Floral quarter squares

     Because of Debbie, I am on a quest to make a quilt of floral quarter square log cabin blocks of 2" strips. I have been collecting and cutting 2" floral strips. I have tried to keep them organized, but as soon as I start pulling them out, they make a huge mess. Instead of designing one a time and sewing them, I am using the freezer paper method to cut out and arrange the strips on a freezer paper square, press, and then stack them for sewing later. Last night at our guild circle time, I took the strip box and squares and laid out eight of them. Today, I had a couple of minutes in between things and sewed them. I added them to ones already sewn. Some slow progress.

Each block adhered to freezer paper square

I realize the bottom row middle is oriented wrong. Next picture will be better.

The next step

     I have sewn the whole OBW. Now, I have to decide what to do about the edges. I have hacked them off in previous quilts straight. I am wondering if I could sew in triangles and save the points.
     Would it be the same fabric as a border? What would the border be? Some kind of green to showcase the other colors? I think a solid would die against a busy inside. Not having a LQS to drag the quilt to and try things out is hard. Online, it is hard to decide because of color and scale issues. I would like to finish the whole thing and be done. Finishing a quilt has ground to a halt since the heart attack, and I want to chalk up a win real bad.

Inch by inch

     Slow progress on the OBW. Sewing it together is not a quick process. I am careful to match seams and press everything open to reduce the bulk of seams intersecting. I have to say my life is changed after finding the fork pins at Lancaster. One pin holds the seam intersection totally in place, goes in easily as they are very thin and sharp, and are a dream to use. Too soon to think what in the world will be the border.

What is left to sew

Pressing open all the seams, the lengthwise ones are next

Top part all sewn, bottom to go!

Inspiration in the cold, snow and gray

     Sometimes you just have to seek out some colors and life to keep your spirit up when it snows in April. Even if it means going to a foreign country. Fortunately, we live close to Canada and the wonderful Butterfly Conservancy. The Botanical Gardens that surround it are quite dead looking now, but the glass domed building was warm (hot), humid, and colorful with thousands of brightly painted creatures flitting around.
    We took the grandkids there and soon all of us were smiling. The butterflies landed on us, buzzed us and generally lifted our heads up. I tried to photo groups flying around, but the photos would blur with motion.
    I really want to make a grand butterfly quilt to capture the feeling of wonder.

Atop my husband's head!

Totally camo

And just as we were leaving, one came and said goodbye to Jolene.

A bit of comfort

     Almost always, my comfort quilts go to someone I don't know, or someone gives me a recommendation and then I ask them to give the quilt package. However, this time, my dear sister-in-law has been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. After a successful surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding tissue, it was determined that the cancer cells are extremely aggressive. In order to halt any of them, she is undergoing chemo that started on Wednesday. My husband and I took her a quilt package which she already used this week. Our prayer is that the chemo destroys any cells left and doesn't make her really ill. She will loose her wonderful red curly hair. Just heart wrenching. I showed this quilt when I finished it a while back, but now it is washed and dried so it shows off the quilting. The name is Little Boxes and it was a free pattern from jellyrollfabric.net.