Talkin' Turkey ready for quilting.

Where have the months gone? It seems only weeks ago that I was thinking about Bonnie Hunter's workshop and working on a CrabApples quilt from her patterns. The past few months have been full of ups and down. But I have pushed through and finished a few projects.

My priority was to complete Talkin' Turkey from Bonnie's March workshop here in Cincinnati. I did mine in blue and  yellow as I  will be gifting it to a very special cousin as soon as it's quilted and those are her favorite colors.. I have an appointment to rent a long arm machine in a few weeks and hopefully the binding will go quickly too.

Since my diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma my cousin Pat has been a super support calling to check in and sending cards and cheerful cartoons to brighten my day. I can't say how much this has meant to me and I hope that this quilt will express some of the gratitude of feel.

This was my first experience at strip quilting. It was fun and I was surprised at how much dimension it added.

Block Center

Strip piecing

Completed blocks

I did not follow Bonnie's design for the border. I wanted to get this finished and the size with Bonnie's borders was larger that I wanted. I decided on a plain border just to frame the quilt. I can't wait to see what it looks like quilted. I'm considering a yellow binding.

Completed quilt top

I also finished CrabApples this week, no pictures as of yet and I played around with the border on that quilt too.

My current project is to complete a  Scrappy Hexie quilt from McCalls. I started this a while back and used it as as my block of the month project with my quilt guild. I need 75 hexies, so while enjoyable, this time will be a time consuming project. Pictures will follow on my next post.

When I'm not quilting and have the energy I work in my garden. It's a little over grown, but once things dry up I hope to get things in order. The garden is a lot like quilting.  It is relaxing, but sometimes frustrating. And instead of piece of fabric, you use plants to create a hopefully lovely scene. I love seeing the perennials return each year like an old friend, and even am surprised by wildflowers or seedling from who knows where who just show up in the garden.

 

Hellebore

Hellebore

Dutchman Britches

Azalea from my mother's property

Sassafras and daffodils