Ta Da!!!

Drumroll, please!!!  I have finished one of those forever UFOs!!  You know?  The ones that you still really like, but they sit at the bottom of the priority ToDo List.  High school grad quilts take precedence.  College grad quilts take precedence.  Wedding quilts and baby quilts?  Take precedence.  With all that precedent taking, some quilts just sift to the bottom and sit there, waiting patiently to be noticed.

Well, what better motivation than a Stay at Home order to get some forward progress on one of those I-love-you-but-every-other-quilt-is-more-important projects?  I set a goal to finish this quilt before the end of April.  Ta da!!  It is finished!!

 You are looking at the quilt on the bed.  The binding is navy blue, I've set it on top of another quilt.  There is no white border.  The color in the picture above is closer to accurate.  The design in the picture below is more evident.

 This quilt is FULL of memories!!  I was piecing it when I worked in the dining room, with my sewing machine on the dining room table and a flannel sheet taped to the wall.  I was piecing it when we had two cats who are since long gone, who liked nothing better than to maraud through my sewing space and destroy whatever they could find.  A favorite midnight treat was to shake all the block pieces from the flannel wall.  If you look closely, the piecing of this quilt is pretty intricate.  Actually, the piecing is easy.  It's the color/fabric placement that was a bear.  And now it's done, and it is all hand quilted.  hip hip hooray!!  hip hip hooray!  hip hip hooray!!!

I worked so diligently on that quilt this week, I didn't make time for much else.  I made one little birthday card, for my mother-in-law.  It reminds me of Tahiti.

 Back in December, I talked with a contractor about updating our 80's lighting in the bathrooms.  He finally got us on his list this week, and the first stage of improvements has been installed.  Gone are the cracked plastic/fluorescent light fixtures and in their place are LED's, set in oak.  The second stage will involve adding a shelf above the light box, and up-lighting.  I plan to display shells there, when all is said and done.

So, while others are chaffing at the bit, wondering what to do next, I am very pleased with this week's progress.

I even have my next hand quilting project all set and ready for quilting.  My plan was to begin by 3pm this afternoon.  Unfortunately, at 1pm, I sliced open my finger on a can of tuna.  groan.  No stitches necessary, and I had a tetanus shot within the year.  All I have to do is wait for it to heal a bit because the next hand quilting project?  Cannot be christened with a bloody finger.  That much is certain.

The other quilt-related thing that I did this week was to enter two quilts in the Mancuso South Carolina show.  I'm anxious to see if they are cleared to hold it.  South Carolina is one of the states easing restrictions, if our news in CA is accurate.  I hope and pray that all goes well with them and that they pave the way for the rest of us to regain our freedom of movement.

April has been a long month.  I do hope that May holds only 31 days.

Happy Quilting!!!