TWO SMALL FINISHES FOR APRIL

I have two small finishes this month. Both are mats to go with the coasters I had made up earlier.
A charm pack has enough to make 6 coasters plus 6 charms left to make a small table mat to hold a pitcher of lemonade, or ????

And here's the other mat with matching coasters.

This is the May Day Basket (box) swap that I sent to my partner, Sandy. You've seen the coasters before, but now it has the coordinating mat, and includes a pack of butterfly chocolates, a nail file, and a FQ of gardening fabric for spring.

I used a new (to me) technique on the mats. I've turned the backing fabric to the front for binding before, but this is a neat way to trim the bulk and get a really nice, stitched, miter. I saw it at a demo at a LQS and will share it with you in a tutorial here soon.

HAPPY EASTER

Happy Easter everyone! I made this Bunny Basket back in the late 80's. I used to sell them at craft fairs. I remember one year, when I had made too many, and had bunny feet dancing in my dreams!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

EARTH DAY

GOOD FRIDAY

CHOCOLATE!!!

This is Nancy's first row from the row swap, and the first one I get to work with, making a row to go with it. This 'Chocolate' theme is soooo fun! I can't show you what I created to go with it, because it's a surprise for Nancy. Expect full disclosure in January, LOL! But, I knew you'd enjoy this unique starter row.

Here's 'Grandma' up close.

WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!

Pat Sloan is sponsoring a blog hop called, What a Novel Idea, to kick off her new book that has lots of ideas for using novelty prints. Each day there's a different blog to hop to. Join in the fun here. The hop begins today. Did I mention prizes?

ROW SWAP STARTS THE ROUNDS

I managed to get the first row of the row swap I'm in mailed this week. I wasn't going to join the swap (who me? LOL!) until I realized I could make it one of the quilts I want to make this year anyway.

A dinosaur quilt for a DGS was on my list and I decided to go with it. The first row is the black background part. I used Sindy's Dino Rawr pattern on fatcats. The fabric behind it will be the borders on this bunk sized quilt. The seven rows will be the center of the quilt.

We each chose our theme and made our starter row. Then we included some fabric, and sent it on. We will make one row for each of the seven swappers. It's all a secret after the first row, so I won't know what gals come up with until next January, when it comes back to me.



The dino footprint fabric is what I included, as well as scraps from my dinosaurs. The teeth (or is that spine?) fabric will be narrow border or binding, and the large dinosaurs print is for border.

I really enjoy coming up with something for the other gals. The first quilt I will be making a row for is chocolate themed. The next is a garden. And so on. We have 6 weeks to make a row and send it on. Fun! But I won't be able to post about what I made for each quilt, because it's a secret for the owner, when she gets them all back.

MAY DAY BASKET SWAP ARRIVES!

This morning I sealed my May Day 'Basket' in its box, and so now felt free to rip into (did I say I was eager?) my box which arrived Saturday. All I can say is WOW! Cindy F. made me a cute mat to put under my sewing machine. Hanging off the table are pockets to put my 'stuff'. She filled the pockets with cute embroidery scissors (I've bought those same ones for a swap once, but never for myself!), a color wheel type color selector (no, gadget girl me, didn't have one of those yet!), straw needles (which I use all the time and go through a lot, due to my vise grip on needles -- never could get that gentle touch!), a 'P' key ring (did she know my car key is separate, by itself, because my 'up-north' keys are on my other key ring?), a note pad (did she know I was making a list at JoAnns pattern table last week on an old receipt?), and M & Ms (I always carry those for sugar lows!). OK. Either she is a mind reader via the net or she has a spy following me!!!

Also, did I mention the great machine embroidery label on the back of the mat??? Oh my! I may have to fall in love with machine embroidery after all! I never thought about using it this way! Oh, the labels I could make! Hmmm........................

It's a good day here!





Swaps are so fun! Thanks Cindy!

HEART

I had eye surgery a couple weeks ago, and my dear friend, Carol, sent me this heart in bright colors. What a sweet gesture. You have to really blow up this picture to read the inscription on the bottom right -- "Bright Eyes".

No, not cataract surgery like many my age, but rather a hoped for fix for my SLK issues, that just won't get better by conventional means. We'll see. I'll know if it 'worked' for me in about a month.

MODERN CLOVER BLOCKS

Block Lotto is doing a modern clover block for April. Here are my ten blocks. And if you are wondering, nope, I didn't win in March. I'll be mailing my D4P blocks off tomorrow to 3 of the 9 lucky winners. Yes, we had so many blocks last month, there were 9 winners!