Another Block and....

... and another mistake that needed to be corrected.  I very carefully had made certain that all the measurements were perfect.

But I lost sight of the positioning of the half-square triangles and if you look at the picture of the block in the book, you can see how different it is from what I made.

And this is how it should have looked the first time I sewed it together. 

Block 2 of row 4 is done!









Last night I looked out at the sky before going to sleep and saw this.

Scary face in the clouds

Scary, huh?  I slept well anyway.

Inset seams, plant sale & baking

I've put off making the next block for my yellow quilt because it looked hard, really hard.  The Dear Jane blocks were difficult also but for some reason, I'm having a harder time doing Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.  One thing I learned from doing Dear Jane though is that you have to keep on going no matter how hard the blocks are.  So, I finally did the block that starts row 4 with the inset seams.  It's not perfect but ... it's done!

Every time I looked at all those inset seams, I found something else to do.  ;-))

 I had to cut out teeny, tiny templates in odd shapes from freezer paper. :-(  Not my favorite thing to do, then had to iron them onto the fabric to cut the shapes.  :-(

 Not only were there inset seams but curvy seams too.  My worst nightmare.  But if I don't try the hard parts I'll never get better at quilting so I used that famous expression "just do it"... and I did it... like it or not.

 Inset seams!!

Another yellow block finished... a little crooked but it looks fine next to all the rest of these yellow blocks.

Just had to show you why that block was a bit wonky.... Jaik thought he would take a nap next to the iron.  I really had to reach to get around him but I'm not meany enough to wake a cat from his catnap.  :-)))







Our weather here on the island is finally starting to look Spring-like so off I went with daughter in tow to a local plant sale.  It took place at the Bloedel Reserve that is always a pleasure to stroll around.  So we took advantage of the little carts that took our bought plants back up to the parking lot while we walked through the gardens and trails where trees were blooming and the birds were singing.  There was lots of bright yellow skunk cabbage in the boggy areas and alongside the streams. 

I love my new little plants and can't wait to get them into pots.  Yes, they are going to be potted plants.  Except for that little sweetpea that you can hardly see; I have already planted sweetpeas but this one is a special color that I particularly liked.  It'll be a treat to see it in bloom.

I know it's Spring now because my rosemary plant is blooming.  It's there behind the huge sage plant (which needs to be given away because it's too, too big).









Another part of my week was taken up with finding an orange cake recipe because I had some oranges gifted to me.  I didn't want to just 'juice' them so I made a cake. 

So, I've been busy this week.  Hope everyone is having a great week.

Golf... and quilting

I'm not sure why...maybe it's the time of year.... but I find that it's immensely enjoyable to sew while watching (?) golf tournaments on tv.  Today it's the Texas Open played in San Antonio, part of the PGA tour.  Last week it was The Masters in Georgia.  I don't play but I used to like to go watch the Nissan Open at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles... so maybe that's why I watch.  It brings back good memories.

It was my daughter's birthday last week and I found a Martha Stewart Baker's Apron pattern online that I thought she would like.  Luckily I had enough fabric to make it; I seldom have large lengths of material since I make scrappy (many-colored) quilts and buy fat quarters.  I lined the tie around the waist with a pretty dark red fabric and it looked fantastic on her, if I do say so myself.  I added a button on the left and decided to put it on the outside with a small yoyo as decoration.

Baker's apron

 

I took Martha's suggestion and paired the apron with a fluted pie pan and a pie 'bird'.  My daughter makes the best pies so I'm hoping to be the beneficiary of a slice or two.

I intended to use circles to make a quilt for Japan quake victims but instead sent a completed top  and used the circles to make little quilts for under water glasses and vases that hold water.  I used old toweling as the batting and completed them by making my own seam binding to go around the edge.

I like these little 'sopper-uppers' so much that I'm going to make a few more to use as coasters. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend....