Making wedding quilt progress

I had to buy fabric for the border and back of this quilt.  Most of it came from scraps.  I added a half yard from stash and some strips, cut from stash for the larger star points.  But, I didn't have anything I liked for the border and nothing big enough in a batik for the back. 

I knew I didn't want more color.  Only half of this couple is bright and colorful.  The other half is calm.  I don't know where I heard this, but some quilt instructor said that if you want to add a color without adding a color, go with brown.  So, that's what I did.  I got it pin basted yesterday afternoon and I'm ready to start quilting.  I even remembered to pick up thread.  I'm going to use that swirly wind pattern, so it should go pretty quick.  I think a loose feather in the border.

It was a busy weekend.  We did a lot of "spring" cleaning, dusting baseboards and cleaning carpets and oiling all the furniture.  The house feels so clean!  Too bad it can't stay this way. 

But, that would eat into my quilting time and I think we all know the answer to that.

Yesterday when I was watering flower pots and emptying the greenhouse, I got a chance to just enjoy the yard without having to do a lot of hard work.  This is the path through the garden.  I had to lift the stones earlier this year and add new clay under them.  They sink and have to be lifted every couple years, but I love that path, so it's worth it. 

There is still not much color other than green in the garden, but there's lots of green now.  Everything has broken the surface.  I found a couple things still need moving around. 

These are columbine.  I don't know where they came from, but they've come back reliably, year after year for many years.  They make a ton of seed, but don't seem to re-seed themselves or make new plants.  Must be too hybrid for that. 

This is the oakleaf hydrangea.  This came from my sisters yard when they bought their house and it had had a hard time of it.  It took several years to recover and then another couple years to find it's happy place in the yard, but this year, for the first time, it is in the ground.  I don't know if it will bloom or not.  It may never bloom.  But, it makes a great leaf shape and in fall, those leaves turn red, but don't fall off, so it's a beautiful spot of color in the cold months. 

Poor Rob.  I got so distracted with this new quilt that I forgot to sew the buttons on the shirts I made him.  I made myself sit and do that this weekend.  The buttonholes were in, they just needed to be cut open and the buttons sewn on.  Took all of 45 minutes, including threading up the Bernina.  She sews on a nice button that lasts a long time, and I use her for that every time now.  I haven't sewn a button on by hand in a long time. 

And, that was our weekend.  Last week, I was incredibly busy at work.  My boss has asked me to do several new projects.  And, I've taken on a few new projects for my development.  And, I am so incredibly busy that the days fly by.  I've finally gotten over some of my compulsive need to "finish" things, which isn't the same thing as actually finishing things at all.  I would encounter something I didn't know how to do and rather than realize that I didn't know what I was doing, I'd work at it and work at it and work at it and work at it until I was so frustrated that when I finally got that step done, I had to walk away from the project for a while (UFO maker).  One time, I picked the quilting out of a small wallhanging so many times that the backing was threadbare and I had to throw the whole thing away.  Now, I've learned that I can work on something until I hit a hard spot, then walk away for a while and figure it out or get answers to whatever question stumped me while I work on something else.  It's a beautiful skill.

Everybody have a wonderful week!  Lane