Progress

This morning I appliqued one block entirely, on Scarlett, and it went really well.

I can't do all of them at once, because my eyes get too tired to focus properly, but I've got things to sew on the old machine, that I don't need to concentrate on.  

I'll do one or two plates a day, and they will be done soon enough. I'm just using a tiny zigzag and the stitches are blending in nicely.

The box of 8.5" squares was getting very full, so I pulled out 20 pairs and started making the HSTs that are needed for Scrappy Mountain Majesty. 

 Another favourite Bonnie pattern, this will be the 5th one I've made. I love the process, and the end result.

I was chopping up 1/2 a metre of an ugly green fabric into squares when I noticed it was a Jinny Beyer print. It didn't look like her usual fabric, and when I looked closer I realised the pattern was actually stylized letters spelling out Millenium. 

OMGosh, this is 25 years old!  It was part of a scrap bag I bought, so it's been tucked away in at least 2 stashes for a quarter of a century. It's getting used at last.

Another quilt top from the archives; there are several online videos showing how to cut this pattern from 10" squares, but I sized it down to a much smaller starting square. I had so much fun making this, I'm itching to do another one, but I have to finish a few things first.

It's a perfect pattern to show off pretty modern fabrics, of which I have a few. 'How can that be?' you ask, 'don't you love 1800 repros the best in all the world?'

Well yes , but I think I actually love all the fabrics. There's no other explanation.

Spotlight, our discount craft chain, has been having ludicrously cheap sales this year. The last time I visited they were selling FQs 10 for $10, and fabric on the bolt for $4 a metre. We haven't seen prices like that since last century! I asked how it was possible, and the woman serving me said they'd bought all the stock from a US craft chain that closed down.  So we are reaping the benefits of Jo-annes closing down. Amazing.

These cards are from the centres of the FQs, and there are dozens and dozens of them in the sewing room. 

I might have done some stocking up, on several repeat trips, some for me and some for Mereth, and some for Isla. She loves to come with me on my fabric buying expeditions, and is endlessly patient. Her reward is to pick 10 FQs for herself. Her craft cupboard is fully stocked with fabric, yarn, cross stitch and crochet supplies. We sit on her bed chatting away, knitting a scarf for a bear or crocheting something for a friend. It's lovely.

My garden is sporting some lovely flowers for Spring. This is a grey green succulent that scrambles out of its pot, and is covered in these clusters of flowers, each only half an inch. They are so pretty, and so cheerful. They don't need much looking after, which makes them ideal for my haphazard gardening efforts.