Pretty Baby Quilt

Today I ended my self-imposed break from all the quilting I did prior to Christmas.  I should not have waited so long to get back on the horse...I was a little rusty!  The actual quilting came right back to me, but mounting the quilt on the machine took forever.

Here is the blue baby quilt that my friend Marcia asked me to finish, using her mother's quilt blocks.  They found these when they were going through her mother's stash.  There will be a new baby in their family soon, and they asked me if I could make a baby quilt with these blocks.

I got the blocks put together and a border added, and finished the quilting today.  They found out that the baby will be a girl, so I tried to make this a little "girlie" despite all the blue.  Many of the fabrics are floral and have pink accents.   I used a dark pink thread and lots of floral, heart, and swirly motifs.

I originally thought about making scalloped borders, but instead decided to feather the borders and leave them straight.

I think this quilt will be just fine for a little baby girl!

There was one pieced block left over, so I used it and the leftover fabric to piece the back.  That left some nice big "canvases" that show off the quilting nicely.

Now I need to get the binding done and find out if they want a label.  This was a fun project!

I also have gotten a good start on a new painting. This time I am doing poppies and lupines.  This may be my favorite so far.  I still have to paint the centers of the poppies and the petals on the lupines.

It was gloriously warm and sunny today for the first time in a long time.  It was wonderful to be outside without a parka and mittens!  Here is Kasey in the sunshine, sniffing around one of the bird feeders.  She is in there somewhere.

The pond down the street has finally thawed out.

These two pines in my back yard are like sentinels leading the way to the woods.

We had a nice surprise today.  My second youngest brother, who lives in Florida, had to make a quick overnight business trip to Raleigh. Charlie and I were able to meet him for dinner in downtown Raleigh at The Pit, a barbecue restaurant.  It was wonderful to get together, even for a short visit.  Maybe he brought the warm, sunny weather up here with him!