The Lotus quilt.

If you remember, I had a kit that I knew I was gifted but was afraid I'd never make.  I had held onto for a long time, wishing I would, and when I realized it wasn't really going to happen, I shared it with a follower, Michelle (less than a year ago...that's going to be important later) .  Michelle was excited and as she's made progress, I've shared her comments and pics and progress a few times.  She's finished her quilt top now.  And, she shared pics. 

Check out the clamshell border.  She extended the applique out into that border, but simply so it doesn't conflict with the clamshells.  And, added flowers in the seam lines so the quilt doesn't look so blocky. 

 

 

 Here's a closeup of her work.  Here, you can see the embroidery that she added. 

 

She made many adjustments to the pattern.  Here's the original pattern, which we had trouble finding because it seems lots of people added flourishes when they made this quilt.  If you compare this picture to the picture above, you'll see how a few changes really made this quilt.   

It's been such a pleasure keeping up with Michelle and her progress.  It truly is a piece of original art, Michelle and I congratulate both your skill and your creativity in adding interest to the quilt.  Great job and I can't wait to see how you quilt it!

As for me, I might have taken on more of a project than I'm up for with my guild.  I've been asked to help with next year's raffle quilt.  And, I said yes.  And, Rob reminded me that last time I did this, I asked him to remind me that last time, I said NEVER AGAIN.  But, I'm doing it again.  And, for me, that always starts by making a test block. 

Every so often, I admit that something is just too fiddly for me.  My skills aren't up to it and the skills I'd need to develop are not interesting to me.  Sewing one circle inside of another circle with matching points is just not a skill that's interesting to me.  So, instead of that, I broke my block into quarters, drunkard's path style, and then joined the quarters.  I'm going to suggest this to the guild because it will be much easier for the quilt's final assemblers than taking circles made by multiple people and turning them into a perfectly matched piece.  It breaks that circle into four much easier curves, and it gets those curves taken care of by the members that will volunteer to make blocks, not by the quilt's final assemblers.  I can support that idea. 

How about a couple pics from the garden...

Down the garden path. 

A vintage plant stand of ferns. 

A velvety Mr Lincoln rose:

I worked in the yard most of Saturday.  This weekend was a "pots" weekend.  I'm setting up pots for the year, getting them established and ready to place in the garden.  The plastic greenhouse is still set up, so I'm using it for a humid environment to start cuttings and plants in.  It's working great and I hope I remember to leave it up for these few extra weeks next year, too. 

And, yesterday, we celebrated Easter. 

Rob loves the memory of dyeing eggs, so Saturday night, he and Sydney dyed a dozen eggs.  I sat in the living room, sewing a label on the wedding quilt that STILL isn't delivered.  And, I listened to them in the kitchen, dying eggs and laughing.  The next morning, I peeled them and turned them into deviled eggs. 

And, we had a nice lunch. 

 And that's about it for us celebrating the holidays. 

It's going to be a pretty normal work week for me, but on Wednesday, I'm taking the day off to spend it with my raffle quilt co-volunteer, shopping for quilt fabric.  Saturday, we're having lunch with Rob's cousin, who is passing through town and then the wedding is that night.  And, Sunday will be Rob's birthday, so lots of stuff will have happened to fill next week's blog post. 

Everybody have a great week!!  Lane