Sixteen Pieces

I got up early this morning and was on the pickleball courts with my new membership at 8 am. And I had a blast! Really fun and competitive play. I was well exercised by the time we finished at 10. I also played pickleball at the same place last night. The play was not quite as robust as this morning, but I had a good time and took the opportunity to practice some skills I don’t always get to use.

And it was a gorgeous day and my Boys, of course, demanded some action and attention. So they got several sessions of frisbee in the back yard sunshine and we took a lovely three mile walk in the late afternoon sunshine. I was in my shirt sleeves!

So with all of that in mind, I’m pretty worn out tonight.

I did want to work a little bit on my green blocks but didn’t think I would be able to stay with it for very long. So I decided to whack out a bunch of centers for my green blocks. I cut one strip of the Sand Dollars fabric, sub cut it into 2.5 inch squares and started adding the black and white accents. Chain piecing is my friend!

It may seem odd to have the strip on the top and the separate pieces on the bottom, but it works better for me. It’s easier to keep everything aligned. I just keep my little pile of centers to my left and slip them under the strip as I reach the end of the previous block. Then when I have a long strip done I snip them apart. I leave about 1/4 inch between the blocks so I have a little bit of room to trim accurately.

Then I cut them apart and press them carefully. I find that If my blocks are wonky it often happens with careless and aggressive pressing.

I managed to get 16 centers made so when I hit my sewing room tomorrow night I can just fly and maybe get these all completed.

You might remember that last fall I traded some quilt tops for long arm services with a friend of mine. I gave her six quilt tops to quilt for herself and she quilted six more for me. One of those quilts was gifted to my pickleball coach in December. My friend sewed on the bindings that I provided but I was left to finish the bindings. I hand stitched the binding on the quilt for my coach and my thumb is still bothering me. I have five more quilts that need the binding finished. I prefer a hand finished binding and do NOT enjoy machine-finishing bindings. I just don’t like the wear and tear on my hands. I need my hands for pickleball and sewing!

So when I was in a local quilt store when my friend was here last month I asked the woman working there if she knew anyone who could sew bindings for me and she said that SHE provides that service. So she called me a few days ago and I’m going to take my five unbound quilts to her at the quilt shop on Sunday.

You can see all these quilts here.

I don’t have any plans for these quilts, but since they’re mostly done, I might as well get them bound.

And what makes this especially fun? The shop where I’ll take my quilts has the new Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics in stock and I’m really excited to get my hands on some!

Today was the most amazing day! It really felt like spring has arrived in Portland. The glorious sun shined all day long and it got up to over 60 degrees! These boys definitely noticed how nice it was.

they were outside almost all day long as I worked.

My forsythia blooms have been trying to open up for over a week and they have finally decided it’s time!

Forsythias always remind me of my mom. Their blooms every year were a sign for her that spring had truly arrived. And now it’s the same for me.

I’m really looking forward to seeing this in its glory this year. Last year my yard guy cut it back in the fall so its bloom was a little underwhelming. I love to have it all sprangly and crazy when it blooms. Is “sprangly” a word? It’s definitely sprangly this year.

My first daffodil blooms have also opened up. It will be a few more days before they are in all their glory.

It’s so wonderful to have spring finally arrive. I know we’ll have more rainy and dreary weather before it’s all over, but the next week is going to be so glorious!