Dreary February

Hello Fine Friends,

I hope all is well with you.  Things are trucking along on this end.  I'm surviving Grand Jury Duty.  It's emotionally exhausting to realize how many aweful things happen in your county on a regular basis.  I'm looking forward to the end of April when I can crawl back into my tunnel & pretend I live in Fairytale Land.  But, until then, there's butter and sugar.  And, thread and fabric.

Typically, I dislike February.  It's dreary.  It's the month my mom died some 10 years ago.  And, both my parents shared a birthday of Feb 23.  Just a whole lot of reminders of what is lost.  But, I try to keep as busy as possible so I don't fall down that rabbit hole.

Rich got impatient with me to repaint my little mini-fridge.  This was gifted to me by some lovely ladies that were done with it.  I'm so happy they thought of me before sending it to Goodwill.  On a random weekend, Rich set up a space for me to paint & told me I was getting started on it.  Normally, I'd be put out that he was telling me what to do but this time it worked in my favor.  I really LOVE my 50's pink fridge!

 Then, since we were painting, I convinced Bethany to paint a closet door in chalkboard paint.  Then, I traced an embroidery pattern onto it for the motif at the top.  The paint looks pretty good at a distance but up close it's pretty bad.  I really should have bought new brushes & made sure the paint wasn't chunky before I started but then I was too far in to stop.  Bethany is using the door for motivation & a "to do" list.

 I finished the breast cancer t-shirt quilt.  I thought I was going to make it bigger but since I had already quoted a price, I talked with the owner & she wanted to keep it small.  I really like it either way   & I loved working with pink!  I didn't know it at the time I bought the bolt but that batik was the perfect shade for the job.  I was able to keep the year on most of the blocks and the ones that I didn't, I embroidered the year so Denise will always know which one is which.

 I quilted it with wavy horizontal lines.

 All the bits are made on my En Provence quilt.  These are the main 16" (?)blocks.  I've still got several more to go but I can only stand to make about 4 at a time & then I get bored.  I will finish, though!  I keep seeing others' that are finished and it's a beautiful quilt!

 

 I did get another Art Neauveax block done.  I briefly called it Deco Gardens, like the designer, but a friend in TAS reminded me that Neauveax was the apppropriate period.  It was nice to realize I was on the right track.  So, back to trying to remember how to spell Neauveax all the time...  Isn't the daffodil so sweet?  When, I bought the pattern, apparently I was the first to purchase something with her new market software & she offered me a free pattern if I reviewed the purchasing process.  Nice, right?  She got a glowing review, by the way.  An honest one at that.  Morning Glory Designs.

 I got to 70 Granny Squares and decided to put them together.  I was hoping it would be enough but  Im told no.  It's currently a TV size and needs to be a "napping" size, according to Ethan.

I did get caught up on the BOM with my guild.  It's going to be a Quilt of Valor when I'm done.  I was just considering how difficult it might be to work with that panel in the middle.  There's going to be some strangely sized filler blocks everywhere.  2 more to go.

This one is called Crazy Ann.  Which I've always cracked up at because my mom's name was Anne.  That crazy Anne! Hehehe

 And, bear claw.

 This is Myrtle the Turtle.  She was made as part of the Under the Sea special exhibit our guild is doing at the quilt show this year.  She's the companion of the Mermaid I did earlier.

And, that brings us up to date!  Hope you are all surrounded by love this dreary February.  Happy Stitches!