Spring is in the air

We celebrated our 22nd year together last week.  A couple times.  I missed the date, but in the right direction this year.  Usually, I think it's later in the month and this year, I was early by 4 days.  We don't really remember what day we met, so maybe it was 4 days earlier...or maybe it doesn't really matter and still being together is all the counts.  Anyway, on Saturday, we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant and had a big meal and a margarita to celebrate.  We laugh and we argue and at least once a day I think he's lost his damn mind.  But we've held hands to face death and rushed together into danger and he can find anything I lose within minutes.  It's not easy to share a life but I picked a good one.  

Last night, despite the best efforts of the cat to distract me, I finished the geranium block for the Flower Garden quilt.  I knew I wouldn't be able to use just one red on this block or it would have turned into a blob, so I cut flowers out of several shades of red to give it some depth and I'm so glad I did.  I used the geraniums in the greenhouse as inspiration, but I didn't take a pic when I started and all the blooms had faded by the time I finished and new ones hadn't started to open, so I couldn't get a picture.  Some of the flowers in a flower head are dark and aging out and others are bright and just opened and I wanted to capture that in the block.  I keep walking around singing 'looks like a geranium' to the tune of 'Walk Like an Egyptian'.  (Sorry, hope I didn't get that stuck in your head.)  

I also made the third American Stars block.  I spent hours...like 4 hours on this block, redrafting the pattern and picking the fabrics, marking the match points and carefully machine piecing it.  And, I'm so disappointed and plan to make it again.  I am having trouble selecting fabrics lately.  I'm not getting the contrasts I need between fabrics so the star doesn't stand out.  In all fairness, I'm just out of practice.  I haven't done this kind of piecing work in a couple years.  The closest I got was the maple leaf quilt I made for Rob to give his niece as a wedding gift and that was much easier for me because I only needed light and dark, no medium.  Choosing a medium is where I generally run into trouble.  

When I make it next time, I'm going to paper piece it.  I thought 'it's only three fabrics per square, how hard can it be?'  Well, it was damn hard.  And, my points in the center still don't meet quite right.  I'm going to use one of the fabric groupings that I discarded when I chose these three.  I can see plenty of contrast there this morning.  This morning I looked at the pictures I took of fabric groups and what I should have chosen was obvious, but I got in too much hurry and didn't fade the pictures to black and white.  If I had, I think I would have seen the mistake before I spent FOUR HOURS making the block...live and learn...or don't, I guess.

I thought I'd share a couple pics of quilts no the wall right now.  This one was a BOM from the local quilt shop that's closing.  I didn't shop there much but hate to see them go.  They went in a different quilting direction than I did, and over time had less and less of the fabrics and tools I was looking for.  I think the owner backed herself into a niche and when that trend lost popularity, the shop suffered and the pandemic was the final straw.  There's also a trend of less interest in quilting, so there will be fewer quilt shops to compete with the big box craft stores that cater to multiple hobbies.  That will lead to lower quality, less expensive fabrics as they try to cater to the masses and we will all be the worse for it.  Good thing I have a big stash.

This one I made on vacation when we used to go to Arkansas.  I cut it at home, then pieced it on vacation and the next year, I sandwiched it at home and quilted most of it on vacation.  You may have to blow it up to see all those tiny clamshells I quilted in it.  It obviously took more than a week to quilt and when we were on vacation, I only got to quilt in the mornings, when Syd was horseback riding.  After she'd come back and showered, we did family activities, which she always hated.  Except the time we toured the cave, which Rob hated and Syd loved.  (I would not go back and do those years again for all the money in Fort Knox.)

Saw this sign.  Love it!  Had to share it.

This lone violet blooming in the yard tells me spring it on the way.  I can't wait!  We had a freeze Friday night and I had to move all the tender plants back in the greenhouse.  Yesterday, I hauled it all back out so I could water.  Soon, it's going to start raining and I'm going to wish it would stop and let me get in the yard for a day, but for now, the air is dry and I'm having to hose water the flower pots and the new plants I've put in and I'm getting a little bored with that.  Soldier on, little violet!

Okay, that's it for me today.  I'd say something political, but calling idiots idiots is boring.  If we could bottle up the meanness in Texas government and package it with the meanness in Florida government and tie it up with a bow made of Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, we could power the earth with their evil energy and something good would finally come from them.  But, we can't and we are all the worse for it.  Time to breed more lions.

Everybody have a great week!  I'll be paper piecing a new star block.  

Lane