April challenge sponsor, spring flowers and a special gift
I almost forgot to announce this month’s sponsor for the 2019 UFO & WIP Challenge. Fat Quarter Shop is generously providing a $30 gift certificate to this month’s winner. Whenever I shop online, one of the first places I’ll search is Fat Quarter Shop. And I love checking out their daily flash sale, and their weekly precut specials. To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is add a photo of your finished project(s) to the link up which will open on the last Sunday of April (28th).
It’s Tax Day! I’m acutely aware of this date as Mr. Crafty Quilter is a tax accountant, so I’m about to get my husband back! Life will finally get back to normal, so to speak. As the weather warms, the spring flowers are blooming everywhere in our northern California yard. I dug out my camera and took some photos on a sunny morning recently. I’m a little rusty at outdoor photography, but the flowers were ready to show off their color nonetheless. We have gorgeous Azaleas, Rhododendrons, and daisies in the front yard. The orange blossoms and lilacs are filling the air with their sweet scent in the backyard.
I was the happy recipient of an unexpected gift last week. A quilting friend, Polly, who I hadn’t seen in years stopped by to visit, and she made me the sweetest mug rug! I was tickled to receive it – mug rugs are one of my favorite things. She used one of the blocks designed by Jen Kingwell for the first Splendid Sampler Series and added my initial to the vase. She also did some amazing free motion quilting and hand embroidery around the flowers. I just love it!
I am making progress on my sewing room. It’s slow but steady. I just want to wave my magic wand and make everything neat and organized. I always think of the three little fairies in Sleeping Beauty as they cleaned up her cottage with their colorful magic wands. How handy would that be!
I’ve been researching Frixion Pens and doing some experiments of my own as I prepare a blog post on the topic. I’m excited to share my results with you later this week.
That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting!
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Love all the flowers.
I love seeing all the flowers. We are just beginning to bud here in New England. Quilty friends and surprise gifts are so awesome, the colors there make me smile too. What a great sponsor for this month!
Well, Julie, it looks to me like you have a firm handle on your camera and how to make beautiful garden pictures! I know you are enjoying the fruits of your labor.! Hang in there on your sewing room. It will be great.
Loved all your flowers, especially the liliacs. I used to have a huge liliac bush in my yard when we lived in Denver. Arizona is not known for liliacs unfortunately. My rose bush is in full bloom already in my yard and of course our state is full of all the wildflowers. We are enjoying some wonderful weather here before the “Heat” hits us. Also loved the cute mug rug. What a thoughtful friend. It gave me inspiration to try some free motion quilting since it is a small project.
Julie, it was so enjoyable looking at your flowers. I can smell them those lilacs!!!!! I need to wait a few weeks here 🙂
Love looking at Spring flowers and cute mug rugs. How sweet your friend is to put your initials on it. What a cute personal touch. What a nice friend!
Your blooms are so gorgeous, I am a teensy jealous!!
I look forward to reading your post on Frixion for fabric 🙂 I use frixion when it will be in a seam and love it’s disappearing act but do experience occasional white lines left behind depending on the color frixion and color of fabric used on… otherwise I am pleased…. have never used it to mark a quilt for hand stitching though!
I love your gifted mug rug… how sweet a friend to give you this 🙂 And with your initial on the vase and such a nice mix of skilled machine stitching and hand stitches!! I look forward to sharing on your linky party end of the month… I am diligently keeping track of my finishes 🙂
Kathi
Looking forward to your findings on the pens! On my recent project, I had some instances where the ink didn’t totally disappear… it took quite a bit of ironing to get results!
its beautiful flowers and your quilting is always nice thank you
Thank you for sharing your lovely spring flowers!
New to the site and enjoying it so much. Thank you.
The flowers are beautiful. Unfortunately we had a mix of rain and snow yesterday. I guess spring will be here someday.
Hints of spring are greatly appreciated here in upstate NY. We know it’s coming! Enjoy it and your lovely mug rug. Special people have special friends.