Active Week

This week has seen me hopping from one thing to another, and not completing any of them. No surprise, I suppose.

I've been preparing a presentation for our Central Florida MQG meeting on April 12. It's a big one... QuiltCon Review. Of course, having posted to my blog about QuiltCon, eight times, I have lots of material to sift through to create the program. It's just very time-consuming. 

Since Saturday, having finished machine quilting my paint chip challenge quilt, my number one sewing room focus has been hand quilting. It's due at Big Cypress Quilters on April 15. I'm pretty sure I can make the finish deadline, though I have to work on it every day.

I'm figuring out the quilting design as I go, using five colors of Wonderfil Eleganza (8-weight) and a Sue Spargo #3 Milliner's needle. I do not use a hoop when quilting. I'm loving how it's looking!

Each year I find I need to make a scrap quilt or two, to keep scrap bins at manageable levels. For several months I've been visiting Etsy to admire Diagonal Scrap Quilt, a pattern with three different scrap quilts by Maryline of @MaryandPatch who I've followed for a long time on Instagram.

This week I bought the pattern (a PDF download) and began cutting to make this version, though mine will be much larger. You really aren't surprised about that, are you? 

screen shot of Maryline's Black and White Diagonal Scrap Quilt

I'm making the black and white background pattern first because I have so many of these in my print stash. I cut 90 backgrounds to make a quilt that will be about 70" X 78". 

When the black and white version is finished, I will make this one. Isn't it great?! Super scrappy! 😍

screen shot of Maryline's Diagonal Scrap Quilt

Tuesday was my birthday and this was my pretty view walking into/out of Big Cypress Recreation Center. 

  

It was an "open sew" day because most of our members were on a quilt retreat. So I brought homemade cookies to share with nine friends who showed up - a lovely day later celebrated with dinner at a favorite Asian restaurant, and Publix moose tracks ice cream, a decadent treat!

 

I'm heading to line dancing soon, and then, this afternoon is an online event called Piecing Palooza, where ten quilters will give presentations on different topics, including scraps, piecing, curves, and raw edge appliqué. I'm looking forward to taking Cindy Grisdella's workshop, and hearing keynote speaker Maria Shell. 

I'm on the move! Linda