Old quilts and new.......

It's been awhile since I've posted.  I am still plugging along on the Orange Peel quilt top, having hand-appliqued close to 150 of the little peels.  I try to do 5 at a time, but don't always meet my quota.  I'm loving the look of it, but don't have enough on the design wall to look much different from my last photo.

In between times of working on that, I pieced up another little project.  Digging around at our local second-hand store, I came across a bit of hand-piecing and some leftover patches that had not been worked.  It was all in a zippered clear vinyl pillow bag.  They charged $1.00, which I was happy to give, so I took it home.  Pulling out the finished part, I found that it was set into 14 rows of 5 blocks per row, making a long skinny piece.  Well, I picked it apart with a seam ripper, between the 7th and 8th rows, and then placed those pieces side by side, piecing it back into a top that was 10 rows of 7 blocks .  Here it is laying on the fabric that I chose for a border.

Looking through the bag further, I found about 10 more finished blocks, and pieces to make more.  I made enough extra blocks (I pieced mine by machine) to be able to piece a backing with a strip of blocks down the center.  This way I only had to buy a 2-yard piece of fabric for the backing, a wonderful peucy-green solid.  Adding a 2-inch strip of the border fabric on each side of the pieced blocks, I had enough width for the backing.

I basted it out underneath my carport a week ago, thinking I would quilt it by machine, probably immediately.  But life, and SPRING, intervened, and it is still beckoning to me from the back of a chair sitting alongside my bed.

It is very roughly handpieced, and had a lot of bagginess to the blocks.  But it is just TOO LOVELY to not be made into a finished little quilt to be loved and admired.  I just wish I knew who made the blocks, and why they gave up on them.

Adding to my quilty enthusiasm is my latest project request from JoAnn in Oklahoma.  She sent me a kit of the Swoon Sixteen Quilt, and asked me to piece it for her.  Over the last few days, I've managed to get the fatquarters cut, and one block pieced.  Tomorrow I hope to drop in on the local quilters at the senior center and maybe get the rest of the white background fabric all cut.

Quilt A-Peel....progress report

Today is March 1st.........HOORAY !  And it is time for an accounting on this Orange Peel top that I am attempting to make.

At this point, I actually like the look of space between the 'peels', instead of edges touching, but I didn't cut the squares big enough for that (because WHO DOES?)  Maybe, NEXT QUILT !

I think that I have appliqued approximately 56 or so 'peels' at this point.  I had some good momentum going , getting about 6 done per day, but then I went and donated blood........that afternoon, as soon as I started using a needle again, the end of it found it's way into the hole they had pricked while checking my hemoglobin level !!!!!!!!!!!  NO.........no,.....can't go THERE !

So, I set the appliqueing aside for the rest of the week.  Finally, last night, I was able to do 3 more blocks.  I need 140 for the center of the quilt, 60 for the outer border.........and then I'll piece in empty squares for the 'inner border'.

I think I'll have to sprinkle a red or pink in here and there....what do you think?

I've run out of background fabrics, with NO new ones to be found locally.  I also needed atleast 3 more turquoise fabrics.  I was counting on hubby's eye checkup today for a chance to visit the Hobby Lobby in the town 45 minutes away.  But they had NO backgrounds that I wanted to use.  I want WHITE with grey or sparse black print.  I WAS able to buy 3 new turquoises, and they are waiting to be dried right now.  And I am looking at a text print that I spied on Etsy......the dealer is going to send me a scrap, to be sure it is one that I can happily use.

So, for now, I'll just keep appliqueing on the ones that I have prepped.

In gardening news, I jumped the gun about a week ago, and raked leaves out of my flower beds.  A couple of days later, I discovered that the deer had nibbled away the new sprouts that had appeared when the leaves were removed ! ! !
















But in the front yard, the beautiful Crocus are blooming around the base of the Oak, and a few Buttercups(that's what I've always called Jonquils) are blooming too.  Lilys have sprouted, and the Maple trees are budding.










Now.................

yesterday,............ I attempted to burn some of the many Oak leaves that have accumulated at the edges of the yard.  I made the mistake of raking a pile too close to my burn barrel, thinking that it would be easier to just reach down and grab some to add to the barrel as they burned down.  Uh.........I didn't realize that a huge crack had been rusted through the bottom-side edge of the barrel, and suddenly there was fire all AROUND the base of the barrel, spreading quickly into my huge piles !   Hubby and I made quick work of stomping out the fire (we haven't reconnected the water hose yet!) before it could spread............PHEW !

Yep, you just see it coming, can't you ?  And I didn't HAVE A CLUE !

 So, additional leaf-burning will have to wait until I can buy a new barrel.....AND, I will not surround the base of IT with piles of leaves !  LESSON LEARNED, and praise GOD, catastrophe averted !