1930's B.O.M. 6 and such

This block was due last week--I did get it done on time, but it was one of those stay-up-late-the-night-before things! There was so much going on with the quilt show that this block really went down to the wire. I am officially half way through this Block of the Month series! And what's better is that I know just how I am going to make the quilt!

Dare I say it.........without pissing off the weather gods........I think spring may finally be putting her toe over winter's line!!! One thing I *love* is hearing the cranes (at least I think these big migrating birds are cranes--they aren't geese 'cause they sound totally different, and they are much larger than geese)! For the last two days there have been huge V lines of cranes flying about. I always hear them before seeing them--it almost sounds like a cooing kind of sound except that it is loud. A sure sign of spring when these birds are on the move! Plus, just around the house, all of a sudden I am hearing birds in the morning! And my mourning doves are back to being romantic out on the deck in the backyard. Yes, I think spring is in the air!

I vented some of my pent up aggression against snow yesterday. We had a big mound of snow at the end of the driveway that got so compressed from endless snow plough enhancements and the van backing over it all the time that it became an iceberg of sorts. Even with temps in the 40's it was still a solid large chunk of ice. I went after it with the sledge hammer and broke up all the ice that was over driveway concrete! Very therapeutic.

Courtesy of motivation from Jen and the Prolific Online Quilters, I am picking up my Willow Tree Hill project again. Jen has organized a database into which we've all entered our UFOs, WISPs, etc. The projects (or chunks of projects) are numbered, and each month Jen is drawing a number--this month was #7, which for me is finishing the buttonhole stitching on my applique WTH blocks.


I loved this pattern the first time I saw it--only problem was, my sewing machine at the time did not have a buttonhole stitch. Now with my Janome 6600, I can do the applique just how I like it. This project actually became kind of a mourning project for me--I threw myself into working on it when my dog Zoe died. The detail and small scale gave me something to focus on. So, the name of this project has changed a bit from when I first began: The first name was (and still is) "Longbourn" after Elizabeth Bennet's house in Pride and Prejudice. Now it has a sub title as well: "A House just isn't a Home without a Dog." This is truly one of my favorite projects. I am planning to do all the quilting on it myself......but that is a ways off yet!