April 30 Block

Today is 120 days and 125 blocks into the 365+ Block Project.  I visited the fabric store, Gay Feather, today and bought some fat eighths of duponi silk in beautiful colors.  I've never worked with silk before.  It certainly has it's own characteristics, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Granted, this silk is slightly heavier so I imagine it's easier to handle than sheerer silk would be.  It's certainly gorgeous and lustrous!  (By the way, for all local quilters and seamstresses, Gay Feather is still easily accessible despite the construction on Williamson Street, so be sure to stop in.)

For my extra April block I mixed the silk with cotton batik.... Mary

April 29 Block

The Alabama state flag - our thoughts and prayers are with all the people devastated by these horrible storms.... Mary

April 28 Block

Even longer day makes for an even longer week.  Thank heavens for our weekly WSQG meeting.... Mary

April 27 Block

Long day, long week.... Mary

April 26 Block

My daughter, Anne, sent me a story out of the Daily Mail in England about Holland's tulip fields.  (Shockingly a story not about the royal wedding!)  The pictures inspired today's quilt block.... Mary

April 25 Block

Button, button, who's got the button?  Don't you just love buttons?  Old ones, new ones, round ones, square ones, any ones.... Mary

April 24 Block

Today, Easter Sunday, I saw my first butterflies of the season and my first dandelions.  It was "just" a couple of little Cabbage Whites.  As my husband says whenever one of us comments that it was "just" a sparrow: "If sparrows were the only birds, we'd built temples to them."  Same thing with "just" Cabbage Whites.... Mary

April 23 Block

Despite the snow, sleet, hail, and freezing temperatures of this past week, my daffodils are slowly opening.  They are far hardier than I have been in the face of this weather.... Mary

April 22 Block

Had an eye exam today with dilation drops.  Such a weird feeling driving and walking around with fully dilated pupils.  I had to get computer glasses for middle distance (better than tri-focals!)  The guy at the eye glass place offered to tint the glasses pink for me so I could look at the world through rose colored glasses.  I passed on the tinting but did get red frames just for the fun of it.... Mary

April 21 Block

Our South Central Library System installed a new and improved online search system this week.  I don't know about you, but I think being able to search for a book or movie while in my jammies before I've even brushed my teeth is just about the coolest thing in the world.  I picked up a pile of holds this evening on books I don't even remember reserving, but they all look really cool.

My favorite t-shirt from the old Whole Earth Catalog said, "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."  Isn't that the truth.... Mary

April 20 Block

Totally awesome Annie took poor old Mittens to the vet over her lunch hour.  It's probably renal failure, so they re-hydrated her, and she seems to have perked right up.  So it will be regular hydration (Anne learned how) and special food (or whatever she wants to eat) until she doesn't perk up anymore.... Mary

April 19 Block

Really crappy weather and a very sick 18 year old cat.... Mary

April 18 Block

Despite tomorrow's forecast of rain, sleet, and high only in the 30s, it's still Spring.  Or so I keep telling myself.... Mary

April 17 Block

Mother Nature is being kind to us with a sunny day and mild-ish temperatures.  This is after two cold, wet and miserable days with several cold, wet and miserable days to come.  Ah well, it's April in Wisconsin.... Mary

April 16 Block

A co-worker asked Anne and I to help with the fine arts festival at his daughter's elementary school this afternoon.  We oversaw two of the six art stations:  I did paper quilts, and Anne did colored pasta sculptures.  There were lots of materials and gallons of glue.  It was a delight to see the intensity of focus and complete absorption of the children as they worked.... Mary

April 15 Block

On Fridays after work, Anne and I do errands and grocery shopping.  We're both going to the same places so we do the errands together.  Tonight it was raining and sleeting with 40 mph wind gusts, and yet it was better than doing grocery shopping on the weekend.... Mary

April 14 Block

My friend JK and I had our weekly meeting of the WSQG (World's Smallest Quilt Guild) after work today.  It is always so refreshing to see JK and talk about our art.  After that I followed my older daughter, Anne, to the mechanics to leave her car to have the snow tires removed tomorrow.

On the way we passed the front yard of a house that gets the full morning sun, and it was a carpet of squill (scilla), the tiny flowers that spring up this time of year, blanketing lawns in electric blue.  There were small patches of yellow crocus sprinkled among the squill in what is possibly my very favorite color combination.  What a sight, with nothing lacking.... Mary

April 13 Block

On the bus on the way home tonight, I was listening as I usually do to an audio book.  As I looked out the window and saw a mass of daffodils flowering in front of building, Eckhart Tolle was saying, "What is lacking in this moment?"  The answer, of course, is Nothing.  No-thing is lacking in this moment.

And when I got home, we too had achieved daffodil.... Mary

April 12 Block

Despite the threat of snow in a couple of days, the signs of Spring are everywhere.

The scrubby bushes by our garage actually have almost leaves!  They are not the prettiest shrubs I've ever seen, but they survive Wisconsin winters and turn green every Spring.... Mary

April 11 Block

It was 81 degrees yesterday and 56 today.  Two days of nice weather, and then it's going to get cold again with the possibility of some snow on the weekend.  If only by sheer force of will, it will be spring.... Mary

April 10 Block

The grass is turning green right before our eyes.  The 81 degree heat and rain today should ratchet it up a notch.  Actually this fabric is a lot greener, but I just couldn't get it to transfer to digital.

I've done the background beading on the January 1 block now that it's joined with its two other blocks.  You can see my disappearing ink marks so I didn't go beyond the 1/2" seam allowance.... Mary

April 9 Block

The foliage on the daffodils is growing two or three inches a day, and there are big, fat buds on many of them.  Any day now.... Mary

April 8 Block

These lovely crocheted edge motifs are from a doily that has seen far better days.... Mary

April 7 Block

Have you discovered the Decorah Eagles yet?  The Raptor Resource Project has a 24/7 camera on an eagle's nest outside Decorah, Iowa, and the third eaglet hatched last night!  It is so cool, amazing, and awesome.  Beware!  It is also highly addictive.... Mary

April 6 Block

We're having rain and more rain, but the forecast is for 70s on the weekend.  That will jump start the daffodils and magnolia.... Mary

April 5 Block

Election day in Wisconsin.  I hope everyone voted because, if we've learned anything, it's that every vote counts.... Mary

April 4 Block

Something bright and busy to keep me awake during a week of dull meetings.

The first two rows are sewn together.  Not easy to photograph.... Mary

April 3 Block

A springy green block for a gray Sunday.  I have the first row of 18 blocks sewn together and have started on the second row.  Once those two rows are joined, I'll post a photo, and then I can begin to bead in earnest.  Even though quilt blocks have gotten me into the studio every single day, I am still a bead artist and I miss the beading.... Mary

April 2 Block

Thirteen things I've learned in the first 90 days of this project:

1.    Setting a requirement of every single day works.  I wasn't sure it would, but it does.
2.    Three inches is not very much space within which to work.
3.    Fat quarters are the perfect fabric size to buy for this project.  (For non-quilters, a fat quarter is a half yard cut in half or 18 x 22, as opposed to a skinny quarter which is 9 x 44. Many people, like myself, find it a more useful size.)
4.    I don't need a fancier sewing machine, and believe me there are some fancy ones out there.  My little Janome is just great.
5.    Still don't use a lot of stripes, but I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting ones.
6.    Fabrics I never would have looked at twice before I started this every-single-day-a-new-quilt-block thing, make some of the best blocks.  It's clearly good to stretch beyond my own self imposed taste rules.
7.    Not paying attention to the square before or the square that comes after is good.  Just go with today.
8.    I will probably never be an heirloom quilter, but that doesn't matter because I'm having fun.
9.    Some days I really have to toss something together before bedtime and just not worry about it.
10.  Getting out of my own way is a very good idea.
11.  Color doesn't matter.  Everything goes with everything else one way or another.
12.  The same thing with pattern.  It all works in its own way.
13.  A lot can happen in 90 days:  new governor (look where that's gone/is going), new department (still evolving), new diagnosis (Grandma is doing okay for now), and new project that has gotten me into the studio every single day.

Today's block is a little "hankie pankie" from some estate sale handkerchiefs that still have a lingering whiff of their owner's cologne.  I'm old enough to actually remember women spraying a bit of scent on their hankie and tucking it in their handbag.... M

April 1 Block

Of course I made a "quilt" block today -- April Fool's.... Mary