Thinking Pink

Yesterday I got back on the horse, so to speak...that is, I re-mounted Melinda's baby quilt on the Gammill after picking out some of the stitches I did not like from Saturday's attempt. I decided to do a simple vine in the white borders, which was somewhat inspired by the vine in the white-on-white border fabric, but also by the floral motifs of the fabrics.

I had thought about doing custom designs in the blocks, especially since many of them were just one-patch designs. But after doing a few, I did not like the look. The blocks are only six inches, and I decided to use an overall "garden branching" quilting style. My favorite style...lots of free-hand flowers, leaves, and vines that cross all seam lines.

I actually finished the quilting and attached the brown binding fabric, ready to sew on to the back by hand in the mountains this weekend. But...oops, I found an unquilted area that is too large to be ignored. I will put it back on the machine this morning and add something there. I use the cardboard tubes from the inside of the batting rolls to clamp the quilt back on to the rollers. Will try to remember to photograph how this works, if you can't picture what I am talking about.

And while we are thinking little girl pink and blooming posies...look what decided to bloom this week! Nothing says The South like a beautiful camellia. I have three bushes, one white, one red, and this pink one. So far only the pink is in bloom.

It is turning colder this week. Hate to say this when the rest of the country has been fighting sub-zero temps and killer snowstorms, but we have had a very mild winter so far. Central North Carolina has been on the back side of those cold fronts up until now. The Canadian system is supposed to dip down here and bring us some cold weather, but no snow predicted for us yet.