A QAL, a swap and a bee.

There are the first half of my blocks for the Stained QAL which is being hosted by Sarah from Narcoleptic in the Cupboard. Although keeping all those lines of sashing even remotely straight is beyond me, these blocks are a dream to make, perfect after a long week. I hope to make the rest of the blocks soon, maybe today. These fabrics are Echo by Lotta Jansdotter and Kona Charcoal.



Take a good look at that beautiful mug rug. It arrived this week for me in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap from my secret partner Karen - sewgentle on flickr. Do you notice the earthworms quilted into the dirt? Can you see the layers on layers of applique? The crocuses are prefect! And the background fabric is all about spring flowers! This is stunning, even the binding is brilliant and I am thrilled to have it.



I wanted to show you the whole package. I mentioned somewhere that I was drawn recently to red and orange colours so she found some fabrics with both for me. And that note paper - it was hand silk screened 45 years ago! I was so spoiled with this package, thank you Karen!



I cannot resist  again showing you the mug rug I sent to Aylin - Nilya2011 on flickr. She is an awesome quilter and designer, and I am happy to report that she has now received it and loves it.



And that little "coaster" above is the extra I sent to Aylin. It felt wrong not to provide a functional mug rug and the tiny geese were not made for a mug to be set upon. This rainbow coaster is happy to hold a mug of drippy coffee or tea any time.



These are the wonky stars that I have received so far from my bee mates in the Twelve Month Quilting Bee. I am the last person on the roster and then this bee is completed. There are a couple more to arrive, and I am so excited to make these into a quilt. The largest ones are 18" squares and that tiny purple on is 3". I might add a few small ones as I figure out how to arrange these, but it is going to be an awesome quilt. The women in this bee are lovely and it has been a pleasure to be a part of it.

It was a short working week last week but it felt like an eternity - some difficult projects are underway - so there was not a lot of quilting done. I am planning a few days at my cottage next week, so if it is not raining I may be able to send you some spring flower pictures. Here at my house it has been snowing again - all day yesterday and it just stopped late this morning. It will certainly melt in a day or two, but it means my small garden here has to wait, again.

I am off to decide what projects to pack and then to do a little shopping. I leave Tuesday, unless some work gets in the way - cross your fingers for me please. Enjoy your Sunday.

Best,

Leanne