14 | March | 2014 | Justquiltin with Denise Russart

Ode to Spring – Komen Fundraiser

Will you be doing something quilty in honor of the day?? I think I will at some point but have a few things to do first – like breakfast out and shopping.

In honor of National Quilting Day I had to have a quilt in this blog post didn’t I? This is still one of my favorite applique quilts I’ve made – Ode to Spring. I designed it for a BOM on an online group and about the time I finished it, I bought a bed with pillow top mattresses top and bottom and the quilt was not wide enough for that bed. So I decided to donate it. Which reminds me that there is a second version of it, much larger in fallish colors, which contains a pillowtopper area on it so it should be nice and big. Now that I have the new sewing machine it might actually have a hope of getting quilted! I’m going to have to pull that one out – the scary thing is I know it has the year I was appliquing it in big letters appliqued on the bottom border — 2009 I think. LOL Yes I think it needs to get finished soon.

If you are participating in From Head to Toe – A Knitter’s Gifts – the March block is now available for download. And I think we need a giveaway for those who left a comment prior to midnight last night (Friday) – it is National Quilting Day so an excellent reason for a little fun. So if you left a comment on Head to Toe, be sure to check back and see if you are the lucky winner . The Flickr group photos are looking lonely as far as Head to Toe is concerned. So far only friend Janet P (a/k/a “Speedy”) has a photo of her February blocks posted. Next drawing for Head to Toe will be chosen from the photos in the Flickr group for that project so be sure to add your photos.

There are lots of great Dog Pound Pal blocks loaded – they all just make me smile. Dogs in “realistic” sort dog hair fabric, plaid dogs, flowered dogs, batik dogs — they are such fun to see!

Just have to print out an on line sales flyer and I’ll be ready to shop tomorrow. I need to go bounce on a few beds. My bed needs to be replaced – it is totally sunk in the middle where I usually sleep – I can’t stand it anymore and it’s time for it to go. There happens to be a great sale going on. Once the bed is taken care of then it’s on to the living room furniture.

Sometimes I just have to shake my head and laugh at myself. I decided that even though I don’t have last month’s blocks appliqued yet for Head to Toe – A Knitter’ s Gifts, that I would cut out and quickly stitch up the March blocks since they are pieced and would be quick and easy to get done.

Well they were quick and easy to get done …except…instead of the little squares I cut for the heel and toe angles, I picked up some leftover scrap squares that were not the same size as the pieces I needed. Of course I didn’t notice this until I was cleaning up the scraps and found my squares with the little lines drawn on the back. Hmmmm…. why would I have those sitting there……..

So I think I made boots instead of socks. 🙂 The heel and toe squares on these two blocks are a half-inch smaller than they should be so the heel doesn’t have quite as sharp an angle and the toes are more boxy. They would be fine but you know that they will bug me since they are not “correct.” So they will get used, but not in this project (unless I stick a row of “boots” on the back of the quilt or make something else with them. I always need potholders but I am way to messy to have potholders with this light-colored background. Perhaps I’ll just make a second project with boots all over it.

And it may be a good thing I messed them up. I think I need to finish the stocking caps first and decide which hat block will go where. Then I can plan a bit better what colors to use in the other blocks so I end up with colors spread around the quilt nicely and not one corner of the quilt mainly one color family all clumped together.