Desperate for spring

What is spring?  It seems so long now that it is hard to remember.  But leafing through my mind to a year ago, it means yellow in sun and flowers; golden light on chrome in the kitchen; yellow and pink in easter fabrics among the things I long to see.

Reality is cold and white.  The white is getting a bit tattered around the edges and some crazy magnolia tree buds are swelling but it is not spring.

Next best thing, work with spring colours.  Spring is also a time to make quilts for children in hospital and I was quilting one yesterday. I got to try out a design I had drawn while under the thumb of recovery from surgery.  Well the quilt had pink and a lovely yellow back as well as lots of colour in the strips out of which it was made. In spite of the weather outside, inside on the quilting frame was spring and it was fun to take something from paper to the quilt and to enjoy the doodling and the colours.

Here is a small dose of yellow.

In bits and snatches I am conquering EQ7.  It is really nifty and a great thing for quilters whose minds run in inspiration mode.  It is also great to test out colours on blocks.  I used to use Excel but that had it limits.   I love paper piecing so here is my first block designed, sewn and cut sheet made; a crazy, scrappy block.  Thanks to Carol Doak for teaching how to do the cut sheet in her latest book 'Creative Combinations' where she shares so many tips. That is one of the great qualities of quilters. They share knowledge willingly and with great generosity.  They are sunshine.

Something different

Well to me it was quite different when I was introduced to it.  Paper piecing.  Not just paper piecing but paper piecing the Carol Doak way. Carol Doak 

We have an extraordinary paper piecer in our local guild.  She undertook to teach us in early winter 2011.  I think I sprouted feet and toes on my hands and my brain seemed to be mush.  But I did make something which is now on a chair in Australia.  I truly thought this would be a one time effort.  But as my friend the paper piecer kept on doing fabulous things it kind of wore into my head that this was pretty exciting stuff.  First there was a miniature quilt.  Some of my toes returned to the right places.  And then it was paper pieced crazy quilt which is actually close to the finish line of UFO's.  It was a free Carol Doak pattern.  Have a look at the freebies.  They are a good way to start.

This very good friend (boy good friends manage to get around you) was always doing something for Carol's Yahoo Group. Those somethings are stunning.  So a mystery one came up.  I thought I would try.  After all quilting is about challenges and I think all ten toes left the paper piecing arena and my fingers and brain had figured out the method; pretty fast considering it only took 3 projects. So I joined the Yahoo group for a scrap quilt which comes in various size blocks  (the sampler is an in thing these days).  Well I am hooked and as each set of squares is released at the beginning of the month I cannot wait to make each one.

Ok you wonder why I am blattering on about paper piecing.  Well, each month Carol picks a square to display on the home page of the Yahoo groups and this month it is mine.   I am excited and grateful and it shows that even a beginner can score a bull's eye.  Here is the main and 8 single blocks which will be in the final quilt.  It goes to prove that you can enjoy a challenge, learn something new in quilting all the time and that good friends make great teachers.  Be a quilter and learn, share and just plain have fun.  Now quilting this quilt will be another challenge.  I cannot wait.  9 more days to go.  Hortense* get ready you have lots of work to do.

* If you are a new reader Hortense is my long arm quilting machine.  Sometimes it is good to talk to big machines like that.  :)   After all it can grumble by having poor tension.