The Treehouse

Friday Night Sew In - March

Last night was March's Friday Night Sew In and I managed to cross a couple of things off my 'to-do' list :D First of all I made last week's block for the Civil War quilt - I like this one a lot, especially the fabrics.

Then I caught up with the Consider the Lilies BOM and made parts 2 and 3 of block one. I stitched those to the first part which has the lilies on it (completed last month). I've just the stitchery designs to trace onto parts 2 and 3 and 2 applique hearts to make. I'm taking this with me to stitch when we have our weekend away next weekend.

After that I settled down in front of the tv to watch some Comic Relief with my Vignette In Stitches part one. I'm enjoying the stitching on this but it's quite slow going - the pink flowers take quite a while to stitch!

It could benefit from a visit with the iron I think, it looks terribly crumpled here :o My issue two hasn't arrived at the LQS as yet so I'm not counting myself as behind for now, lol!
Earlier in the week I made March's Henrietta Whiskers block but I've saved the hand stitching on that for my weekend away...and forgotten to take a photo of it!

Lincoln's Platform and a Bunch of Blooms

I've been working on my Vignette In Stitches quilt since finishing My Garden the other day - I should have had the first part completed before now really but I'm almost there now. I'm hoping to be able to go and collect Issue 2 soon, I know it's en route to Patchwork Chicks so hopefully not long before it lands...the sneak peaks all over blog land are wetting my appetite! No pic of my Vignette yet I'm afraid I forgot :o

Today I made last week's Civil War block - Lincoln's Platform. I enjoy making these on a Friday morning just in time for the next one to appear!

 

I think a plain red would have been better in hindsight...but that's always such a wonderful thing!

I've been making a flower a day this month as well, here's the most recent bunch of blooms...

The purple and green are my favourite colours in this line of fabric.

I managed to slice the top of my thumb while making coleslaw this evening - I'm hoping it's not going to slow down my stitching too much!

 

Next Friday is the March Friday Night Sew In - not sure what I'll be sewing yet but I've a few things on my list! It's not too late to sign yourself up for a night of lovely sewing :)

 

Back on Track

well, almost! I've still the book reviews to write. I wanted to get last week's Civil War block made before the next one is posted so I sat down this morning and made 

Birds in the Air

I enjoyed myself so much that I made a Pennsylvania Dutch block...

The Road Home

and that one went so quickly that I thought I could fit another one in and I did...

At A Crossroads

Only two of these left to make now and then the borders to put on - I feel as though I could head towards a finish of it this month perhaps...maybe!

Last night I completed the first part of the brickwork on the Library as well - I want to get the first part of the words done and the first few leaves and then I can take a break from it...I've some secret stitching to do :)

Log Cabin, Cotton Boll and Down the Well

I carried on sewing yesterday and made the two easier blocks for the Civil War Sampler that I had outstanding. 

Log Cabin - I used a 2" centre and 1" logs

and Cotton Boll - this is new to me and I like the design a lot...

a shame that I didn't notice the stripe in the fabric until I had the photo on the computer! I might make another one at some point in the future.

As I was on a roll, I cut out and stitched another Pennsylvania Dutch block called Down the Well.

That leaves me just 4 PD blocks left to make now :D 

I've got the first block of Consider the Lilies almost made...just a few leaves left to stitch on and the embroidery to do for that one and I want to make the next Henrietta Whiskers block before no. 3 is available. I'm feeling the need to stitch a few hexagons sometime soon, I've not played with those for quite a while now and I should really make another month's worth of Aunt Grace before March begins...month 2 has 4 large blocks in it though so I'm not sure whether I'll get that done or not - we'll have to see :)

Texas Tears

I wasn't looking forward to making this as I'd read that it was a little tricky to have it come out the right size. I've sort of managed...there's a bit of a discrepancy on one side (no idea why!) but I can hide that with the sashing and I think the points will show ok.

I think this will be my last block finished for January. I've the next Pennsylvania Dutch block cut out and underway but probably no time to stitch that tonight. I did make a start on my Vignette In Stitches - promised myself I could once Tail Feathers was completed. I've stitched together the stitchery parts of block one - just the tracing and the little blocks for around the outside to make and then I can get movign on the stitching - looking forward to that. As long as I'm up to date by the time the next magazine arrives I'll be happy :)

North Star and 7 Sisters

Two more blocks for Barbara Brackman's Civil War quilt. The star was made last week and I just finished off the 7 sisters this morning.

I've got a few other blocks 'in progress' - the next Pennsylvania Dutch, Aunt Grace block 1 (still!) and this morning I picked out fabrics for Henrietta Whiskers. I've cut all of the fabric out for month 1 and for all of the 'square in a square' blocks this morning - I'm using a mixture of stash and a couple of charm packs of Sandy Gervais' Awesome...I'm hoping it looks ok! I have just enough wool for this month's Henrietta but will need to buy some more for the rest of them. I'm still waiting for my charm pack to arrive for the Birdie Stitches block of the month...wondering if the postman has started quilting! I got tired of waiting and have started doing the stitching and almost finished it so I'll be able to to sew the borders on when (if!) the charm packs ever arrive. 

Pennsylvania Dutch and Civil War

I was tidying yesterday and came across a partially cut out block for the Pennsylvania Dutch quilt. In the spirit of tidying up loose ends it seemed rude not to finish it off.

These blocks finish at 12" and they go together so quickly it's embarrassing that I don't have more of them completed. Now there is quite a large amount of leftover fabric from these blocks and I had been wondering what to use to make Barbara Brackman's Civil War blocks. I like the warm colours of Maison de Garance but what I have of that is already spoken for so it would mean going off to buy some more. No time for going shopping at the moment and I really wanted to get the first block made before the second is available otherwise. The solution was immediately at hand so I set to and cut out more of the Minick and Simpson and before long I'd completed the first Civil War block.

These blocks finish at 8" and I'll need to buy some fabric for sashing and a border but other than that I think I'll be able to mainly use the leftover Pennsylvania Dutch fabric. Not sure what colour to use for the sashing, perhaps that will become clear when I've made a few more blocks - I'd like to add the sashing as I go along really.