Spring has sprung!

DH and I took a short vacation last week, meeting up with his brother and sil for a few days.  I took pictures of my projects before we left, thinking I would do a blog post while away.  Unfortunately, the hotel WiFi wasn't working, so no blogging happened.   There was much chatting, hiking, walking, eating, and picture taking so the lack of WiFi was not a major issue.  There may have been a couple of Margaritas, also.

The week before we left, I completed my monthly projects for RSC16.  You can follow the link to see the other creative uses for the color orange that are being made around the world.  Angela keeps us on our toes, and provides a weekly link-up for sharing.  Anyone can join at any time.

I had also finished my stitching for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness.  It's nice to have this monthly link-up to keep me on track to finish projects.  I'm working on a kit that I won from Kaaren at Painted Quilt a couple of years ago.  Kaaren has always been very generous with her talents.  If you haven't been to her blog before, you owe it to yourself to pay her a visit.

Last, but certainly not least, I needed a birthday gift for my sister, and she requested unbreakable coffee mugs for their new(ish) camper trailer.  I did finally find a couple of mugs, but decided to wrap them in something special, so whipped up this little creation.

Almost makes me want to go buy a camper trailer of my own!  

My Charming Stars quilt was finally quilted, but this is the only picture I have so far.  It's always nice to have so much help while binding.

Drum roll please . . . . . . . this was the last quilt in my To-Be-Quilted pile!  I don't think I've been caught up since I finished my first or second quilt over six years ago.  Now that I'm friends with my quilting machine, and my room is clean and organized that I can actually get to it easily, I have no reason to not stay caught up going forward.

Speaking of going forward, I recently purchased a portable design wall.  Up until now, I've had a 'design floor' when necessary.  It's a little awkward, but I'm loving it so far!  I've used it for two small quilts that I'm making for our Sheriff's Department.

That's it for stitchy news.  We'll now move on to wildflower hikes in the Smokies.  Ahhh...what a gorgeous place!  We went on hikes, walks, and scenic drives.  Our primary purpose was photographing wildflowers.  DH's brother and sil live near there, and visit frequently, so they know all the best places to go and no time was wasted debating our daily itineraries.  I won't share all 464 pics that I took.
This first one I took for Di, who loves old stumps.  I see an elephant here Di, how about you?

That is all.  Now get back to stitching!       Sunny

Wrapping up March, OPAM and FNWF

Closing the books on another month!  It was a busy month, with a Scrapbook Retreat and a Quilt Retreat.  I worked on two projects at the quilt retreat, but have no finishes to share.  One will be finished soon, and the other will take awhile.  

There were some other finishes, however.  I started small with this tiny Spring quilt, measuring 6x6".  It was done in time for Easter, but barely.

Our Easter guests brought these beautiful roses.  They continue to get prettier each day.  This pic is for you, Allie!

This is one of my favorite quilts, and I actually finished it in February, but didn't get it photographed.  It took me a couple of years to find just the right pattern for fabric I bought in New York when I went to visit my friend, Di.

The pattern is Star Gazing from The Pattern Basket.  I pieced this at the fall retreat, and I think everyone else loved the pattern as much as I did.  And this was my first ever all-over free motion quilting that wasn't stippling.  It's not perfect, but I'm getting better!

Charming Stars was made with red and white fabric that I acquired in a swap a few years ago.  I had 15 strips of 5" fabric that I could not decide what to do with for the longest time.  After joining a SAL for this pattern and making one quilt with shirt fabric, I decided this was the perfect pattern for the strips.

I decided to make a star from each fabric rather than making it scrappy.  It's a very happy quilt!

My final project for March was a pillow cover.  The old pillow case was ruined and trashed a couple of years ago, so I've been looking at a naked pillow.  My original plan was for a simple pillow case, but then I decided to put a little more effort into it and do some quilting.  The fabric has been hiding in my stash, and is finally seeing the light of day.

And I already have a finish for April!!  I had to do some stitching for FNWF, so I finished this small wall hanging.  This was given to me crumpled in a bag, and I was thrilled to see that it had all been cut out and fused.  I merely had to applique and quilt for a finish.

I don't have the pattern, but I think it may be a McKenna Ryan?

I continue with my efforts to clean and organize my sewing room.  And this means cleaning up small projects that have been started.  More good stuff to follow!

Keep on stitching....... Sunny

Almost forgot to mention that we went to DC last week to see the Cherry Blossoms.  We were about a day and a half too early to see them at their peak, but they were still pretty!