April Finish - Map Quilt Completed

It's the last day of the month and I still haven't blogged about my April finish - that just won't do! I inherited this map panel from Brandy after her adopted son showed up unexpectedly last month. She had already pieced the back, so all I had to do was sandwich, quilt and bind it.We all decided that "it would be really cool" if I outlined all the states with invisible thread, so that's what I did. Fifteen broken needles later, here's what the back looks like. Of course, it's all in reverse, but I like the way it turned out.

Here's Florida in reverse, with a little sailboat outlined as well. The oceans and gulf were too empty, so I outlined some of the little pictures too.
Here's my home state of Wisconsin, and I'm sure the UP'ers, LP'ers and Minnesotans amongst us will recognize their states as well.
And here's Texas, complete with the Alamo (remember the Alamo!) and a cow. Texas was too big to leave empty - lol. And you can see the compass rose at the lower left, helping to quilt up the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, that's my April finish. It will take a few years for me to forget what a HUGE pain it is to work with invisible thread again, but it was worth it for this - especially now that it is done! 8)

Baby at the Bee

We had a wonderful big surprise at the bee on Sunday. Brandy and her husband brought their wee baby boy for us to enjoy. He's only 3 weeks old and they have had him since day 4. He is still soooo tiny!

He was kinda tired. Life is so stimulating! 8) What a cutie pie!

But he was happy to let us look on and coo over him.

And Sheila got to dance with him.
And this all made his Mama VERY happy!

It was a very good bee! 8)

April Project Day

It has been a busy two weeks. The Blanketeers had a productive project day two weeks ago. This project day didn't have a real theme; it was more of a "get 'er done" sort of day. Here is Rhonda with the quilt top made from the sailboat blocks we all made at the last project day. I made the boat in the lower right corner. I fussy cut a ruler from some ruler fabric and made the yellow boat out of that. I think this is going to be our Peppers & Pinatas offering this year.
Here is Rachel's latest snowball quilt. Those "Baby Fats" quilts just keep on giving. The Blanketeers have kind of divided into two factions, Rachel & the "Chubby Cheek" snowball group, and me and the "First Steps" cohort. The "First Steppers" are a little faster, but the "Chubby Cheekers" end up with pinwheels from the corner cut-offs that make into lovely quilts of their own, so I think it's a tie. I can't wait to see the pinwheel quilt that results from this vibrant color scheme!
Sheila found a way to use the darling little lamb that was one of the door prizes at our Christmas party last December. It looks like it was made for this sweet little quilt top.
And here is Mary with her latest "First Steps" Is it not gorgeous? I just love the pink & green combo. And her work has gotten so fine! This one just knocked my socks off. I finally got the chance to give her the Friendship Star pin that was her Christmas present (Mary's been busy). Now it represents a token, not only of our friendship, but of how incredibly far she has come with her quilting skills. Way to go, Mary!

I worked on the Quilt of Valor for the first time in probably five months. It is now mostly in rows. It was painful how much the points had to be hacked off to square up the blocks, but that's life. It's more important that it lie flat than for the points to be perfect. It's still going to be really beautiful. I keep telling myself that; that and "finished is better than perfect!" 8)

International Siggy Swap - Willie Timmer and Thomas & Mary LeClerc

This gorgeous cross-stitched siggy came in the mail recently. It was made by Willie Timmer in the Netherlands. It is just stunning. I often wonder if the people who labor so much over each siggy are disappointed when they get my little stamped pony? I keep thinking I'll upgrade the mane & tail to turkey work or something, but there never seems to be enough time, and I end up just stamp stamp stamping away. I got these two terrific siggies from Thomas and Mary LeClerc, my first husband and wife siggy team. Thomas and Mary live in Pittsburgh, Kansas, where Thomas is a retired psychologist and an ongoing student of western US history. His working cowboy stamp and saguaro cactus fabric reflect his love of western culture. I particularly like the "vaya con Dios", or "go with God", salutation on his siggy, which emphasizes the importance of the Spanish influences on the American southwest.

Mary's siggy is Kansas all the way, with Sunbonnet Sue on a bright sunflower fabric. Just lovely! Mary LeClerc. Mary is working on a Dear Jane (like so many of us) and has just finished a wonderful Dutch Treat quilt. Her blog is here.

I was informed a few days ago that another one of my siggies apparently did not make it to its destination last year. Poor Elfriede has been waiting patiently practically forever. And here I don't have any siggies made up. Got to get busy on that, she has been waiting long enough!