Spring Has Sprung

Happy Spring! (Today, my needlebook is the perfect accessory)

Where does the time go? And why do I never seem to have time to blog? (Or sew, or craft, or order lampshades, or call the appliance repair guy......)

While I did finish the Drunken Irishman St. Patrick's Day table quilt the day before St. Patrick's Day

I'm not thrilled with it. It was an experiment in 'made fabric', and in order to get it on the table before the 17th, the binding is machine sewn (oh, the horror!). No stellar quilting (shamrocks on the blocks and ditch-stitched), but it got finished, so that's one for the plus side.

And as soon as that puppy hit the washing machine, I began

DEAR JANE!!!!!!! Now, I'm especially pleased with those blocks because I dusted off my math skills and measured everything out of the book, down to the 1/8".

And, as usual, there was a red-headed stepchild among the bunch

HATE IT! Not sure if redoing the center applique square-edged circle will help it,  or if I shouldn't waste my time and sacrifice this one to the Gods of Lost Cause and start over with a different print (and a better job of appliqueing). I've got 2 years to figure it out, so it just got tossed into the box.

I was able to score a reasonably priced copy of this

off of the Sew Its For Sale Yahoo Group. The lovely lady who sold it to me also went to the trouble to transfer the registration to me with EQ. It's a little daunting (but you know how I have this fear of my EQ7 software), but I think I'll be able to quickly figure out how to print out paper piecing templates and the cutting instructions for the more complicated blocks. If not, there's a lesson plan in the book that I will just have to slog through (after I call to have the icemaker fixed, and order the shades for the kitchen pendant lights).

I also used that group (Sew Its For Sale) to put out a call for more Kaffe Fassett fabrics to supplement my dwindling stash

I was hoping I could get a lot done with that jelly roll of 40 different prints, but I've quickly learned that a lot of the cutting for these 4.5" blocks requires pieces that measure 2-3/4" wide (aarrggh!!!). In the meantime, I've won a couple of eBay auctions for FQs and we'll see what I turn up from my ISO ad.

And, as always, because of my short attention span, I've managed to work on a couple other 'rogue' projects since the weekend.

I caught up on Pat Sloan's Globetrotter BOMs. Pictured are February and March. This finished quilt will be my first Quilt of Valor, hence the patriotic theme. Not that I've got a lot of patriotic fabrics, but I'll muddle through (and my sister offered a raid on her red/white/blue stash since it's going to Quilts of Valor--thanks Sandy!)

And since I am ADDICTED to all things missing Malaysian 'Triple 7'--I watch CNN until 3 am, and have also been known to scan satellite images on Tomnod until the wee hours--I've picked up my Jingle Applique quilt (that did not make it to a finish for Christmas 2013). Hoping I have it done for this Christmas.

This is the last small applique block. I just need to do the bird heads. Then the huge center medallion applique and 4 pieced blocks and it's ready to put together. Another project for my spare time.

I'll be back working on some more 'Jane' this weekend, so check in on me to see how I'm doing.

Happy First Day of Spring!