Friday, April 1, 2016

Spring

It's been spring since January, judging from the very confused flowering shrubs and trees.  But spring's in full swing now.....along with the pollen.  (Sigh.)

Mother Goose is on her nest not far from the bottom of our driveway.  The bluebird box has eggs too.


Shorts are again in fashion.

Everything is ablaze with color.  Tulips, azaleas, dogwoods, wisteria and more.  Every day the view is a bit greener too.  :-)

 Everyone is enjoying it.....from three to ninety-three!


I've been sewing too.  The Sailor Son wanted a flannel lap quilt....in autumn colors.  He chose some flannel shirts at thrift shops and apparently this is his vision of autumn colors.  I bought yellow, orange, red and brown flannel for the center and back layers which adds a bit more color.  Once I got the shirts cut up into 6.5" squares I realized I had plenty to make slightly smaller versions to surprise Five and Batman as well.  Easy to sew, but boy oh boy, all that snipping wore me out.  Then washing them!  My washer and dryer may never recover.  The LINT!  Holy cow.


I decided to do a bit of garment sewing.  (it's been a long time!)  Three new pairs of jeans.  Nice pattern, but I'm glad I took various reviews into consideration, measured myself carefully (YIKES!) and altered the pattern to fit someone my size and age.  ;-)  I'm very pleased with the end result.


My woolen sheep finally has a blanket.  Now I have to make the other eleven.


I love this cute binding kit.  This will go into a gift exchange at my bee retreat.  I really want to make another for myself!



And I made my first biscornu pin cushion.  :-D


I've been recovering from surgery so have been spending lots of time doing hand stitching in my comfortable recliner.  Piglet insists on sharing the chair with me and the other day The Viking made her a "picture blanket."  :-)


The other hand sewing has been this Cindy Blackberg design.  I started the embroidery in a workshop with her and then put it away as a UFO.  I dragged it out of the closet a couple of weeks ago, finished the embroidery, cut out and hand pieced the flowers and appliqued them to the top.  Now it's sashed and bordered I'm so pleased with how it came out!  What was I waiting for??






"Ahhhhhh.....", says Piglet.  "I've finally got the chair all to myself!"

 

4 comments:

Janice said...

You're just warming up as we are seeing the first signs of autumn. Trees are just starting to turn, the weather is nice, although in the high 20s for the next week or so. Mornings are getting down to single digits. Daylight saving ends tonight, so early evenings from now on. We are so lucky here to experience the four seasons. The binding kit is a great pattern isn't it. I'm finding the one I made to be very useful for putting English paper piecing in for when I am out and about.. Your hand stitching is lovely. You have been very productive in your down time. I hope you are feeling well now.

Melody said...

There are so many gorgeous things in this post and I loved the spring feel. We are heading into Autumn here so a dash of spring was beautiful. Adore your sheep too.

Jenny said...

Hi Katie, so nice to have you back again. Hope you are well on the way to recovery now after your op. But you must be, by the amount of sewing you have achieved! Haven't you been busy!

I'm aiming to work on UFOs myself and have been doing quite well. None of them yet completed, but they are moving along nicely.

Chookyblue...... said...

busy busy Katie...........lovely flannel quilt too........