What a fast month!

Wow! March seems to have flown by this year, and how is it already over 3 weeks since I posted my One Monthly Goal?  That goal seemed so achievable back then, but life got very busy very quickly - my elder son moved into his first flat (apartment) on his own and he and I went out hunting down affordable pre-owned furniture, I spent a week away working and then was super busy in the lab when I got back. In the meantime the weather has gone from cold to warm and back again, and tonight we expect snow in time for April Fool's Day. There was a brief flash of spring and I found these crocuses in full bloom, not where I had originally planted them but relocated courtesy of the squirrels and/or chipmunks! Flower bulbs rarely remain where I intend in my garden.

Crocuses the day before a heavy rainstorm...

Oh yes, and before I went away I had almost run out of the thread I was using to quilt my OMG quilts.  While away I visited 2 quilt shops neither of whom stocked the thread I wanted but I did buy other thread (in a similar colour way but a different manufacturer) and fabric including what would become the binding and that was on sale :)  When I got home I could not make the new thread work with my machine at all, ordered a free standing spool holder which got lost and a replacement had to be sent out.  However I did find the thread I wanted on-line and that arrived super quickly so I was able to have another go at the quilting and then found that I had not lowered my feed dogs when I had been having all that trouble with the different thread.  My preferred thread behaved just perfectly and tonight, with just a couple of hours of March left, I got the binding on both barn quilts - OMG for March 2021 achieved!!

Two quilts for "Toys for Tots"

There will be more detailed pictures once the quilts have been washed and dried to remove the temporary markings.

Baking also happened this month. Pi day was marked by an out of season batch of mince pies, normally I only make these between 1st December and Twelfth Night, so these were much appreciated as a special treat.

Pi day pies

 

For Christmas my elder son gave me a copy of New World Sourdough by Bryan Ford, so last weekend I made his Bananas Foster loaf and very good it was too!  I shall share photos of more of my attempts at recipes from this book over the coming months.

Sliced bananas on top

Banana-y, buttery, sugary swirl with rum on the inside

Spring Clearing (not cleaning)

After what seems like an endless winter with snow present in our garden from 10th December 2020 (yes that is 12 weeks ago!) the sun is shining brightly, the wind is still cold but the snow is melting, and Spring may be on its way "real soon now".  It will still be a while before the haze of green starts to appear in the woods around us, but I am already hearing birdsong when I awaken in the mornings and the curtains are staying open a little later each evening before I feel the need to shut the darkness out.

Quilter's Depth Gauge, 17th Dec 2020

 

At some point last year my quilting mojo just up and left - I think it had had enough of covid, social distancing, isolation etc.  Wherever it went I hope it had a good time, but I sure did miss it.  I still did some sewing as masks continued to be needed, I made summer pyjama shorts for my menfolk, some shorts and a couple of dresses for myself, but no quilts.  However I am pleased to say my mojo crept back into my life sometime in November 2020 and still seems to be here, which brings me to the real subject of this blog posting - Spring Clearing!

Autumn Leaves Wallhanging - completed Nov 2020

 

Like many (most?) quilters and crafty people I tend to have more than one project on the go at any one time and sometimes those projects that get left behind nag us in the background, sapping our energy for the current project, pushing our guilt buttons because they still aren't being worked on or even finished.  I had too many of those so have been making efforts towards whittling them down a bit so I can get on with more recent(and new) projects with a clearer conscience.

So far as part of my Spring Clearing I have photographed and listed several quilts in my Etsy shop, relisted my hand dyed sock yarns and finished up some nearly done baby quilts and listed those too.  For my younger son I got on with and finished his denim and polar fleece quilt that had been in the works for too long and thanks to USPS it arrived in New Mexico from PA a couple of days before his birthday.  

Today I am working on pin basting two charity quilts for our local quilt guild, I had started these back in June last year when I last updated this blog, yesterday I made the second top and dug out a couple of pieces of polar fleece to back them, getting these quilted and bound is my One Monthly Goal for this month. 

Backing is fleece with pink stars

Pale fawn fleece backing with pastel elephants

I also have a couple of quilts that are destined to be gifts to work on, but can't show photos just yet.  The sooner I get them done, the sooner I can share them with you all.  Another work in progress is my Grassy Creek mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville, I have made all the parts except the outer borders but assembly will have to wait until my living room floor is no longer occupied by my tender plants. In the meantime I did assemble a whole load (240) tiny bonus HST units trimmed off while making one of the clues into a cushion cover featuring some of the other fabrics used in the quilt.

Cushion cover from Grassy Creek trimmings

Constituent parts of Grassy Creek quilt - some assembly required...

I am hoping that the mojo is here to stay for a while and I will get more projects moved from the WIP list to the done list freeing up time and energy for some long standing UFOs (UnFinished Objects) as well as some new ideas.  Meanwhile Smokey is dreaming of better weather to come: