April 2015 Progress Report: ALYoF, 350 Blocks Project, and more

You could say I was a slacker this month.

Easter, a mishap, a quilt show, my birthday, and other stuff interfered with my quilting and sewing. Here's what I was able to accomplish:

My goals were to get the Australia Streak of Lightning IMT loaded and quilted; this was my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes: Loaded, quilted AND finished! (And now it's name is Pink Fluff.)

Pink Fluff - Finally Finished!

Speaking of A Lovely Year of Finishes, I was so happy to be a winner for March! My prize was 3 PDF quilt patterns from the lovely Judi at Green Fairy Quilts. Thanks again, gals!

Pillow cover for Syd: Not one, not two, but THREE pillow covers for Syd. I have another one from her that needs a zipper installed.

This has brought on a desire to do more home dec stuff--I am looking at fabrics for pillows, etc.--it is so instant gratification that I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

Snowflakes on Pinetree Village quilt: Didn't happen.

Other quilting stuff: I dragged out the Snow Crazy blocks and got them on the design wall. To make it large enough to cover a full-sized bed would take adding a LOT of border and I think that would take away from the cuteness of this quilt...so it may stay lap sized, and I'll have to think of something else for a Christmas bed quilt for the front guest bedroom. The ideas are percolating.

Snow Crazy
(I'll talk about why those blocks look the way they do when I finish the quilt)

350 Blocks Project: Total slacker this month; too much going on outside the Bottoms Up! Studio--

Trick or Treat blocks: 7

Binding for Maykayla's quilt: 4

Three pillow covers: 6

Total for April: 17

Total for the year: 155

Thank goodness Trick or Treat goes wherever I go...

Shopping in my Stash: I fondled a lot of my own fabric this month while pulling for a couple of projects, but I also bought a lot. My intake this month was 18 yards (oops!) and my usage was 2-1/4 yards. Yikes. But, in my defense, all of the fabrics purchased were for intended projects and NOT just adding to my stash. So there. My net out for the year is 4-1/2 yards. 

So, the other (mostly) non-quilting stuff:

Quilt show--Katrina and LeiLani and I journeyed to the southwest corner of the state to enjoy the Texarkana Quilt Show. Took us two hours to get there, and less than two hours to see all the quilts and vendors (i.e., not so great). There were a handful of lovely quilts.

Mishap--the day after the quilt show I had to pay for being gone all day by doing laundry on Sunday. I headed downstairs around noon only to be met by splish...splash...the shower had overflowed. On a Sunday. Which meant we could call a plumber, but I wasn't about to pay weekend rates and we had to wait until Monday. Apparently too much hair has been going down the drain.

Yard work--it's April and it rained so much (we needed it) that I never got into the yard. I want to get a lot done ASAP before it gets too hot...which is probably next week. The good thing is that the ground is so soggy right now I can easily do some digging...if the rain stops.

Easter was lovely. We had a big brunch with two of our kids and their significant others, and my sister and Holly. Good time had by all!

My birthday--I am so grateful that it was, for the most part, uneventful, unlike last year's. Katrina and LeiLani and I had dinner out that evening, and the following weekend the Hubster took me to the wonderful Bossa Nova. (Get the feijoado--and the chocolate creme brulee--and the Brazilian cheese bread--ALL GLUTEN FREE--just sayin'.)

Packing--we are coming to the end of our fostering of Will. He will return to his mother after classes end in the middle of May. He doesn't have much, but the fact that we are telling him he is responsible for packing means lots of supervision ahead. 

Linking up with 350 Blocks Project and A Lovely Year of Finishes at Fiber of all Sorts:

Well, I've prattled on a bit too much! I'll have my May goals up soon; in the meantime, go quilt!