Block Exchange

I showed this block last week with promises to show the finished block, well not completely finished but the part I'm doing is now done. So here is the block I received to add borders to. I took this to my stitching group to ask them if they had any suggestions. They had absolutely nothing to say about the block, not even a little suggestion and so I was stuck to come up with something myself. Hmmm....not sure what that was all about.
Anyway, here is what I did with the block. I added the dark blue narrow border and put it on point with bluework embroidery in each corner. It's hard to see in the picture but one corner has a bird house, two corners have birds and one corner has a birds nest. They are all different. I hope the owner of the block will like what I did. She will now get it back and add whatever she likes to finish it off.
Here is a close up of the birds nest with eggs.
Here is a close up of one of the birds.
A little sunshine to brighten your day. I picked up this little cup of mini daffodils at Safeway.

Next post will be more PDG's, (pattern found here) I know some of you reading my blog are waiting patiently and some not so patient, I shouldn't mention any names, but she knows who I'm talking about...teehee. The "Sewing Chair" block...is coming soon.

Little Quilts

So many little quilts popping up everywhere, I couldn't resist making one. This little quilt is from the book "American Doll Quilts" and finished size is 13" x 17". A Simple Girl and Knot Garden have both done several adorable little quilts. They are so sweet and quicker to make than a full size quilt project. I'm definitely hooked on these. The only down side is that these little quilts don't even make a dent in the scrap pile....lol.

There is a small group of us that meet once a month at the same house. We usually go out for lunch but there are times when the host offers to make us lunch. When she makes us lunch it's a wonderful treat because it's always something home made, with the freshest of ingredients. Last month we enjoyed a fabulous Butternut Squash soup and a delightful salmon dip. Our gracious host has offered to make a traditional French Christmas dinner for our next meeting. She'll spend a lot of time shopping at specialty stores to find just the best ingredients for the menu. There will be several appetizers and all the trimmings for our feast. Shopping and preparing all this food is a tremendous amount of work.

So that brings me to the point of this story. I thought wouldn't it be nice for each person in the group to surprise our host with quilt blocks. I found a pattern, picked the background fabric and cut enough background for 12 blocks. These blocks are 8" finished. Each person will make 2 blocks using darks from each of our stash for a total of 12 blocks. The blocks will be presented at our Dec meeting. Our host will be so surprised and really love our way of saying "Thank you" for all her efforts.

Speaking of friends. I received a little goodie package in the mail last week. Carole was very sweet by sending me some chocolates and a cute little tin as well. Thank you Carole....you are a sweetie.