May Day

    When I was a child, the children in my small hometown celebrated May Day on the first day of May.  
I spent several days before the big day planning my baskets to deliver to my friends, hopefully in secret.  The baskets were always homemade, using whatever container was at hand, decorated with crepe paper and ribbons and filled with flowers.  I no longer make May Baskets, but I still look for flowers on  the first of May.  Here is a dogwood tree blooming in our little town.

Our lilac bush in the back yard is blooming, the peonies are bursting in their buds, and the long struggling pansies are finally happy.  

      I have been getting some sewing done.  I finished quilting the quilt camp challenge/granddaughters comfort quilt and am happy with it.  I quilted it lightly, so it would be soft and cuddly.  Here is a picture of it.

I have a cropped version of the picture somewhere in this computer, but can't seem to find it.  This is one of the Missouri Star quilt patterns, called Garden Party.  I changed it a bit by giving the flowers a yellow center.  It is basically snowball corners on charm squares, then sashed.  

     I have been keeping a notebook in my sewing room with goals and accomplishments since January and find it is very encouraging to review them at the end of the month.  I think we all accomplish more than we think, just don't take the time to document it.  In April, I made 56 total blocks.  Here's the breakdown:  30 Camp Windemere blocks for the Barbara Brackman fabric quilt, 10 Split Nine Patch for the Bonnie Hunter quilt, 6 Dear Jane blocks and 10 Uneven Nine-Patch for the Row by Row Quilt I have been working on for years.  In addition to that, I machine quilted two quilts and machine embroidered 13 tea towels for a local shop to sell.  Also did some clothing alterations for my husband and a friend in town.  Here's my goals for May:  finish the Row by Row quilt, finish Row A of Dear Jane, machine quilt my UFO challenge for Quilt Guild and start the Guild Quilt Show challenge.  The challenge name is Reach for the Stars and I plan to challenge myself to paper piece some stars for it.  I have struggled to become proficient at paper piecing, but working on the Dear Jane has given me more experience and confidence.   If you would like to see what our active guild is doing, we have recently established a web site.  stitchbystitchquilters.org   It also will give details of our Bonnie Hunter visit in September 2015.  

Enjoy your Spring, I certainly am.

Judy