Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Trees on the design wall

Hi all!  Has anyone else noticed that it's now April? Holy cow! I know I say this all the time, but this is just going way too fast.  Wasn't Valentine's Day last week? Then again, I still think 2014 was last year or so. Impossible that it was five years ago now.

Here is the happiest thing about the fact that it's now April:


Yes! The daffodils are blooming in Delaware! I saw these as I left the house, and it was such a nice start to the day.  Some of the day lilies are a couple of inches high, too.

So, what are you making now that it's spring?  This week I started a new donation quilt for the Hands to Help challenge.  I'm pretty sure that this will be my last one for this year's challenge. Here's the beginning of it:


Trees!  I did not make any of these blocks. I adopted them from Jennifer, who blogs at life's little adventures, through Cynthia's quilty adoption event at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  I have been meaning and meaning to give up a project for adoption to someone who would finish it, but I always get too busy and miss the event.  Maybe I should just do it here? What do you think?

I received 26 of these blocks in some kind of nifty fabrics, including this one:


A quilting cotton that I would swear is a sweater! It's so realistic that I keep having to look twice.  Jennifer intended this as a Christmas quilt, so I took out six blocks that were very Christmassy and was left with 20 blocks that are somewhat wintery but don't really read as Christmas.  I chose a soft sage green polka dot to use as a sashing:


Green goes with everything, and I think this fabric is pretty and also calms down some of the colors in the quilt.  I'll add a border too, and that should make a decent- sized donation quilt top.  I even have a plan for those leftover six blocks, but not in this quilt.

So, there's one thing I'm working on this week, but I'm also thinking that I'm going to make a quilt for the Pantone Challenge from Bryan House Quilts and No Hats in the House.  I have the sampler that I've been working on, of course, and there are a lot of different corals in there, but check out this fabric:


It's hard to capture with this camera (I'm shopping for a new one, I swear!), but this fabric is pretty much the exact color of Living Coral! I have a couple yards of it, and I thought I might put it with a pale aqua.  I was thinking about a Kona solid, but then I pulled out a print and I'm thinking I might use that instead:


With a green of some kind and a white background, it could be pretty snappy! I have no pattern for this, but I'm trying to come up with something. It's pretty fun to page through the block books and dream, at least for me.  I guess I'll see what I find before I decide for sure. It's pretty fabric, though, and even without the challenge it will make a lovely quilt.

So that's the update from here. I hope you're all having a good week with lots of color and sewing.  And spring flowers, too!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social.

9 comments:

piecefulwendy said...

What fun blocks to adopt, and they look so cute all grouped together. I've always wanted to give something to adopt and always miss it too. I think corals/pinks/reds can be difficult to photograph, no matter what type of camera. Will be fun to see what you decide to make with that pretty fabric though!

Laura said...

Love those happy trees! They will make a great donation quilt!
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the pretty coral fabric!

Vicki in MN said...

The tree blocks are just fun, so nice you could finish up Jennifer's project.

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Mari! Boy, it's so nice to see some daffodils open and flourishing. That fabric sure does look like a real life sweater! Holy moly - I had to look at it several times and it still looks like the real thing to me. HAHA! What a fun idea - taking over a project that someone else has started. I think your coral fabric looks more coral in photos with the addition of the greens. You've got a lot going on! Happy Wednesday! ~smile~ Roseanne

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

seems like you just had snow and now daffodils - the year is flying by already.
love all that you show

Preeti said...

Oh trees. I love trees. Fair Warning - They are addictive. You cannot just make one. Finally, Spring is here. Flowers are everywhere. Soon pollen will cover everything :-P

Bernie Kringel said...

I love the way you sashed the tree blocks. It looks great. That Quilty adoption event is such a good idea.
Good luck with the Pantone challenge project. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!

Jennifer said...

i love what you're doing with the trees- they're looking great so far! fantastic that they'll be turned into something finished that can be useful and comforting to someone!

Sara said...

Adopting a project is a great idea! I have several that I should put up for adoption. LOL