I'm lovin' this quilt!

My strawberries baby quilt is finished!

Strawberries for Anna:

I made this quilt for my daughter's (from kindergarten on) 
best friend's first baby.

I know I shared this quilt when I was making the blocks,
and I had one of the strawberry caps on upside down.

I almost left it with the upside-down top, 
but realized I couldn't -
it was going to be gifted to a little one,
who would not meet her grandmother - 
my friend and also a quilter,
who'd lost her battle with cancer just a couple of years before.
So, in my friend's honor, I corrected it, 
as she would have if she'd made it herself, for her little grand-daughter.

 * * * * * * *

Sometimes after I've made a quilt from a pattern, 
I'm over it, as in - been there, done that,
and never even consider making that pattern again.
I was hoping that would not be the case after I made the baby quilt to gift.
But this one is so cute, that I think I'll have to make another one,
this time for me to keep here at the homestead.

These are the fabrics that I originally chose when I got the pattern...
for making the quilt for myself -

Civil War reproduction pinks, reds, and greens.  
I just don't have a background fabric that's not so bright-white-new looking.

Now this stack of fabrics is with the pattern, 
added to the growing stack on the shelf of  the 'someday' list.
(: My list of the 'someday' quilts sure is growing! :)

Does everyone have a waist-high stack (or mile-long list)
of someday quilts (or something) to create?

Happy Thursday!

meanderings in May

I was mind-meandering recently,
you know, thinking...
(and you know the trouble that THAT can cause),
about the enjoyable gardening and the yard work calling me.
I think it's nice to have my gardening done
before the end of May...
Memorial Day, which will soon be here.

A quick glance at the calendar, 
and Oh, my!, it is even sooner than I thought.  
I always associate the END of the month of May - 
near the 31st, as the holiday weekend.
But not this year!!! 
The last Monday in May falls on the 25!!!
And here I was planning around the idea 
that I had another week in there.

Garden prep, 
flower bed and water garden clean-up, 
not just outdoor house maintenance, but indoors, too...
all of those things that seem to take a little more time each year.
Or maybe it's not that they take a little more time,
but just a little more energy? :)

Anyway, I've prepped some of my outdoor gardens -
the strawberry beds look a little sad, and
they may need some revamping this year.
Then the rain came back to visit, so I came indoors to work...

I also have an indoor strawberry garden
that is coming right along!

I meandered a little differently on each strawberry (inspired by the fabrics).

Such a nice indoor strawberry garden, I think!!
Just one more side of binding to hand-stitch.

I hope your week is starting out well...
with pleasant, meandering/thinking time,
indoors or out.

One of these things

is not like the others.
One of these things just doesn't belong... 
Do you remember that Sesame Street song?

Well, I sure did after I pressed my strawberry blocks!

I have all of the blocks made for my quilt-y gift!
As I pressed each strawberry block, I put it off to the side.
And I didn't even notice UNTIL it was 
off to the side that one was definitely different.

I had purposefully sewn the 'stem and leaf' sections
with some of the leaves going left and others going right.
But do you see the strawberry on the right-hand side in the above picture?
That's an Oops.  

Who knows why I didn't notice that the stem and leaf section was upside down??

It was a quick fix.  And I'm glad that I noticed it before all the blocks were sewn together and quilted!

But that song's been stuck in my head all day.
I know I'll be humming it to put myself to sleep.

tax day/mindless sewing

Here in the U.S., it's THE DAY to file income taxes.
Yes, I've already filed and mailed off my $$$$ a while ago. 
I know many folks that file extensions,
as it takes more and more time each year to 'file'.

Even though I'm a 'numbers' person and enjoy 'figuring',
after all of that tax prep and brain work, 
I've needed to let my brain rest a little.
My brain rest-time was wisely used to do some mindless sewing.
My mindless sewing is half-square triangles

for my Strawberry quilt!

There was a little thinking involved earlier...
but hopefully my pre-prepped cutting stacks 
will have been conducive to just sewn, not un-sewing the blocks. :)

The pic above shows a block that has been
snipped and then pressed per the instructions.
Then layered with an over-sized fabric square 
and, below, again sewn and re-cut:

I love working with patterns that are thorough, well-written and have plenty of diagrams.  What I really like about this particular pattern is the well thought out pressing instructions, AND that everything is a little over-sized for trimming down to the exact size.

Here's a shot of my first finished block, 
and the trimmings from that block off to the right:

Over-sizing and trimming makes such perfect little points!

The pattern is Strawberry Social, by Margot Languedoc, ThePatternBasket, Ontario, Canada;  (a picture of the pattern cover is here, that I shared on a previous post).  
I purchased my pattern through a local distributor, so if you like it and HAVE to make one also, just ask at your local shop and I'm sure they can get it for you.
And, no, I have no affiliation with Margot or The Pattern Basket,
I just like the pattern and how well it was written and thought that was worthwhile to share.
Mindless sewing, yet so worthwhile, as it's taken my mind off all the tax work and $$$$ sent. :)

Are you a work 'til-the-deadline or file-it-early type of person?
Do you also need a little mindless sewing (or something similar) after all that tax work?

Happy middle of April!