Ahhh, Yes!

This quilt has been a long time coming to get from fabric pull to a first piece on my wall.  I had picked a pattern and pulled fabric over a month ago.  Then it stalled.  I'm still not sure how I want to put it all together, but I needed to start somewhere.  I put together a strip and see how it looks.  I suspect this quilt will be a plan-as-I-go (more than usual).

Part of the delay was lack of a design wall.  I had used all my big pieces of batting and the little chunk that was left wasn't even two feet wide.  My packaged batting says it doesn't require pre-washing, but I still do it to shrink it before quilting.  I had a package of king sized batting I hadn't wanted to tackle.  However, we've had wonderfully sunny, windy and very dry days lately, so I took the time to soak it and spread it across the clothes lines.  It dried completely in just a few hours.  Amazing!

Now that I have a design wall, and my first row on it, I'm hoping to dive in to the project.  After this, I'll get to do some projects of my own.  Then I've agreed to do a king-sized quilt.  That will be a challenge!

I Like Thursday: Celebrating May Day

Nothing to share last week on I Like Thursday and this week I had so many photos I had to combine them into collages.  Feast or famine I guess.

First up are my May Day flowers.  Aren't they pretty?  I was really taken by the calla lilies.  My mom convinced me to get the big red flowers.  I had to add in a tulip, some roses and a carnation.  

The flowers came from the Montague May Day celebration.  My sister and mother came again this year.  Music!  Morris dancers!  A May pole!  There was also buckets of flowers to choose from to make garlands.  As you can see below, I decorated my floppy hat.  It went quite nice with my flower dress. 

I Like Thursday: Contras, Quilts and Cheese

For this week's I Like Thursday I'm going to kick off with the latest addition to the neighborhood.  This guy appeared in my neighbor's yard yesterday - he must be five feet tall.  Quite striking!

NEFFA!  The New England Folk Festival.  I've written about this in the past: a weekend filled with music and dancing.  This year, alas, I only got there on Sunday.  It was a challenge finding a balance between catching up with people I hadn't seen in years and dancing as much as possible.  One day was not nearly enough (although my pedometer claimed I did 12 miles of dancing).  Next year I'll attend more of it.

Since I didn't attend NEFFA on Saturday, I attended the Hands All Around quilt show in Amherst with my sister.  So many amazing quilts.  I'm only showing a few photos of the beautiful items.

I Like Thursday: A Paddle, Some Honey, and Good China

Welcome to this week's post.  These seem to be my only posts lately - not much on the sewing/guinea pig front.  On the other hand, I've snagged a bit of restful, quiet time.  I'll roll with that until I get creative again.

I kayaked on Friday!  Couldn't let the warm weather go by without a paddle.  No one was parked at the entrance, but I came across a trio of paddleboarders on the water.  Otherwise I had the pond to myself. 

Kayaking is calming.  I don't know if it's the water, the view, or the rhythm of the paddling, but I have a better mindset when I'm done.

I Like Thursday: Artistic Eggs

Our neighbors invited us over on Friday afternoon to make Ukrainian eggs.  My sister came with me.  There were six of us, engrossed in eggs, wax and dye.  What fun!  I haven't done this in a long, long time, but the process came back pretty quickly.  I got to know my neighbors better, which was lovely, too!  The smell of the beeswax lingered all evening bringing back good memories.

I Like Thursday: Easter and Quilt Prep

I picked up some daffodils last week.  They fit nicely in this cute little vase I picked up a few years ago.  A little sunlight, a little green and yellow - it makes me happy!

I've spent the last few days working on Easter candy, a little at a time.  Candy centers.  Almond buttercrunch.  I'm still working solo, so I'm doing small batches and experimenting.  Last year's coffee buttercreams were good, so I'm trying it again  year.  I intended to make chai buttercreams, but instead I added some chai spice to some of the cookie dough truffles.  I'll be curious how they taste.

I Like Thursday: Little Bits and Pieces

Quick post this week to share with I Like Thursday.  Work has been busy.  Managed to get a bit of work done in the yard.  Pulled fabric and have been researching a quilt (I think I finally picked a pattern).  Working on my crumb blocks.  Once I go through them, I'll move onto strings and selvedge blocks.  And then onto my next baby quilt.

I Like Thursday: Thaw

We've gone from winter to spring all within a week.  I squeezed in some cross country skiing.  Thursday morning I explored some of Upham Road at the top of my road.  It was a nice climb, but too icy to ski down.  I had to pop off the skis and walk down.