Part 4 is completed

Here is my Peaceful Pathways with the 20 Lovers Knot blocks finally attached.  I am so happy with it. 

Now the next WIP is my Hearts Desire binding.  I can't believe that it has had the binding on it for at least 3 weeks and I haven't found the time to stitch it down.  The binding and thread are black, which makes it hard for my aging eyes to work on it in the evening.  So now with PP up to date, I will set aside some daylight hours to get it finished up.  I absolutely must get some of these projects under control before starting anything else.

We have had a couple of very busy weeks here,so not much sewing progress has been made.  Here are some pics of my Peaceful Pathways, I have 16 of my lovers knot blocks completed. 

I will be on my own for the next couple of weeks, John has to be in Tacoma.  So I am hoping that I will have lots of sewing time while he is gone.  It shouldn't take too much time to complete my last 4 blocks.  They are cut out and just waiting for me to get to them. 

I have been spending a lot of time on the computer.  I have joined a Yahoo group for EQ7 users and I am determined to learn the software.  I just received an order for quilting designs for EQ7.  I need to practice my free motion quilting skills.  I love quilts that are heavily quilted, but I always have a hard time deciding on the quilt designs to use.  With these two packs of add-ons for EQ7 I have over 1000 new quilt designs.  Will that help?  Or confuse me even more?  Time will tell!

Hearts Desire is finished..... well, mostly finished.  It has a couple of things in it that I need to pull out and redo, and it doesn't have the binding on it yet.  I plan to make the binding today, and maybe get it onto the quilt, but the hand finishing will need to wait a couple of weeks.  Company coming this weekend, and then Thanksgiving, so I will not have time to do the handwork.  But I am very happy with this quilt.  I loved making it and doing so much hand applique.  Thank you Esther!  Your designs are beautiful!

Wednesday again

As a quilter, I am used to getting a piece of fabric and cutting it into little pieces to sew back together again.  I bought this fabric to make placemats and napkins for my dil for Christmas.  I was so taken by this beautiful fabric that I was quite unable to cut it up.  So I made up some yards of a mini piping in a lavendar color to match her dining room walls, and then fussy cut a coordinating stripe for each side and for the napkins.  I am very happy with the results and I know that she will love them.  It took a couple of days to make up 8 sets, but the work was worth it.  One Christmas gift done! 

All other projects are currently on hold.  I am up to date with Peaceful Pathways, waiting for installment #4.  I have most of Hearts Desire quilted, just have to decide how to quilt the borders.  With a bit of cooler weather, we have been doing some long needed gardening, but I will get back to the sewing machine in a few days. 

Spent most of this week quilting my Hearts Desire.  Two more blocks to go, and then the border.  I have stitched in the ditch and then stippled the background fabric.  I can't get it to show up in the picture, the thread is the same exact color as the background.  I haven't yet decided how I want to do the veins on the leaves.  My first thought was couching, but that seems pretty labor intensive.  I picked up some 12 wt cotton thread and I will experiment with that later today. 

I won't be able to blog next Wednesday, we are heading to New York to celebrate my mom's 100th birthday!  I will follow WOW and read all your blogs though.  I really enjoy getting to "know" everyone who posts on Esther's blog.

Another visitor

He is a bit hard to see, I wasn't brave enough to go outside the screen room to take his picture.  We think he is a lynx. We have had bobcats several times, but this one seems to be too big to be a bobcat.  He wasn't shy, he stopped and stared at us several times. 

Just another day in paradise!

WOW

Started the quilting on my Hearts Desire yesterday.  It took me a while to decide how I want to quilt it.  I took it to my guild meeting on Monday and everyone loved it.  They tried to talk me into hand quilting it........ I gave it some thought and then decided to machine it anyways.  I have always rolled my quilts while working on them, but I tried a new method, kind of nesting the quilt around the machine bed.  It is working out really well.  My new machine has a big area to the right of the needle and that really makes a difference. 
Off to make some lunch, then back to my quilting.  I hope everyone has a good week.