Spring Butterflies & Christmas Hexies

These have been sewn for over a week, but still not in the mail--I'm a little distracted these days preparing to get married...on Saturday!

 Love the Christmas hexies Victoria chose, so easy, and as a gal who loves green, I had plenty of scraps to choose from:

And Andie, this quilt is going to be so awesome (I'm a little jealous of your daughter...)  I might even have to do something similar for my block in July:

Love fussy-cuts:

Two Months Catch-up

You'll feel sorry for me when I tell you that I wasn't able to make Michelle's February block, nor Victoria's March block because I didn't have a sewing machine for more than a month. I was in a Florida beachside condo for a couple weeks, and then in Tampa spending time with a ten month-old grandson. Poor me, huh?

But as soon as I got home, I got to sewing! Michelle, your block was especially challenging to make because the strips were in short supply! I had to piece three strips to get the lengths needed for string-piecing. Here's a picture of the wee pile of scraps I had left over. The largest piece was the 2" X 4" print on the far left. 

This is a big block at 18-1/2" X 18-1/2" unfinished. I hope the seams aren't too noticeable.

Decorative stitches on my 830 Bernina Record are limited, but I think this one looks nice.

I was merrily decorative-stitching away when the sewing machine dramatically slowed speed. I couldn't figure out why until I opened the top of the machine to see that a cone of thread I had set aside got caught in the fly wheel! Lots of snipping and "arghs" later I was able to finish the decorative stitching.

Michelle, this is your block and leftover bits that were mailed to you today.

Victoria, thanks for the fun of picking green print scraps from my stash. You'll notice that I was sure to include a palm tree print (see at top right) that's sort of my trademark. With a blog name of "Flourishing Palms," I take every opportunity to work in palm trees.

Two additional tips when making this block:

1. If you have a Sara Nephew Clearview 60-degree Triangle, it's great for trimming the six triangle units before sewing them together. 
2. It's helpful to put a piece of lightweight paper beneath the center circle, before appliqueing it down. The paper adds nice stability. My old Bernina doesn't have a blanket stitch, but the number two utility stitch looks nice.

It will be so fun to see these blocks made into quilts! Michele, Michelle or Victoria... whose quilt top will we see first?

Linda in Iowa

This Flock of Geese Flying North

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Oh, Victoria!  Here come the geese!  Not having made a many-pieced quilt block before, I have no standard for perfection but the magazine photo, and .... you  may have to adjust a little.  It was great having all these geese blocks to sew.  I really love making them.  So therapeutic.  However, I can see that allowing a number of different sewists to make your blocks creates a large chance that seam allowances can differ! 
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Before sewing almost every seam, I marked out the 1/4-inch in hopes that it is as close to your work as possible for me.  Thanks so much for pre-cutting all the fabrics!  What a job that would be!  Happy Easter everyone!  We had a lovely morning at church today, and light lunch at Waffle House, and then the home chef, my husband, has our big dinner planned.  So, while the others were napping, I finished up the block and readied it for its flight home.  Can't wait to see the finished product.