Gifts from Friends

Along with those wonderful blocks I showed in the last post, there was this book. I have had more fun looking through it and have some great ideas for some small quilts made with some of the blocks. This is a fabulous reference book.

Today I received this book as a gift from a friend and am thrilled to bits! I have one of Kumiko Sudo’s other books and love it as well.

There are some absolutely fabulous little patterns in it for needle and pin books, pin cushions, you name it. A lot of the patterns call for little seed beads, so I can tell I’ll be heading to the bead places this weekend. There is one needle book pattern that I cannot wait to try. I have some scraps of Oriental fabrics that will work perfectly for this! I can see some great gifts for stitching friends coming out of this book!

Gifts from Nature

Every spring, we have the wonderful scent of the crab apple blossoms. The tree on the roof garden started to bloom on the weekend and it’s wonderful.

Here’s a close-up of the blossoms. I wish they lasted a wee bit longer, but am grateful we have them at all.

Smudge — awake for a change. 🙂 He is the most interesting cat to watch when the camera is turned on. He hears that little click and immediately starts striking a pose.

I have two little 9-patch blocks left to attach to the main body of the teddy bear quilt and then 2 small borders. It will be done this week! I’m half tempted to do the borders by hand, as I know they’d get done sooner if I did. Sitting down and doing them on the machine just seems too much like work! Hmmm — I wonder if this is why I shy away from borders.