I thought I'd share some of the quilts I've been making progress on. These blocks are for a Good Night Irene quilt out of Denyse Schmidt fabrics. I'm thinking this will be a Christmas present for my cousin and his wife; they were married a little over a year ago and are just settling into their first home together. I want to piece the back so that it can be two quilts in one - probably a star out of fabrics that show their interests (science, music, dance, language).

 These green stars are for a Dallas Stars hockey themed quilt for a friend. I've made all but 11 blocks for the quilt now, saving the paper pieced ones for last.

I haven't been posting much this month because I've been busy planning a trip - I'm going to be in Ireland all of August and I'm setting everything up for it now! I'm enjoying doing a lot of sewing now while I can.

I've just finished a quick new quilt top today; I suddenly wanted to cut into the fat quarters of Anna Maria Horner's Pretty Potent that I had in my stash, and there wasn't really much total yardage so I added the borders from a grey I had on hand and flying geese from the last scraps left. I really enjoyed working on this as the limited amount of the fabric on hand forced me to get creative. I actually love how the grey makes everything pop more, and the partial border is more interesting to me than if I'd had enough fabric to do full rows of flying geese.

Now if only I had any idea how to quilt this! I can't decide on a design.

Linking up to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, Link a Finish Friday, TGIFF, and Finish It Up Friday!

 It's finally finished - the first quilt I ever started!

The herringbone quilt for my friend Wendy is complete - at about four months after her birthday that it was intended for and just in time for warm weather, whoops, but she absolutely loved it and that's really all that matters.

I hand sewed the final edge on the binding for this quilt, which was a first for me. I do like the effect better than machine sewing even if it is time consuming. Many episodes of Poirot were watched in the final stretch of binding.

I ended up only using the green thread and quilting a simple quarter inch grid to keep the fabric center stage, and used a cute mint and white polka dot sheet I found at Target for the backing.

I surprised Wendy with the quilt during a picnic with friends at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. If you are ever in NYC I recommend visiting; the gardens are breathtaking, particularly the Japanese koi pond and shrine. They have a cherry blossom festival every year as well.

Unfortunately I've been playing violin so many hours that I've caused myself some wrist and arm strain, so I'm taking it easy for a few days! I've had some therapeutic taping done to help reduce muscle strain and pain that is making it feel a lot better and they were nice enough to color coordinate it with my outfit:

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday, TGIFF, Link A Finish Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

So I was a few days late finishing up my April goal, but hopefully May will go a bit smoother!

My goal for May is to finish at least three Swoon blocks. I am making a large Swoon quilt for my grandparents who are moving out to the east coast near me and into an assisted living facility. All of the Swoon blocks for this quilt will have at least one fabric that reminds me of my grandparents, including a lot of midwestern motifs; they've been splitting time between Iowa and Arizona for the last few years.

They're both very sad to be moving away from their home but my grandmother is having some health difficulties and we wanted them to be closer to family, so they'll be a town over from my aunt and cousins, and just two hours from me by train which I am so glad for. I've been worried about them many hours away by plane because it would be so difficult for us to get out there quickly - and now I'll be able to see them more than once a year.

They have been married for over 65 years now and my grandfather still takes her dancing every week! They're still so in love all these years later.

My grandmother taught me to sew when I was little. I didn't stick with it at the time, but I've always respected her quilts and all the little decorations she's made for me over the years. Some day I will have to photograph them all properly so I can share them. She made every one of her six grandkids a quilt as a high school graduation present.

My graduation quilt is on my bed right now, claimed by Her Royal Highness the cat.