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Just a quick housekeeping post... like many of you I'm trying out Bloglovin and Feedly for my personal use since Google has decided to abandon Reader this summer. Right now Feedly has the edge for me because I do a fair amount of my blog reading on my iPad, but I know that many of you will be following with Bloglovin so here you go!  I've also added a Bloglovin button on my sidebar.

Scrappy Orange Saturday

So far the March Madness games today haven't been too exciting, which is probably OK as I needed to get some sewing done. I have about an hour of stitching left on my main piece for the Embroidery Blog Hop so I'm excited to finish that up tonight and have a little time to decide whether it should be a pillow or a wall hanging.

My Birds in the Air blocks are done which concludes my month of sewing with orange. Making these blocks always leave me wanting more... it's so nice to have a project like that to look forward to each month!

I don't think I've tried the above layout before but it's kind of fun.

I like the big chevron layout too.

And a close up to better see the fabrics. I'm wishing I hadn't used the fabric that reads yellow instead of orange, but it's too late now. I wonder what color will we be creating with next month? I know that I am longing to see some green outside!

I'm linking up to ScrapHappy Saturday@soscrappy.

March Madness!

Woo Hoo! I love this...

which is very random if you consider that I don't follow College Basketball one bit during the season. If my husband has a Minnesota Gophers game on I'll keep him company while I do some hand work or read, but I don't really care if they win or lose. I'm not a fan of the NBA either.

But the NCAA Tournament is one of my favorite things. I've been thinking about why I enjoy it so much and have come up with the following reasons:

• It's usually exciting with close finishes and upsets.
• I love being in tournament pools & following my brackets even though I do no research and make my picks in about 10 minutes.  
• There is almost always a Cinderella story (a team that comes out of nowhere) and I root for them like crazy.
• You get to know the teams and coaches quickly because of the tournament format, so even though I don't know many of this morning by the time the Final Four rolls around I'll know them well.
• Charles Barkley is hilarious.
• After the NFL season is over (sad face) this is the next best thing.
• It comes at a time in MN when I am sick & tired of snow and by the time it's over spring is that much closer.
• It's the perfect excuse to stay inside and be lazy.

Actually this tournament I have my Embroidery Blog Hop project to work on during the games this week and I will also be organizing/folding some fabric while watching so I won't be lazy ALL of the time. I especially love being to able to flip around 4 channels and catch all the great finishes! 

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday@Live a Colorful Life.

WIP Wednesday: Reality Check

It seems like a good time to weigh in on my progress towards March Goals on my sidebar and admit that, once again, I'm not going to meet all of my goals. I have been pushing myself while setting these but I do hope to actually achieve them one of these months!

Not Going to be Done:

Goals 2,3 & 4. My LAQ is 2+ weeks behind on her estimate for my Spring Flowers and Shabby Strings tops and hasn't given me any indication as to when she will get to them.

If you look closely at these pictures you will see why Four Patch & Friends has stalled out once again.  First I had a delay with the mail order inner border fabric, then I wasn't sure about it once it arrived and finally found the perfect fabric.

Yes, I had one of the background pieces flipped backwards. In a block in the middle of the assembled top. These kind of things I just have to set aside for awhile. And, to make the ripping especially painful, I must have been doing some paper piecing before I assembled this section because my stitches were tiny!

Will be Done:

Goals 1,5,8,10 &12. My Christmas stockings are back on track as I posted yesterday, my Star wall quilt is ready for binding, my RSC13 blocks are 80% done and my "And Sew On" block will take an afternoon. The pincushions for my HGTV swap are due by 3/31 and my day for the Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop is Wednesday, March 27th. These are fun projects!

Should be Done:

Goals 7, 9 & 11. My Nancy Halverson table runner, the Theadbias QAL table runner and my FMQ goals are all doable in the next 12 days. I just need to get serious about them.

Not on List but Done: 

I finished piecing this Patriotic 9 Patch UFO yesterday and it will go on my goal list for Q2 finishes.

Bright Blue Strings is also pieced and I'll look for some backing fleece today after I take the J-cats home.

And, when I really start feeling frustrated about my lack of progress on March Goals I just open a drawer or two...

It was so worth it!!! ;-)  If you missed this post - click HERE. I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday@Freshly Pieced.

Back to Christmas?

With yesterday's dose of snowy weather it seemed appropriate to work on a project that:

• Is my only 2012 UFO 
• Was on my monthly goal list in January, February AND March
• Is my March project for A Year of Lovely Finishes

My Christmas stockings 2,3 & 4! Stocking #1 was finished in December and #2 was last seen in February so I'll refresh your memory. Stocking #2 isn't as dark as it appears in these photos and is actually quite pretty.

Back in February I posted HERE about my plan to use the waste triangles from my "Christmas in the Pines" tree skirt for stocking #3.

Yesterday after playing around with them I was able to create the body for stocking #3 AND stocking #4! I pieced the red HSTs to add to the greens for stocking #3 and was able to make stocking #4 completely from leftovers. Bonus!  

A tip for matching up lots of points - press your seams open and baste them first. Stocking #4 got a bit hairy but I consoled myself that it was basically "free" due to the waste triangles and kept at it.

Finally ALL of my decisions are made about these stockings... I've pulled fabrics for the cuffs and the binding/ties for each one and I'm really happy with the mix. Each stocking will have a different binding/tie color - red, cream, green & gold. 2 green and 2 red cuffs since those are my favorite Christmas colors. 

I also like the variation in color value between the four... can you tell I've auditioned fabrics for these repeatedly? In fact, of the 7 fabrics I planned to use in February (below) I only used 3. Oh and I didn't end up trying the Wondercut Ruler either.

Sometimes I have a really hard time making decisions... now that I have a plan it's all easy sewing from here. Just putting away the pile of fabrics cluttering my quilt room (and probably my mind!) will feel great.

I'm linking up to Mid-March Check In@A Year of Lovely Finishes and Freemotion by the River.

Yet Another Snowy Monday

I've lost count of how many snow days and late start school days we have had this winter... today schools are closed again. This is the view from our kitchen window!

Spring is going to come late this year but I've got lots to do in the quilting room so I'm not going to complain too much. Yesterday I felt like assembling some tops so I pulled out some UFO blocks from my drawer and started laying them out.

I had some patriotic 2.5" strips left over from my Patriotic Squares quilt for Quilts of Valor so I had used EQ to design a simple 9 Patch quilt. I don't know what it is about 9 Patches exactly but they are one of my favorite blocks. The string blocks are from an HGTV Quilting Forum Swap, I had requested shades of blue for the center strip and bright gender neutral colors. It's always fun to play around with bright strings on a grey day!

On Saturday I finished quilting this wall quilt which is one of my March Goals. I think I have more of the cream star print for the binding, I don't recall the name of this pretty fabric line so I'm hoping I'll find it on the selvage. The pattern is "Little Charmers II" by Anka's Treasures.

I'm linking up to Let's Get Acquainted@Busy Bee Quilts and Design Wall Monday@Patchwork Times.

Stitching Basket and a Finish

Joann.com had these on 50% clearance a few weeks ago and this one caught my eye. I've never owned a sewing basket before but I thought it would be a great way to store my new stitching supplies & projects for easy portability. Not to mention that it's just plain cute too!

When I unlatch the top it looks like this with a handy pincushion and pocket for my embroidery hoop.

I so LOVE the removable plastic partitioned tray. It's deep enough to hold the thread that I'm currently using and I'm sure I'll fill up the sections quickly. I'm using one for a thread catcher (I'm terrible at leaving bits of thread on the sofa!). Underneath there is room to store my project and the pattern. No peeking at that until the Embroidery Blog Hop!

And, at the very bottom is my collection of Presencia thread... with plenty of expansion space.

I finally have a DONE! on my March Goals and just in time for Easter decorating too. This Easter Egg Table Topper is made from swapped Happy Blocks with cute Egg centers.

I grid quilted it with variegated pastel Sulky thread. My favorite block is surrounded by adorable Easter bunnies. I wouldn't have chosen a few of the darker fabrics myself but that is how you roll with swaps.

This backing fabric will give the topper an extended life after Easter.  I have so many pretty big floral fabrics in my stash and I'll be hard pressed to feature them all on quilt tops.

This is the table it will top, after it's washed it will lay much nicer but I'm not that patient today!

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts.