9") and make some three inch blocks. In the end, I decided to make 16, as that's the number that cover the same area as a 12" square. The colours are somewhat more varied than in the picture - there are two different browns, a burgundy, several pinks and one colour which is a kind of purple burgundy which may or may not work for her. Anyway, it was fun.

On the right, from Leona, some brown and pink fabrics which arrived in the post today. These are in lieu of making an extra pineapple block, as she's very busy at the moment. They're pretty gorgeous.

Below, my cards for the Something starting with O swap on Arts in the Mail - I couldn't decide what O to do - all the obvious ones seemed, well, obvious. In the end, I decided to go with "orbit". I think they work...

And here's more of what I got in the post today - well, technically, I got the Purple Haze card, which is from Leah, yesterday, but who's counting... The card on the right is from Priscilla and is from the February Challenge on Arts in the Mail - the one fabric, one thread challenge. It's fun, isn't it.

Hawaiian giveaway part two

So, I've decided these will be this week's giveaways - these are 8 blocks which I made while trying out various blocks for the Hawaiian shirt quilts, which in the end I decided not to use. They are all 12" blocks - four are framed HST units, the other 4 are four patches with a narrower border around them. Although I may well be making other things from the rest of the Hawaiian shirt fabrics, I decided that I'm not mad about either of these designs, so I wouldn't be using them anyway. Maybe someone out there can put them to good use!

Anyway, most of you know the drill, but if you are new to my giveaway, all you have to do to be enterred into the draw is leave a comment on this post before Sunday.

Laugh & Log Cabins

Nothing to show of my own (I had an hour or so again today, but just didn't really feel like focussing on anything, so I read email for a little while then went back to school to sort some stuff in the library and uniform shop) but I have lots of fun things to show from the post. First, yesterday's treasure - I knew this was coming - I ordered it from Nikki Wheeler's new etsy shop as a present for a friend. Isn't it lovely?

And today, I got this parcel in the post. Remember a few days ago I got a couple of brown, black & pink pineapple blocks in the post? Well, here are the bulk of the ones that were made for me back in the autumn when Sophie started organising the project. Sophie's original intent was to put them together into a quilt and have it quilted by a longarmer friend, but with her ongoing health issues, the project had been temporarily set aside (more blocks were needed to make a larger piece), so I suggested she just send the blocks to me as they were and I will at some point put them together in some way - at the moment I am waiting to see if anyone else sends blocks along, as some women in the groups have offered to send a few more.

I also got this great brown & pink backing fabric (and coordinating pink piece) and the signature blocks from the women who made blocks for me. I'm really bowled over by them - they are great blocks (see me avoiding using the word "lovely"? I know I over-use it) and I look forward to working with them.

Blog (not blog)

Not much to say - and it's late here - will blog tomorrow with what I received in the post today and the giveaway for this week. Need to work out what it will be from the pile I still have waiting... No work done in my free hour today, so nothing interesting to show, really. Except what I got in the post, which unfortunately, isn't for me to keep anyway...

Giveaway winner - with irony! and a tag (or not)

Now, I have just used a random number generator to draw this week's winner, and I had to laugh - the result is ironic for several reasons. The first is that the person whose name has been drawn frequently claims that she isn't stash building. She also says she doesn't like to work on more than one project at a time, so it may well be a while before she can do anything with these (always supposing they get to her in the vaguaries of her country's postal system anyway). But the most ironic thing is that I had this conversation with her about the fact that leaving the first comment wouldn't necessarily increase her chances of winning - but heck, maybe it did! Oh, who is it? It's Ruth, of course! Congratulations Ruth, I'll get them on their way later this week.

Also, just to say Ana tagged me to tell seven things about myself, but as I've done it recently, I'll just put a link to it here.

Complimentary squares...

So, despite several hours spent helping with homework projects, I did get some work done - I got one of the Hawaiian quilt tops pinned together ready for quilting, and had a little practice quilting try to work out if I can incorporate things like a palm tree or a sailboat as well as waves (I think I can). Will probably try to quilt a little of it some time this week, if things go to plan.

Also worked today on two small (6") panels for the Dyehard/Surfacing quilt projects for 2008. The left one is the March one for dyehard - the instructions being to use squares or rectangles and complementary colours. I chose purple and yellow for my compliments and did a simple chequerboard of squares. And a black ring, to incorporate my black fabric and my circle theme.

The piece on the right is for the project for the suface embellishment half of the group - the instructions aren't given by month there, only in a list of techniques/materials that are supposed to be used over the year, so I have just grabbed the first technique on the list (angelina) and ran with it. I decided to carry on with the purple and yellow theme, and just did loads of overlapping circles with the two colours of angelina - started with a mistyfuse base on a black background.

So here are all three pieces so far - I have actually deconstructed the central piece - I decided that I didn't want to do the piece quilt as you go, so I have removed the satin stitching for the time being (it was holding the batting and backing on) though I may add it back later. We'll see.

Journal Quilt Project - Week 16

As I mentioned in my new goals list, I did manage to (just) finish my journal quilt for the week in time. I had intended to work on it on Friday, but of course, I lost Friday (although for once, I know precisely where the lost day went, which is a little comfort, lol). Oh well, these things happen!

Anyway, I decided to tackle it first thing this morning before taking Sarh to tennis and then Alex to a birthday party after lunch (my kids have far more social life than I do!). Many weeks I have a good idea what I want to do the JQ about, but this week, there wasn't anything that stood out, so I just went with my desire to use some of the Japanese fabrics I've started accumulating. I've been itching to do something with them, though no specific ideas just what, so I just made a few nine patches and sewed them together randomly. It was a nice, relaxing piece, with nothing more taxing to it than working out how I wanted to place the nine-patches.



And I got these two items in the post - the glue gun is because of the March challenge in the Textile Challenges group - not sure what I'm supposed to do with it, but it's a glue gun challenge and I didn't have one. I decided that if I could find one for under a fiver, I'd play along, and thanks to eBay, no problem. Now I just have to work out what I'm supposed to do!

The card is for the Purple Haze theme, from Priscilla.

Oddly enough, I was actually in a fabric store today and didn't buy anything - there's a new shop in Kingston, which I happened to be walking past, but although it has a nice selection of bits and pieces and lots of interesting fabric (but not quilting cotton) there wasn't anything I really needed - or even wanted. And the fact that I was trying to hold a cup of Starbucks coffee without dripping it in the shop probably helped keep me from trying to pick anything up...

Goals this week

So, how'd I do this week with the first week of my published goals? Pretty well, as those of you who follow along regularly may have noticed from my sidebar. Only one thing didn't get accomplished (I did my journal quilt this morning before typing this email, so it just squeaked in) and given that I had an unexpected loss of a free day (went on school trip Friday), I'm not that bothered.

• Make at least one block for the March birthdays in the birthday block swap (deadline - 31/3)
• set of 5 postcards for theme "Purple Haze" for Arts in the Mail (deadline - 5/3)
• work on "double inchies" for Fibre Art Bits (2x2 squares - 4 sets of 5 - any theme) (deadline - 25/3
• Journal Quilt for the week (deadline 8/3)
• make at least one pencil roll for one of Alex's many upcoming parties (deadline 8/3)
• finish blocks for Hawaiian Double Four Patch (3 to go!) and assemble blocks into top; assemble other two sets of Hawaiian blocks into quilt tops
• sew black/brown/red courthouse steps blocks into quilt top
• make one panel (6" square) for my dyehard/surfacing 2008 quilt project

I also did do a couple of things that weren't on the list:

• finished quilting batik baby quilt
• made sample bag for April bag challenge/made bag for Barbara's private bag swap (I'm a firm proponent of the "two birds with one stone" school)
• designed and made 9 blocks for Spring Four Seasons Quilt.

So, even I will be impressed how much I got done this week. Next week's goals list will be a bit shorter, as I have more planned for the week, so I know I won't have so much time to sew - last week I did very little during the school days besides sew - just a yoga class, WW meeting, and unpacking groceries to interrupt. Oh, and I cleaned the oven. And chased plumbers. And got a new radio fitted in the car. And of course went on the school trip. As I have a haircut this week and a quilt group meeting on Thursday morning, in addition to the usual yoga class and WW meeting (and needing to go back to the car place as I don't think the radio antenne is connected properly, although the CD works), I won't expect to get so much done (and the plumber is supposed to come on Wednesday, though he probably won't need much of my time...)

So, the new goals are:

• make at least one block for the March birthdays in the birthday block swap (deadline - 31/3)
• Journal Quilt for the week (deadline 15/3)
• make at least one pencil roll for one of Alex's many upcoming parties (deadline 15/3) and this time remember to take step-by-step photos so I can publish a tutorial
• make at least one panel (6" square) for my dyehard/surfacing 2008 quilt project
• pin together for quilting at least one of the Hawaiian shirt quilt tops
• make a set of "starts with O" postcards (deadline 15/3)
• make one dear Jane block (or rather, a pair) for my private swap with Cathi

May seem like a lot, but most of those things will only take an hour or so, so it's not too bad. I was going to leave the "O" postcards off the list, then realised they have to be posted by next Saturday, so I guess they really need to go on!

Spring Fling Butterfly

I of course didn't get any work done today - not surprising, with the school trip - but look what was waiting for me with the day's post when I got home (along with the return of the kids' US passports and birth certificates from the UK passport office, which is a relief - I always worry when that stuff is out of my possession - now it's just a matter of waiting for the new passports to arrive). This is not more nerve-wracking than the documents, but certainly more interesting - this is the Spring Fling Round Robin centre which I get to work on for the next round of the round robin. This butterfly centre was made by Marisa in Italy and is really lovely invisible machine applique, with a piece of the orange fabric enclosed to include in the next round - I have no idea what I will do with it yet, but I don't need to mail it to my next person until the 13th of April, so I have some time to think of what to do with it, or let it tell me what it wants!

All kinds of everything

Well, it's a good thing I had the entire day today (mostly) to sew as I won't be getting anything done tomorrow - I had a call this afternoon from the school asking if I could go on the trip with the year 3&4's tomorrow (Olivia is going). As my only official plans were sewing and running the school uniform shop for half an hour in the afternoon (one of the school secretaries has said she'll cover that) I felt I could hardly say no. No one can say I'm not a good mum - sacrificing an entire day with no plans but me time to travel across London on a coach full of 7, 8 & 9 year olds to visit the RAF museum... I'm sure it will be fun, right? Of course it will!

So, it's a good thing I got lots done today. First thing I did was finish up a pencil roll for the party Alex is going to on Saturday - I had one about half done from before, so that was quick. I promise a tutorial on the pencil roll fairly soon - maybe next week - several people have asked, and it's not hard, but I just need to remember to take photos as I go along. I still have 3 more to do before this series of parties is finally finished.

Then I made a block for the birthday block swap on about.com - this block is for Debbie, who wanted stars in black and taupe on a cream background. It came out nicely, I think. And then, I rewarded myself by working on something not on my goal list - the blocks for the little spring Four Seasons Sampler I was planning yesterday. I knew I wouldn't be able to leave it alone. This is why I've been keeping goal lists lately - I tend to get distracted. I usually meet all my deadlines, but sometimes things get left behind until the last minute, especially if it's something which doesn't excite me quite as much as something new. So, by keeping lists of goals and deadlines, I'll hopefully be able to keep track a little better and not worry I'm leaving something out.

Anyway, I made up the blocks for the sampler and am very happy with them - they look nice and spring-like to me. Not sure how I will arrange them (though not like in the photo as I've just noticed the shoo-fly and the churn dash next to each other and that doesn't really work). I'm going to let them sit awhile and tell me how they want to be sashed. Maybe next week I will work on them - I've got more on my schedule next week, so my goals for the week will be fewer than this week.



And finally, here's some lovely post - two blocks from Rho as part of a group of blocks that were made for me as a comfort quilt back when my dad died. The blocks haven't been put together yet, partly because there was a shortage of blocks and partly because Sophie, whose lovely idea it was in the first place had been unable to work on it for health reasons. Anyway, Sophie is sending me the blocks she had (they're in the post now, actually, unless they got held up by the tons of snow it's been dumping on Michigan lately) and a few others are sending a few more blocks along to me - these are the first of those. Aren't the colours great? (Well, you know how I feel about brown!)

And on the right, a total surprise in the post from Penny in Australia - a whole bag of goodies. And lovely goodies they are. There's a card made from fabric paper with some cute chooks on it, a "danglie" which is now hanging in my sewing room with some of my other treasures (I decided not to put it onto a keyring or my bag for fear it would break), also a little painting/drawing - looks sort of like a watercolour but not quite - not sure what it was done with but it's lovely. And a bit of lace and an inchie. I think it was Susan who said I get the nicest things in the post - today it's definitely true!